Max Verstappen won for the fourth time in five races this season at the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend. Only a mechanical retirement in Australia has denied him a clean sweep so far.
Verstappen’s winning margin over McLaren driver Lando Norris in China was just under 14 seconds. And it would have been larger had there not been two safety cars in the middle of the race.
The Dutchman also continued his 100% pole position record in Saturday’s qualifying session, out-pacing teammate Sergio Perez by three tenths. It’s the first time a driver has started the season with five straight poles since Mika Hakkinen in 1999.
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Verstappen looks capable of challenging his own records from 2023, when he triumphed in 19 out of 22 races. Indeed, stretching back to the start of last year, he’s on a run of 23 victories in 27 Grands Prix.
And extending the scope even further to the beginning of 2022, the 26-year-old has stood on the top step at 38 of the past 49 events. The ground effect era has truly belonged to him.
The only consolation for Red Bull’s rivals is that they have already introduced their first significant upgrade package of the new season. Ferrari will bring ‘massive’ updates to Imola next month, and McLaren showed their potential in Shanghai too.
Helmut Marko warns Lando Norris for Max Verstappen remarks
Before winning the main race in China, Verstappen secured a comfortable victory from fourth on the grid in Saturday’s sprint. Afterwards, Norris said, via The Guardian, that ‘the same driver winning every single time’ starts to become ‘boring’.
Red Bull director Helmut Marko, however, has refuted that assessment. Speaking to De Telegraaf, he called for more appreciation of Verstappen’s ‘extraordinary’ performances rather than complaints about the spectacle.
He said: “It’s not boring at all. In skiing, we used to have men like Franz Klammer and Hermann Maier, who won a lot. If a sportsman’s performance is extraordinary, you have to accept and appreciate it. And above all, don’t say it’s boring. It’s Max’s merit.”
Will Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton’s records?
The question now is how far Verstappen can go in his pursuit of history. Red Bull are expected to remain the class of the field until the regulations change for 2026, even if Adrian Newey says they’re now struggling to find improvement with their concept.
Former F1 driver Christian Danner has told Verstappen that the only thing that can stop him breaking the ‘really big’ records set by Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher is walking away from the sport. His win percentage since the start of last year stands at a frightening 85.2%.
The table below shows where he’ll be, relative to Hamilton, if he keeps that up until the end of 2025. You can also see the same prediction based on his pole (63.0%) and podium (92.6) rates in the same period.
The headline here is that, if Verstappen maintains his current pace, he could be just nine wins from Hamilton’s all-time benchmark heading into 2026. That depends on whether Hamilton adds to his tally, of course, and while that looks unlikely this year, his chances may improve at Ferrari in 2025.
After that, Verstappen needs to make sure he’s in the right car for the new era. There’s chatter in the paddock that he may be able to leave Red Bull if he doesn’t believe they’re well-placed.
If he does so, then Mercedes stands out as his likeliest destination. The Silver Arrows stole a march on the field when we saw regulation changes of this scale, winning eight straight constructors’ titles.
The post ‘Don’t say it’s boring’: Helmut Marko hits back at Lando Norris after Max Verstappen claim appeared first on F1 Oversteer.