2022 title win 'better and more rewarding' - Verstappen

Max Verstappen has been comparing and contrasting his emotional responses to his two world championship successes.

The Red Bull driver was speaking at the FIA's prize giving ceremony in Bologna, crowning a dominant season for both the team and the driver.

After a rocky start to the year, Verstappen went on to win a record 15 race victories, and wrapped up the title by clinching success in Japan with four races still to go.

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That's a far cry from his maiden title success in 2021 which saw the title go down to the wire, and only resolved in the final corners of the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

“It’s been an incredible year for everyone within the team,” Verstappen said as he was presented with the drivers’ championship trophy.

"We had a very tough start to the year. I said at one point that I didn’t believe in the title anymore, but then you could see how the team really stuck together and we managed to turn things around very quickly.

“All the wins we have achieved is something I never could have imagined in my life. After last year, already winning ten, I was like, ‘if I can ever do something like that again, that would be amazing’.

Asked to say which of his title successes was the best, Verstappen replied: "The emotions are very different.

"I think they should be different, because your whole life you aim for one particular goal - and that's to become a world champion

"The first one is always very emotional once you achieve it, but this year's been very different," he continued.

"Moments like that you can only compare to your first race win in F1, even your first pole position. Even the ones you get afterwards, they are different. They’re nice, but that same emotion you will never experience again.

"I do think we were more competitive this year," he added. "Also, I think more enjoyable with the way we were performing as a whole team.

"We won the drivers and the constructors [titles], we had a lot of victories as a team, so I would say this one is better and more rewarding."

Verstappen said he found it possible to choose which campaign he preferred as a whole - the knife-edge battle with Lewis Hamilton, or the dominance of this season.

"They're both very different," Verstappen said. "I couldn't choose because the first one was very emotional. I would not want to swap that out for this year's.

"This year has been really, really enjoyable," he insisted. "Last year was the first time that I was in a fight to win a title, so that was the first time you get that kind of experience.

"I cannot choose," he concluded. "Maybe if I had a third, then I can choose!"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.