Picture Credit: Formula 1
The top two racers in the 2022 Drivers’ championship, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and RedBull’s Max Verstappen have broken a 43-year old record where two drivers have registered an F1 Grand Slam in the same season. The F1 grand slam comprises getting the pole position, fastest lap and leading every lap on the way to victory.
The Monégasque got his Grand Slam in the Australian Grand Prix, while the Dutchman converted his pole position into a race win at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. This will also be Verstappen’s second grand slam as he joins an elite club of drivers with multiple Grand Slams like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
But he is still far away from Jim Clark's record of eight Grand Slams followed by Lewis Hamilton's six. Similarly, Super Max isn’t the only RedBull driver with multiple Grand Slams as he was preceded by German driver and four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel who has four of these accolades.
It of course seemed probably easy on the TV: Verstappen
After winning the Imola Grand Prix, Max Verstappen talked about how RedBull recovered in spectacular fashion after a dismal performance in Australia. He said, “Melbourne wasn’t great for us and the start of the season, in general, wasn’t amazing so we needed a good weekend. I didn’t expect it to be like this but when you have a weekend at the end like this, that’s incredible: a one-two for the team but also maximum points scored.
He also referred to the difficulty of driving at Imola in conditions of rain. He said, “Also the way we handled the race, we didn’t really make any mistakes and I think we made the right calls switching from the inters to the slicks, and from then onwards we just controlled the race. It of course seemed probably easy on the TV, but you have to be focused.”