Bitesized: I was proven right

Hello everybody, and welcome back to another edition of Steve’s Motorsport Blog!

A while back, I wrote about what makes a good champion. To recap; it wasn’t just about raw speed, but other intangible things, like ones demeanor, or how they lift up others and their team to achieve greatness.

In that, I mentioned that although Verstappen is a generational talent, I did not think that made him a great champion. It may have been a hot take, but this year I was proven right.

Max lost the championship to Lando Norris by 2 points. If you forget the fact that McLaren botched their final 1/3rd of the season in spectacular fashion, you might chalk it up to “that’s just racing, these things happen.” However, what happened in Spain is the exact point of evidence that I was talking about, and why Max himself is the only reason why he is not a 5x champion.

After being shafted on race strategy, thanks to a late safety car, Max was involved in a minor collision with George Russell. He pulled ahead by going off-track but was ordered to give the place back. He initially appeared to do, only to spear George, in what looked like on-purpose, immediately after.

The stewards gave him a hefty penalty, and instead of finishing 5th with 10 points, he finished 10th with 1 point. If he had just accepted his fate and taken the 5th on the chin, he would be champion again today by 8 points.

This is why he needs to change his approach. When Max is up against the wall, he hardly chooses to live another day, and often takes a YOLO approach in a puff of red mist. This works some times, and back-fires other times, just like this year.

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