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Max Verstappen’s title march boring? Try telling that to his Orange Army
The Dutchman's charge to a third successive drivers' title is a formality, but dominance is nothing new in Formula One
There are those who would tell you that this Formula One season has become a trifle boring, such has been Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s complete and utter dominance. Twelve wins in a row by the Milton Keynes-based team; 22 of the past 23 going back to last season. Certainly these are stats to make F1 executives and Netflix Drive to Survive producers wince. There is no surer way to lose hard-won fans than to serve them up a constant diet of the same driver winning.
But try telling that to the hundreds of thousands fans who make the pilgrimage to Zandvoort this weekend, swarming over the dunes that surround this coastal circuit like orange ants in their ‘Verstappen 33’ T-shirts, straining for a glimpse of the man himself. When Verstappen did his first out-lap in FP1 on Friday, the ‘Orange Army’ rose as one to salute him, shaking their fists and roaring their support.
No matter that Verstappen was born in Hasselt, over the border in Flemish-speaking Belgium, Red Bull’s double world champion is a bona fide hero here. “Arguably Netherlands’ biggest sporting superstar since Johan Cruyff,” it was suggested to him by one breathless journalist in Thursday’s press conference. There is no easy way to measure such things. Suffice to say, Verstappen is a big deal.
A big deal who has a shot at tying one of F1’s biggest records this weekend. Should he win his home grand prix on Sunday, as he is expected to - Verstappen beat McLaren’s Lando Norris to pole by 0.6 seconds - it would be his ninth victory on the trot, equalling the record set by Sebastian Vettel, also with Red Bull, in 2013.
The Red Bull driver is hoovering up records at an incredible rate. Victory on Sunday would be his 46th in Formula One, nearly half the 103 that Lewis Hamilton has managed so far. And Verstappen is still only 25, 13 years younger than the sport’s statistical Goat.
Barring misfortune or uncharacteristic mistakes, most of his rivals expect him to win not only every race this season, but most of the races up until 2026 when new chassis and engine regulations come into play. He is likely to be a five-time world champion by then.
It seems absurd, faced with such compelling evidence, to ask how good Verstappen is. How worthy of his place in F1’s all-time pantheon. But given the RB19 is arguably the most dominant car in F1 history – McLaren’s MP4/4, which won 15 of 16 rounds in 1988, might dispute that title, or Mercedes’ W05 – it is a question that has been put to pretty much every driver out here this weekend. George Russell did say that “10 drivers” could compete for victories and championships if you put them in the same car.
But no one was quibbling with Verstappen’s claims to greatness. “I can quite happily say I think he is one of the best drivers ever in Formula One,” McLaren’s Lando Norris said. “Without a doubt. It would be nice to see him battle a bit more and work for a living more. But I think he proved enough of that when he raced Lewis in 2021. He showed what a fighter he is.”
Interestingly, Norris made the point that Verstappen had always been groomed for stardom – being the son of former driver Jos ‘the Boss’ Verstappen. He reckoned he was maybe “four years behind” in terms of development. But that notwithstanding, Norris argued that we should all be appreciating Verstappen’s brilliance a bit more, rather than taking what he is doing “for granted”. Winning race after race is not easy, even with the best car.
The truth is Verstappen is not always the easiest to warm to. He can be petulant, as he showed with his refusal to gift Sergio Perez a couple of points in Brazil last year as retribution for an alleged transgression earlier in the season. “Yes, he hasn’t got to where he has by just trying to please people,” was Norris’s verdict. “Max is a winner. He is passionate. I think we should definitely enjoy witnessing something like this. I think that’s better than just complaining because he’s doing so well.”
If he wins again on Sunday, and takes another step closer to a third title that could be won as early as Japan next month, with seven races of the season still remaining, there will no doubt be further groans from some quarters. That is no slight on Verstappen or Red Bull. There were the same groans when Michael Schumacher and Hamilton were laying waste to their rivals. The ‘Orange Army’ will not care.