“At this rate, we will need 45 races to recover from Ferrari“. This was the bitter comment of Max Verstappen at the end of the Melbourne weekend, which saw him for the second time in three races failing to even reach the checkered flag. In both Bahrain and Australia the Dutch Red Bull would have lost the direct clash with Charles Leclerc, beaten instead in Jeddah at the end of a very tight race, but the two technical problems that stopped his RB18 cost him the beauty of 36 points. A ‘gift’, given above all to Ferrari and Leclerc, who at the moment can also count on the best car on the grid. Even in a championship as long as the 2022 one, 46 points of deficit seem like a lot to make up for.
The reigning champion has made it clear that he does not want to look at the general classification at the moment, trying to concentrate at least on bringing home the results. F1 history certainly is full of successful comebacks, but also a past champion like Mika Hakkinen agreed with Verstappen on the extreme difficulty of the moment that the Milton Keynes team is experiencing. “What’s really important is that Charles already has two wins and a second place in the first three Grands Prix, while Max Verstappen has had one win and two retirements. – wrote the former McLaren standard bearer in his column for Unibet – at this level you cannot afford to have constant technical problems. Max won’t be happy“. The # 1 at the moment is even sixth in the general classification, behind the two Mercedes, Carlos Sainz and teammate Sergio Perez.
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