Red Bull boss Christian Horner heaped praise on Max Verstappen for his incredible recovery to win the 2022 F1 United States GP. The Dutch driver fell behind Lewis Hamilton after a botched pitstop but recovered quite well and passed the seven-time world champion late in the race.
Horner commented on the hard-fought victory and, speaking to Sky Sports F1, said:
“There’s a hunger within him that I’ve never seen within another driver. I think that there’s a determination as he’s growing and maturing, he’s reading races incredibly well.”
A major aspect of Verstappen achieving so much this year was his team, Red Bull, and the progress it showed in contrast to last season. No other team this season has shown the consistency that Red Bull has shown. The Austrian outfit built a car that performed on all tracks and all kinds of surfaces.
Verstappen won races from the back of the grid and was more than a second ahead of some cars on the grid down the straights. The team also made fewer mistakes and kept their cool after a disappointing start to the season.
Max Verstappen breaks multiple records with emphatic Texas win
The win in Texas was his 13th of the season. It puts the Dutch driver in the record books for tying the record for most wins in a single season, held jointly by Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher.
The win at COTA also gave Red Bull their first constructors championship since the turbo hybrid era began in 2014. With their fifth overall title, winning the championship helped the team end Mercedes’ eight-year dynasty.
Max Verstappen dedicated the win and the constructors’ championship to Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, who passed away a day earlier. The boss was there to see Verstappen win his second world title earlier this month in Japan.
Max Verstappen moved clear of Fernando Alonso in the all-time wins list after winning this race, his 33rd career win. It also puts him in the all-time sixth position just behind legendary drivers and multiple world champions Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
Max Verstappen still has three races to break the record for most wins in a season. Given how the Dutch driver has been performing, the idea doesn’t seem too farfetched.
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Edited by Nicolaas Ackerman
