Max Verstappen could clinch his fourth Formula One world title in Las Vegas, despite not having the fastest car for a significant portion of the season. Karun Chandhok, a former F1 driver and current Sky Sports analyst, believes Verstappen is deserving of the championship and considers him “one of the all-time great drivers.”
Chandhok has consistently predicted that Verstappen will win the Drivers’ World Championship, while McLaren will dominate the Constructors’ Championship. “Max’s championship was built in the first five races,” Chandhok said in an exclusive interview with GPblog.
“Since Miami, he hasn’t had the fastest car; McLaren has had that honor. But Max has been exceptional, consistently delivering points and maximizing the potential of his car. The only weekend he looked slightly off pace was perhaps Baku, where he appeared a bit behind Checo [Perez]. Otherwise, he’s been outstanding, and he fully deserves to be World Champion.”
Chandhok believes Verstappen’s consistency in maximizing his performance sets him apart from other drivers. “Lando [Norris] has had weekends where either a race start issue or Oscar [Piastri] being faster has cost him points, and the team has made mistakes too,” he explained. “For example, in Canada, they were unlucky with the timing of the safety car, and they could have reacted quicker. At Silverstone, the team put the wrong tyres on Lando, which cost him points. In Monza, they could have played the team strategy better. But overall, Max has done the best job.”
Chandhok emphasized that Verstappen’s ability to consistently deliver maximum points every race is what truly sets him apart. “One hundred percent,” he said. “There’s an element of luck involved too. You have to be great, but luck plays a role. Take Lewis [Hamilton] in 2007—he made a strategy mistake in China and ended up in the gravel trap, but he was also unlucky with a gearbox sensor failure in Brazil, which cost him the championship.”
Reflecting on 2021, Chandhok pointed out that both Verstappen and Hamilton faced their share of misfortune. “Max had bad luck in Budapest with Valtteri [Bottas] and in Baku with the tyre explosion. Lewis’ bad luck came from the crash by Nicolas Latifi. Whatever happened afterwards wasn’t handled well by the race officials, but without Latifi’s crash, Lewis would have won that race—and the championship.”