One title is done then and the second in the bag. Red Bull and Verstappen leave Japan with their season all but complete, the sport’s dominant force enjoying their spoils but doubtless with one eye already on the future. For Verstappen should he maintain his grip on the trophy, this was the culmination of a lifelong dream, achieved in the white heat of competition against the best driver of this generation in what has been a superb season. He can be rightly proud in winning it although he is still only 24 and becomes the first Dutchman to have won the F1 world championship. He was the youngest driver in the history of the sport on his debut aged 17 in 2015, and has the potential to go on and win many more.

This positive assessment was matched by the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner. “The pace was good, the strategy was there, it was the best possible start for us. It was a superb race today, get on the board and get some points early.” Verstappen is in his seventh season in F1 having made his debut as its youngest driver, aged 17, in 2015. The slight, awkward teenager that climbed into a Toro Rosso has long departed. He has grown up in public and while his features still betray his youth, his confidence and authority is unmistakable. He is a man aware of the import of being in a title fight with the greatest driver of his generation, yet entirely unintimidated. What was considered arrogance by some in his youth is now calm, self-assurance. Max Verstappen je teraz na vrchole, vyhráva takmer všetko, smeruje k ďalšiemu titulu, takže sa hodí... Každopádne je to veľmi zaujímavá, pútavá kniha a vtiahne aj občasného fanúšika F1. Autor je športový novinár a cítiť to – pozadie, informácie, súvislosti. Ukazuje, ako syn legendy F1 bol vlastne odmalička predurčený na pretekanie. Ako začínal v motokárach, ako ho jeho otec k tomu viedol, pracoval s ním, učil ho.Hamilton held his nerve and, critically, Verstappen miscued his one overtaking opportunity late on by running wide in passing the Mercedes. He had to cede position afterwards, and wouldn't get close again.

Verstappen said this weekend that he does not care about how and where the title is won, only that it is under his belt as he continues what has been an inexorable march typified by the run at Suzuka. Having been challenged at the start by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri he held his nerve and his place sandwiched between the two charging papaya cars, kept his nose in front as they swept into the esses and that was it. F1 knew this was a risk when it instigated the format, and doubly so when scheduling them at the business end of the season, decisions they might think long and hard about over the winter.

Hamilton looked in charge when he maintained his lead from pole at the start of the race, but his Mercedes team-mate Bottas caused a multi-car turn-one incident, involving Verstappen, in damp starting conditions, triggering all manner of carnage. The tension only ramped up as the night wore on; the grid a heaving mass like no other, where movement was barely possible. Usain Bolt could be seen head and shoulders above the throng but even the world’s fastest man could move only at a snail’s pace in the morass.

Kniha viac približuje Maxa ako človeka, nielen pretekára. Prečo býva neraz agresívnym jazdcom, prečo riskuje. A thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle between F1's two stars, who had rarely gone head-to-head before, represented the perfect start to the season - and it was a sensational one for Hamilton, given his win against the odds. With the gaps closed the race had the reboot it needed. Per expectations, Verstappen leapt away. Behind him it was battle royale. Hamilton came hard at Norris, throwing himself at him round the outside through Brooklands and Luffield; wheel to wheel, the two drivers separated in age by 15 years went at it. Yet Norris, who had been inspired to enter F1 by watching Hamilton in 2007, was far from afraid of his hero. Max Verstappen pictured during the second practice session at the Austrian grand prix on Friday. Photograph: Christian Bruna/EPAFew drivers have ever shaken up Formula 1 in quite the same way as Max Verstappen. Already the youngest competitor in F1 history, having made his breakthrough in 2015 aged just 17, his debut race for Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix saw him become the youngest driver ever to win a race, achieve a podium finish or even lead a lap.

Hamilton gets past his championship rival Verstappen to take the lead with six laps to go in the Spanish GP Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari and now even potentially McLaren are vying closely with one another. For all that he doubtless wants to be racing for the win, Hamilton fulsomely approved. Gray seeks to understand the outspoken nature and aggressive driving style that make Verstappen a must watch before, during and after races, and why his Dutch fans, who turn up to cheer him on in their orange-clad droves, are quite so fanatical. The winning margins were often cavernous, in some cases almost embarrassingly so, such as the 33.731sec lead over Lando Norris in Hungary when the flag fell. There were the dominant runs, untouched from pole to flag in Bahrain, Austria and Silverstone, but what stood out were the races in which he had to break a moderate sweat. It permeates, particularly in the garage,” he says. “He is a tough cookie but you know he is going to give you 120% when you put him in the car and he expects the same in return – that drives a team. Everybody knows he is giving it all so they want to give it all. He is brutally honest. That’s the one thing about Max that you have to totally respect, he is totally straight.”

Multibuys

Three races, three wheel-to-wheel battles between Hamilton and Verstappen. But it was Mercedes who had the upper hand in Portimao. Hamilton did drop down to third in the early stages behind Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen, but overtook the off-guard Red Bull driver and then his team-mate on his way to a dominant victory. The pair’s battle illustrated that in Verstappen’s wake there is an almighty tussle taking place that has just become all the more fascinating. Indeed, it must be considered that were Verstappen not in this field, this would be an absolutely captivating season. But Verstappen, starting third, slipstreamed past the Mercedes front row of Hamilton and Bottas at the start, and the 24-year-old never looked like relinquishing that lead as he won by 16.5 seconds for a record third triumph in Mexico and his ninth race victory of the season. Behind them Kevin Magnussen’s Haas decided it had had enough of the struggle and his engine gave out with a fiery chorus. He ground to a halt, the safety car was called and the top three dived into the pits for a free stop.