LET’S hand out the trophy now.
There is no point dragging this out and waiting for the end of the season.
Max Verstappen has this all wrapped up – and we still have eight races to go.
If there was a dark cloud hanging over his maiden F1 world title – won at the controversial Abu Dhabi GP last December – there is simply nothing but brilliance about his performances this season.
He smashed qualifying on Saturday – only to be bumped down to 14th on the grid due to engine and gearbox penalties.
But it took him just 12 laps on Sunday to get to the front – three of which were run behind the safety car – and 15 laps to claim the outright lead.
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No wonder he hailed it as his most dominant victory of his 29 wins in F1 as he opened up a 93-point lead over Sergio Perez and a whopping 98 points over Charles Leclerc.
He said: “It is my most dominant weekend if you look at the whole weekend. The car was incredible from practice.
“You don’t expect it to be that good but it is nice when things surprise you and it was so good to drive.
“I stayed out of trouble on lap one and that was not easy. I knew with the car we had not to risk too much, but that makes it even harder to stay out of trouble.
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“Once it settled down, I started overtaking one at a time and in the end I knew there was a possibility to win.”
Verstappen’s pace was not even close to being matched by his own teammate, Perez, who said the Dutchman was “on another planet”.
He added: “I really hoped for more today. It was a good opportunity, but Max was just flying. He was on another planet and was untouchable.”
The Mexican has now replaced Leclerc in second place in the standings after a disappointing weekend for the Monaco-born racer.
Leclerc had also been subjected to grid penalties but he was also undone by yet more Ferrari strategy complications.
His own title challenge has been hamstrung by reliability and tactical mistakes – while he was also partly responsible for losing more ground on the champion-elect.
Leclerc had battled his way back up to fifth place, despite being forced to pit early when a visor tear-off got stuck in his brakes.
After plenty of discussions over the radio, Ferrari called him in for fresh tyres with two laps to go in an attempt to get the fastest lap bonus point.
But he was unable to better Verstappen’s lap time as he was caught up behind Fernando Alonso.
To add insult to injury, he was also caught speeding in the pitlane, triggering a five-second penalty that dropped him down to sixth place in the final classifications.
Leclerc said: “It’s more frustrating to see the delta of pace there was between Red Bull and us, which is the thing we need to work on.
“If you look at Red Bull, they were on another level, and they found something this weekend that is a bit worrying for us.
“For now, we don’t exactly understand [it]. “They are still extremely quick in the straights, it looks like they have no downforce, but then they get into the corner and they are as quick as us, or quicker.
“So it’s a bit worrying.”
Perhaps what should be more worrying for him – and the rest of the field – is that next up is Verstappen’s home race.
He thrived there in 2021 and is expected to do the same next Sunday, surely making it a case of when – not if – he wins the title.
Lewis Hamilton crashed out in the first lap after colliding with Alonso – with the Brit taking responsibility for the crash.
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He said after the race: “Looking back he was in my blind spot, I didn’t give him enough space.
“It is my fault. “I could not see him. I am sorry to the team and I need to recuperate and get back on the treadmill.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
