Häkkinen: Verstappen title another recognition of Newey's 'brillance'

Two-time F1 world champion Mika Häkkinen says Max Verstappen's outstanding run to the title this season is another recognition of Adrian Newey's "brilliant" technical leadership at Red Bull.

Newey and his team of designers embraced Formula 1's new regulations to field an all-conquering RB18 that has put Verstappen in a league of his own this season.

Although reliability problems impacted the start of the team's campaign, once Red Bull ironed out its issues there was no stopping Verstappen's forward march.

In Japan, the Dutchman clinched his second consecutive world title with four races to spare.

Häkkinen, who worked alongside Newey during the latter's days at McLaren praised the British engineer for his unwavering contribution to Red Bull's success.

• Read also: Newey says RB18 record win rate 'very rewarding'

"I am very happy for Red Bull’s technical boss Adrian Newey," the Finn wrote in his column for Unibet.

"It was thanks to his work at McLaren that I had great cars with which to win both my World Championship titles and he is still winning at Red Bull all these years later.

"He really is the most successful designer in F1 history, and although I know he has a great team of design engineers working with him, his technical leadership is just brilliant.

"Even during Mercedes’ dominant years, Red Bull remained competitive and it’s amazing to see Adrian’s team take advantage of this year’s new regulations to win another title. Congratulations to him."

Häkkinen extended his plaudits to Verstappen who conquered at Suzuka his twelfth win of 2022 after a masterclass and dominant display in the treacherous conditions.

"His race start was incredible because it looked as though Charles had taken the lead but Max has so much confidence and held on," he said.

"You can use that outside line at the first corner in the wet. It’s typical of what a kart racer can do, and Max used all his experience to take control and put Charles behind.

"From then on he was in a class of his own – really on top of the car.

"To win by 27 seconds after such a short race was brilliant. Max’s 12th win of the year really shows how much he deserved this year’s World Championship – he dominated."

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