Max Verstappen is just 26, and a three time world champion already. Max won the Qatar Grand Prix, which was his 14th of the year and 49th overall. That gave him his 3rd World Championship in a row. He promptly celebrated by winning his 50th at the Texas Grand Prix to join the exclusive 50 win club.
It certainly is 50 and counting for Max, and more world championships may be ahead for him as well.
In Formula-1 racing, we have seen inspirational legends. Some inspirational racing champions whose names readily come to mind are Juan Michael Fangio, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nigell Mansell, Sebastian Vettell, Michael Schumacher, and Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen is the latest to join this esteemed list.
Earlier this year, at the Italian Grand Prix, 2023, the young racer created history by winning his tenth race in a row which had never been done in F1 history. Max broke the record of Vettel who had won nine races in a row. The season is not finished yet, and he has won 15 races already. 15 out of 19 is indeed special.
In 2023 Max became world champion with 6 races to spare. It indeed is getting better and better for him. He won his 1st World Championship in the last lap of the last race of the season. His second was more comfortable with four races left, and now the third is imperious with six races left in the season. Max himself says that the 3rd win is the best, due to the consistency.
Let us have a look at some of the spectacular achievements of his young career so far and what makes him special.
The nationality of Max is Belgian-Dutch, and he is a racer with Red Bull. His father Jos Verstappen was a Formula 1 driver as well while his mother Sophie Kumpen was an accomplished Kart champion. Max, at 17 years, 166 days competed at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, thereby becoming the youngest racer in the Formula-1 circuit. In 2025 at the Malaysian Grand Prix, he became the youngest driver to win points, once again before 18. In fact he was a formula 1 racer before getting a road driving license when he turned 18. He competes under the Dutch flag, since he says he grew up more in the Netherlands than in Belgium.
At 18, on debut for Red Bull racing, he won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the youngest ever Formula-1 race winner. In the same race he set two other formula 1 records, namely youngest to have a podium finish, and the youngest driver to lead a lap. The very next year, at 19, he became the youngest driver to set the fastest lap, which was at the Brazilian Grand Prix. He quickly emerged as a very consistent racer and finished 4th, 3rd and 3rd in the 2018, 2019, and 2020. In 2021, he defeated 7-time Champion Lewis Hamilton to become World Champion. It was a winner take all situation with Max winning his 1st World Championship and preventing Hamilton from winning his 8th. He had 18 podium finishes in 2021 which is also an F1 record. An ecstatic Red Bull announced (in March 2022) that he has agreed to be with them (at least) till the end of the 2028 season.
Max immediately reciprocated the confidence shown in him. In 2022, in a season of almost complete domination, he became World Champion with as many as 4 races to go. The 2022 World Championship is in fact even more creditable than the 2021 one since all drivers started equally due to the radical rules introduced, and with a cap on investment/spending on the car, mainly the engines and the tyres. Further there was an emphasis to encourage “closer racing” which essentially means more possible overtakes, and hence skill of the driver is even more relevant now.
The 2023 World Championship continued the trend, and Max has shown that he is ready to achieve even bigger feats in future.
Let us list some of the world champion’s unreal achievements;
He is now a three time world champion. He is just the 17th racer in history to win more than one world championship and only the 11th to be a three time world champion.
He is also only the 5th racing champion. to win three world championships in a row, joining Fangio, Schumacher, Vettel, and Hamilton.
There are just 6 racers with 4 or more world championships. Schumacher and Hamilton are joint 1st with 7 each. Next is Fangio with 5, while Prost, Vettel and Mansell round off the top 5 with 4 championships each. In all probability, Verstappen will join this elite list of 6.
Vettel and Schumacher had the record of 13 wins in a season. Max celebrated his 2nd World Championship win by winning the US Grand Prix which gave him his 13th win of the season, and he emphatically announced, “I have three races to go to win just one and have my own record”. He indeed ended with 15 wins in the 2022 season and owns his own record. Incredibly so, it is possible he may break it this year itself since he has already equalled it by winning 15 out of 19 races, and needs just 1 more win from the next 4, with 2023 having 23 races.
He is the first racer to win 5 consecutive Grand Prix in the United States. Both Schumacher and Hamilton had won 4 each.
He has broken his own record for maximum points in a season. In 2022, Max had scored 454 points. He already has 466 points so far. That makes it more points than points of the second placed Sergio Perez and the third placed lewis Hamilton combined.
What about maximum races won? Hamilton is at the top with 103 wins and is the only racer to have more than 100 wins. Next is Schumacher with 91, and he is followed by Vettel with 53, Prost with 51, and Max with 50. This season he has overtaken Senna who had won 41 races. It seems just a matter of time before he overtakes Prost and Vettel as well. Possibly he may overtake both this year.
What next? Maximum times world Champion is of course a long way to go, with Schumacher and Hamilton winning 7 times each. Yet, Max is just 26, and can certainly make a run for it. Ralf Schumacher sounds a cautionary note that while Max certainly has the ability, in Formula 1 there are lots of factors beyond the drivers influence and hence one should wait and watch. However many including former World Champion Jenson Button have called him the fastest driver of all time. Niki Lauda described him as the talent of the century. Top Formula 1 journalists say he drives from intuition, which comes from years of training and preparation, and this driving on intuition makes it impossible for others to compete with him. Continuation of an already glorious career seems certain.
Congrats once again Max Verstappen and look forward to following your spectacular career with keen interest.
About the Author:
The blogger, Ritesh Misra, is an IRS Officer. He can be reached at riteshmisra2015@gmail.com.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Pragativadi and Pragativadi.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
