Max Verstappen has been dominating F1 like no other in recent times. Since winning his maiden F1 title in 2021 after a hard-fought battle with Lewis Hamilton, the 26-year-old has been utterly dominant in both 2022 and 2023. The Dutchman was so dominant last year that he ended the season with a record 19 wins out of 22 races. Verstappen has carried his form into 2024 as well, having won the first two races of the new campaign. After looking at Verstappen’s relentless run, former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has compared the Red Bull driver to seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi.
While speaking on the BBC’s F1: Chequered Flag podcast, Palmer explained, “Lionel Messi, you’d watch and you can see, your mind boggles at what he can do. With Max at the moment in F1, occasionally you see something and you’re like ‘that was magical'”.
Verstappen currently holds an insane 29.94% win ratio in the sport, eclipsing even the great Michael Schumacher. Moreover, the three-time champion has already registered 51 points out of the maximum of 52 on offer this year.
Palmer gave Messi’s example to showcase that it’s rare to have such supreme athletes who are so dominant in their respective fields. The former Renault driver believes that the category of supreme sportspeople also includes the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal, among others.
When it comes to Verstappen, the Dutchman is likely to cruise to his fourth championship this season. Having won 19 out of the last 20 races, no driver has come even close to matching the 26-year-old recently.
Can anything stop Max Verstappen and his dominant streak in F1?
From a purely sporting perspective, it looks as though Max Verstappen is going to be unstoppable until at least the 2026 season when the engine-specific regulations come into play. However, off the track, the trouble brewing within Red Bull could threaten Verstappen’s position as the fastest on the track.
Ever since early February, Red Bull have been in turmoil. After the news of Christian Horner’s investigation for “inappropriate behavior” came to light, rumors of an internal power struggle have been doing the rounds of the media and the F1 paddock.
Reports in the media and comments from the likes of Horner, Helmut Marko, and Verstappen himself suggest that there might be a huge rift within the team. With Horner on one side and Marko and the Verstappens reportedly on the other, there is a slim possibility that the three-time champion may even end up leaving Red Bull.
