F1: Marko says Verstappen ‘The fastest and the best’ driver

(GMM) Max Verstappen left no doubt about it at Suzuka – the Singapore performance crisis is over and many now saying he is the best-ever.

The Dutchman was not just seven tenths ahead of the McLarens in qualifying, but approaching a full second faster than the sister Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

“All I can say is that our cars are equal,” he said when asked about the enormous gap to Perez.

But Verstappen has left no doubt whatsoever that theories the FIA’s clampdown on flexible bodywork had badly hurt Red Bull were completely wrong.

“We had a bad weekend,” he said. “Of course then people start saying ‘ah, it’s all because of the technical directives’. I think they can go suck on an egg.”

The 25-year-old admits to have arrived in Japan “fired up” to respond to those critics, with Red Bull team advisor Dr Helmut Marko agreeing: “Max was really highly motivated here and wanted to show it.

“He has shown here that he is the fastest and the best,” Marko told ORF. “Everything else is back on track.”

For the entire rest of the field, Verstappen’s performance is a bitter pill to swallow.

“I drove an almost perfect lap and still the gap is huge,” said Charles Leclerc, whose teammate Carlos Sainz won in Singapore just seven days ago.

Lewis Hamilton says Suzuka is just another clear sign that Mercedes needs to scrap its current car concept.

“We have too much downforce at the front and too little at the rear,” he said. “You can’t solve that with upgrades. You need a new car concept for that.

“But after two years the gap to Verstappen is still one second and that’s worrying for next year,” Hamilton added.

Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur says it’s a similar story for Maranello.

“At this late stage of development you only make small progress with upgrades. To make big ones you would have to work on the architecture of the car,” said the Frenchman.

McLaren is clearly the closest to Red Bull this weekend, but team boss Andrea Stella said the six tenths gap between Oscar Piastri and Verstappen “corresponds to the balance of power”.

“If Max leads at the start, he’ll drive his own race,” he said.

McLaren made big gains in 2023 by emulating Red Bull’s car concept lead, but Stella conceded: “It’s not just about adding more downforce.

“We also need to intervene with the chassis. But that’s a project for next year.”

But even when and if the other teams catch Red Bull, Verstappen may still be another story.

“I’ve never seen a driver go 17kph faster than the others mid-corner,” said former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos on Ziggo Sport.

Who is best?

Tracking Verstappen’s Record Run

Destined to beat them all

At Age 25 Michael Schumacher 10 F1 wins
At Age 25 Ayrton Senna 2 F1 wins
At Age 25 Lewis Hamilton, 14 F1 wins
At Age 25 Max Verstappen 48 F1 wins

All-time F1 Race Winners

1.  Lewis Hamilton – 103 wins
2.  Michael Schumacher – 91 wins
3.  Sebastian Vettel – 53 wins
4.  Alain Prost – 51 wins
5. Max Verstappen – 48 wins
6.  Ayrton Senna – 41 wins
7.  Fernando Alonso – 32 wins
8.  Nigel Mansell – 31 wins
9.  Jackie Stewart – 27 wins
10.  Jim Clark – 25 wins
11.  Niki Lauda – 25 wins
12.  Juan Manuel Fangio – 24 wins
13.  Nelson Piquet – 23 wins
14.  Nico Rosberg – 23 wins
15.  Damon Hill – 22 wins
16.  Kimi Raikkonen – 21 wins
17.  Mikka Hakkinen – 20 wins
18.  Stirling Moss – 16 wins
19.  Jenson Button – 15 wins
20.  Graham Hill – 14 wins
21.  Jack Brabham – 14 wins
22.  Emerson Fittipaldi – 14 wins
23.  Alberto Ascari – 13 wins
24.  David Coulthard – 13 wins
25.  Mario Andretti – 12 wins
26.  Carlos Reutemann – 12 wins
27.  Alan Jones – 12 wins
28.  Valtteri Bottas – 10 wins
29.  Daniel Riccardo – 8 wins
30.  Sergio Pérez – 6 wins
31. Charles Leclerc – 5 wins
32. Carlos Sainz Jr. – 2 wins
33.  Pierre Gasly – 1 win
34.  Esteban Ocon – 1 win
35. George Russell – 1 win

Max Verstappen has 13 wins in 16 races this season and is on track to easily break his record of 15 wins in a season set in 2022.

If he wins another 3 of the remaining 6, he will equal Alain Prost with the 4th most wins in history.

If Max wins 5 more, he would equal Sebastian Vettel’s total of 53, and he is just 25 years old.

TBD: To Be Determined

In his last 35 races, Verstappen has won 27 of them….amazing consistent domination and a Red Bull team that is performing at an elite level.

P1 – Imola
P1 – Miami
P1 – Barcelona
P3 – Monaco
P1 – Azerbaijan
P1 – Canada
P7 – Silverstone
P2 – Austria
P1 – Paul Ricard
P1 – Hungary
P1 – Spa
P1 – Zandvoort
P1 – Monza
P7 – Singapore
P1 – Suzuka
P1 – Austin TX
P1 – Mexico
P6 – Brazil
P1 – Abu Dhabi
P1 – Bahrain
P2 – Saudi Arabia
P1 – Australia
P2 – Azerbaijan
P1 – Miami
P1 – Monaco
P1 – Barcelona
P1 – Canada
P1 – Austria
P1 – England
P1 – Hungary
P1 – Belgium
P1 – Zandvoort
P1 – Monza
P5 – Singapore
P1 – Suzuka