Could Verstappen hit an unprecedented century of F1 wins?

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The stars have aligned for Max Verstappen to rewrite the Formula One rule books.

Having become a grand prix winner in record time he has a two-and-a-half year head start on every driver who ever won a race.

The 18-year-old could conceivably still be racing in two decades’ time. With the Formula One calendar now longer than it has ever been Verstappen’s career might last over 400 races. That would give him the potential to break the record for most wins, which currently stands at 91, and perhaps even push it towards 100.

He’s already made his way into a multiple championship-winning team. Red Bull are on an upward curve at the moment, poised to introduce a highly-anticipated engine update. Next year’s rules changes are widely expected to play in their hands.

It all adds to a view that Verstappen has arrived at the right place in the right time to create history How far do you think he will go?

I say

It’s easy to get carried away with the hype when a new star such as Verstappen arrives on the scene. But the same was true of drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton before him, and both of them have gone on to achieve great things.

It’s important not to underestimate how hard it is to win one grand prix, let alone ten or twenty or one hundred. And there have been plenty of young sports stars who’ve had too much too soon and been unable to sustain their early promise.

Most Formula One drivers don’t get to drive a race-winning car during their careers – staying in one is difficult. And even if he does, who’s to say he won’t go off elsewhere in search of a greater challenge, as Vettel has?

Verstappen is in an enviable position of having the youth, the ability and the team on his side to start winning races exceptionally early in his career. For now the biggest obstacles to his success are the mighty Mercedes, the threatening Ferraris and his super-quick team mate. It’s hard not to imagine many more wins lie in the future for him, and while we can’t take anything for granted at this stage the sky’s the limit as far as his potential is concerned.

But consider this: if Verstappen does go on to start more than 400 races, he wouldn’t need to win races at the rate of Michael Schumacher (29.6%) or even Vettel (25.9% at the time of writing) in order to reach the magic hundred.

Is it probable? No. Is it possible? Absolutely.



You say

Will Verstappen be the first F1 driver to reach 100 wins? Which drivers’ victory milestones do you envisage him reaching during his career?

And might one of F1’s current leading winners beat him to triple-digits, such as Lewis Hamilton (31 years old, 43 wins) or Sebastian Vettel (28 years old, 42 wins)?

Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.

What is the highest milestone of victories Verstappen will reach?

  • 100 wins: Verstappen will hit a century (17%)
  • 91 wins: Verstappen will reach Michael Schumacher's current record (3%)
  • 51 wins: Verstappen will reach Alain Prost's once-record total (34%)
  • 41 wins: Verstappen will reach Ayrton Senna's renowned tally (19%)
  • 31 wins: Verstappen will draw level with Nigel Mansell (12%)
  • 20 wins: Verstappen will match Mika Hakkinen (8%)
  • 10 wins: Verstappen will tie with James Hunt and others (3%)
  • 5 wins: Verstappen will equal the likes of Keke Rosberg (1%)
  • 1 win: Verstappen will stay a one-hit wonder (2%)

Total Voters: 285

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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99 comments on “Could Verstappen hit an unprecedented century of F1 wins?”

  1. No, though not for a lack of talent. Just that the sort of racing car dominance that Schumacher had 2000-2004 is unprecedented. Doubt Verstappen will have that many seasons in that dominant a car. If he does, well then, yes.

    1. Incidentally, I voted that he will beat Prost, but not Schumacher. Depends on how long his career lasts, though.

  2. I anticipate great things to come from Verstappen. He has an immense career ahead of him, and arguably is already in a position where many teams would be interested in having him should he leave red bull (which isn’t any time soon).

  3. Verstappen is a great driver and will no doubt reach at least 40 wins, but Schumacher’s 91 wins is an unbeatable record.

    1. @ultimateuzair If there’s one thing we know about records in F1, is that they are certainly not unbeatable. How many times have we thought a record cannot be beaten, and then it is! There’s every chance he may not beat it, but there’s every chance he might.

    2. @ultimateuzair Yes, I tend to agree with you on the young man being able to reach 40+ wins. He has shown that he has all the skills and temperament or hunger as LH would call it to do great things in the sport. Those two are huge +s. But 100 victories is a mighty task to accomplish. But it is not impossible as @strontium suggests.

      The problem with accomplishing such a humongous achievement is that the sport has changed a lot from the days that MS set his records. Gone are the days of the kind of favoritism that SF enjoyed. Gone also are the kind of tyre arrangements and hundreds of hours of testings that prevailed and in their places are greater restrictions purported to even out the playing field. And even more restrictions are expected in the future.
      The imbalance being fought against by teams and fans alike presently borders on the revenue distribution formula which gives a lot of advantage to certain teams with RedBull being one of them.Then you have mid-season and impromptu changes of rules which are aimed to rope in a runaway team.
      So some of these will be factors that will determine MV’s future in the sport as well as others. Now, if he beats all these odds, as he has already shown to do, and gets to reach MS’ wins, then he certainly might be the sport’s greatest.

      1. @Tata Michael Schumacher reached 91 wins despite the rules being changed to try and make things harder for him and Ferrari (2003 and 2005), moving to Ferrari at a time when they were a midfield team (albeit when midfield teams could still win once in a while) and leaving F1 at the peak of his ability (had he stayed in the Ferrari for a further three years he undoubtedly would have reached 100 wins and probably 8 championships too).

        This means that there could be the opportunity for Max to have an easier run to the magic number of wins than Schumacher, though looking at the changes being rushed through for 2017 just to try and peg back Mercedes any future dominance by Max will likely be treated the same making it harder, just as it was for Schumi.

        1. @jerseyf1 I think it is more accurate to say F1 changed rules to make it look like they were trying to stop the Ferrari train, but in reality they were superficial changes that Ferrari had first right of refusal on, with their veto power.

          Nobody has had, nor I predict ever will have again, the advantages MS/Ferrari had in that era. For Max to have an easier time it would take massive skewing, moreso than even MS enjoyed, with a contracted bootlicker for a teammate, unlimited testing, a designer car and tires, and a team that gets hundred of extra millions of dollars, and veto power on any rule changes.

          Hopefully that will never happen again. I hope Max always has legitimate top teammates and beats them in an apples to apples atmosphere. I will honour Max 100% more if he ‘only’ achieves honourably half the numbers MS compiled in the fixed manner he did.

  4. Hmmm… I wish there had been a poll trying to predict Maldonado´s achievements right after he won the 2012 Spanish GP, there´d certainly be some funny answers.

    It´s hard enough to predict a single GP, but predicting a career is impossible. We´ll probably be less surprised if Verstappen reaches certain landmarks, but I really prefer to just wait and see rather than guessing what´ll happen.

    1. Maldonado has a record 91 crashes, is a fact I made up

  5. Guybrush Threepwood
    22nd May 2016, 12:26

    He needs to prove he is better than his team mates on equal terms first before worrying about 100 wins – something which he hasn’t done at either STR or RBR yet.

    1. HighinDutchman
      22nd May 2016, 20:06

      you can’t be serious! no offense… but he had better qualifies AND better race results against SAI. And now he finished before RIC already in his first weekend. not to mention the brave overtakes he already made..This guy is 100% race driver and future champ. hard to see it any other way

      1. HighinDutchman, the comparison with Sainz’s final points tally for 2015 is not really representative given that he suffered from far more mechanical issues than Verstappen, costing Sainz several decent points finishes.

        When you compare the races where both Verstappen and Sainz both finished in 2015, the two drivers finished ahead of each other the same number of times (tied at five races each). As for qualifying, Sainz arguably did have the better qualifying record in 2015 as he outqualified Verstappen 9 times to 7. I would say that Guybrush does indeed have a point – when you look more closely at the data, Verstappen and Sainz really have not been separated by much.

        1. HighinDutchman
          22nd May 2016, 21:46

          yeah, but the times SAI was better was mostly the first part of the season. And given the fact that SAI had a little more experience in a f1 car, cannot be ignored as well. the second part of the season VES was clearly the faster one

          1. I’d still dispute the claim that Verstappen was clearly faster than Sainz given that, strictly speaking, the majority of Sainz’s mechanical failures (four out of his total of seven) happened in the final half of the season – two of which (in Belgium and Brazil) effectively knocked him out of the running before the race had even began. Out of the five races where both drivers did finish, the final results were 3-2 in Verstappen’s favour – not what I would call a convincing margin.

            As for arguing that Sainz had more experience in an F1 car, Sainz was only allocated one day of testing in the 2014 Young Driver post season test – I don’t think that would be that much of a significant difference.

      2. You cannot be serious dutchman???..he had a 2 stop strategy..otherwise Ric would won…one swallow does not make a summer!!

        1. In an recent interview MV told the public that Ric’s tire condition was worse. That was the reason he needed to switch to a 3 stop strategy. He was on a 2 from the beginning, but needed to switch. So MV just managed his tires better than Ric and that is driver quality shining. Plus he held MV back and MV asked if Ric could not drive faster when leading, which he could not.

          No. MV won this game on quality and forced a 2 stop strategy by the way he he was driving, which won him the race. Besides Ric had a puncture in his tire and would have lost anyway.

  6. The thing with Max Verstappen is that there is a lot of sensation around him because of his age, and his incredibly rapid development from F3 driver to F1-race winner. Take that away, set aside all emotions and see whats left: a great driver, but is he really already on the level of Ricciardo, Hamilton and Vettel in pure driving skill? Personally i’d say no, not yet. He has still a lot to prove.

    I think he is yet to find out how it feels when things don’t go your way. When your team-mate beats you over a couple of races, etc. How he handles such set-backs will define how good he really is.

    As for the poll: With the time he’s got on hand, I think Senna/Hamilton/Vettels number of wins are realistic.

    1. What makes him great in my view is his ability to grow with each and every challenge.
      He took the first opportunity in F1 and turned it into a win. How many drivers have done that? The answer is very few. Not Hamilton, not Schumacher, not Senna, not Prost for instance. Vettel did, but it was a very special race in wet conditions.

      Verstappen however went toe to toe with his much more experienced team-mate, Vettel and Raikkonen and made it happen on a dry track without making a single mistake. Hugely impressive.

      I keep hearing that Ricciardo has it in him to raise his game and beat Max. I sure hope he finds it rather quickly, because I believe Verstappens development curve will be a lot steeper for the next 2-3 years than Ricciardos.

      Rarely do we get to see the emergence of such a talent. Get used to it and learn to appreciate it, because whether you like it or not you are going to se an awful lot of Verstappen for the next decades.

      1. – He took the first opportunity in F1 and turned it into a win.
        I thought MV has been in F1 for 1yr+.

        – Vettel did, but it was a very special race in wet conditions.
        I also assume that Seb’s first ever race in F1 was at US grand prix with Sauber-BMW in 2007. No?

        1. Michael Brown (@)
          22nd May 2016, 18:31

          Meaning the first chance to win the race, he took it and won. Hülkenberg and Pérez weren’t able to, although Maldonado did. But Maldonado was a one-hit wonder.

          1. @mbr-9

            I would argue Maldonado is a multiple hit wonder ;-)

  7. Cannot see him being allowed to get too many wins, especially if he stays with present team. Because his bosses have set the standard, by claiming any team that has a unfair advantage must be hauled in ;-)

  8. Even if he’s good, he still needs a winning car. Many things have to align to create records like Schumacher. For instance when Renault have a good car themselves, who says they will still supply Red Bull.

  9. by the time he is 25 he will be promoted to the next generation of space-pilots.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      22nd May 2016, 15:30

      or he’ll run for president of the US – the first Dutchman to become President of the United States against all laws and regulations!

  10. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    22nd May 2016, 12:54

    Really? He’s won just one race and we’re talking of how many more he may or may not get? No, got burnt this way in thinking Kubica was going to get a lot more… There’s simply no way to know.

    He’s good, and young so he can always get better but I think there are better drivers out there currently. Give him a couple of years before we start talking about him like the second coming.

    1. Stefan Bouton
      23rd May 2016, 1:04

      You didn’t get burnt by thinking Kubica would be a great. It’s sad that you put all other drivers in the same category. Maybe just enjoy the talent we’re seeing and take it as we see it today. No need to think he will be handicapped.
      Who do you think is better than Verstappen? I’m guessing you’ll list veterans who will be retired by 2021?

      1. There are no drivers on the current grid that need to retire from age before 2021. The two oldest drivers would still be a year younger than Schumacher was on his retirement.

  11. Sports press tends to overhype things.
    We saw dozens of “next big things” already in last 20 years of F1 history, yet few managed to be at the right time in the right place. And don`t get Vettel or Hamilton off the map yet, they have at least few years in top teams, while RB is more a marketing project and VES has yet to beat his teammate, only dirty tactics helped him to win…
    And statistically speaking he was not much faster than Sainz anyway

  12. Lee Porcelli
    22nd May 2016, 12:55

    Talk about jumping the gun. He has won one race.He was out qualified by his team mate.If he had three stopped he
    would have finished 2nd or third. Great potential but still needs to put it together thru a season.

    1. He got out qualified by Ric who has been in RB for 3 years, has had more time in the RB12, well understandable Monaco Max will be in front 100%, Ric’s tires were gone in the race which is why he needed to do a 3 stop, which means Max’s tire management is far better than Ric’s, if Ric is so good why couldn’t he overtake Vettel? excuses, excuses, Ric start racing not moaning about strategy’s while he destroyed his own tires

  13. I think that its important to realise how many factors have to be in place, and more over have to be there sustainably, to get to the amazing record Schumacher has achieved.

    Sure, having more races per season is surely one favouring current drivers over Schumacher (a bit) and especially earlier generations. But you just have to look at Alonso (after 2006 who did not expect him to be far further on) and where his win tally stands to see that an amazing driver and winning a record amount of races does not always work out. Even Hamiltons and Vettels win/race balance went down considerably after their first strong run of races when inevitably they found themselves in a team with less results.

    As Keith mentions, its certainly possible and Verstappen might be one of those most likely to achieve it (Vettel and Hamilton are not far off Prosts win tally now), but its far from a given. For all we know Max wins an amazing championship next year, then gets in an argument with Marko and runs off to McLAren/Haas/Renault … or even jumps ship to sports cars or NASCAR. Or goes cycling, into Moto GP or whatever. Its hard to know where live takes one at 18 years of age!

  14. Much depends on the competitiveness of his cars over the coming years as well as the number of races per season.

  15. Remember the years when Vettel just couldn’t stop winning? We may start predicting Verstappen’s record once he wins at least 1 WDC. Although, he is probably the most exciting talent in F1 in a long time & he won’t need a century of wins to be considered a great in future. Also, the level of his completion will be a major factor.

    For some reason, I feel that Vandoorne will be the one of the long-term stars in F1. Let’s hope he gets a permanent drive soon.

    If I have to place a bet one someone going anywhere near Schumi’s record, that’d be Vettel. Lewis may add another 20 to his tally but I’m not sure he’d be racing for too long.

    1. @praxis Vandoorne might be the perfect example as to why Verstappen won’t reach 100 wins. Vandoorne is a brilliant driver but for now a mediocre seat in a McLaren seems to be all on offer. He won’t win a race in that car for the next two, three, seasons. By then other stars are waiting and our super talent still has no wins.

  16. I don’t think it’s possible to give a meaningful answer to this question.
    For all we know, Max is a very talented driver who has reached a very high level at an extremely young age. That’s a fact.
    But can we already say he has reached the highest level? After all, he was outqualified by his team mate, and spent half the race behind him, until their strategies were split, opposing him to Ferrari’s second best driver only.
    Yes, it is safe to say that he will probably become even better and may be considered the best driver of them all one day. But it’s hard to predict how much better he’ll become, isn’t it? Just think of how Jacques Villeneuve hit the ground running in F1, but then evolved into a shockingly mediocre driver after just two good seasons.
    And even if Max ascends to the ever-disputed throne of the best driver in the grid, what’s that really worth? What good did that do for Fernando Alonso, who at one stage was breaking all the “youngest driver ever to …” records? After his strange season with McLaren, he ended up in the wrong places at the wrong time. Still humiliating his team mates and cutting through the field like a knife through warm butter, but scoring no more than 13 race wins in over 8 seasons.
    What has Vettel won since Red Bull lost their superiority in 2014? 3 races out of 42 so far.

    Therefore, I don’t think it is possible to make a meaningful prediction, as this would require two separate crystal balls, one to know how much better Verstappen will become, and another one to tell if he’ll be lucky enough to be signed by the most competitive teams more often than not.

    1. Vettel or Alonso not winning that much hardly has anything to do with their talent though. In that sense it will be all about Verstappen being in the right car at the right time to make a few strings of 10-15 race wins a season.

      1. @xtwl
        That’s precisely my point. See under: “this would require [a crystal ball] to tell if he’ll be lucky enough to be signed by the most competitive teams more often than not”.
        The other major caveat being the question whether he’ll really be the best driver of his generation or not.

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      22nd May 2016, 18:00

      @nase great point other drivers might come in and best him or existing drivers might outpace him- I can assure that the entire f1 paddock wants to see how ricciardo will do

  17. Variety at the top is nice and all, but 15% of people saying this guy will win 100 races? Surely that’s getting carried away.

    Let’s wait and see if he can win 10. Ricciardo is still stuck at three, two years after winning his first race. Kubica never won a second one. Jacques Villeneuve went on to win the world championship and he never even reached 15.

    Lewis Hamilton is in the best place to surpass Alain Prost and become the driver with the second-most wins. But he still needs to DOUBLE (!!) his total to even come close to Michael Schumacher.

    1. @cashnotclass What you write in your last paragraph is being overlooked by many I feel. Yes Hamilton and Vettel are passed Senna, and will reach Prost his tally sooner or later, but that still is some whopping 40 (!!!) from Schumacher his record. Let’s say Hamilton reaches Prost his target mid-2017, he would need another 4 seasons of a super car in which he wins 10 races each to get to Schumacher, doesn’t seem to probable to me.

  18. It is impossible to say, really. Who would’ve predicted at the end of 2006 that Alonso would still be looking for his third title a decade later? To reach Schumacher style records one really has to have 15 years of continuous success – even on an off season a driver should win a few races, and then dominate quite a few years completely.

  19. Suffice it to say he will likely have a lot of top cars and of course a lot of time to compile a lot of wins.

    My main thing is I do not want to see him do it the MS way. We deserve better (as does he) than to see him win on the strength of a contracted boot kicker for a teammate, so I don’t really care how many wins MV gets as long as he has had to earn them fair and square.

  20. It has less to do with driving and more to do with good long term decision making and a sprinkling of luck. We’ve seen this with Alonso. Who knows.

  21. For now I’m 60% on 20-29 and 30% on 30-39. Winning F1 is not only individual skill, but also team effort. Even if Red Bull is on 2 way battle with Mercedes or whoever their main rival next year, that 20ish races per season could easily only be converted to about 4 wins only. Schumacher can get 90 wins because he has full backup from his team (Ferrari) and teammates who has it in their contract to give him the way, and that’s something that really hard to get in current F1 meta.

  22. Another thing to consider…is that Max is currently relying mostly on father`s advices and management (yes he has manager, but it`s daddy who has last word anyway) and kinda “guided by hand” by RB, still he need to have guts to be a champion, otherwise he will be bleak person who won race or two…

    1. his ‘daddy’ has stepped away from managing Max, without Jos he wouldn’t be in F1, he helped Max made the right decisions, which turned out pretty good, well RB are an academy team for new drivers so I don’t get your point about being guided being a bad thing, it was the same with Vettel, Max is now doing the same, I will talk again to you when Max has 3 WDC’s to his name

  23. I hope not :p. But only because I think the car is likely what will make wins possibly. If he’s winning in a car that’s good, he won’t leave.

    So I figure if he gets 100, it’d be the same guy in the same car winning for most of it.

  24. I think it depends more on the team he’s driving for rather than himself and his ability.

    Fernando Alonso has been racing from a very young age too, but he didn’t enjoy being in a position in a team like Vettel’s run with Red Bull or Hamilton’s run with Mercedes. Alonso had a much troubled career compared to those two. So did Jenson Button, and he’s been in the sport since 2000.

    So it depends on that. If he stays at Red Bull and they manage to return to 2009-2013 levels again, he can break all records. If not, then it’ll be a lot more difficult. He’s a hot talent anyway, so he’ll probably chose where he wants to be, but as we’ve seen so many times, it can always backfire.

    1. @fer-no65 While he has more leverage than most of the drivers, his position on drivers market isn’t that exciting too. Imagine if you’re the team boss and looking for lead driver, would you switch Hamilton for Verstappen? What if you have Vettel, Ricciardo, or Alonso? Sure in few years time, our current top dogs will retire but there also will be new talent emerging. In the end, while he probably could always get a seat in top 4 team in his entire career, history shows that usually there’s only 1 or 2 teams that can fight for wins at every race in a season.

  25. Not impossible because nothing ever is but it would take a huge amount of good fortune as well as the skill he possesses.

    It’s very difficult to get the best car or even a competitive car throughout your career, just look at Alonso & Hamilton. Both spent significant periods in the wilderness with cars that were just not competitive.

    Even if you do, there’s still your team mate you have to beat and in most teams, that’s a difficult task as well. There’s also some top notch new talent in the wings (vandoorne for example) that could make it more difficult.

  26. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    22nd May 2016, 15:15

    It’s nice that we are all reasonable folks on this website:-) 22% think he’ll win almost as many as Alonso and have 31 wins. The other 78% believe he’ll have more than 31 wins. This is essentially the same as saying that a football player will score 50 goals for 10 years when we all know that Ronaldo is the only player who has scored 50 goals consecutively for 6 years.

    Unlike football, you actually need to have a winning car in F1 otherwise you’ll score 0 victories being as good as Ronaldo. In fact, even Ronaldo needs a team that can bring the ball up enough times for him to score 50 goals…

    So we just witnessed a player score his first hat trick in a game. Does that mean he’ll score 500 goals in his career?

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      22nd May 2016, 15:18

      And by the way, if Verstappen wins 100 races, should Sainz win 95? In finding the next Ronaldo, did we also find the next Messi?;-) Poor Ricciardo, he’s going to spend the rest of his life as a sub playing 1-2 minutes tops… Seriously, the amount of reason on this forum can fit in a single Red Bull can.

    2. @freelittlebirds You could say whether he won in Spain is irrelevant to this poll. He has the talent to win many races, and is young so he will have the opportunity to win many races too. It’s a valid question.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        22nd May 2016, 15:40

        @xtwl 78% believe he’ll score 41+ victories. Based on what? The fact that he’s as good as Sainz? The fact that he won a race where the 3 leading cars did not compete? It is absurd to read this when Alonso has 32 wins and Lewis had 20 a few years ago. Even Vettel could have had just 1 victory had Red Bull not lived up to its potential…

        1. To the Max !
          22nd May 2016, 19:53

          If Sainz is really that good as you claim he would now have a Ferrari contract.

          But on the question asked in the article :

          1. Is it possible he’s going to be the number one choice for top teams in the future?…Yes !

          2. Is it possible other top drivers will avoid him like the plaque and they don’t want to be team mates with him in the future?…Yes !

          So in conclusion, there’s a possibility he might reach a very high number of GP victories as long as he stays motivated.

          1. If Sainz is really that good as you claim he would now have a Ferrari contract.

            Nonsense and you know that. Sainz is not Verstappen but surely one of the better new guys around today.

          2. To the Max !
            23rd May 2016, 9:51

            Sainz isn’t nearly as good as the hype suggests, sure he’s good at doing single fast laps, but it’s his race pace which isn’t good enough. He was on average one second a lap slower as Verstappen in Barcelona (just distract the safety car laps and pit stop lap + out laps), and no way the STR11 was one second a lap slower as the RB12 just yet without them having the upgraded Renault engine.

            Sainz is ok on a Perez level, but not much more as that. Put him next to the Vettel’s, Ricciardo’s, Rosberg, Allonso’s, Hamilton’s and Verstappen’s and he gets eaten alive in the races. Last year he got saved by being able to make all kinds of excuses because of STR not being an actual top team (way too much stuff goes wrong over there), but he won’t have that luxury when driving for an actual top team.

            I don’t see him as the future and I have more faith in Vandoorne, Ricciardo, and possible the likes of Ocon and Leclerc or some of the other talents who will reveal themselves in the near future.

    3. I like this comparison.

      It ill be hard to predict as anything else in the world. I wish I had a crystal ball!
      I do believe that his potential is extremely visible and existent. So if all prerequisites are right he should be able to be a multiple race winner for sure. How many times? No idea!

  27. I don’t think he will reach the century. If Mercedes continue onwards like they have in the past two seasons there will be no room for them to win again and like Ricciardo it might take some time before we’re in a season where he can fight for the win when all challengers arrive at the finish line. It could be very well possible his second win will only come in a few years time.

  28. I think part of it will depend on whether other teams actually get their respective young driver programmes up to scratch or not (I’m primarily looking at you, McLaren).

    Verstappen is a massive talent, but there are other talents who are also relatively young in F1 at the moment who should have lengthy careers and have potential to secure race victories or championships themselves.

    I think half a century is very much possible, but we shall see. Could we see a similar situation to some young footballers and other sports stars who erupted onto the scene at a young age, only to peak too early? I’m not so certain. Verstappen should be around for a while.

  29. That win will be his only win.

  30. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
    22nd May 2016, 16:29

    For Max being able to win 100, he would need FIA to ban upcoming drivers until they are 25 years old. I mean, Max is good, but there are always new guys with excellent preparation coming up the ladder. And just in case, I’m talking about guys who are nowadays just children, but that I think will come strong and with a good budget, to give Max headaches really soon:
    – Mick Schumacher and his millions behind him, to buy him the best seat available. And the guy has some talent.
    – It wouldn’t surprise me if Felipinho Massa, always joking with Ricciardo, takes this game seriously and start a karting career. Massa could give him good funds as well, and Brazil needs a new idol in F1.
    – Red Bull will surely find another new wonder, maybe they have already found one in Sainz. The old guys (Kimi, Jenson, Fernando, Felipe) will be out soon, how soon I don’t know, maybe all of them will want to try the new 2017 regulations but that is it, at least that’s what I guess. Jenson is particularly getting tired of his McHonda.

    1. well Mick Schumacher has the burden of his fathers name on his shoulders, take his name away and he is an average driver.

  31. The poll is missing an option: “I don’t know.” Because nobody does. He certainly seems to have the potential, and could have the longevity, but to make any prediction on the back of one race win is just silly. For all we know he could be chasing the championship in the wrong teams all his life, like Alonso has been doing for quite some time. Or he could be like Schumacher and be in contention for the championship for 70+% of his career. If he can manage that, he’s got a good shot at getting the century. For now, let’s just wait for his second win.

  32. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    22nd May 2016, 17:45

    I vote for that he’s gonna be the next Senna.

  33. This is impossible to predict because domination is car-dependent. Just see the win counts for Vettel and Hamilton last couple of seasons. In their seasons without a dominant car, they do get a couple of wins, but those attribute to less than a single very dominant season would.

  34. maarten.f1 (@)
    22nd May 2016, 19:29

    Personally I find it a pointless poll. Verstappen sure doesn’t lack talent, and I’m sure he’ll win more races. But winning races is not just about having talent, it’s also being at the right place at the right time. Will he make the right career choices? Maybe. At this moment in time there’s only two seats which basically give you a really good chance for a win, and that’s at Mercedes, and they already have two good drivers. It’ll change sooner or later, but you need to be at the right team at the right time. Vettel was, Schumacher was, Hamilton is, but Alonso clearly wasn’t at all times.

  35. If he is to win 100, he needs 25% win rate for 400 starts.

    All of which is totally unprecedented.

    He also needs to display unrivalled dominance far above all peers.

    Schumacher was a dominant force in his prime, nobody was close to him in talent… Hence 91 victories over what 300 starts?

    Verstappen could realistically grow up to year 34 or so. Drivers tend to drop off after that. So 15 years, 300 starts, can he get a proper car for the duration?

    What if some other team gets dominant car and he is stuck unable to get a win for 3-4 years.

    Is he the dominant driver a team would want to gain edge over opposition? For example right now he is behind Riciardo in pure speed(we can judge at end of season better, once he is fully adjusted to the.team).

    Unless he is greatly better than anyone else, I do not see him win at 25% rate.

    Is he better then Vettel and Hamilton? More masterful than Alonso?

    I rate him on Hakkinen level, blindingly fast and consistent. Fearless and cunning.

    For 100 wins Hamilton is in prime position to do so. 4-6 more years of this, with a clear #2 driver and he has a chance. But not if Nico keeps winning.

    Michael simply dominated in two different eras… Benneton and Ferrari.

    Vettel needs to dominate at Ferrari, to equal that.

    Hamilton needs to win this season for start…

    And Verstappen needs to show he can win more often, now that he had a taste of sprinkly wine.

  36. For F1 it would most certainly be better if he wouldn’t get to Schumacher’s level, but if someone could it would have to be Verstappen. No single driver in all history has reached this kind of level at such a young age. Verstappen has only one thing on his mind and he has more years ahead than anyone else in history had.

    Verstappen was there when the flag dropped, that’s what matters.
    Despite qualifying, luck, strategy to be there with just 70 laps of practice may be a record as well.

    If Verstappen is already competitive with such little time in the car, without much needed expierence to set up the car…. ? With some races under his belt the sky may as wll be the limit

  37. There’s talent, there’s being in the right car at the right time and there’s time. All look good… Except all developments in Automotive and entertainment in general. F1 good be dead before Max even gets up to record speeds.

  38. Keith’s first line is brilliant: “The stars have aligned for Max Verstappen to rewrite the Formula One rule books.” I’m not sure who the stars are, but the rule books certainly need to be rewritten. If (and it’s a big “if”) the rules can be rewritten so that restrictively dictated technology, that “Bernie/Todt” politics are eliminated, and that driver excellence returns to being the *only* criterium for winning, then I can see Max Verstappen in the same league as Schumacher and Vettel.
    When I was a youngster, I predicted that Stirling Moss would be world champion — and was, most unfortunately, wrong. I was right with Jimmie Clark, Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel either before or at the very start of their F1 careers — and freely admit to having a prediction failure with Ayrton Senna.
    If the “Formula One rule books” don’t wipe him out, Max Verstappen is showing enough brilliancy to get to the very top. I’m too old to expect to see all of his career, but confidently predict he could get there.

  39. What most of us forget is that we mostly read about successes. Many young athletes were great early on but fizzled out fairly young. Of course it doesn’t mean this will happen to Max – I think many if not most of us want to see him fulfill his potential. But it is easy to get overly excited about him. I’ll bet his dad is more rational about it than we are! ☺️

  40. Lewis needs to be able to win about 11 races a year from now til retirement to reach 100 wins.
    Vettel needs to win about 7,5 races a year to reach 100 before retirement.
    Verstappen only needs to win 5,5 races a year. Thus he has by far the best chances. Your could argue that we haven’t seen his talent yet – but honestly, we have: in his first race weekend for RBR, he outpaced Ricciardo all weekend, except in Q3. Once given the chance he just wrapped it without any hesitation, and he drove as if he was a very experienced multiple race winner. Add to that his skill with the tyres – which is very important.
    And the number of races in a season has increased over the years to 21 and it can easily reach 25 before Verstappen retires. For those reasons I think Verstappen will be able to beat Schumachers record, but of course he needs to have a talent to find the team with the best package on their move up.

  41. Max Verstappen had an interview for 45 minutes on dutch TV.
    He said He and Daniel both were on 2-stop strategy, but Daniel had more tire degradation so had to go to plan B, which was 3-stop. When asked why Daniels tires were going bad faster than his he said could be all kind of circumstances during the race.
    So he was very humble and didn’t say: “because I managed my tires better then Daniel”.

    But for me it means Daniel will already have to work very hard to stay ahead of Max, because Max pulled this off in a car he is not familiar with yet.

  42. I voted that he he will go on to score 100. He is at the perfect place at the perfect time.

    As much as he has talent, he is sitting on a huge political capital in F1. The blessings seems to come perfectly on time to him at different points on his career. It may be a coincidence but as much as Max Verstappen has done a good job on the track his dad Jos Verstappen has done a great job off the track to set him up with a career like this.

    F1 is not always about performance and talent it is a little more that. Be it how Mercedes was granted a secret test in 2013 ( the so called “tire test”, who knows what else got tested ) or be it RBR placing the bets on Max instead of Ricciardo in spain last weekend.

  43. I’m going to say sure, because no offence but I think there’s a better chance he will than this site still going in 20 years time for someone to point out I was wrong…

  44. If all else stays the same in F1 and RBR return to being the class of the field for the next 5-10 years then Max could hit 100 wins. But none of that will happen. There is plenty of talent bubbling up in junior formulae. And just wait until Max discovers sex and booze, and starts his recording career! Right now Max is a machine built for winning F1. Will he continue to be able to do that when other human aspects of life start to round off the corners on his talent? He probably has about three good years in which he is an unparalleled talent before other aspects of life, not least competition, start to intervene. He needs to make the most of it. Perhaps he will have the dedication and diligence of Schumacher – one can hope – but maybe money and success will start to negatively affect him as it does most people.

  45. Seriously…. what’s wrong with you people? The guy won his first gp, and you’re already talking about if he can win 100. That’s like thinking about your retirement plans with someone after the first date. Calm down. It was just one win. Considering he would’ve been 4th if it wasn’t for a lot of luck, why not ask if you think he’ll win another one THIS YEAR, or even beat Ricciardo in a straight firefight?

    1. Stefan Bouton
      23rd May 2016, 1:09

      You can just see his talent and how much he is getting better. Have you watched any of the races? It’s not out of nowhere. Nobody is saying for certainty that he will win 100 GPs. But we’re saying he the potential to and you aren’t doing any good by denying it.

    2. I agree 100%. he won 1 race and now we talk omg 100!…

      Only Vettel and Hamilton are in position to consider 100, and they have to essentially double their Careers at this point.

  46. BJ (@beejis60)
    23rd May 2016, 0:28

    This might be the dumbest article ever, @keithcollantine

    1. … or the most prophetic.

  47. With a career of 20 years 5 wins per season is enough to reach a 100.
    Since the best drivers always end up in the best cars, for most of their careers, this will not be difficult to reach for a young guy like Max, who is a racing addict.

  48. Went for prosts total. If he gets the schumacher level number one status (a duitiful team mate willing to let him past or happy to finish second, sorry rubens) and a totally dominant team along the lines of 2000 – 2004 ferarri he could top 100.

  49. I was told, and this is before had even heard of him, that he was the greatest F1 driver ever. I don’t know if that that means he will beat Schumacher’s record, but I’m guessing it does, so I voted for the 100+ option.

  50. If there’s anyone to win 100 GP’s, at this moment -and also quite some moments ahead- it’s Verstappen only.

    Mick Schumacher anyone? Based on what exactly would that be?

  51. If you remember the kid is only eightteen, what will happen when he’s in his twenty’s with all the fame and money?
    I bumped into him last year in my city – he was there for a demo – at 4.00 am in the morning after a couple of drinks. He sure knows how to party! lol

  52. This is simply absurd.

    Max is great, exciting and did an awesome job in Spain, but to predict 100 wins+ from this is utterly ridiculous.

    Who on earth dreamt up this nonsense?

    Keith? Are you serious!?

    1. Absurd…?

      Schumacher started at age 22, raced for 18 years (15+3).
      Schumacher’s first season wasn’t very impressive.
      Schumacher’s first win was much later in his second season for Benneton.

      In hindsight Schumacher looks superior, but Verstappen as the egde here.

      Verstappen is much younger.
      Verstappen had a more impressive first year.
      Verstappen had his first win in the first race with a new team.

      Absurd? Don’t think so, if given the right car for the job he could be up there

  53. I went for 41, there was so much in Schumachers favour during his ferrari years that I don’t see him reaching a number like 100 wins, he has the tlent no doubt but I don’t see him in a car that good for so many years in a row.

  54. Max Verstappen has done very well i F1, especially given his age, but honestly it’s very hard to predict how far his talent will take him. Nobody would realisticly think Kevin Magnussen would ever reach 100 wins, yet, except for the age, the main difference between their rookie years is really the opponent they faced. Magnussen was critizised for not beating 2009 world champion Button, and Verstappen is praised for beating fellow rookie Sainz Jr. I seriously doubt Verstappen would have been able to beat Button over a full season in his rookie year.

    If Rosberg and Hamilton had taken each other out in Melbourne 2014, Magnussen would have actually have won his debut race. So as I said, quite comparable results, yet the perception of their talent is quite different. And maybe rightly so. Only time will tell.

  55. Lol, 5 race wins per year for 20 years straight. There isn’t a snowflake in hell’s chance of that happening.

  56. I want this pool retroactively for Maldonado and Ricciardo 1st wins.

    Jokes asides, the guy is clearly talented, but I just can’t see what he has done that is massively better than Ocon (which he lost the F3 title to) and Sainz. I cannot yet see past the massive hype and the fact that he’s quite scenic on track.

    1. To the Max !
      24th May 2016, 12:05

      Ocon was in his third season and was driving for the best F3 team while Verstappen was doing his first season and was driving for a midfield F3 team. Ocon also had the better Mercedes engine. Verstappen took more wins (10) and would have taken 2 or 3 more if his engine would have lasted a whole season as it should have (you get multiple severe grid penalties when having to change an engine mid season in F3). If it wasn’t for the engine failure he actually would have taken 1/3 of the race victories. Jumping straight from karting into F3 and be at front wasn’t also done before, let alone do it in in a midfield F3 team.

      Sainz was a WSR winner with 5 years of single seat experience while Verstappen had only year. Sainz was also used to driving more powerful cars. After the first 1/3 of the season Verstappen managed to out qualify Sainz 8-1 whenever both drivers didn’t have noteworthy mechanical problem (and the 1 was Abu Dhabi where Verstappen braked a bit earlier into turn 1 because he got hindered by Massa doing a fast lap and had to give him room, and was so left with not enough tyre temperature). Verstappen also outscored Sainz 62-22 in points when they were team mates and was faster in all races accept for one fluke weekend (Bahrain, when brake problems left Verstappen with no time to do a proper set up in FP2 when you have to do them because of the temperatures).

      And here are some other things for you to ponder about…

      – After the first 1/3 of the season (Canada onwards) Verstappen never had a real mistake in qualifying, not even a big lock up (and that’s better as Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Ricciardo, etc. (the whole grid actually) have done)

      – Despite starting in the midfield most of time and being a rookie with very little experience in driving Formula cars, the only time Verstappen got first lap damage was in Sochi ’15 when he had no chance in avoiding a spinning Hulkenberg (again much better as most of the other drivers who were starting in the midfield)

      – Despite Verstappen not driving in a car which was designed to be really nice on the tyres, he still was able to show he’s very good with tyre management (Australia ’15 first stint or US GP last stint are examples of that)

      – His ex-engineer called him a machine after Sochi ’16 because he was doing 17 laps al within 0.6s of each other all the while being fast and conserving his tyres (he did the longest first stint of the field on his qualifying tyres)

      So it’s there to see if you want to, you just have to know where to look.

      1. So it’s there to see if you want to, you just have to know where to.look – Yup, and also knowing NOT where to look. Boy, must you want to see it bad.

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