Three Times the Fastest Car Didn’t Win the Driver’s World Championship
For the last four years, Max Verstappen has been the dominant force in Formula One. He has romped to championship glory in each of the last four campaigns, beginning with his controversial triumph over Lewis Hamilton in 2021. However, since then, his dominance has been anything but controversial.
Throughout the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, Super Max raced to both titles in fashion unlike anything seen before. Throughout the two seasons, he won 33 of the 44 races contested, easily claiming the championship on both occasions and breaking records along the way. However, last season, things changed.
🚨Max Verstappen has done it again!
He now ties Sebastien Vettel’s record for 9 straight wins 🏆#DutchGP
pic.twitter.com/GP29al6Uca— Bodog (@BodogCA) August 27, 2023
McLarens Rise
Red Bull were seemingly dominant once again, with Verstappen winning five of the opening seven races. However, midway through the campaign, a series of McLaren upgrades resulted in the Papaya outfit having the fastest car on the grid by some distance. The Flying Dutchman hung on, relying on the lead he had built up earlier in the season to secure his fourth straight title.
However, this season, if he is to claim a record-equalling fifth straight crown, online betting sites think that he will have to do it the hard way. After a blistering start to the season by McLaren, particularly Oscar Piastri - winner of four of the opening six races - the popular online sports betting sites now make the reigning champion a whopping 8/1 outsider to win the title this season. Both the McLaren duo are far shorter than that, with championship leader Piastri now the odds-on favorite.
The good news for Verstappen, though, is that he has been here before. Here are three times that the fastest car on the grid didn’t win the world championship.
2005: Alonso Outlasts McLaren’s Speed Machine
The 2005 season is one of those rare moments when the fastest car wasn’t enough. McLaren’s MP4-20 was blisteringly quick, and drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya were considered the two fastest on the grid. The blockbuster duo showcased their rocketships’ raw pace time and again, with the Iceman claiming seven wins. Yet, it was Fernando Alonso and Renault who walked away as champions. How did that happen?
The McLaren was a beast on its day, but notoriously fragile. Räikkönen alone suffered multiple engine failures, which saw him retire from two races. He also endured a disastrous suspension failure, which saw him lose the European Grand Prix on the final lap, with Alonso inheriting the win.
Renault and Alonso, meanwhile, were methodical, rarely putting a foot wrong. The Spaniard won three of the opening four races before that win in Europe at the midway point pretty much secured the championship already. Räikkönen and McLaren would rally throughout the second half of the season, but the damage was already done. Furthermore, Alonso would routinely finish as the runner-up when the Finn emerged victorious, continuing to pick up valuable points even if he wasn’t winning races outright.
2007: Räikkönen’s Steal from McLaren
Two years later, the tables turned, but McLaren was again at the center of controversy. This time, the Woking-based team had the swiftest car in the MP4-22, driven by rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton and reigning two-time champion Fernando Alonso, who had made the jump from Renault after winning back-to-back titles. The intra-team rivalry was fierce and ultimately played a pivotal role in their failure to convert their speed advantage into a title.
Kimi Räikkönen, now racing for Ferrari, wasn’t the immediate favorite, despite winning on debut in Australia. Yet, his steadiness paid dividends. McLaren’s infighting between Alonso and Hamilton boiled over, most infamously during qualifying in Hungary. These spats, combined with strategic errors, driver mistakes, and a big scandal to its core, cost both drivers crucial points.
Räikkönen bided his time, delivered when it mattered most, and pounced when opportunity struck. The Finn won the final two races of the season while championship leader Hamilton was floundering, clinching the title by a single point in the final race of the season in Brazil and cementing one of Formula 1’s most dramatic championship steals.
2021: Verstappen Versus Mercedes’ Juggernaut
Arguably one of the most controversial seasons in F1 history, 2021 saw Max Verstappen secure his first Drivers’ Championship by narrowly pipping Lewis Hamilton to the crown in Abu Dhabi. Red Bull and their Dutch lead driver arguably had the fastest car at the start of the season, but wily strategies from Hamilton ensured that it was the Brit who won three of the first four races.
Throughout the season’s midway point, Mercedes caught up, and tension between the two championship protagonists boiled over in a series of wheel-to-wheel clashes, notably in Great Britain and in Italy. However, Hamilton came out of that the stronger, and his W12 was head and shoulders clear of Verstappen’s Red Bull throughout the second half of the season.
Verstappen had managed to build a championship lead while his car was quicker, despite faltering out of the blocks early. However, the raw pace of the Mercedes saw Hamilton win three straight at the back end of the campaign, one of them coming from the back of the grid, to take the title fight down to the final race of the season.
In Abu Dhabi, it seemed as though it would be Hamilton who narrowly secured the title. He handled everything that both Red Bull drivers threw at him and was ten seconds clear with just a few laps remaining. Then, a late safety car and several controversial championship-deciding decisions from the former race director Michael Masi opened the door for Verstappen to complete a last-lap overtake on fresher tyres and steal his maiden crown.