The Formula One season 2022 was a year of change on multiple levels. The outright eight-year domination by constructor Mercedes was ended partly by Red Bull Racing’s strive and hunger, and partly by the Silver Arrows’ own undoing.
Early issues with porpoising set the German racing team back by a couple of races from which they could never recover convincingly, despite coming back with relatively strong performances in the later stages of the calendar. But, more tellingly, it led to seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton’s first season without a win.
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And for the second straight season, Red Bull’s Dutchman Max Verstappen ruled the roost as he broke multiple long-standing records en route to his second world title.
Despite coming into the season on the back of an ultra-controversial final-day victory over record champion Hamilton in the year prior, Verstappen utterly dominated the field with his record-setting 15 race wins as he surpassed greats such as Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel (13 wins in a season).
However, it did not start off that way.
Early See-saw
The campaign opener in Bahrain saw traditional racing powerhouse Ferrari notch up a 1-2 as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Junior started off in impeccable fashion while both Red Bull drivers, Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez, end up with a ‘did not finish’ result.
Hamilton got on the podium in the season’s curtain raiser behind the Ferraris followed by teammate and new Mercedes recruit George Russell who added to Mercedes’ points tally early on.
But, the Dutchman hit back almost immediately in the second race in the Middle Eastern nation of Saudi Arabia, romping to his first of fifteen wins in the year.
Ferrari too came up with a strong showing as they split Verstappen and Perez, who finished fourth at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Leclerc came in second with Spaniard Sainz in third.
Verstappen was left fuming once again in Australia as he had to retire from the Melbourne Grand Prix while watching Leclerc take another win. Perez fared better this time around as he came in second ahead of Russell in his Mercedes.
Max Turns a corner! What the jewel, Hamilton?
But when the Emiliano Romagna Grand Prix rolled around, so did Verstappen’s supremacy. The 25-year-old clinched three wins in three races as he took the title at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit before going on to triumph at Miami and Catalunya subsequently.
As Verstappen was asserting his authority behind the wheel of his powerful RB18, Hamilton came under scrutiny from the FIA for his adornment of jewellery. The governing body had instructed the seven-time champion to set aside his trinkets for the duration of the circuits, but the Brit turned up to a presser sporting nearly every piece of trinket he owned as he was spotted wearing three watches, eight rings, four necklaces and two earrings in an outright show of defiance.
The Dutchman had to be content with a third-place finish at Monaco, while Perez took the title ahead of Sainz, while hometown boy Leclerc finished fourth.
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Verstappen returned to winning ways right after Monaco as he clinched the titles at Azerbaijan and Canada while Leclerc was being done in by reliability issues and blunderous strategic calls by the Prancing Horse that would recur through the season to haunt the Monegasque despite his promising start. Teammate Sainz wasn’t a stranger to such errors as he suffered multiple race retirements throughout the season as well.
Next up was Silverstone, where Sainz fought hard to clinch his first-ever race win, pipping Perez and homeboy Hamilton to the finish line while Verstappen could only manage a seventh-place finish, three behind Leclerc.
Leclerc delivered a statement win at Red Bull’s home turf as he took the title at the Red Bull Ring in Austria ahead of Verstappen who came in a second and a half behind the Monegasque.
Five in five
But, there was going to be no let up from Verstappen as he started a five-race winning streak at the French Grand Prix. He took the title at the Paul Richard Circuit and repeated the feat at the Hungaroring in Hungary, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, Zandvoort in his homeland of The Netherlands, and the historic Autodromo in Monza, Italy.
Amid this torrent of eminence from Verstappen, four-time championship winner Vettel took to social media to announce that he was hanging up his boots at the end of the season to focus more on his personal life and space some much-needed quality time with his family and loved ones. And an outpour of admiration followed the German’s decision.
By this time in the season, the Dutchman had established clear daylight between himself and his competitors as he left the others on the grid chasing shadows.
The following Grand Prix in Singapore proved to be kinder for the rest of the pack as Verstappen finished seventh again, while Perez, Leclerc and Sainz stood on the podium.
Champion! History Maker, Record Breaker!
But, Verstappen hit back in a manner absolutely characteristic of the season he had had so far. The Dutchman sealed the championship race with four races to go as he stormed to the chequered flag nearly 30 seconds ahead of teammate Perez in second at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan.
The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, USA had the Verstappen stamp on it as he raced to another win levelling the 13-win record of Germans Schumacher and Vettel. Hamilton got one of his three joint-highest finishes of the season in the USA too as he came in second, ahead of Leclerc.
Verstappen created history in Mexico as he claimed his record-shattering 14th win of the season at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, once again ahead of Brit Hamilton.
The Brazilian GP was a true anomaly as Russell came in ahead of every other racer on track to claim his first-ever victory.
As the season culminated in Abu Dhabi, with the title already wrapped up, Verstappen had one more ace up his sleeve as he registered his 15th win of the season coming in ahead of Leclerc and Perez in triumphant fashion to polish off a convincing season devoid of any flashbacks of the neck-and-neck championship struggle last year.
2022 was without a shadow of a doubt the Dutchman’s year as he also helped his team to their first constructors’ championship since 2013.
Verstappen finished the season with 454 points, a whopping 146 points ahead of his closest competitor Leclerc, yet another record he established en route to his second consecutive Formula One Championship.
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