Max Verstappen dominated the 2022 F1 World Championship by winning the Title with four races to spare. His dominance also helped Red Bull clinch their first-ever constructors’ world title since the 2013 season and it has bore fruit for him yet again.
Verstappen won the 2022 Laureus Sportsman of the Year award after becoming F1’s first Dutch world champion. This year, he will once again be a nominee alongside some of the greatest athletes in the world.
After being officially revealed as a nominee, Verstappen insisted that he was honored to win the award last year, and shares the same feeling about being one of the nominees this year. He thanked Red Bull as an organization for helping him get there and lauded the Milton-Keynes-based outfit for being nominated for Team of the Year.
Verstappen won the 2022 F1 World Championship with 454 points to his name, which was 146 points more than second-placed Charles Leclerc.
Also read: Max Verstappen’s Net Worth 2023: How did the 2-Time World Champion make his Fortune
Who joins Max Verstappen in Laureus’ list of nominees?
Verstappen had a stellar 2022 season, but he wasn’t the only athlete in the world to achieve incredible feats. Some of the biggest names in the sporting world join the 25-year-old as nominees for this prestigious trophy in 2023.
Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi led Argentina to world cup glory, finally winning that one piece of silverware missing from his trophy cabinet. He along with 2022 FIFA World Cup final hero Kylian Mbappe will be the two football stars in the final list of nominees.
Mondo Duplantis is also part of this list, as he created history in the field of athletics by breaking the pole vault record three different times. The other two nominees are two of the most recognizable athletes in the world in Rafael Nadal and Stephen Curry.
Also read: Logan Sargeant Net Worth 2023: F1 Salary, Racing Career and Endorsements
Verstappen looking to create more history in 2023
Heading into the 2023 season, the favorite to win the championship is once again Verstappen. This comes despite the fact that pundits and people expect Ferrari and Mercedes to up their game. In a three-way fight for the title, majority of the people expect the Dutch driver to lead Red Bull to victory in 2023.
At the young age of 25, he has already surpassed the legendary career of two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. If he decides to race in F1 as long as Alonso, Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton, it is very possible that he will end up breaking all records.
