Sky Sports analyst: 'There seems to be no weakness left in Verstappen'

With the end of the summer break in sight, the first half of the Formula One season is being taken stock of. Sky Sports-Analyst Karun Chandhok shares his personal top five drivers based on their performance so far in 2022, but fears some critical reaction from fans.

Chandhok urges his readers to read his explanation first before going to war on Twitter. "This sort of stuff always brings a “heated debate”…. Hope you have a little read of my reasons rather than than just the headlines before replying," the former Formula One driver reported on the social medium.

So what does Chandhok's top five look like? The expected names are all in there, but perhaps not all fans will fully agree with the order. The current state of affairs, however, is something no one can ignore and Chandhok places Max Verstappen in a convincing first place.

There seems to be no weakness in Verstappen's performance'.

"The Dutchman came into this season with the huge legion of Hamilton fans calling him an unworthy world champion, but he's kept his head down, avoided the distractions and has built a campaign around supreme consistency and speed," explains the analyst. Chandhok called the eight wins in 13 races great in themselves, but also praised the way Verstappen did it.

According to the analyst, the Red Bull Racing driver calmly picked his moments to overtake and seize opportunities, which he sees as a "clear indication" that Verstappen has added title fight experience to his "already huge amount of god-given talent". "There's seemingly no weakness now, which is ominous for the opposition, not just this year but in the future too," Chandhok added.

Russell ahead of Hamilton

Behind Verstappen, Charles Leclerc is in second place, and Chandhok stresses that the gap to the championship leader would be considerably smaller if Ferrari did not throw up their own glasses so much. In third place, the analyst puts Mercedes driver George Russell, who Chandhok says has put in a 'damn impressive' performance with the way he is holding his own alongside Lewis Hamilton. He believes Russell is ready to go for the win, but stresses that his teammate remains his biggest challenge.

That teammate is in fourth place. Hamilton had a poor start to the season, often beaten by his younger team-mate, but seems to have regained his form with the improved W13. Lando Norris completes the top five and is described by Chandhok as the 'clear team leader' at McLaren.

This sort of stuff always brings a “heated debate”…. Hope you have a little read of my reasons rather than than just the headlines before replying! https://t.co/Tu4UBXPBlp

— Karun Chandhok (@karunchandhok) August 23, 2022