The second race weekend of the F1 2022 calendar is only a day away. However, the Red Bull fans are still trying to forget their team’s defeat in Bahrain. Despite their promising outing at pre-season and even qualifying, Red Bull haven’t had the best start to the 2022 season. Being last year’s champion, it was frustrating for Max Verstappen to not earn a single point in the season-opener in Bahrain.

The reigning champion was behind the race leader, Charles Leclerc for almost the entirety of the Bahrain race. Ferrari‘s Monegasque driver gave a hard time to the Dutchman, not letting him overtake and keep the spot. Towards the end, it looked like Verstappen might just have to settle with a second-place finish and 18-points for his team. But the Red Bull driver had to give up even on that because of a fuel pump issue that forced him to retire from Bahrain GP.

Soon after Max, Checo also spun with his RB18 and had to quit the race. Hence, Red Bull had to return back to Milton Keynes with zero points. The Dutch driver is really frustrated about not bagging a single point. He claims that every point is crucial during the end of the season to win the championship.

Verstappen said, “You always say to yourself and to the team as well that we have to score points. It doesn’t matter if it is first or second in the first race weekend.”

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“You could see that. In turn one, I didn’t risk too much and in the fight with Charles, it was all clean and I was like ‘I’m happy with second here’ but to lose so many points for the team is very disappointing because you know in a championship where sometimes it can be very tight at the end, these are very important points,” the 2021 world champion continued.

Max Verstappen nominated for the Laureus Awards

The Dutchman might not have a great start, as he expected. But 2022 isn’t so bad for Verstappen because the Laureus Awards nominated him for the “Sportsman of the Year”. The Award committee nominated the 24-year-old for his phenomenal run last season. Verstappen didn’t only win his maiden world championship but also ended the Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton domination.

The Dutchman would be competing for the award against great sportsmen from different sports, like Novak Djokovic and Robert Lewandowski. If Max gets his hands on the prestigious awards, then he would join the list of F1 legends like Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton, who have won this award.

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Aside from the Laureus Awards nomination, Verstappen also has an important race on hand this weekend. Let’s see if he could win the Saudi Arabian GP or if he has to settle for something less, like last year.