A tasteless win: Max Verstappen and his second World Championship

My favourites of Singapore and Suzuka, but with a twist to it, as the last two F1 races had more drama than overtakes. If there's a driver that deserves to be talked about it is surely Max Verstappen, overshadowed by penalties and budget cap troubles.

Photo credits: Getty Images

Singapore welcomed the paddock with lots of unusual rain, as if it wanted to anticipate the mediatic storms that were about to come during the weekend. On Friday morning everyone was talking about the Budget Cap gate: some information had been leaked that declared that two teams, Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing, were guilty of spending more money than it was allowed from the Cost Cap.

All the eyes were set on Toto Wolff walking around the paddock as if he was a superstar with Mattia Binotto's support, while Christian Horner kept playing dumb and ignored the situation: we almost forgot that in the meantime, on track, twenty racing drivers were cruising through one of the most majestic circuits of the calendar.

In fact, Singapore is uniquely magical: the cars leaving sparks when passing - due to their low underbodies - the extra passionate fans, always there despite the rain, the incredible track position, set around the most spectacular places of Marina Bay island.

Between the gossips qualifying time came: Leclerc snatched pole position while Verstappen only qualified eight, as the team didn't manage well enough the fuel strategy. Mad Max made his comeback, getting angry just like when he was a rookie driving a single seater, only seventeen and with huge responsibilities on his shoulders.

On Sunday night the Singapore sky cried again, pouring rain, as if it wanted to warn us: drama was going to come. The race got delayed but everyone kept staring at that starting line, eager to know if Verstappen would've become the world champion earlier, as he mathematically could've.

Singapore is the only track of the calendar that saw Max not being perfect: blocking his front tires while trying to overtake Lando Norris he had to settle down for a seventh position, after a race where he struggled battling with the midfield and showed instability.

Checo Perez won, despite his behaviour under the Safety Car regimen - investigated for three whole hours - while Charles Leclerc hid his deception under a forced smile next to his teammate on the podium. The FIA confirmed its low level of professionality and everyone in the paddock couldn't stop talking about it, with every decision always benefitting the Red Bull Racing Team.

Photo credits: Getty Images

Waiting for the FIA Budget Cap report the paddock was teleported to Suzuka, the heart of Formula 1. Hate it or love it, everyone remembers Suzuka for a reason: Ayrton Senna and his enchanting overtakes, Schumi and his first world championship with Ferrari, the last memory of Jules Bianchi.

Suzuka welcomes the circus with rain, wind and coldness: the tension in the paddock could be sensed all the way from everyone's tv and preluded a spicy weekend.

The rain never stops, with the drivers never getting the chance to have a dry session. The race still goes underway - incredibly, as there were literally rivers of rain on the starting grid - and the FIA makes yet another mistake: after starting the race despite bad visibility, tractors were let in to the track - to recover the various single-seaters that came out during the first lap - with the drivers still there, just a few years ago when Jules Bianchi lost control of his car and got crushed by a crane at the side of the track.

Putting this situation aside - as I'd need a whole other article to talk about it properly - the race stopped and resumed an hour and a half later, when track conditions became acceptable. The drivers put their helmets back on after having complained about how safety was handled during the whole red flag regimen. The race ended with Max Verstappen crossing the finish line first, followed by Leclerc and Perez.

As the podium ceremony was about to start, the biggest news of the season was revealed: Max Verstappen had just won the 2022 World Championship despite no one knowing how. Full points were actually assigned, despite the race being a lot shorter than it was supposed to be, and Leclerc received a penalty for gaining an advantadge on track, so Max is champion, even if no one realises it.

Verstappen's victory doesn't taste like one: no one feels that magic that's supposed to come with a world championship. What kind of victory is it, if not even the champion knows that he won? If not even the team realises it? If not even the thousands of people that watch this sport understand how?

Max can't be blamed for this. He was born with an extraordinary talent and has completed an impeccable season, always with the goal to win and showed incredible speed. Who's to blame is the FIA: it wasn't able to manage the sport well enough. The FIA wasn't enough.

Verstappen's championship feels tasteless because it was taken away from him by the incompetence of an institution that should be able to guarantee things that aren’t actually able to demonstrate first hand. If Max is to blame it's due to the fact that he was so impeccable to have won the championship earlier during the worst race ever, also overshadowed by the Budget Cap Gate and all the conspiracies.

Still, Max Verstappen is the back to back Formula 1 World Champion and currently looking to break the most seasonal wins record. I don't have any favourites from Singapore and Suzuka, because the FIA took the sport's taste away. Next week we're racing in Texas, let's see what it'll bring us.

Photo credits: Getty Images