After his maiden championship win in 2021, Max Verstappen has hit a level of form that most can only dream of. Coupled with Red Bull’s unparalleled understanding of the ground effect concept, Verstappen’s consistency has seen him break multiple records along the way. The latest comes in the form of a Michael Schumacher record, which now lies with the Dutchman.
2023 was a season that surpassed expectations not just for Red Bull, but also for Verstappen. With 21 wins out of 22, the team grabbed yet another constructors’ title. Verstappen contributed with 19 wins to that tally. Speaking ahead of the start of the 2024 season, the reigning champion ruled out a repeat of the glorious year.
Despite lowered expectations, the 26-year-old is performing phenomenally well. He may have lost three races out of the nine so far, but the win in Canada will be a special one for him.
That is because it takes him past Schumacher’s record of three or more consecutive race wins at seven different circuits. Verstappen effectively has eight venues to his name where he has won in the last three years or more.
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Those include Mexico City, Zandvoort, Spa, Austin, Yas Marina, Suzuka, Imola, and Montreal. Barring the Abu Dhabi GP, where he has won four times, all other circuits have seen him win thrice in as many races in the recent past.
This tally is likely to only grow as the 2024 season progresses. Take the upcoming race in Spain for example. Verstappen bagged wins on the Barcelona track in 2023 and the year before that.
The track will play to Red Bull’s strength and if Verstappen can register a win, this record will grow to nine races. However, it is not just records such as this that result in people making comparisons between Verstappen and Schumacher.
Striking similarities in Max Verstappen and Michael Schumacher’s formative years
Until the 2021 season, Verstappen often invited criticism for driving too aggressively. The ‘do-or-die’ approach often saw him crash out of a race instead of conceding the position where he should have. Not only did it make him unpopular among his fellow drivers, but also among FIA’s stewards.
That, coincidentally, is also the image Schumacher developed in his formative years in F1. Joan Villadelprat, the manager of the Benetton F1 team where the German made his debut, attests to this.
Speaking with Planet F1 in October 2023, Villadelprat said, “It was a disaster. I spent more time in the Place de la Concorde [FIA headquarters], you know, trying to defend sometimes things that were impossible to defend. Michael made silly mistakes.”
“That happens when you have talent like you have with Max or you have Michael. First of all, you need to have the natural ability and that’s Michael and Max – they have the natural ability,” he added. As far as the 26-year-old Dutchman goes, Villadelprat credited his father Jos for inculcating this ability in him.
The Spaniard admitted that Jos was an exceptional talent as well. However, Benetton wrongly pipped him against Schumacher as a teammate and that turned out to be detrimental to his confidence. Fortunately, Max Verstappen did not have to go through that in his first few years in F1.
