Italian journalists have anointed Max Verstappen as champion-elect with nine races still to go in 2022 as they sharpened their claws after Ferrari's latest strategy shocker.
The Dutchman raced from 10th to win the Hungarian Grand Prix fairly comfortably, with Lewis Hamilton his nearest challenger but still several seconds down the road as he crossed the finish line. It means he now has a huge 80-point lead over Charles Leclerc, who had another weekend to forget.
He accepted total responsibility for his crash in France a week earlier, but this time he was thwarted by another poor strategy call from his team. Despite other teams struggling with the hard tyre in Hungary, Ferrari decided to put the Monegasque on the same compound and from there he only fell backwards.
