Max Verstappen’s relentless domination continues after the first five races of the 2024 season as he has won four of them. The Dutchman once again proved to be a force to reckon with after a surprise hiccup during the sprint qualifying session. However, despite qualifying only P4, he managed to win the sprint race. A few hours later, he then registered a storming lap to claim pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix. And lastly, he then sealed the week with a perfect race win. Since such was the level of his dominance in a race that featured two safety car deployments, even Nico Rosberg couldn’t help but tip his hat to him.
The 2016 champion, speaking with Sky F1, said, “I think he’s moving himself into the top five of all time soon. Especially towards the end of this year, if he wins the championship again.” Naming all five in his list, Rosberg added, “I mean, the top five, I see it as [Juan Manuel] Fangio, [Lewis] Hamilton, [Michael] Schumacher, [Ayrton] Senna, and then Verstappen will slot nicely into that.”
With the way Max Verstappen has destroyed records in the last two and a half years, not many can argue with Rosberg. Taking advantage of Adrian Newey’s hold over the concept of the ground effect cars, the Dutchman has displayed an immaculate level of consistency.
Just last year, Verstappen bagged a record 19 race wins from Red Bull’s 21. The Austrian team registered a record 95% win rate, losing just one race in the entire season.
Such was their level of dominance in 2023 that team principal Christian Horner has already ruled out a repeat in 2024. Max Verstappen echoed a similar sentiment as well, thereby proving how rare of a feat they achieved last year. This winning run, however, does not look to be slowing down anytime soon.
Is any team in a position to challenge Max Verstappen?
Max Verstappen made himself a part of another historic statistic during the Chinese GP. The Dutchman became the driver who delivered Red Bull their 100th pole position.
Reacting to Verstappen’s dominance, Lando Norris expressed his apprehension over the impact it is having on the sport. Daily Mail quoted the Briton as saying,
“If you see the same driver winning every single time without a fight, then of course it does start to become boring and that is obvious. It is frustrating for people watching but that is the sport. It has always been like this. Now, we are seeing more dominance than ever, so it is never going to be the best to watch and the only exciting races have been the ones that Max is not in.”
With the same set of regulations carrying over to 2025, there is a good chance that Verstappen’s run could continue for another year. Assuming the Dutchman continues to bag wins in 2024, and the next year, he could become a five-time world champion by the end of 2025.
That number will officially see him go past Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel and share the spot with Juan Manuel Fangio. Ferrari, however, would be keen on breaking that trend. The Maranello outfit is already making inroads in bridging the gap to the reigning champions.
If not in 2024, they would definitely set the target to challenge Red Bull regularly in 2025. McLaren aren’t too far behind either. The Papaya team has shown great prowess in the development trend and will hope to make that 2025 battle a three-way fight.
