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Max Verstappen has become the story of the 2023 F1 season as he just broke Sebastian Vettel's record of nine consecutive wins. In the last couple of years, the rate at which Max has broken these records has led to a very interesting debate.
Is Max Verstappen already one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport? More often than not, when we try to answer this question, the debate gets snubbed by saying that he's still very early in his career. Well, it's a fair argument as well.
Max Verstappen is only 25 years old, and with drivers like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton hovering around 40 years of age, the Dutch driver could continue in the sport if he wanted to.
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Having said that, even though he's this young, he's starting to accomplish stuff in his career that many drivers have not accomplished this early in their careers. Even this nine-race win streak is a testament to the level at which the Red Bull driver has been performing and the level at which he's delivering results.
In this feature, let's add fuel to the fire and try to answer this already burning question. Is Max Verstappen already one of the greatest drivers in the history of F1?
Now, when I say that he is one of the GOATs, I'm not saying he is the greatest driver in the history of the sport. I'm simply claiming that Verstappen belongs in the conversation of the top 10 best drivers to have ever graced the sport.
Does he belong in that discussion? To find out the answer, we will take a look at a few parameters that tend to define some of the greatest talents in the history of the sport. If Max Verstappen fares favorably on those parameters, then that would certainly work in his favor.
Is Max Verstappen already one of the greatest of all time?
#1 Statistics
When we talk about statistics, Max Verstappen is already No. 5 in terms of the most wins in F1. There is a very high likelihood that he could end the season No. 3 on this list as well.
Other than that, the records to his name are astounding: he's the youngest ever race winner; he's got the most wins in a season; he's got the most consecutive race wins; and so many more.
When you take a look at all these numbers, are they not indicative of a driver that deserves a slot at the big boy table where all the elites sit?
Let's not forget that drivers like Niki Lauda, Jackie Stewart, and others have only around 50% of these numbers. Not only that, Max Verstappen is almost certainly going to be a three-time world champion by the end of this season. That's the kind of stats only the greatest drivers in F1 have.
#2 Longevity
At first glance, you look at Max Verstappen and see just a 25-year-old driver. Not only that, you see a driver who probably has not been in the sport for long.
This is precisely why it might come as a surprise when we realize that Max Verstappen has been in F1 since 2015. This is his ninth season, and he completes a decade in F1 next season.
If we compare this to the lofty numbers of more than 15 seasons for Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonso, then Verstappen's number pales in comparison.
But if we compare it to a more realistic 13-year career for Lauda or a similar duration for Alain Prost, you realize that Verstappen is at worst a couple of years away from an elite company in terms of the longevity of his career.
#3 Success against contemporaries
Even though the 2023 F1 season has been a one-man show, that's not necessarily been the case for every Max Verstappen title campaign.
His title battle in 2021 was against Lewis Hamilton, and it's hard to deny that in terms of quality of driving and intensity, the season was right at the top alongside so many others in history.
In 2021, Max Verstappen went toe-to-toe with Lewis Hamilton, statistically the greatest driver in Formula 1, and showed that he belonged.
In the eyes of many, Verstappen went a step ahead and showed that not only did he belong, he was more than capable of being the best on the grid.
Even in the 2022 F1 season, Verstappen suffered from two DNFs in the first three races but still bounced back to take the lead in the championship against Charles Leclerc before Red Bull eclipsed Ferrari in terms of performance.
Verstappen's success has not been a result of him just having a dominant car. He's battled with his contemporaries in competitive machineries and beat them.
#4 Supremacy in wet weather
When it comes to wet weather conditions, it's hard to deny that this is one trait that helps separate a good guy from the bad.
This is exactly what made Michael Schumacher or Ayrton Senna these mythical figures, because once the track got slippery and the visibility faded, these guys stood out in a manner that not many could.
Max Verstappen belongs in the same category of drivers that level up when the conditions get worse. On the current grid, it's hard to pick anyone but Max as the best wet-weather driver in F1.
#5 Building a team around themselves
Throughout the history of the sport, something that sets apart a great driver from a good one is their ability to build a team around themselves.
Michael Schumacher did that with Ferrari; Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna did that with McLaren; and Lewis Hamilton did the same with Mercedes.
When we talk about Max Verstappen, he's done something similar with Red Bull. He joined the team in 2016 and has since continued to build the team around him. Right now, the entire team works with a singular objective in mind, i.e., to help Max win the title.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, jumping to a conclusion about something like this seems counterintuitive and subjective at the same time.
Getting ranked among the greatest drivers in the history of the sport is a singular choice, and the factors could vary from one individual to the next.
However, if the factors that you take into consideration are career achievements, longevity, success against contemporaries, supremacy in wet weather, and building a team themselves, then one could argue that Max Verstappen deserves a seat amongst the top echelon of talents to ever drive an F1 car.
