Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says he doesn’t care about Max Verstappen’s new Formula One win record, dismissing it as just a stat for ‘Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway’.
At the Italian Grand Prix over the weekend, Verstappen battled past a stubborn Carlos Sainz to claim a record-breaking 10th consecutive win, surpassing Sebastian Vettel’s feat from a decade ago.
With Red Bull still unbeaten after 13 races in 2023, the Dutchman is likely to extend that record even further over the coming weeks and months, with some suggesting that he can and indeed will win the remaining nine races of the season.
It is by all accounts an incredible achievement, though Wolff seemed to disagree, claiming he didn’t care for records and suggesting Verstappen has had an easier path to victory compared to his star driver Sir Lewis Hamilton.
‘I don’t know if he [Verstappen] cares about the records,’ Wolff told Sky Sports after Sunday’s race.
‘It is not something that would be important for me, those numbers, it is for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway.
‘Our situation was a little bit different because we had two guys fighting against each other within the team,’ referring to the rivalry between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg from 2014 to 2016 when Mercedes were at their most domianant.
‘For me, these kinds of records are completely irrelevant. They were irrelevant in our good days at Mercedes.
‘I don’t know how many races we won in a row. [I] didn’t even know there was a count.
Wolff did later admit that Verstappen’s success, ‘shows a great driver in a great car competing at an extremely high level. By the way, that record, I would think it’s a good one, because it’s perfection.’
Upon equalling Vettel’s record at the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Verstappen said that he was not thinking too much about breaking records, but at Monza he was clearly delighted to have a new entry in the history books.
‘Of course it’s something you don’t expect to happen. I never thought at the beginning of the season that something like this was possible,’ the 25-year-old said.
‘So I’m just very proud, but also just very happy with the race in general. I’m very proud also of the whole team effort, the whole year already.
‘What we are doing at the moment winning every race this year is something that we definitely are enjoying, because I don’t think these kind of seasons come around very often, and that’s the same of course as winning 10 in a row.’
Verstappen’s first opportunity to extend his record to 11 consecutive wins will be at the Singapore Grand Prix – a race he has never won before – on 17th September.
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