Red Bull’s Max Verstappen surges ahead in F1 standings

As the chequered flag fell at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, don’t be surprised if people at No 8, Place de la Concorde in Paris (FIA headquarters) were inscribing Max Verstappen’s name on the driver’s champions trophy that will be handed out at the FIA’s annual prize-giving gala later this year.

For fans of Formula One who had been clinging to a bit of hope of a competitive championship — at least between the Red Bull Racing teammates — the back-to-back races in Monaco and Barcelona should be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Verstappen, the reigning double world champion, added two more wins to his tally at the Monaco and Spanish Grand Prix, starting both races from pole position and winning in a commanding fashion that can demoralise the competitors. With only a third of the season done, it will be a long and dreary year for the sport.

Having taken five wins from seven races, including the last three, the Dutchman now leads his teammate Sergio Perez by 53 points. With Red Bull winning all seven races across various circuits, the sport will consider itself lucky if a driver other than two title contenders even wins a race this year.

Even as Verstappen dominated the streets of Monte Carlo, winning a rain-hit race by a whopping 28 seconds over second-place Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, there was a nagging feeling that the result could have been different had things taken a different turn.

Podium ready: Verstappen won the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix, ahead of Hamilton and Russell. | Photo Credit: AFP

Podium ready: Verstappen won the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix, ahead of Hamilton and Russell. | Photo Credit: AFP

On Saturday, Verstappen had to dig deep to produce a brilliant lap to take pole position, beating Alonso by less than a tenth of a second. In a circuit where overtaking is impossible, qualifying is all that matters, and the 25-year-old got it done on Saturday.

A brief spell of showers after lap 50 spiced up the race as drivers dived to the pits for intermediate and wet-weather tyres. At this point, Alonso and Aston Martin had a chance to go for a win. Just as the rain came, the Spaniard came to the pits for his first stop of the race.

Here, the team and the driver opted to play it safe and took another set of dry tyres as they felt the passing showers that hit only one section of the track would go away. But soon enough, the rain engulfed the whole area, and Alonso had to stop for inters again. Verstappen stopped a lap later for inters and kept his lead even as he struggled on a rapidly drenching track.

Had Alonso taken inters on his first stop, there was a slight chance he could have been in the race’s lead and controlled proceedings when Verstappen crawled to the pits. Alas, it was not to be.

After the first four races, it was evident that the battle for the championship would be between the Red Bull drivers. Perez helped his cause by winning two out of the four, and there was genuine excitement that he could challenge for the title. However, as Verstappen has stepped up over the last three rounds, the Mexican has buckled under pressure, committing huge unforced errors.

In Monaco and Spain, his costly mistakes in qualifying meant he was playing catch-up for the rest of the race. With just 12 points from the last two rounds, he needs a miraculous turnaround in form to even keep the title race alive towards the end of the year.