This one is 'more beautiful'

SUZUKA - Max Verstappen won his first Formula One championship amid heated controversy in 2021.

While his second came after confusion at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, this time, there was no argument about the outcome.

The 25-year-old Red Bull driver has enjoyed one of the most dominant seasons in the sport's history with Suzuka the scene of his 12th win in 18 races.

The result gave him an unassailable 113-point lead, making him only the third driver after Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel to clinch the title with four races to spare.

"Max has been truly, truly dominant. That's our 14th victory (of 2022), a record for us (in a single season)," said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

"We came back from some difficulties in the first couple of races, but he and the team have just raised it to another level."

The Dutch driver's first title was marked by drama and acrimony as he fought a down-to-the-wire, battle-of-the-generations duel with Mercedes' seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. That ended in one of the sport's greatest controversies, with a late change to the safety car procedures leading to a last-lap overtake in Abu Dhabi.

"The first is more emotional but the second is more beautiful," said Verstappen, who won the rain-interrupted race by 27 seconds.

He was only informed he had retained his title midway through the post-race TV interview.

"It's a crazy feeling of course as I didn't expect it when I crossed the line," said a surprised Verstappen.

In the furious battle for second, Ferrari's title challenger Charles Leclerc cut across a corner while jostling for position with Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

Leclerc beat Perez to the line but later conceded that his five-second penalty was "the right thing to do" as the pair reversed positions.

"I made a mistake and tried to minimise it," said Leclerc, who led the championship early in the season. "Huge congratulations to Max and Red Bull. Max has been incredible and it's a title fully deserved."

Earlier, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz spun out on the first lap and the Williams of Alex Albon broke down, prompting a safety car.

A red flag soon followed and forced the drivers back to the pit for around two hours before the action resumed under a safety car.

Buoyed by his 2021 title win over the sport's most successful driver, Verstappen has shown metronomic consistency.

Adrian Newey, Red Bull's technical head, said Verstappen had been simply superb.

"In the traffic in Singapore he made a little mistake, but apart from that, he's made no mistakes," the Briton told Sky Sports.

Verstappen suffered two retirements from the first three races but has otherwise finished all but two rounds in the top three.

He has had an impressive car, with Red Bull nailing the radical rules introduced in 2022, and has also benefited from reliability woes, strategic missteps, and errors derailing Leclerc's title challenge.

Verstappen, whose experienced teammate Perez has won twice in 2022, also showed maturity and assurance in winning from 10th place on the starting grid in Hungary, 14th in Belgium and seventh in Italy.

There have been flashes of his hot-headed streak - such as in Singapore where insufficient fuel in his Red Bull prevented him from fighting for pole and left him furious, and in Spain where he raged over the radio about a malfunction.

But the boy who made his F1 debut at the age of 17, guided to greatness by the firm hand of his father and former racer Jos, has grown into an unstoppable force.

His dominance has been reminiscent of Britain's Nigel Mansell and German greats Schumacher and Vettel. Verstappen has four races to break the record for most wins in a season, shared by Schumacher and Vettel at 13.

REUTERS, AFP