Max Verstappen has been through an unprecedented level of domination in the past two years. Coming to 2022, he was already a world champion. However, since 2022, the Dutch driver has broken the record for most wins in a season. The previous best record for an F1 driver was 13 GP wins, which belonged to the legend Michael Schumacher as well as Sebastian Vettel. After the two German greats, now, the record belongs to the Dutch sensation. In 2022, Verstappen won 15 races, surpassing that of Schumacher and Vettel’s 13. Last year, the F1 fans saw the Dutch driver break his own record and get to 19 race wins.
Clearly, Verstappen is too hard to beat in recent times. But the credit for the Dutch driver’s domination goes to the superior Red Bull car. Moreover, the RB18 car was pretty good. But RB19 overshadowed every other fast car in the past. Red Bull went on to win 21 of 22 races in 2023. The only race they did not win was the one in Singapore. Somehow, Ferrari managed to win the Singaporean Grand Prix last year. Now, the question is if they can challenge Red Bull and Max Verstappen for the upcoming season.
Ferrari Must Be Wary Of The Max Verstappen Statistic
Michael Schumacher helped Ferrari dominate the sport in the early 21st century. However, since the day he announced his first retirement and left Ferrari in 2006, the Italian manufacturer has won only 51 races out of 333 F1 GPs. Hence, Ferrari has a low strike rate of 15.31%. The last time they won a title was in 2008 with the constructor title. But the last Ferrari driver to win the Driver’s championship was Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. On the other hand, the current triple-time champion has the best strike rate for drivers in modern times. Max Verstappen won 34 races in the last two years.
Last year, he won 19. Ferrari won 51 GPs in the last 17 seasons. Since 2017, the Italian manufacturers managed to win 19 races up till the end of the 2023 season. On the all-time wins list, Max Verstappen is currently sitting at number three with 54 career wins. Last year, Ferrari showed a little tangible progress under the new boss Frederic Vasseur. But they must chalk out a plan to beat the relentless force called Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver’s 34 wins since 2022 are two more GP wins than Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso’s entire career.
F1 Teams And Drivers Are Wary Of Going Through Another Dull Season With Verstappen’s Domination
Since 2022, F1 Motorsport has seen a lack of competition that might be making the sport look boring. But the idea of the cost cap rules was to see a more competitive season. These rules should help every team have a fair chance to win the title. Indeed, teams like Aston Martin and McLaren have shown immense progress.
But they have been no match for Red Bull and Max Verstappen. Even Mercedes boss Toto Wolff once said that leaving Max out of the equation would make the sport more competitive. If Red Bull is able to make their 2024 car even faster than RB19, then it will be a lot of trouble for the rest of the teams and drivers.
