Here's how Max Verstappen could've won 2021 F1 World Championship way before Abu Dhabi GP, according to former driver

Former McLaren driver John Watson believes that Max Verstappen could have comfortably won the 2021 Formula One World Championship before even heading to the season finale in Abu Dhabi, had he avoided making costly errors at races such as the Italian Grand Prix, where a massive collision between the Red Bull driver and Lewis Hamilton put an end to both their races. Watson admitted that the reigning world champion is now demonstrating "different maturity" than he did last season and that he seems to be adopting a less aggressive driving style.

Speaking to PlanetF1, Watson compared Max Verstappen's 2022 F1 season to that of last year:

“What we’re seeing with Verstappen is that, in ’22, he appears to show a different maturity than he had shown all the way up until the end of ’21. He made errors in my opinion, in ’21, which cost him – he should have won that World Championship way before we got to Abu Dhabi. The incident at Silverstone, the incident at Monza, inhibited him from winning that championship [earlier]. He didn’t have to do what happened at Silverstone. He didn’t have to do what happened at Monza. If you’re in the championship lead, he went into Silverstone last year 32 points ahead of Hamilton, and he came out seven or eight points ahead. Things do move around very quickly.”

Watson then addressed the change in Verstappen's decision-making process:

"But he had a comfortable advantage going into Silverstone. The judgments that a driver has to make, again, is ‘do I go to the wall?’ as he did with Hamilton – and he paid the price – or do I concede in one corner, but knowing that he will probably be able to make that position back again. What Verstappen appears to do now is show a different sense of attitude in his racing with Leclerc, there is not that aggressive driving style that I saw all the way through Verstappen’s career, when he was battling with Hamilton. He is a totally different character and style battling with Leclerc. Much, much different, and much more considered.”

With Mercedes no longer in the fight for the world championship title this season, Ferrari is the only team to potentially challenge Red Bull and Max Verstappen. The Dutchman's approach towards his rivalry against Charles Leclerc has certainly proven to be different than last season when he was battling Lewis Hamilton.

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Former F1 driver suggests a reason why Max Verstappen's approach is different this year

John Watson spoke about why he believes Max Verstappen is approaching his rivalry with Charles Leclerc this season differently than he did when he faced off against Lewis Hamilton last year.

Watson claimed that the Red Bull driver now has a world championship title in the bag, with less to prove about his place in the sport:

“I think he saw Hamilton as ‘I need to dominate this guy’, a need to beat him down and make him know ‘I’m the new, fastest guy in Formula 1’. I think he used some of that mentality, or whatever you choose to call it, in his approach to racing with Hamilton. In other words, ‘I will never lift off’, ‘I’ll never concede’, which I don’t agree with. That’s not part of my philosophy as a racing driver. But I think that’s the direction he pursued. This year, now that Mercedes are not the competitive team at the present time, his battles with Leclerc have been a much more mature and considered battle.”

With nine wins to his name so far, Max Verstappen seems poised to secure a second championship title this season.