"Golden phase of his career": Verstappen chases Vettel and Schumacher's record

Three wins in a row, nine this season, the competition humiliated in Spa: Max Verstappen currently dominates in Formula 1.

"Golden phase of his career": Verstappen chases Vettel and Schumacher's record

Three wins in a row, nine this season, the competition humiliated in Spa: Max Verstappen currently dominates in Formula 1. His home race in the Netherlands becomes a festival from which he should shield himself. Because he beckons a record that Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher share.

You probably just didn't expect Max Verstappen back then, 74 years ago. Narrow streets lead past red brick houses, this cozy little town is nestled in a nature reserve, the wind is blowing, the seagulls are screeching. Actually, Zandvoort is not the place to take in hundreds of thousands for a weekend. In 1948, however, a small race track was opened here - and in 2022 Zandvoort is therefore the epicenter of the Verstappen hype. The world champion's home race on Sunday (3 p.m. / RTL and in the live ticker on ntv.de) should be an intoxicating three-day party, the organizers announce a "sea in orange".

It's going to be so wild that Verstappen's Red Bull racing team is already worried about concentrating on the sporty. "There will be a hell of a lot of noise around the track," says team boss Christian Horner, "we'll try to keep Max and the team in a bubble."

Everything is going normally, but this weekend in front of 100,000 fans, the sporting situation in Formula 1 shouldn't change: Verstappen has won the last three races, a total of nine this season, and the Dutchman has a 98-point lead over his "follower" in the standings. Charles Leclerc in Ferrari.

His superiority last weekend in Spa was particularly overwhelming. Verstappen started from 14th place and won by a large margin. But, says the world champion, "a lot more contact pressure is needed here in Zandvoort, it will be more difficult to dominate here. Ferrari should be strong." That sounds like a lot of understatement in a season in which the decision seems to have been made after 14 of 22 races. Even if Ferrari should have its moments again this year, the gap can no longer be made up - there is a risk of a long, boring rest of the season.

And yet this dominance also has a sporting appeal, at least in the historical context. Because what Verstappen does in the year after his first title win should go down in Formula 1 history. "Since Max became world champion for the first time, he has taken another step," says Horner, "it has set him free. We see a driver in the golden phase of his career." The tenth win of the season is already beckoning in Zandvoort, the record is 13, held by Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2013) - there is much to suggest that Verstappen will already reach this mark in autumn.

Vettel also had the greatest lead as world champion so far (155 points/2013), and Verstappen is also heading for a new record here. It could be a record-breaking season that Formula 1 will look back on for a long time. And Verstappen is only 24 years old, a lot still seems possible. The Netherlands have only produced one Grand Prix winner to date - but this one seems poised to be one of the greatest. And nobody really could have expected that.