Rishabh Parashar
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner gives us an insight into how Max Verstappen has been after winning his maiden World Championship title last year.
Horner believes Max Verstappen has been released from the pressure to be the world champion. He even told that Verstappen still has that same racing mentality in him that he had last year. With the right car, he can be the champion again.
We all remember last year when Max Verstappen lifted his maiden world championship title the world saw a young and hungry driver take on the legend, Lewis Hamilton for his maiden F1 World Championship title.
When asked about Verstappen, how he has been after winning the title Horner said
“In all honesty, not really. I mean, he’s very relaxed. He’s still racing with the same vitality that he’s always had. But I think, you know, having that first world championship on his CV now, having the number one on the car, in many ways it releases you from pressure. So, you know, that expectation for that first title is always obviously very high. But now he has that, obviously, achieved already, I think, you know, we saw it with Sebastian in many respects, it relieves pressure. And I think he’s just continuing to evolve, continuing to develop, and you have to remember that he’s still only 24 years of age.”
Australian Grand Prix qualifying, Max Verstappen’s way back?
Australian GP is just hours away to kick start and starting lineup for the race is out. Verstappen missing on pole by just 0.286 seconds and both the Red Bulls being in the top three is a good look for the team.
Max Verstappen faced some issues during the practice and qualifying sessions which he expressed in the interview with the former F1 driver-turned-television commentator Johnny Herbert in parc fermé. He said:
“Not good. I didn’t really feel good in the car the whole weekend so far. I think there’s not been one lap where I actually felt confident, so, (it was) a bit of a struggle. Of course, second is still a good result but yeah, just not feeling that great to go to the limit. So, we’ll try to analyze it.”
Max Verstappen would have wanted a good start for the 2022 season as the reigning world champion surely does hope to be in the title race but Bahrain had different plans altogether. Both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez dropped out from the race due to battery and heating issues surely there were reliability issues with the new RB18.
Australian Grand Prix 2022 Starting Grid
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:17.868 |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING RBPT | 1:18.154 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING RBPT | 1:18.240 |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:18.703 |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:18.825 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 1:18.933 |
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:19.032 |
| 8 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:19.061 |
| 9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 1:19.408 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ALPINE RENAULT | |
| 11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPHATAURI RBPT | 1:19.226 |
| 12 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 1:19.410 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI RBPT | 1:19.424 |
| 14 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 1:20.155 |
| 15 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | HAAS FERRARI | 1:20.465 |
| 16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 1:20.254 |
| 17 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:21.149 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:21.372 |
| 19 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | |
| 20 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES |
With not so impressive start from the Red Bull in the 2022 season, the team is still in the hope to be in the driver’s championship race. With a long season ahead Red Bull sure does hope to be back at the top again. With Ferrari and Maclaren building up the pace, the three teams which are to look out for this season are sure fighting in for all.
