Verstappen is the 34th driver to win the world championship and will bring #1 back to the Formula 1 grid for the first time since fellow Red Bull champion Sebastian Vettel’s final title defence in 2014.
The Dutchman claims being champion makes no difference, that he won’t change. That’s in keeping with his public persona – he wouldn’t admit to the tweaks he made after some major errors early in 2018 – but, as Alex Kalinauckas shows in our cover article, that can’t be the case.
Verstappen’s rapid rise marked him out as a future star as soon as he started to compete. Marcus Simmons talks to some of those who worked with the youngster in his early days to find out what really grabbed their attention.
Honda played a key role in Verstappen’s successful title tilt, no mean feat given the disastrous time it had experienced with McLaren before joining the Red Bull fold. Team boss Christian Horner is one of those to tell Adam Cooper why Red Bull was confident about the switch and how Honda was able to redeem itself so impressively.
One weakness to Red Bull’s game in 2021 was Sergio Perez’s struggles to get the best out of the RB16B. We investigate the best number two drivers in F1 history – perhaps the least-popular important job in motorsport.
David Malsher-Lopez also talks to Australian Supercars champion-turned-IndyCar ace Scott McLaughlin following the Penske driver’s win in the season opener, while Charles Bradley hears from Britons Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat about their Lexus challenge in IMSA.
There’s all the usual international and national news, led by motorsport’s response to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, plus Stefan Mackley looks at the series catering for junior tin-top drivers in the UK.
And another one of those 34 world champions, Damon Hill, picks out his favourite racing car…
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