Max Verstappen could scarcely have hoped for a better build-up to his home race, which takes place today at Zandvoort.
He went into the summer break on the back of a remarkable win from 10th place in the Hungarian Grand Prix. The series reconvened at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend for what proved his most dominant showing yet.
The stunning turn of speed Verstappen’s RB18 demonstrated in practice looked ominous for rivals Ferrari and the rest. So much so that even when it was announced he would start the race in the bottom half of the field due to penalties, a Verstappen win was still widely predicted.
Sure enough, Verstappen was in the lead by half-distance and romped home to take not only his most emphatic victory of the season so far, but Red Bull’s biggest win for a long time. Team principal Christian Horner likened it to one of their stronger performances of the 2010-13 era, when every championship went to the team and Verstappen’s predecessor Sebastian Vettel.
After the spectacularly close conclusion to last year’s world championship, Verstappen’s increasing dominance of the 2022 season was not what F1 hoped to see as it introduced drastically overhauled technical regulations for this year. Nonetheless, F1’s efforts to close up the field and trim back the powerful surface aerodynamics which make it difficult for cars to follow each other closely have been broadly welcomed.
The same cannot be said for every other change made by Liberty Media, now in is fifth year in charge of F1, in pursuit of ever-larger audiences. Verstappen has not been shy about voicing his concerns over some of their decisions, such as deviating from the traditional race weekend format or the moving away from the sport’s most cherished circuits.
“It’s very commercial,” Verstappen acknowledges. “I mean, everyone wants to make money, right? I understand what it’s all built around nowadays because it’s more like F1 plus a festival, I understand.”
But while Verstappen appreciates the need for F1 to visit new places and appeal to new audiences, he strongly believes the sport must remain faithful to its traditions. In particular, the race weekend format.
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He has made his distaste clear for Liberty Media’s sprint race experiment. The extra Saturday qualifying races were introduced last year to enormous hype but, at best, a mixed reaction from fans. In this case, not…
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