Verstappen's record-breaking run has left nothing to chance
We have seen drivers and teams dominate in the past but no one's done it like Max
The tifosi roared in elation as Carlos Sainz put the Ferrari on pole at their home Grand Prix on Saturday. The elation turned into jubilation on Sunday as the Spaniard led the first 14 laps of the Italian Grand Prix at the iconic racetrack at Monza.
For the first time in 2023, it looked like Red Bull, after winning all 13 previous races, were finally being challenged. Two-time defending champion Max Verstappen was hounding the rear of the Ferrari, attempting to overtake at Turn 1 – the 5.8km circuit’s best overtaking spot – at every lap. But Sainz kept the rampaging Red Bull at bay despite Verstappen having DRS (drag-reduction system).
But Sainz’s soft tyres soon began to show signs of wear. Verstappen, now 25 with a much maturer head on his shoulders, told his team in a calm and confident tone over the radio that Sainz’s rear tyres had begun to slide, indicating that they need not worry as the overtake was imminent.
Under unrelenting pressure from Verstappen, Sainz was forced into making an error into Turn 1 by locking his tyres. That was the moment the Dutchman needed as he flew past the Ferrari into Curva Grande to take the race lead to the dismay of the three hundred thousand tifosi who had turned up on Sunday afternoon to witness their favourite scarlet car winning.
Like the entire season yet, Verstappen never looked like being troubled thereon, winning the race with consummate ease six seconds ahead of teammate Sergio Perez and 11 seconds in front of Sainz, the first non-Red Bull driver. The victory meant that the Dutchman broke Sebastian Vettel’s 10-year record of nine consecutive wins in F1 by winning his 10th race on the trot. It was also Red Bull’s 15th successive, manifesting the most dominant streak any team has had in the sport.
We have seen dominant phases in the past. Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes, Vettel in Red Bull, Michael Schumacher in Ferrari, Nigel Mansell in Williams but all of them were at least challenged once in a while or were clearly made the team’s No.1 driver.
Both cases don’t apply to Verstappen. What the 25-year-old and Red Bull have been able to achieve together is incredible consistency. It’s true that Red Bull is the best car on the circuit and Verstappen does have a significant advantage but the same machine is also available to Perez, who has quite simply and comprehensively been beaten by Verstappen regularly.
The Mexican has had only two race wins this year to Verstappen’s 12. He is an incredible 145 points behind his teammate. In some races, Perez finished more than 30 seconds behind Verstappen while in others he was even lapped by the Dutchman in the same car.
At Zandvoort, Verstappen was way behind Perez during the wet-dry Dutch GP but went almost a second a lap faster to easily undercut the Mexican during the pit stops. In Miami where Perez had taken pole and Verstappen started ninth, the latter achieved victory overtaking everyone, including his teammate, to clinch victory by five seconds.
The simple fact is that the Dutchman is his own zone, unquestionably the best driver on the grid, with no one to match his speed.
“What Max is doing is breaking records and driving at an unbelievable level. I don’t think there is anybody in the world at the moment that can beat Max Verstappen in this car, that’s for sure. You have to recognise and applaud what Max is doing. In sport, it is very rare that something like this happens and it is a golden moment for him and certainly a golden moment for the team,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Verstappen brakes later, gets on the power faster, is able to carry greater speed into corners and makes better use of traction that helps him to eat into the gap of a car he’s following or pulling out time while in the lead.
“The most impressive for me is that Max, it's not just about the last 10 races but it's about the last two years. I would say that he didn't do a single mistake ... for sure it's easier to not do mistakes when you have a margin on the others and so on but even in these kinds of circumstances, he's able to manage the situation very well. To not do a single mistake over two seasons, it's just mega," Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Verstappen’s prime form has also intertwined with Red Bull’s perfect execution of plans and strategies, week after week. Their crew too have not messed up even a single pit stop the entire season.
In the peak form of his life and unbeatable at the moment, Verstappen has won 12 of the 14 races this season with an incredible winning percentage of 85.71. If his form continues, Verstappen could well break the record held by Italian great Alberto Ascari, who won six of the eight races in the 1952 season to have a winning percentage of 75. The 25-year-old could also break his own record of most wins in a season which he achieved last year when he won 15.
With eight races left and with Red Bull winning 24 of the last 25 races, who will bet against Verstappen?
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