"There are only eight races left"- Charles Leclerc won't be able to challenge Max Verstappen for 2022 F1 title, according to 2-time world champion

Max Verstappen will not be caught by Charles Leclerc in the race for the 2022 F1 Drivers' World championship, according to two-time champion Mika Hakkinen.

Hakkinen raced in F1 between 1991 and 2001. He is most famous for winning the 1998 and 1999 world championships with McLaren.

Verstappen's form in 2022 has been close to immaculate, and this was made evident through his exemplary performance during last week's Belgian GP. The Dutchman scythed his way through the field after starting in P14 and changing his Power Unit (PU) components to claim his ninth win of the season.

In the process, Max Verstappen also became the first driver since Bruce McLaren himself to win consecutive races after starting outside the top 10. The 24-year-old went into the summer break after winning the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP. He started the race in P10.

In his column for Unibet, Mika Hakkinen showered praise on Max Verstappen for the way he dominated proceedings at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The Finn wrote:

“This was a fantastic performance from Verstappen all weekend. He had great pace in practice, but in qualifying was on another level compared to everyone else. To be more than half a second quicker than the next guy, and 0.8s quicker than team-mate Sergio Perez, showed incredible dominance.”

The former McLaren driver added:

“Even though he started 14th, everyone expected him to come through the field, and he did it so quickly – into the top three on lap eight and leading on lap 12. Spa does make it a little easier for a quick car to overtake, particularly on the long straight to the les Combes chicane, but you still have to position the car in the right way, and Verstappen was in perfect control.”

Hakkinen then made an ominous prediction for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who was hoping to take the world championship battle right to the very end. He wrote:

“At the moment it is very difficult to see Leclerc challenging Verstappen for the title. There are only eight races left and Verstappen has a 93 point lead. The Red Bull car seems to be getting even quicker.

“On top of that, Ferrari just don’t seem to have the consistency and confidence, so although I expect Leclerc to be able to win again, I don’t think he will be able to keep Verstappen from adding to his lead.”

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Max Verstappen could've won 2022 F1 Belgian GP while sitting in his garage, claims Martin Brundle

Max Verstappen's dominance during the 2022 F1 Belgian GP was such that he could've won the race without even leaving the Red Bull garage, according to F1 pundit Martin Brundle.

Verstappen was one of eight drivers to take on a whole new set of Power Unit (PU) components during the first race weekend back after the summer break.

The Dutchman barely broke a sweat during qualifying. He needed only one lap to top the timing charts before starting the race in 14th place after grid penalties were applied.

In his column for Sky Sports, Martin Brundle admitted that Max Verstappen could have been reading his bank statements and he would still have won the race. The Briton wrote:

“On another day, clever people in the know say to us on race morning, ‘not sure what you’re going to say in commentary because we did 5000 simulations last night and nothing much happens’. And then we have a barnstormer of a race.”

Brundle added:

“It’s not [Max] Verstappen’s fault that he finds himself in such peak form, and so at one with his Red Bull car that, frankly, you sense he could have been sitting in the garage reading his bank statements when the race started, and still won it.”

As things stand, Max Verstappen has a 93-point lead at the top of the World Drivers' Championship standings. He is ahead of Sergio Perez in P2 and has a 98-point advantage over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.