Gra maham Watson, thenager of race ormula 1operF, feeations that Michael Schumacher played a secondary role in turning Red Bull’s Max Verstappen into a “sporting cannibal.”
Before joining AlphaTauri as the sporting director, Watson collaborated with Verstappen at Toro Rosso. When Red Bull placed Verstappen in one of their cars, he served as the race team manager for the Faenza outfit. Back in the 2014 season, Watson made his Toro Rosso debut.
After just one season of single-seater car racing, Red Bull propelled Verstappen into the top echelon of competition motorsport in 2015. However, he demonstrated sufficient talent in just 23 Toro Rosso Grand Prix to unseat Daniil Kvyat in Milton Keynes in 2016. Verstappen is now a three-time winner.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull is now ranked third all-time in Formula One Grand Prix wins.
As a rookie, Verstappen finished in the lead in 10 of his 19 Grands Prix and three of the first four races of 2016. At the Spanish Grand Prix, the 26-year-old triumphed in his Red Bull debut, defeating Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen. Since then, he has won 54 races out of 185 entries.
The only drivers who have won more Grands Prix than Verstappen are Lewis Hamilton (103) and Schumacher (91). In addition, the Dutchman has 98 podium finishes, or 53% of his total Grand Prix entries, which puts him sixth all-time. Schumacher (155) and Hamilton (197) are also at the top of that Formula 1 stat.
Verstappen may potentially now tie Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost for the record of four Formula One championships in 2024. The only F1 champions to have won more than four are Juan Manuel Fangio (5) and Hamilton and Schumacher (7). Verstappen is tied with Niki Lauda and Ayrton Senna (3).
Max Verstappen was unintentionally exposed as a “sporting cannibal” by Michael Schumacher.
Verstappen even had the most dominant season in Formula 1 ever during the 2023 campaign, thanks to Red Bull. In addition to winning 19 of the 22 Grand Prix, or 86.3% of the races, he broke Alberto Ascari’s 1952 victory percentage record of 75%. In 2004 Schumacher’s best performance was 72%.
