Hakkinen predicts: 'Verstappen may celebrate his second title in Singapore'

In front of their home crowd at Monza, Ferrari managed to pull it off without any major blunders, but a victory was out of the question for the Scuderia. Max Verstappen won for the fifth time in a row, suggesting to Mika Hakkinen that the Dutchman will take the world title at the earliest possible opportunity in Singapore.

Verstappen wins in Ferrari territory

"This weekend was a good example of how this season has worked out – Charles qualifying on pole position but Max winning the race," Hakkinen began in his column for Unibet. He emphasises the speed of Charles Leclerc's F1-75, which is extremely strong especially over a single lap. Leclerc has scored eight pole positions so far in 2022.

In terms of wins, however, the counter remains stuck at three for the Ferrari driver. "Max has only been on pole four times, but his race pace is just too quick and consistent, the car has such good straight line speed and he has no problem overtaking," continued the Finn, who saw Verstappen pull off another overtaking race at Monza after Spa-Francorchamps.

After five wins in a row, Hakkinen suspects Verstappen may well secure his second world title at the earliest possible opportunity. "I expect he will be celebrating his second World Championship in Singapore or Japan in early October unless there’s an incident of reliability issue," said the two-time world champion.