Verstappen’s new record
In the last Mexican Grand Prix, Max Verstappen set another record in the history of Formula 1: in addition to equaling Alain Prost in the number of victories in Formula 1, reaching fourth place ‘Professor’ at 51, the Dutchman from Red Bull crossed the finish line first for the 16th time in a single season. No one had ever managed such a feat before him, moreover in a championship that still offers three races to be played between Brazil, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.
19 wins in one year?
Consequently, given the dominance of Red Bull and the Dutch driver, there is therefore the possibility that the three-time world champion could increase this record, thus reaching quota 19 in case of victory in all remaining weekends. An objective that Verstappen is obviously aiming for, and considered not impossible by one of his rivals Lewis Hamilton. The Briton from Mercedes, in the midst of fighting for the vice-champion title against Sergio Perez’s other Red Bull, actually believes in this result.
Hamilton’s ‘gamble’
In the post-Mexico GP press conference, the seven-time world champion would even be ready to ‘bet’ on Verstappen’s 18th or even 19th victory in this championship: “The pace of the Mercedes gives us a lot of confidence – commented – last year at the same time we were doing the same thing, but in 2022 I think we were three tenths behind Max in qualifying or something like that and I finished second, while he won. We’re just mirroring what we did last year, so we have to make some really big changes for next year. At the start of the season, in Bahrain, they were faster than us by at least 1.5 seconds per lap, so the key is to make sure this doesn’t happen in Sakhir in early 2024. Hopefully the next two races will be close, but probably I would bet on Max getting 18 or 19 wins with this car“.
Other records in the sights
If Verstappen managed to achieve 19 successes, the Dutchman would establish two other records: in addition to putting his signature on the highest winning percentage of the seasonreaching 86% and by beating Alberto Ascari’s record, which reached 52% in 1952, Verstappen would become the first driver to exceed 500 points achieved in a year. A goal, the latter, which could be surpassed even without necessarily winning all the scheduled races, being currently stuck at 491 points. Should he finish on the top step of the podium between now and the end, Red Bull’s #1 would surpass the number of victories of Sebastian Vettelthird in the all-time rankings at odds 53. In this case, Verstappen would find himself behind Michael Schumacher and Hamilton, all at just 26 years of age.
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