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.
So Leclerc finished sixth, and to make matters worse his team-mate Carlos Sainz was hampered by two slow pit stops and also missed out on the podium in fourth. Verstappen now has one hand on the 2022 drivers' title, while Red Bull are 97 points ahead in the constructors' championship.
After daring to dream of a Ferrari renaissance earlier in the season, the Italian media appears to have lost all hope after the Budapest result. The back pages of the major papers expressed sympathy for Leclerc, like Quotidiano Nazionale who said he "deserves more", but slammed Ferrari's strategists, while Corriere dello Sport's headline described Verstappen's performance as a "masterpiece".
Writing for that same newspaper, renowned F1 journalist Fulvio Solms produced perhaps the most scathing assessment of the situation. He wrote: "The wave of enthusiasm on which the entire Ferrari team was surfing, dreaming of an irresistible end of the season, has been completely shattered.
"It should never have happened at the Hungaroring, but it did. Right there, on the friendly circuit that requires a key quality of Ferrari – aerodynamic downforce. The Dutchman secured his second title with nine races to go.
"The ground has collapsed under Ferrari's feet, convinced that it had the best car in the world championship. But it is time to close the dream book and return to the original objectives – to be competitive in each race.
"After the summer break, on August 28 in Belgium it will be difficult, because the two F1-75 cars will take penalties and start from the back of the grid. We therefore look to races that will arrive later, or perhaps even next year."
