Monday, December 13, 2021
Wild Champion Verstappen
Epoch-making skills tame the series winner
By Emmanuel Schneider
Max Verstappen wins his first world championship title in a dramatic season finale. He is young and wild, he goes to the limit and beyond. The Dutchman combines self-confidence, talent and ambition. This is the only way he can beat Hamilton – and push him into retirement?
It was his season, even if it got really tight in the end and even went to the green table. Max Verstappen celebrates his first world title at the age of 24. The Red Bull driver is the one who overthrew living legend Lewis Hamilton. Chapeau! No, it didn’t bend. “A defensive Verstappen is not a Verstappen,” said RB consultant Helmut Marko recently in an RTL / ntv interview. And if the Dutchman doesn’t stand for something, it’s a defensive driving style.
You actually have to give him credit for it: Verstappen has remained true to himself. He always held against it, went to the limit, sometimes going beyond it. Champions are carved out of this wood. The reward: the longed-for first title for Verstappen – and the bull for eight years. In 2013 the team from Austria celebrated the title for the last time, it was Sebastian Vettel’s fourth. Then the hybrid era began and Red Bull was suddenly panting behind. Instead of bull dominance, there was the overwhelming power of the Silver Arrows. Since 2014 there has always been a Mercedes man (with the exception of 2016 always Hamilton) the world championship crown. Verstappen has now put an end to this series. Many fans cheer the change of power like the voting out of a politician who has been in charge for too long.
Verstappen did it his way. After several years, Red Bull Racing conjured up a world champion racer with the RB16B. The racing team had delivered, provided the template. Verstappen had to transform. He did. Constant from March to December. And now, to stay in the picture, it wasn’t a penalty, more of a challenging free kick from 30 meters from the side. Because despite the improved car, Mercedes had slept through the underbody change in the regulations, Verstappen fought against the best driver of the current generation. It was an epic duel. Sometimes the ripped off veteran was ahead, sometimes the young challenger.
Will Max be the new Lewis?
Hamilton doesn’t like to drive as aggressively as Verstappen. He’s still a seven-time champion though. With us since 2007 and experienced so much that nothing unsettles him quickly. But Verstappen took on the duel from the start and consistently played his card. Always on it. If it doesn’t crack every now and then, verbally like on the track, it’s not Verstappen either. Not to forget: He also had to survive a few low blows, such as the Silverstone shooting down by his arch-rival, the Bottas bowling in Hungary or the blown tire in Baku. In the last few races it looked like Verstappen’s nerves were starting to flutter. At least in the final he had calmed her down.
Before the final, Verstappen sounded in the direction of Hamilton: I would have been world champion in a Mercedes for a long time. Thick and slightly arrogant? Yes, but there was probably more than a grain of truth in the statements. Verstappen’s self-confidence, talent and ambition are extremely rare in this form. Only every few years (or decades) are these characteristics united by a few exceptional talents. The Dutchman is such an exceptional talent. If it doesn’t go over the limit, as in some cases in Saudi Arabia, then paired with this car it is hard to beat.
The best days of Verstappen may only be ahead. Who knows, maybe he is now shaping an era like Hamilton before him. So was that the pension push for Hamilton? Quite possible. And for all German fans, the pilot’s premier title from the neighboring country also had something conciliatory. Michael Schumacher’s record remains for the time being. With his seven titles, the F1 icon remains the record winner together with Hamilton.