The victories of Max Verstappen at Imola and Miami they relaunched the Dutchman in the fight for the leadership of the world championship, currently still occupied by Charles Leclerc. A state of form – in addition to the previous success of Gedda – which has turned into a real hunt for the Ferrari driver, now 19 points away on the eve of the Spanish GP, scheduled from 20 to 22 May. All this within a few months of the world champion success achieved at the end of the 2021 season against a driver such as Lewis Hamilton. A statement, that of the Red Bull driver, which had been criticized by some for the way in which the current number 1 won the last race and for the controversial choices of the then Race Direction.
However, within days of the checkered flag of Miami, the first to recognize Verstappen’s qualities was another world champion such as Jacques Villeneuveintervened in an editorial published by the site formulas1.nl. In fact, the Canadian wanted to recognize the talent of the Red Bull driver, who never vanished even in this start of the world championship despite the retirements in Bahrain and Australia: “Max was impressive at the start of the season and drives like last year – explained Villeneuve – normally after a season in which you have won the championship you can be a bit tired, but you can see that nothing has changed, quite the contrary. It got stronger. He has certainly shown in the last two races that he deserved the title. A car can always break down, but other than that he always competes for the win. He drives almost without errors and, if he makes one, corrects it. Drive to the fullest extent of him, to the limit. Make the most of what it can control. There is no race in which he is inferior, we saw him again in Miami ”.
Villeneuve also gave Mercedes a thought, focusing in particular on George Russell’s growth against Lewis Hamilton: “I think we have seen the definitive changing of the guard – added sample 1997 – Russell is riding the wave while Hamilton is trying not to drown. After many years of winning without competition, it’s hard to wake up and realize it’s not that simple. Now he has to drive like he did in his first two years in Formula 1, something Russell is doing now. Lewis’s luck appears to have disappeared. It will be a tough fight, but Lewis is a champion. He knows what needs to be done and we’ll see if he still has the energy to do it. But I think losing the world title last year is a heavy burden to carry throughout the winter. He was embittered and he feels he has been robbed – he concluded – but from the way Max is riding, you can see that he hasn’t stolen the title and is a deserving champion ”.
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