Max Verstappen’s domination of the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix has the Dutchman closing in on another Formula 1 record ahead of this weekend’s event at Spa-Francorchamps.
The runaway championship leader secured his seventh successive victory in Budapest and by an enormous margin of over 30 seconds ahead of Lando Norris. It took his points lead to 110 points over Sergio Perez but Verstappen is eyeing up Sebastian Vettel.
Only the four-time world champion has won more races in a row with nine during his title-winning campaign in 2013 and if Verstappen can win at Spa and Zandvoort, his two home races, then he will equal Vettel.
With this win in Hungary, he has already matched the record of Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and Alberto Ascari, while simultaneously beating Schumacher’s second-best run of six wins on the trot.
He could also beat Schumacher‘s record of securing the title with six races to go if he continues to win every race and Perez falters more.
Will he be the greatest?
By the end of 2023, Verstappen will equal Ayrton Senna with three world titles and very quickly put himself in the debate for the greatest of all time. Most people will go with the statistics and say Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher are better but the Dutchman still has so long to go in his career.
By the end of his Red Bull contract, which concludes in 2028, he could easily equal Hamilton and Schumacher’s record of seven and if he wins them all, he’ll go beyond them both and probably have more wins by then too.
Who knows if he will then sign a new deal and stay even longer, setting records that will probably never be broken again in the history of mankind. Many people thought Schumacher’s numbers would never be beaten, yet they were.
Hamilton’s numbers are enormous but if Red Bull keep providing a winning car, Verstappen will blow past them and then some.
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
With the F1 circus finished at the Hungaroring, we move on to the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix which will a sprint weekend held between Spa-Francorchamps on July 28-30.
