Max Verstappen could've won 2022 F1 Belgian GP while 'sitting in the garage reading his bank statements,' claims F1 pundit

Max Verstappen's dominance during the 2022 F1 Belgian GP was such that he could have 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, needing 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.”

He went on to add:

“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.”

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Max Verstappen has spent time on the simulator to prepare for 2022 F1 Dutch GP

Max Verstappen has admitted that he is already prepared for the 2022 F1 Dutch GP later this weekend, even before leaving the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Verstappen started the race in P14 and was up in P8 after a chaotic opening lap that saw Lewis Hamilton retire after an incident with Fernando Alonso.

The Dutchman cut through the field like a hot knife through butter to take the lead in the race from Carlos Sainz even before reaching half-distance. The 24-year-old sped away to cross the line almost 18 seconds ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez, who helped secure Red Bull's fourth one-two finish of the season.

Next up for the reigning world champion is a trip back home to race at the Circuit Zandvoort in front of an adoring Dutch crowd and Max Verstappen has done his homework in advance.

Speaking in a post-race press conference after his win at the 2022 F1 Belgian GP, he elaborated on the difference between driving at Spa-Francorchamps and Zandvoort. Max Verstappen said:

“To be honest, I already prepared Zandvoort. I am of course enjoying today but then I go home and I don’t really think about F1 too much. And then I jump on the plane on Thursday morning, I think, and then I’ll think about Zandvoort, and then I’ll drive Zandvoort and try to do the best I can. But yeah, for the moment, I did all my work already to prepare in the best way possible on the simulator, what we think is right and everything felt quite decent. But again, we put the car on the track on Friday and we’ll find out.”

As things stand, Verstappen has a 93-point lead at the top of the World Drivers' Championship standings ahead of Sergio Perez in P2.