Christian Danner thinks it is a matter of time before Max Verstappen gets his hands on the most important records in Formula 1: the number of victories and the number of world titles. The analyst thinks that Verstappen can only be held back from these prestigious records by his own career choices.
Since 2020, Verstappen has taken more victories every season: in the shortened corona season, the Dutchman won two races and won ten Grands Prix on his way to the world title in 2021. In 2022 the count rose to fifteen; a record that was again shattered in 2023 with nineteen victories. In 2024, Verstappen won three of the first four races, and many prominent figures in the paddock are already anticipating Verstappen’s fourth title.
Tease to Marko
However, Red Bull Racing itself does not want to anticipate the facts yet. “If you ask Helmut Marko whether he is already receiving congratulations for winning the world title in 2024, he gets seriously angry,” Danner laughs on Sport und Talk aus dem Hangar-7, a sports program from Red Bull channel ServusTV. The analyst and commentator knows Marko well enough to occasionally tease the 80-year-old Austrian, but believes that Marko is right. “Marko said: we’ve only had four races, and there are twenty more to come.”
Danner agrees with Marko’s words. ‘Even Red Bull couldn’t pull away so comfortably from the start. They have to stay sharp, the two drivers. Verstappen can afford a little more, but Sergio Pérez had to go to the extreme, because you don’t just get these results, even if the car is very good.’
In Australia it became clear how fine the line is between success and loss. ‘It is quite unusual for technical problems to still arise these days, especially if it is something as crazy as a stuck brake caliper. However, even such a rare problem does not have to change the situation: Verstappen has a great team, with excellent engineers and a strong structure.’
Verstappen passes milestone
Verstappen was the fourth driver after Japan to lead at least 3,000 laps. Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel preceded him. ‘The only thing that can stop Verstappen from breaking all the records of Schumacher and Hamilton is the chance that at some point he no longer feels like it. Maybe the stress and the number of races will be too much for him,” says Danner, who expects that the competition will have to take the world champion into account for a while. ‘The way things are going now, we don’t have to worry. Max won’t be retiring anytime soon.’
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