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Max Verstappen denies Ferrari’s help in Hungarian GP win as the Dutchman claims 80-point lead in 2022 Championship

Tejas Venkatesh
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Max Verstappen denies Ferrari's help in Hungarian GP win as the Dutchman claims 80-point lead in 2022 Championship

Max Verstappen says Ferrari’s misfortunes gave him no advantage in winning the 2022 Hungarian GP and laying one hand on the championship title.

Max Verstappen goes home during the Summer break as a happy man. The Dutchman claimed his 8th Gran Prix victory of the season in the 2022 Hungarian GP after starting P10.

The Dutchman’s 80-point lead over 2nd placed Charles Leclerc in the driver’s championship. This gap is greater than any point difference during the 2021 season.

And the reigning 2021 champion is a step closer to retaining his crown. All Max has to do from now on is to cruise to the finish line and grab points as they come, and he can still win the title.

 

But this wasn’t the case at the start of the season. After 2 DNFs in the first three races, fans and critics predicted a difficult season ahead for the 24-year-old.

And with both being Mechanical issues, Red Bull was criticised for their reliability issues. In the meantime, Ferrari had a formidable start to the season and was leading the Constructors championship table until the Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen went on to win seven races after the opening three races. At the same time, Leclerc and Ferrari have managed to claim lonely 1 and 2 more, respectively.

So it’s fair to say that Red Bull has capitalised on Ferrari’s errors and punished them in the long run. And Verstappen’s consistency and raw speed have overpowered Leclerc, who seems to have the fastest car on the grid.

Also Read: Charles Leclerc losing title hopes as Ferrari’s poor strategy cost’s him 25 crucial points

Max Verstappen gives no credit to Ferrari’s misfortunes

Max Verstappen would be incredibly proud of his team. Red Bull has always played with the best race strategy and has claimed a victorious lead in the Championship.

And even on weekends where the Bulls have not been on par, they have still managed to grab as many points available. But, this isn’t the same with Ferrari.

Ferrari has been plagued with Engine issues, driver errors, and, more frequently, poor strategy calls on most weekends. Most recently, when Carlos Sainz’s engine blew up in the Austrian GP, removing a chance of a glorious 1-2 finish.

Or in Silverstone, when the pit wall failed to decide which driver was allowed to attack. And now, in Hungary, Ferrari’s strategy agreed to go to the wrong choice of tyres and pit-stop calls.

And this made a journalist ask Max during a post-race interview if Ferrari’s misfortune played to his advantage.

He politely said no and answered, “Well, I think everybody always tries to do their best. And sometimes that‘s a bit harder to achieve. I find that difficult to comment. Because nobody does things on purpose.”

Also Read: Red Bull driver avoids having fate like Charles Leclerc with last minute change before race start

About the author

Tejas Venkatesh

Tejas Venkatesh

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Tejas Venkatesh is a Motorsports writer at The SportsRush. He started watching F1 in 2007 and fell in love with the sound of the revving V8s. A technical nerd, tejas loves to nerd over the technical beauty only motorsports can achieve. He calls himself a Vettel fanboy and spent the night crying after Hockenheim 2018. Apart from F1, Tejas is an avid Chelsea Fan and loves football.

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