Helmut Marko reveals that Max Verstappen thought he’d be losing the title to Charles Leclerc after three races in the season.
At the start of the season, Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, made an impactful start. The Monegasque won two out first three races, while Max Verstappen had some reliability issues, which were blowing his performances.
At that time, over 40 points behind the Ferrari superstar, Verstappen thought he wouldn’t be able to defend his title. But little did he know things would align for him.
Seven months later, the Dutchman is a two-time world champion with 12 wins in the season in his kitty. So, Red Bull managed to prove him wrong.
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Red Bull chief glad to prove Max Verstappen wrong
The chief advisor at the Milton-Keynes-based team, Helmut Marko, reveals that Verstappen had little hope about his title prospects. But Red Bull only needed to ensure their reliability as they indeed have some clinical pace in 2022.
“Max said at the time that we needed 33 or 36 races to catch up – thank God we got it done quicker,” Red Bull advisor Marko told Servus TV.
After the race win by Leclerc in Australia, Verstappen was on a rampage, winning five out of the six following races. The incredible haul from these races gave him a staunch lead against his rivals.
Max Verstappen: dominant and imperious 🤩
Watch our top 🔟 moments of Verstappen brilliance, after he wrapped up his second world title!#F1
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 13, 2022
Meanwhile, Ferrari started to have some reliability concerns and saw both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz retire from time to time. From there, it was all the Verstappen show.
When did he realize he would win the championship?
At the Japanese Grand Prix, Verstappen was crowned as the 2022 champion. However, he thought he would still need one point more to cement his title. But the FIA said the opposite and declared that he had indeed scored enough points to be the champion.
The whole scenario was a puzzling sight. Nevertheless, even before the race in Japan, there was no delusion that the Dutchman would lose the title from here, so every race for him now remained a formality.
But after winning the race in Suzuka, Verstappen remarked that he believed this title was his after the French Grand Prix. Indeed, it was an unfortunate race for Leclerc, who lost massive points after crashing down there.
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