10 moments that won Verstappen the 2022 Formula 1 title

Max Verstappen’s charge to his second consecutive Formula 1 world championship has been much more dominant and much less acrimonious than the controversial circumstances in which he won his first.

It wasn’t to be another down-to-the-wire thriller, as he sealed the title in this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix with four races to spare. But there is little disputing the stellar drives the Dutch racer delivered this year en route to defending his crown.

Much of his success was built off the back of the late-coming supremacy of the RB18. Red Bull eventually shaved off its creation’s early excess weight and took control at the dawn of the second ground-effect F1 era, the seismic and delayed regulatory rethink arriving to much fanfare. All eyes were on the new breed of machinery to see how they would improve the wheel-to-wheel racing and overall spectacle.

But before long, it was Red Bull’s resurgent 2022 title rival Ferrari that faced the greater scrutiny. The Scuderia came out of the blocks so strong that many wondered whether it would end a title drought dating back to the 2008 constructors’ crown. However, its chances were dashed by an unwelcome cocktail of unreliability, strategic blunders and poorly executed pitstops - plus the headline crash that eliminated Charles Leclerc from the lead of the French GP.

Those woes gave Verstappen a smoother-than-it-should’ve-been ride to the title, especially considering the thrilling dices with Leclerc that unfolded between the pair in the first two races. But Verstappen’s dominance, particularly after the summer break, ensured he got the job done.

This is how Verstappen took control of the 2022 season.

F1's new era began at Barcelona for the opening pre-season test, with Red Bull looking like a frontrunner from the off

Photo by: Alessio Morgese

1. Slippery RB18 breaks cover as Verstappen begins title defence (AK)

Back in winter testing, although the pecking order was far from clear, two teams emerged strongest from the two events in Spain and Bahrain. McLaren fell away from the leading group with brake issues in the latter, where Mercedes’ radical ‘no-pod’ W13 proved to be a disaster, undone by dramatic porpoising. Red Bull and Ferrari were the pacesetters (excluding interloper Mick Schumacher, his Bahrain best time to split Verstappen and Leclerc set in the extra running Haas was granted due to its late-arriving freight).

But given Red Bull's propensity for not revealing its full hand in testing and Ferrari’s recovery from two fallow years at this stage was still incomplete, there was no single favourite heading into the opening round.

The two cars had very different initial design philosophies. Red Bull’s RB18 was revealed as relatively simple in the first test in Spain (and was a complete deception at its livery-only launch event back in February!), but its Bahrain update included the heavily undercut sidepod approach Aston Martin and Williams would go on to adopt. The car prioritises aerodynamic efficiency over peak loads, which - allied with the rebadged Honda engine’s potent power punch - means Red Bull enjoys a very high top speed and the RB18 is adaptable to every track type.

PLUS: What the trackside view reveals about the early 2022 F1 pecking order

Ferrari’s F1-75, by contrast, is more of the approach Red Bull took in the previous era - a car that packs on the downforce and is most competitive on tracks with lots of corners and few straights. It makes its time up in the turns and loses out to Red Bull at peak acceleration, although the Italian team took steps to trim out drag after the early events, and this made things closer.

But, critically, the Ferrari has proved to be less flexible and generally harder on its tyres, which added up to a race pace advantage that Verstappen rarely blew.

Leclerc and Verstappen dice for a DRS duel in Saudi Arabia

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

2. Verstappen gets payback in DRS duel with Leclerc (MK)

Leclerc was set to draw first blood in 2022 even before Verstappen retired from the Bahrain curtain-raiser with a fuel system failure. And there were no two ways about it: the Ferrari racer outwitted his rival by checking his pace over the DRS detection lines at Sakhir to temporarily sacrifice track position. But the payoff was handsome, as the F1-75 gained the overtaking aid to surge back past the leading Red Bull and emerged ahead in three great battles.

However, Verstappen responded at the first time of asking in round two in Saudi Arabia, which will surely be remembered for the nearby missile strike and oh-so close driver boycott. After the teams were reassured the defence systems were robust enough to counteract any further attack and the race commenced, Verstappen got off the mark.

PLUS: Why Verstappen and Leclerc's Jeddah duel showed DRS still has a place in F1

Granted, his pole-winning team-mate Sergio Perez was thwarted by an ill-timed safety car period induced by Nicholas Latifi shunting. Nevertheless, Verstappen showed he’d spent the better part of two races watching the rear of Leclerc’s car and understanding how the Monegasque was placing his machine and consuming his rear Pirellis.

So, five laps from the flag, having had enough of being toyed with, Verstappen stamped on the anchors over the DRS detection line, locking his fronts. Crucially, though, Leclerc had nipped ahead, which gave Verstappen a double whammy of the slipstream and DRS. As the rear wing flap snapped open, he then shot past the Ferrari to settle the second of two thrilling races and claimed the first victory of his title defence.

Leclerc is hit by double Ferrari failure in Spain and Azerbaijan

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

3. Ferrari engines expire as Verstappen stunts Perez’s fine season start (MK)

Not helped by a second fuel system fault in Australia - a round Leclerc dominated anyway - Verstappen rocked up in Spain trailing Leclerc by 19 points. The Ferrari ace then landed a fourth pole from six races and led from the off. He got further helped by Verstappen spinning at Turn 4 and was surely romping home to the spoils with an advantage of some 13s.

That was until lap 27 of 66 at Barcelona, when his Ferrari’s turbo and MGU-H cried enough and died. Verstappen picked up the pieces to take the win and for the first time in 2022, he had the points lead. Unbeknown at the time, he would keep hold of it for the rest of the campaign.

With the RB18 still overweight at this point and the Ferrari engine enjoying the superior acceleration out of slow corners, the tighter Barcelona circuit was seemingly ready made to suit the Scuderia. But it blew the opportunity. That meant a fight back was required at a track that, on paper, favoured Red Bull.

Step forward, Baku. In Azerbaijan, sure enough, Leclerc was again leading to the tune of 13s. Then disaster struck once more. “Problem! Problem!” he cried as the engine let go and smoke filled his mirrors.

PLUS: Would Leclerc have won in Baku had his Ferrari survived?

To compound Leclerc’s misery, Verstappen again took the win having fought back past Perez - the Mexican moving aside under team orders for the second time in two races. All told, Verstappen entered the summer with his status as the number one driver at Red Bull double underlined and with 34 points in hand over a crestfallen and stunned Leclerc.

Ferrari's strategy calls over the summer races handed points straight from Leclerc to his rivals

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

4. Scuderia strategy shambles relieves the mid-season pressure (AK)

Just before Azerbaijan, one race had summed up Ferrari’s 2022 strategy shambles better than any other: Monaco. There, Leclerc started on pole and had the race been dry, he seemed set to drive into the distance and take a famous home win. How that psychological boost to his title chances would’ve turned out will never been known.

When the rain came down - so sudden and hard that the water swell shorted the start lights gantry and contributed to the FIA delaying the start for an hour and opting for a tame safety car opening - Leclerc still had it under control. He easily pulled clear of Carlos Sainz but when conditions dried, Ferrari’s challenge fell apart. Leclerc obeyed the team’s call to move to the intermediates, while Sainz was resolute in wanting to go straight to dries.

PLUS: The epic championship battle Ferrari stumbles have robbed us of

This might’ve won the Spaniard the race, but being held up by Nicholas Latifi on his out-lap gave eventual winner Perez critical seconds to seize a shock lead. Leclerc also might’ve rescued a podium ahead of Verstappen but for being held up by Alex Albon just after making his stop for inters. However, the win was gone when Ferrari allowed its strategies to split. Then, it called Leclerc in for a slicks-service double-stack it didn’t have time for with Sainz in the pitlane ahead and its result from an early stages 1-2 turned into a 2-4 finish, with its title contender off the podium.

Further engine penalty pain followed Leclerc’s Baku DNF as he had to battle back from a Canada grid drop before another bizarre Ferrari strategy call cost him at Silverstone. There, the Scuderia failed to pit him under the late safety car when it had more than enough time to make the call it gave to eventual winner Sainz. And then in Hungary came its famous decision to run the hard tyre that cost Leclerc all pace against the charging, brilliant Verstappen. There he won despite a spin and had also benefitted from Ferrari costing Leclerc points at Silverstone, when the Red Bull had been taken out of the lead when a piece of AlphaTauri bodywork became lodged in his floor.

Even on his off days Verstappen swept up solid results

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

5. Verstappen happy to not win on his rare second-best days (AK)

Going back to Monaco briefly. There, it seemed Verstappen was content to accept the circumstances set before him that stymied his shot at getting close to the win. In dry conditions, Leclerc was untouchable, but the rain meant Perez’s late Q3 crash actually helped him in his battle with his team-mate, as it ensured track position at the venue where passing is all but impossible in modern F1.

Verstappen had been set to join Leclerc on the front row given his sector one pace behind Perez and Sainz (also caught up in the Mexican’s crash). His fury was immediate over the radio, before he quickly changed tact. He knew solid points were still on.

A better example of Verstappen showing the champion’s trait of ‘winning even on a bad day’ came in Austria. This was a comprehensive defeat for Red Bull - where Ferrari had one of its rare days this season with better tyre degradation. Leclerc even passed Verstappen for the lead three times, but the Dutch racer did not fight him for every piece of asphalt, as he seemingly had against Lewis Hamilton in 2021.

Highlights: 10 things we learned from the 2022 F1 Austrian GP

Second in Austria was still a solid haul - albeit helped by the charging Sainz retiring with a fiery engine failure. Had the battle been tighter over the course of the season, this would’ve been an important opportunity to bank points, when Verstappen already had a commanding lead.

A distraught Leclerc laments his crash out of the lead of the French GP

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

6. Leclerc crashes out of the lead of the French GP (AK)

This was the moment the title was truly lost. Coming into the weekend, Leclerc had trimmed Verstappen’s lead to 38 points with his battling Austria victory. The scrap for pole was as close as ever, with Red Bull and Verstappen still ominously fast in a straight line despite starting second.

That factor was what Leclerc had to overcome once he’d aced the start. He did, and the fight at the front quickly boiled down to a two-horse race. Verstappen was hotly pursuing in the sweltering conditions - so much so he got a track limits violation. Red Bull was trying to pressure Ferrari into eating up its tyres a la Imola and Miami where Verstappen had also taken fine wins, but Leclerc was holding on magnificently with his pace high and not dropping back into Verstappen’s DRS clutches.

Leclerc’s excellent opening stint pushed Red Bull off its optimum one-stop strategy plan and the race was poised to be a tense thriller with the leader running long and another late-race passing battle surely coming. Then that expectation was dashed.

PLUS: The 2018 Vettel rut Leclerc must avoid in F1 2022's title fight

Leclerc turned in for Beausset too hot and too hard compared to the previous lap on what was to be an unfinished 18th tour of 53 - on very stressed tyres. He spun into the barriers and couldn’t get out, once again roaring his fury. All the misfortune to that point - bar an understandable Imola spin chasing the leading Red Bulls - had not been of his making. This one was and it was a devastating blow as Verstappen then waltzed off to the first of five successive wins and a dominant title position.

Red Bull's upgrades really energised the title push

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

7. The updated, lighter, better-tailored RB18 emerges (MK)

A considerable factor in Leclerc snaring six poles from the first eight rounds was the agility of the F1-75. Unlike that lithe creation, the first iteration of the RB18 exceeded the new minimum weight limit of 798kg, thought to be by as much as 20kg. Every kilo it initially carried over the Ferrari contributed a greater percentage of its overall mass when the fuel tanks were dry and the car was at its lightest - in qualifying and the end of a race.

That issue meant there was little scope during the early races to tune it to Verstappen’s driving style - a big factor in why Perez was initially much closer as team-mate this year. Verstappen needs to trust the front-axle to grip and is then more than happy to handle any oversteer from an unsettled rear. To begin with in 2022, though, this was limited by a rear-bias weight distribution that couldn’t be moved due to the weight problem.

But after the summer break, a slimmed-down RB18 came on song. Now under the weight limit, the team could choose where to position ballast. That allowed it to place the weight over the nose and gave Verstappen the front-end grip he thrives on.

PLUS: Why Verstappen’s absolute F1 domination is no turn off

Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache explained: “At the beginning of the season, we didn't have the possibility to move the weight. It was part of the set-up. [Then], it went in favour of Max.”

This was empathic when Verstappen came out of the summer break at Spa in form more dominant than ever and completed a hat-trick of victories. Further reflecting the development of the RB18, Perez’s results notably declined from this point until victory in Singapore as the evolved car hurtshim just as much as it suited his stablemate.

The Dutch driver's best win of the season arguably came at Spa

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

8. Verstappen’s Spa supremacy overturns grid penalty setback (MK)

The afternoon’s work turned in by Verstappen at the Belgian Grand Prix will take some beating as his greatest Formula 1 drive - although there will surely be plenty more to choose from.

Saddled by a tactical gearbox and engine change at that event, he waded into qualifying knowing he would serve a grid drop. Nevertheless, he bolted across the timing line some six tenths clear of next-fastest Sainz and was 0.8s quicker than his team-mate.

That might have seemed in vain given he then lined up in 14th on the grid (although he did gain a place when Pierre Gasly was forced to start from the pitlane). But he despatched three cars at La Source on lap one alone before Verstappen survived the mid-pack cut and thrust on that tour.

PLUS: How Verstappen scored the best win of his F1 career and furthered Leclerc’s downfall

As those around him took to the grass and showered his helmet in dust, Verstappen removed a visor tear-off. Incidentally, it flew straight into the brake duct of the chasing Leclerc, who was also recovering from another grid penalty, forcing the Ferrari into making an unscheduled stop. The title race had petered out already by this point, but this freak rotten luck for Leclerc certainly didn’t help.

With the red car in strife yet again, Verstappen continued his ascent and remarkably by only lap 12 took the provisional lead for the first time. Aided by faultless strategy and pitstops from Red Bull, he reached the chequered flag some 17.8s clear of Perez and a further nine-seconds ahead of Sainz - having started six rows behind them on the grid. This signed off a truly mesmeric performance. Leclerc, meanwhile, mustered fifth on the road but sixth place due to a penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Verstappen’s run of wins either side of the summer break cemented his title credentials

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

9. Verstappen secures a second home win, Ferrari denied another (AK)

After his crushing Spa win, Verstappen headed to Zandvoort. This was his second home race in succession given his Belgian-Dutch heritage, but the event on the outskirts of Amsterdam was a show for one driver only compared to the mix of fans that flock to Spa each year. In front of heaving, partying grandstands, Verstappen delivered another victory, just as he had in 2021.

Then, he took pole and controlled a rapid but not-action-packed race with Hamilton. This time, he had to see off threats on multiple fronts after Leclerc had blown his chance at taking yet another 2022 pole.

Verstappen had things under control over the Ferrari during the early stages, but it suddenly seemed the charging, one-stopping Mercedes cars posed the bigger threat. The late-race safety car aided Verstappen’s chances, but his pace in all conditions was brilliant.

His points lead therefore stood at 109 heading to Ferrari’s home race at Monza, where Red Bull opted to give Verstappen another internal combustion engine on Honda’s advice with the season run-in looming. This left him requiring another charge from seventh on the grid and seemingly had Leclerc on course for another famous win in front of the Tifosi.

But with the RB18 now the class of the 2022 field if not an all-time great car, by lap three Verstappen had surged to run in range of the lead. He took it when Ferrari stopped Leclerc under the early virtual safety car activation and sealed it when the Monegasque’s pace on the two-stopper was no match for his speed on the single-stop strategy.

PLUS: The seven factors powering Verstappen's 2022 F1 domination

There was to be a controversial ending when the late safety car caused by Daniel Ricciardo’s Lesmo stoppage meant the race finished neutralised, but again Verstappen had the pace to cover all attacks. Ferrari did everything right for a change, but it was well beaten and the gap to Leclerc had grown to 116 points.

Verstappen clinches the 2022 F1 world title in a bizarre Japanese GP

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

10. Confusing Japanese GP and Leclerc penalty seals Verstappen’s second title (MK)

After a protracted period of operational excellency, Red Bull made a rare mistake by under-fuelling Verstappen for Q3 in Singapore. That meant, to provide a sample, he had to abort a lap that looked a certainty to secure pole. Forced to make progress from eighth on the grid, his early pace to pass was strong before he overcooked it under braking while battling Lando Norris to ultimately only take seventh at the flag. While the maths was never in his favour, at Marina Bay, Verstappen missed the first opportunity to secure his second world title.

Then came a return to Suzuka for the first time since 2019. Here, the team was sound again. So, despite Verstappen dropping time late in Q3 after sustaining minor damage, his early banker effort was still sufficient to land a fifth pole ahead of Leclerc.

The Ferrari driver did launch well though in wet conditions to force Verstappen to keep his foot in to carry more speed through the first corner to cement first place. But a litany of opening-lap shunts created a two-hour red flag interlude.

When the time-limited race finally got underway, Verstappen was simply imperious. He was some 1.5s a lap quicker than Leclerc to take the win by 26.8s. But without fastest lap, he looked to be one point short of the title to leave the coronation until Austin.

However, a late five-second penalty for Leclerc aborting the Suzuka chicane to gain an advantage before squeezing Perez to the edge of the track dropped the Monegasque to third in the classification. As such, the points picture took a dramatic last twist. Unfittingly after his dominance that day and in 2022, a confused Verstappen was left to find out of his title success in the post-race interview.

Verstappen celebrates his title win after it was confirmed in parc ferme

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images