Max Verstappen’s 2022 Formula 1 season is being almost perfect, and that is, except for the occasions in which he has abandoned due to reliability problems, in Bahrain and Australia, and in Monaco, where he got on the podium, the Dutch driver counts all their participations as victories.
In total there are six wins in nine grand prix, which places him as the leader of the general classification with 175 points, 46 units behind his immediate pursuer, his Red Bull teammate, Sergio Pérez, and 49 from Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, who was running as a rival to the title at the beginning of the course.
However, there is one stat that the reigning world champion has historically not done so well, rankings. Max Verstappen, despite already being among the ten most successful drivers in the entire history of the highest category of motorsports, had to wait until the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix to add his first pole position, that is, he participated in 93 rankings until starting from the first position.
That places him in the 96th position of the 103 drivers who have won at least one pole position in Formula 1 that has taken the longest to do so, and only Daniel Ricciardo (94) and Sergio Pérez (216) on the current grid surpass him.
In this 2022 season, he has only added two first positions on Saturdays, despite the fact that his RB18 commands the constructors’ general standings, and is in stark contrast to Leclerc’s six pole positions in nine races.
For this reason, his father and former top flight driver, Jos Verstappen, explained that what his son needed to be unbeatable: “The only thing missing is to qualify in first position.”
“You could see his frustration during Saturday’s post-qualifying interview in Baku because it’s still not going the way he wants,” the Dutchman told RacingNews.365 . “If you get your qualifying performance right, it will be easier, and on the street circuits it’s more apparent.”
Surprising as it may seem, Max Verstappen is only 24 years old , and he will not turn 25 until September 30, so his career has only just begun if the extensive careers of others such as Fernando Alonso or Kimi are taken into account. Raikkonen, so he still has a lot of room for improvement in this regard.
His pole position conversion rate is 10% , while he has a 17.33% effectiveness on Sundays, although he climbs to the top of the podium in 66.67% of the times in which he starts from the first position (10 of 15).
However, Jos Verstappen is not too concerned that he is not the fastest in qualifying, assuring that his performance in the race will help him win: “The good news is that on Sundays Red Bull goes like a rocket, the balance of the car is good.
“During a grand prix, the tires behave in a different way and the car is fast in the corners, Max [Verstappen] can handle that very well,” his father continued.
“Max is driving very well, setting a consistent pace per lap. He copies every lap with 100% precision, you can see that he is very motivated. Of course, the Monaco race (where his starting position hurt him) should not let that affects him, it’s only going to get better, an annoying Max is an even better Max,” he said.
