Max Verstappen is setting the benchmark right now in Formula 1. Verstappen came into the 2024 season on the back of the most dominant campaign in F1 history.
Verstappen won 19 out of 22 Grands Prix to take the title by a record 290 points ahead of teammate Sergio Perez. Stretching back to the start of 2022, he’s won 39 of the last 52 races.
He’s now looking to become only the fifth driver in F1 history to retain the championship three times. Juan Manuel Fangio (1954-57), Sebastian Vettel (2010-13) and Lewis Hamilton (2017-20) have also managed it, while Michael Schumacher did it on four occasions (2000-04).
A lot has been made of the progress from McLaren and Ferrari in recent races. Lando Norris bagged his first-ever F1 victory in Miami, while Charles Leclerc followed up Carlos Sainz’s Australia triumph by taking the chequered flag in Monaco last time out.
Still, Verstappen would argue he’s only been beaten once on pure pace. He retired in Melbourne, and Norris took the race lead from him in Miami with the aid of a perfectly timed safety car.
What’s more, the Dutchman still leads the world championship by 31 points. That means he could afford to retire from a race and still walk away in top spot, no matter how his rivals fared.
Liam Lawson says Max Verstappen rating advantage over Lewis Hamilton is justified
Verstappen’s historic achievements in recent years are reflected in the driver ratings for EA Sports’ newly-released F1 24 game. At 96 out of 100, he’s at least four clear of the rest of the pack.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso is second on 92, and then there are four drivers on 89. One of those is Hamilton, the most successful driver in F1 history with seven world titles and 103 race wins.
In an interview with talkSPORT, Red Bull academy driver Liam Lawson was asked to comment on the gulf between Verstappen and his former title rival Hamilton. While he admits that it’s hard to compare drivers at different teams, he believes the title holder’s advantage is justified.
Hamilton has struggled relative to Mercedes teammate George Russell this year, trailing 7-1 in the qualifying head-to-head and 6-2 in the races ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. Verstappen, by contrast, has beaten Perez in every meaningful session so far.
“I think it’s fair to be honest, yeah,” Lawson said. “I think Max right now is in a very, very strong [position]. Obviously the team is very, very strong and have been the last couple of years, but Max is also driving at a level that’s very, very high.
“Not that Lewis isn’t. I fully believe that he’s still obviously very, very competitive. It’s really hard to tell, because in Formula 1 you can only compare to your teammate. It’s really hard to compare team to team, you can really only compare with the guy that’s in the same car as you.”
Would Verstappen beat Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher?
Hamilton’s future Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc is another of the drivers with an 89 rating, as well as Norris and Sainz. Leclerc said he ‘hated’ the fact that his ‘pace’ score wasn’t in the 90s (89) despite the fact he’s taken 24 career poles.
Among those on the current grid who take an interest, few would dispute Verstappen’s position at the top. He’ll likely be regarded as the best in the business until somebody is able to knock him off his throne.
Indeed, the 26-year-old is now up to third in the all-time wins list on 59. Most recently, he overtook Vettel (53) by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of last year.
Eddie Jordan has worked with two of the other all-time greats in Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. But he believes that Verstappen ‘would edge it’ if they were all in the same car.
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