Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen believes that he can challenge Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for the 2018 Formula One championship.
Max Verstappen may have only just turned 20 years old, but he is already thinking big when it comes to his Formula One future. The Red Bull Racing driver began his Formula One career in the 2015 season driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso before making the transition to Red Bull Racing in the fifth race of last season, the Spanish Grand Prix. He won that race for his first career Formula One victory.
Unfortunately, Verstappen then proceeded to go on a 30-race winless streak before winning again. That streak was not all his fault, however, as his car experienced numerous mechanical issues and failures along the way that prevented him from consistently securing solid results.
Verstappen broke out of that winless streak and won this year’s Malaysian Grand Prix after passing four-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton early on in the race and never looking back. He followed it up with finishes of 2nd place and 4th place in the Japanese Grand Prix and the United States Grand Prix, respectively. He really finished in 3rd place in the United States Grand Prix, but the race stewards ruled his last-lap pass on Kimi Raikkonen illegal, and the five-second time penalty he got because of it slid him back to the 4th position.
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Then in the Mexican Grand Prix, Verstappen claimed his second victory of the season and third of his career, and he did it in dominant fashion after passing four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel for the lead of the race in the first turn of the first lap and never looking back. Just three others drivers finished the race on the lead lap!
This recent string of success and dominance and the fact that his cars have been much more reliable has Verstappen thinking big in terms of his Formula One future. In fact, so big that he thinks he may be able to derail Lewis Hamilton’s hopes for his fifth career championship next season by winning one of his own at the age of 21.
Hamilton, 32, just won his fourth career title this season, which was his third in the last four years, and is arguably the greatest driver in the history of the sport with 62 career victories, which is 2nd on the all-time list.
Here is what Verstappen had to say about challenging Hamilton for the 2018 Formula One championship, per Motorsport.com.
"“He is a great driver and he really deserved it this year because he was the most consistent and fastest driver from the guys who were fighting for the championship. But yeah, I would love to [fight with Hamilton]. Hopefully we can do that already next year…Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be driving in Formula 1. I would do something else if I thought I was not able to do it.”"
Next: Looking back at Lewis Hamilton's record-setting accomplishment
Do you agree with Max Verstappen that he can challenge Lewis Hamilton for the 2018 Formula One championship, or do you think he still has a few more seasons to go before he is on the level of the four-time champion? Only time will tell whether or not Verstappen will be a serious threat to Hamilton next season.