Max Verstappen strengthened his lead over the rest of the grid at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. At the Jeddah track, the Dutchman won with ease, extending his winning run to nine races since September. In addition, Verstappen had a lead of 13 seconds over Sergio Perez in P2 by the time the race ended. It has undoubtedly demonstrated that the Dutchman is a class above the others. Although so far it has been the case on the racetrack, yesterday the 26-year-old opted to prove it off the track in the post-race conference, as seen on YouTube.
During the press conference when a reporter questioned Verstappen on his 100th podium finish in the 188 race starts, the Dutchman replied in a lighthearted way. He said that. “It’s 88 missed podiums.” This comment certainly reflects Verstappen’s current level of confidence.
To put it another way, all he was saying was that he should have finished on the podium in all those remaining 88 races. However, following his playful response, Verstappen also expressed his contentment on his 100th podium.
The 26-year-old said he wants to keep winning races by concentrating on one race at a time. Nevertheless, besides earning his 100th podium finish, Verstappen set another record for himself at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
What is Max Verstappen’s historic achievement at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?
Max Verstappen has been nailing the racetrack for the last two years. Practically there are only a few records that the Dutchman hasn’t still etched with his name. However, while chasing them, the 26-year-old has now named himself a special record. The Red Bull driver has grabbed his first-ever pole position in Jeddah, beating Charles Leclerc by three-tenths of a second.
Notably, it’s the 20th different venue where the Dutchman has scored a pole. With this feat, Verstappen has passed Michael Schumacher’s career total and will now chase Lewis Hamilton’s record. The Mercedes champion has achieved pole position at 32 different racetracks. Nevertheless, putting the pole record aside, Verstappen, while seated in his RB20, has shattered another longstanding record.
Since Nigel Mansell won the pole at the 1990 British GP, Verstappen’s 1:27:472 lap time had the quickest average lap speed according to Formula1.com (254.07 kph) at any track other than Monza. Indeed, Verstappen beating Charles Leclerc in the qualifying suggests that his dominance will only continue to grow going into the Australian GP.
Before his outstanding 2023 performance when he won in Melbourne, Verstappen had six appearances in Australia. His best finish was third in 2019 and his best qualifying position was second in 2022.
