The Times - UK (2022-03-18)

FORMULA ONE

2022

5

also had won one championship and had
a similar number of wins and podiums
and fastest laps. Hamilton has gone on
to have a stellar career, which has seen
him become the most successful driver
in the history of the sport with 103 wins
and the same number of pole positions.
He shares the record of seven titles with
Michael Schumacher, who famously said
records were made to be broken.
So can Verstappen do to Hamilton
what the Briton did to Schumacher?
“I never think about this,” he says,
dismissively. “You need luck as well to be
in a team that is dominating. I don’t
know if that will happen but we will find
out.”
The luck line is something of a dig at
Hamilton, one used before, but there is
little coincidence that the best drivers
end up in the best cars. Verstappen is
certainly one of the best and has all the
talent to be breaking records and enjoy a
long career in the sport but he also
enjoys a life away from the track.
He lives in Monaco with his girlfriend,
Kelly Piquet — daughter of Nelson,
triple F1 world champion — her
daughter, Penelope, whom she had with
former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat, and their
two cats. He insists he is both a cat and a
dog person but “it’s easier to have cats in
an apartment” because of all the time
spent on the road. They get locked in
one room at night so they don’t wake
him up early on the rare nights he is at
home. “They are definitely not allowed
in the bedroom,” he says, laughing.
He’s enjoying the family lifestyle,
which he says, stops him from doing
“stupid things”.
“I think it’s good [being settled down],”
he says. “Because if you’re not really
settled when you’re young and when
everything is great, if you don’t have the
right guidance around you, you might do
stupid things. But I think also what is
very important, you have the right
people around, who can say what they

Verstappen celebrates

with his Red Bull team in

Abu Dhabi last December,

having won his first world

title by passing seven-

times champion Hamilton

in a gripping but highly

controversial finale

think of what you’re doing, and they can

be honest to you, instead of just leaving

everything up to you. And luckily, I have

a lot of good people around me who tell

me what they think of certain situations

or things and for me that’s very

important.”

One of those people around him is his

father, Jos, who has been a constant

presence throughout his career and

guided him to achieving the ultimate

goal. Jos is himself a racer and competed

in F1, with distinctly less success than his

son, but he is still rallying.

Verstappen is eager to race alongside

his father, though reveals that his dad

does not feel the same way. Verstappen

would like to do it sooner rather than

later with one option being Le Mans,

although that could clash with the F1

calendar. Another possibility, Verstappen

says, is the 24 Hours of Daytona which is

held in January, outside the F1 calendar.

He’d like to do both if he can convince

his dad.

For now though, his focus is very

much on this season and all eyes will be

on him this weekend to see if he can

make a good start to the defence of his

crown. “I hope throughout the season

the car is going to be competitive for a

long time,” Verstappen says. “And it’s all

about development rates [with 23 races].

So nobody knows at the moment, but of

course, I really hope, for the team as

well, that we can win again.”

2022 SEASON AT A GLANCE

Calendar Grid at a glance

How scoring system works

Up first: Bahrain

Hamilton hunting history

What else is new

American double

Sprint races are back...

1st and more important

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10th

There will be Saturday sprint races this year

at Imola, Austria and Brazil to determine the

grid positions for the main grand prix. The

first eight drivers will win championship

points with eight going to the winner. Friday

qualifying will

determine the grid

for the sprint race.

The fastest lap in this

qualifying will be

officially given "pole

position" in the

record books

Miami joins Austin

on the circuit for the

first time. The

temporary track is

centred around the

Hard Rock Stadium,

home of the Miami

Dolphins NFL

franchise

Australia, Singapore, Japan and Canada

return to the calendar. Due to the

unprecedented number of races this year,

grand prix meetings have been cut to three

days. This means that Monaco will break

from tradition and move from Thursday,

Saturday and Sunday to Friday, Saturday

and Sunday. A 23rd race to replace the

cancelled Russian Grand Prix will be

announced in due course.

How to follow the action Every race is live on Sky’s dedicated Sky Sports F1 channel. Non-Sky subscribers can buy

one-day passes through Now TV for £9.99. Highlights from every race can be viewed free to air on Channel 4, who

also broadcast the British Grand Prix

25 points

18 points

15 points

12 points

10 points

8 points

6 points

4 points

2 points

1 point

One point is given

to the driver with

the fastest lap

Grand Prix starts Sunday, 3pm

Race 1 of 23 Laps 57

Circuit length 3.3 miles

Race 5 of 23 Laps 57

Circuit length 3.36 miles

Circuit map

Win the title this year and Hamilton will become the first driver to win

eight world championships

He is set to become only the sixth driver

to race at 300 grands prix

And can become the first driver to win

grands prix in 16 successive seasons

Lewis

Hamilton

(2008, 2014, 2015,

2017-2020)

Michael

Schumacher

(1994, 1995,

2000-2004)

Juan Manuel

Fangio

(1951, 1954-1957)

Alain

Prost

(1985, 1986,

1989, 1993)

Sebastian

Vettel

(2010-2013)

77

(^544)
Kimi Raikkonen
Fernando Alonso
Rubens Barichello
Schumacher
Jenson Button
Hamilton
350
334
323
307
306
288
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
4 5 2 3 3 4 1
11
10
10
9
11
11
11
8
Hard Rock
Stadium
rid
e.
n this
e
pole
Sunday Bahrain (Sakhir) 3pm
Mar 27 Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) 5pm
Apr 10 Australia (Melbourne) 5am
Apr 24 Emilia Romagna (Imola) 1pm
May 8 Miami (Miami) 7.30pm
May 22 Spain (Barcelona) 1pm
May 29 Monaco (Monaco) 1pm
Jun 12 Azerbaijan (Baku) 11am
Jun 19 Canada (Montreal) 6pm
Jul 3 Great Britain (Silverstone) 2pm
Jul 10 Austria (Spielberg) 1pm
Jul 24 France (Le Castellet) 1pm
Jul 31 Hungary (Budapest) 1pm
Aug 28 Belgium (Spa) 1pm
Sept 4 Netherlands (Zandvoort) 1pm
Sept 11 Italy (Monza) 1pm
Sept 25 TBC (Russian Grand Prix cancelled)
Oct 2 Singapore (Marina Bay) 12pm
Oct 9 Japan (Suzuka) 5am
Oct 23 USA (Austin) 7pm
Oct 30 Mexico (Mexico City) 7pm
Nov 13 Brazil (Sao Paulo) 6pm
Nov 20 Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) 1pm
Bottas won two
of last year's
sprint qualifying
races
sprint race determines the grid for grand prix
Date Grand Prix (circuit)
Start
(UK time)
DRS zone
Tallest driver
Shortest driver
6ft 1in
E Ocon (Alpine),
A Albon (Williams)
5ft 2in
Y Tsunoda
(AlphaTauri)
Highest-paid driver (approx)
Lowest-paid driver (approx)
£31m
L Hamilton
(Mercedes)
£575k
Y Tsunoda
(AlphaTauri)
Oldest driver
Youngest driver
40y, 239d
F Alonso
(Alpine)
21y, 313d
Y Tsunoda
(AlphaTauri)
MARK THOMPSON/GETTY IMAGES
SIMILAR STARTS
Verstappen and Hamilton
produced remarkably
similar results across their
first seven seasons in the
sport
Verstappen Hamilton
Races
Wins
Podiums
Poles
Fastest laps
Retirements
141
129
20
22
60
54
13
30
16
13
29
19
“
It was my dream to win
the world championship
and once you have
achieved that there’s a lot
of pressure off