The 2023 F1 season has been dominated by Max Verstappen so far, with the Dutch racing driver winning six Grand Prix out of eight so far. However, with 14 more races to go, there are plenty of things left for Verstappen to aim for, other than his third consecutive world championship. In fact, he can move past a Ferrari legend by breaking a staggering record at the Austrian GP in two weeks’ time.
At the start of this season, it seemed as though Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s teammate, was finally going to start challenging him for the title. After four races, the gap between them was as close as it had ever been, and the prospect of having an intra-team battle excited fans all over the world.
Since then, however, Verstappen has gone to become completely unstoppable. Since the closing stages of the 7th of May, he has led every single lap in F1, which says a lot about the level of dominance he is putting on display. With Red Bull heading to their home race in two weeks, Verstappen is now eyeing Alberto Ascari’s age-old record.
Max Verstappen has led every lap in Grand Prix racing since approximately 4.45pm on May 7 #CanadianGP
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) June 18, 2023
After Sebastian Vettel’s record, Max Verstappen is now eying Ferrari legend
Verstappen has now led every single lap in the last three races of the 2023 F1 season. He led from the start to the finish in Monaco, Spain, and Canada. This seems like an incredible feat, only until we realize that it was done before.
Red Bull legend and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel led all the laps in three consecutive races in Japan, South Korea, and India back in 2012.
There is one driver who once went above the Red Bull stars, it was Alberto Ascari. The two-time world champion won four consecutive races and led every single lap in those outings back in 1952. The races took place in France, the UK, Germany, and The Netherlands, as reported by Autosport.
Max Verstappen is the first driver to lead every lap of three consecutive F1 races since Sebastian Vettel in 2012 🤯
Only one driver has ever managed to lead every lap of four consecutive races:
Alberto Ascari – France/Britain/Germany/Netherlands in 1952
Will Max… pic.twitter.com/1fgSAiuZGL— Autosport (@autosport) June 19, 2023
If Verstappen repeats what he did in the last three races, he will create even more history and continue his quest towards achieving immortality in the history books of F1 by breaking yet another record.
Can Aston Martin and Mercedes halt Verstappen’s journey?
In Canada, the signs were encouraging for fans of Mercedes and Aston Martin. Even though Lance Stroll and George Russell’s performances cannot be held as proof of their progress, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton showed that they are right up there in terms of pace.
Verstappen did win the race comfortably but was just nine seconds ahead of Alonso when he crossed the finishing line. This was after the Aston Martin team asked Alonso to lift and coast for the majority of the race. If Alonso was pushing, the result could have been different, or the gap could have been a lot lesser.
Going into the Austrian GP, Hamilton and Alonso will be hoping for their respective teams’ upgrades to pay dividends. Even though they are competitive enough to get into the top three, both former world champions want to start winning races again before the season ends.
