Max Verstappen aims to ‘keep winning’ after matching Ayrton Senna’s 41 victories

By Sports Desk June 18, 2023

Max Verstappen completed another crushing performance in Canada on Sunday to match Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 victories – and then promised to keep the good times rolling.

A day after taking pole position in the wet, Verstappen reigned supreme in the dry at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to beat Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton and move into joint fifth in the pantheon of Formula One winners.

Even an early collision with a bird could not stop the flying Dutchman, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealing that his star driver completed the majority of Sunday’s 70-lap race with part of the animal lodged in his brake duct.

Verstappen will not celebrate his 26th birthday until September, but his sixth victory from the opening eight fixtures of the year leaves only Hamilton (103), Michael Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) ahead of him in the record books.

“When I was a little kid driving go karts, I was dreaming about being an F1 driver and I would never had imagined I would win 41 grands prix,” said Verstappen, who also notched up Red Bull’s 100th victory in the sport.

“To tie with Ayrton is incredible and I am proud of that but I hope it doesn’t stop here. I hope we keep on winning more races.

“It is also a great achievement for the team. We knew this was the first opportunity to win 100 races. I am happy that is done, but I hope we will win more than 100 so the new target is 200.”

Remarkably, Verstappen has won 15 of the last 19 races in F1, with Red Bull failing to taste victory on just one occasion in that streak.

Red Bull could yet become the first team to win every race in a single season. And with Verstappen at the wheel – rather than team-mate Sergio Perez who finished only sixth on another trying weekend for the Mexican – they have every chance.

Verstappen’s triumph – his fourth in succession – was all but sealed on the short dash to the opening chicane after he fended off a slow-starting Alonso.

Hamilton, who gazumped Alonso, set his sights on Verstappen’s Red Bull gearbox, but by the end of the opening lap, the seven-time world champion was eight tenths back – and when a virtual safety car was deployed on lap eight after Logan Sargeant broke down in his Williams, the gap was the best part of three seconds.

With Verstappen racing off into the distance, Alonso was the filling in a Mercedes’ sandwich. But that changed on lap 12 when George Russell slammed into the wall on the exit of Turn 9.

Russell’s front wing snapped in half, while his right-rear tyre dangled off his Mercedes. With debris littering the circuit, the safety car came out and the main players stopped for new tyres as Russell pulled in for repairs.

After changing all four tyres, Hamilton was released into Alonso’s path. Alonso said he had to slam on the anchors to avoid running into the back of the Mercedes man, and the flashpoint was duly noted by the stewards, and latterly investigated, but the British driver would escape without punishment.

The safety car came in five laps later and Verstappen executed a fine getaway to leave Hamilton trailing. Indeed, after the opening two turns, he was already one second up the road.

Rather than looking ahead, Hamilton’s attention was occupied by Alonso behind. And on lap 22, the Spaniard dived past Hamilton with a fine move at the final chicane.

Hamilton had a nibble back at Alonso as they raced to the opening corner, but the evergreen Spaniard held his nerve to keep the Mercedes man behind. Russell raced back from last to eighth before he was forced to park a Mercedes riddled with excessive brake wear with 15 laps remaining.

Verstappen took the chequered flag 9.5 sec clear of Alonso. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth respectively for Ferrari. Alex Albon crossed the line a commendable seventh in his Williams.

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    Max Verstappen claimed that his Red Bull felt like "driving on ice" after struggling in Friday practice ahead of his potential coronation at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. 

    Verstappen entered the weekend hoping to leave with a fourth world title, but a fifth and 17th place finish in the opening practice sessions suggested it would be far from easy. 

    The Dutchman posted a soft-tyre lap just before Alex Albon caused a red flag midway through the second session, with Verstappen unable to improve on his time after that. 

    It left him two seconds off the pace set by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, revealing that the cold temperatures had an effect on his tyres. 

    "For me, it feels massively tyre-related. The balance of the car is not even wrong, I think," he said. "We just have no grip, like driving on ice at the moment."

    “Yeah, [it was] slippery. I think we struggled a lot with making the tyres work, over one lap especially.

    “The long run I think started off a bit more competitive, but even there I think we need to fine-tune a few things. The one-lap pace is quite far off.

    “It’s quite unique conditions around here, and it’s very cold, but at the end of the day it’s the same for everyone, so we need to try and understand what we’re doing wrong."

    Red Bull were down in the speed traps and Helmut Marko revealed the team had the wrong rear wing which has put them on the back foot.

    However, after topping the timesheets in both practice sessions, Hamilton was left mystified by Mercedes’ surprisingly strong pace after a poor showing in Interlagos last time out.

    The seven-time world champion clocked the fastest lap of the day as drivers up and down the grid struggled to extract performance around the low-grip track.

    His team-mate George Russell was similarly impressive, finishing in P2 and P3 across the two sessions to indicate that Mercedes are the team to beat this weekend. 

    “I mean that’s the first time I’ve had a day like that this year. The car was feeling generally good in FP1, in FP2 less so," Hamilton said. 

    “Difficult to know exactly where we are or why we are where we are but really enjoying driving the track and I think we’ll see whether the car is the same tomorrow.

    “The race pace is not that great so the work we have to do overnight is to figure out how to have better race pace without losing actual pace throughout the lap.

    "But it was nice to get like consecutive sectors, and the car not throwing me off which was nice."

  • Piastri aiming for win in Las Vegas with Norris title chances looking slim Piastri aiming for win in Las Vegas with Norris title chances looking slim

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  • Norris believes he has 'what it takes’ for future world title after Verstappen battle Norris believes he has 'what it takes’ for future world title after Verstappen battle

    Lando Norris believes he has what it takes to challenge for a world title in the future after his battle with Max Verstappen during the 2024 season. 

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    When asked what he had learned from this season, Norris said: “That I have what it takes. It’s the first time in the last six years of F1 that we’ve had a chance to fight at the front.

    "This is our, and my, first opportunity to do so, and my first opportunity to see where I stand.

    “I definitely was not at the level I needed to be at the beginning of the year, even [after beating Verstappen to a maiden win] in Miami.

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    "When you’re competing against drivers who are close to that, like Max, you have to be close to perfect if you want to challenge him.”

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    The British-based team are currently 36 points ahead of Ferrari at the top of the standings with two races and a sprint remaining this season. 

    McLaren have 19 podiums in 2024, their best record in a campaign since 2007 (24). In only four years have they achieved more (20 in 1998, 22 in 2000, 24 in 2007 and 25 in 1988), though Norris insisted the battle was far from over.

    “Ferrari have been strong for a long time,” said Norris. “They have two very good drivers, they’re a very good team, they’ve clearly improved their car a good amount and found a better direction to head down.

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    “It’s more about who can do a better performance on a weekend. We do know that Vegas is probably a track that will suit the Ferraris a bit more.

    "It suited them well last year, but we know Qatar will be more favourable to us.”

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