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Max Verstappen feels balance has been restored with regard to his title challenge in the ongoing 2022 F1 season after his initial misfortunes earlier in the year.
The reigning world champion was an unwitting victim of Red Bull's irreliability in two of the first three races of the season. Since his DNFs in Bahrain and Melbourne, the Dutch driver has been on the podium five times, wherein he was on the top step of the podium in four out of those five races.
These strong performances have not only allowed the Red Bull driver to overtake one of his championship rivals, Charles Leclerc, but also to extend his own lead in the Driver Standings.
When asked if the scale of fortune had been balanced, now that Charles Leclerc has suffered two DNFs in the span of three races, Max Verstappen said:
“Yeah, well, I mean, of course, we had our misfortune in the beginning of the year, so we knew that we had to play a bit of catch-up, but then of course it seems like now it’s more or less evened out with the bad luck and you have to score points every single weekend if you want to really fight for the championship. Everyone knows that, everyone of course tries that, but it's not always that easy.”
As we approach the 2022 Canadian GP, Max Verstappen leads the World Drivers' Championship standings with 150 points. His teammate Sergio Perez is in P2 with 129 points, followed by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in third place with 116 points.
"It will hurt all the junior categories" - Max Verstappen feels a F1 driver salary cap could be detrimental for young drivers
Max Verstappen is against the implementation of a salary cap for F1 drivers, citing the damage it would do to drivers in the junior categories hoping to make the climb to the top.
The comments come at a time when rising costs are making it difficult for teams to operate under F1's stringent budget of $140 million. The cost cap excludes drivers' salaries.
Speaking at a pre-race press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP, where he openly admitted to being against the idea of a salary cap for all F1 drivers, the Dutchman also said:
“In all the junior categories, if you see how many of those drivers have a sponsor or backer, who eventually will have a certain percentage of their income in potentially Formula 1 or whatever, I think it’s going to limit that a lot, because they will never get their return, in money, if you get a cap. So it will hurt all the junior categories as well. And I don’t think you would want that.”
Verstappen is the highest-paid driver on the F1 grid after signing a massive contract extension with Red Bull that will keep him in the Milton-Keynes team until the end of 2028.
