There is a feeling of the changing of the guard in motorsport with new champions on the horizon in MotoGP and Formula One. Fabio Quartararo is well poised in the world of MotoGP to secure his first crown of his career at the age of 22.
Max Verstappen has taken control of the Drivers’ Championship in Formula One, stealing a march on Lewis Hamilton in his bid to end the Brit’s dominance of the title. Both drivers represent a new era for their respective sports, and it will be exciting to see whether they are able to sustain their surges for glory in the second halves of their seasons.
Verstappen reeled off three wins on the bounce for the first time in his career to take a healthy lead over the Mercedes driver, and is now backed in the F1 betting odds at 1/4 to win the Drivers’ Championship for the first time in his career.
The Dutchman has been a steady rise after becoming the youngest driver to win a Grand Prix when he triumphed in the Spanish Grand Prix at the age of just 18 years and 228 days. He performed well for Red Bull over a four-year period without a great deal of luck on the track, while there were times that he was guilty of losing his composure under pressure. However, the 23-year-old has now aligned his skillset, drawing on his experiences and using his exceptional talent behind the wheel to close in on his first title.
Should Verstappen achieve the feat, it will be a watershed moment for Formula One to break the cycle of Hamilton victories. On the other hand, it may be the start of another raft of successive victories for the Dutchman. Only time will tell on that front.
Marc Marquez’s injury in 2020 opened up the MotoGP Championship for the first time in five years. The Spaniard had won four crowns on the bounce with an imperious run with Honda. However, he fractured his arm in the third race of the 2020 campaign, and his compatriot Joan Mir seized the initiative to win the title for the first time aged 22.
Mir would have hoped to take the momentum from his triumph into the new campaign. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, his progress has been stymied by the rise of another fledgling talent in the form of Quartararo. The Frenchman has been sensational in the 2021 campaign, and even the return of Marquez has not stopped him taking control of the race for the MotoGP Championship.
He won four of the opening nine races of the season to take a dominant lead in the standings, and unless his compatriot Johann Zarco or Mir can catch him, the 22-year-old will win the title. It’s an exciting time in MotoGP after a lengthy period of Marquez triumphs. Potential duels in the future between Mir and Quartararo could provide the perfect tonic to the sport that people have suggested had become too predictable over recent years.
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