FORMULA ONE | Verstappen’s dominance is spellbinding, scary part is he has only started Premium
The Hindu
Max Verstappen, 26, has achieved greatness in F1, joining an elite list of 11 drivers to have won three titles. His dominance is spellbinding, with 14 wins in 17 races this year, and he is only entering the peak of his career. His pure pace and consistency have been enough to be at the top without having to do something reckless.
During the sprint race of the recently concluded Qatar Grand Prix, Max Verstappen became a three-time Formula One world champion, joining an elite list of just 11 drivers to have achieved the feat. He also became only the fifth driver to score a hat-trick of titles after Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
While the manner in which his title was sealed was anti-climatic — Sergio Perez, his teammate and the only driver with a near-improbable mathematical chance of keeping the fight alive, crashed out of the race — it capped off one of the best campaigns in the sport’s history.
In elite sports across disciplines, some once-in-a-generation athletes push the boundaries and achieve tremendous success at such a young age that they etch themselves into history books as an all-time great of the sport long before their career ends.
The Dutchman, all of 26, has joined the list of some absolute superstars the world has seen, like Bjorn Borg, Sachin Tendulkar, Simone Biles, and Michael Phelps, who by the time they were in their mid-20s, had achieved greatness in their respective domains.
Right from when he appeared in his first free practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2014, the 17-year-old Verstappen looked like he belonged at this level despite having just a season of racing cars.
While the road to F1 greatness was not always smooth — there were times till 2018 when his driving bordered on the dangerous, and he came under intense criticism from rivals — the 26-year-old has realised his pure pace is enough to be at the top of the game without having to do something reckless.
The consistency he showed even when Red Bull was not in title contention in 2019 and 2020 made it evident that he would be ready when the time came to fight for the championship.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.