F1: In 2022 Verstappen drove at another level

IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean believes Max Verstappen’s title-winning 2022 season was “99 percent perfect” with the Red Bull team orders controversy in Brazil his only black mark.

After winning his 1st F1 title in 2021, Verstappen won a record 15 races en route to his second Championship this year, completely destroying all others.

Appearing on the Motor Sport Magazine podcast, he said: “I honestly think it’s one of the best that I’ve seen in Formula 1.

“It’s 99 percent perfect, [the missing] one percent being Brazil. That was the wrong call and the wrong message when not allowing Perez to pass to gain a needed point.

“Apart from that, there’s nothing you can say. He was there in qualifying, he was there in the race. Even when he spun in Hungary, he still won the race.

“When you start doing that positive spiral you get everything right and nothing can stop you, so that was simply amazing.

“The only small touch I would say was the Brazil thing [when] he didn’t want to let Checo by. The rest, honestly, I don’t think you can do much better.”

The former F1 driver Grosjean, said it was tough for a teammate like Perez, who finished almost 18 seconds behind Verstappen (who started 14th) at Spa despite starting from the front row.

“In many races, he was stronger than anyone else,” he added.

“In those races it’s not hard to be one of the competitors because you’re just like, ‘well, it is another level’.

“It’s hard to be a teammate [in that scenario] because, when you see that happening and you don’t do it, it hurts a lot. But for the rest, they were in a different league.”