Mike Brewer 'baffled' that F1 star hasn't been knighted
Despite being arch-rivals on the track Max Verstappen showed his admiration for Lewis Hamilton as the Dutchman eyes another record. Should the Dutchman win the F1 Mexican GP on Sunday, he will set a record for most race wins in a single season.
At the U.S. Grand Prix on Oct. 22, the 26-year-old recorded the 50th F1 race win of his career, and he became just the fifth driver to reach that landmark. When asked about reaching the milestone in a post-race press conference in Texas, the Red Bull driver said, while sitting next to the seven-time world champion: “Still rookie numbers compared to Lewis!
“But for sure it’s a great number and I’m very happy with it, very proud of it. But let’s try to win a few more.” The only driver to reach a half-century of race wins quicker than Verstappen is Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher.
Verstappen, the reigning champion, has won 62 races in total, 40 of which have come since the start of 2021, the season when he controversially won his first championship over Hamilton in Abu Dhabi. The Silver Arrows star has not won a race since that season and his team has struggled to recreate their winning formula since the regulations and cars were changed in 2022.
Mercedes have made some progress since then, with Hamilton sitting third in the 2023 Drivers Standings and second in the Constructor Standings. Although he was devastated to lose his P2 finish at the Circuit of the Americas due to a disqualification, Hamilton said that he was feeling “really positive” about the team’s direction after receiving some upgrades and pushing Verstappen on Sunday.
“I feel really positive because we’ve still got a few races up ahead,” the F1 icon said. “I don’t know how the car’s going to be in these next races but if we’re in a position like this and we get the strategy right and we get the pit-stop right, maybe we’ll be right on their tails and looking at some good racing. So I’m excited.”
But he is not getting too excited as the driver pointed out that champions Red Bull have not made any significant upgrades in recent months, yet they are still dominating proceedings. “[Verstappen] started sixth and was out in front so ultimately I think they were quicker,” Hamilton said. “He stopped before everybody as well and was still punching good times at the end.
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“So they still are ahead and will be very, very difficult to beat – and they’re not developing right now. We’ve brought upgrades and they are just chilling on what they had already. So for them to still be winning races is still really impressive and we’ve still got a huge amount of work to do.
“Not only in downforce and car performance but also operations just to be a little bit more perfect. Qualifying’s really good, but race we can do a little bit better maybe.” Verstappen will be the favorite to win the Mexico Grand Prix and he has taken the checkered flag at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez three years in a row.
Commenting on whether the rest of the field is catching up, Red Bull boss Christian Horner predicted: “It’s going to happen. When you have got stable regulations the cars and the teams will converge. So I think this is a precursor to what we’ll see next year where it’s a much tighter field.”
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