Max Verstappen’s Record-Breaking Season Deemed “Boring” With a Wake-Up Call to the Rest of the Grid

The start of the 2022 F1 season in Bahrain promised two things. One, Max Verstappen will have Charles Leclerc as his season-long rival, and two, Ferrari’s revival. However, none of that actually happened as Max Verstappen and Red Bull crushed Charles Leclerc and Ferrari’s title dream with back-to-back titanic performances. In the end, the level of dominance increased to an extent where the former F1 driver had to call it “boring.”

Not only this, but the Ferrari legend, Gerhard Berger also had a wake-up call for the rest of the grid for 2023 as Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren failed to match up to Red Bull’s challenge last year. Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Lando Norris were all bystanders while Verstappen picked up one win after another. This has really amazed Berger.

As per F1 Maximaal, the 63-year-old Austrian told Auto Motor Und Sport, “While I’m happy for Verstappen, someone who has done so well, his dominance has also resulted in a lot of boring races. You hope for three or four teams that can fight for the win.” [Translated using Google]

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Max Verstappen won 15 races out of a total of 22 races in the 2022 season. That’s a staggering 68.18% or the same as winning two races out of every three. Not only this, the Dutch driver won the championship over Leclerc after beating him by 146 points. Currently, the scenario is such that the 25-year-old might easily crush Charles Leclerc’s challenge even if Ferrari gets better.

Berger believes Max Verstappen got “better nerves” than Lewis Hamilton

Gerhard Berger was once of the opinion that Max Verstappen is better when it comes to handling pressure under a given circumstance. The veteran of the sport backed his opinion with reasons, and put down multiple examples of how the duo acted under pressure.

In 2021, Berger told ORF, “I think Max is the cooler of the two. He has the better nerves. When Max crosses the line after a victory, he does a short ‘thank you’ radio message to the team. He’s very clear in the head, not emotional, no crying or screaming.”

Comparing Hamilton with Verstappen, he said, “Lewis often overshoots the mark. It has nothing to do with titles or experience. It is just down to nature whether you perform particularly well under pressure.”

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“We saw it already in the Rosberg days, when Lewis was most likely to be attacked,” the Austrian former driver further remarked by bringing in the Nico Rosberg versus Lewis Hamilton rivalry that kept the F1 world engrossed for three straight years between 2014 to 2016.