Where Verstappen now sits in the list of the all-time greats

Max Verstappen has now started 199 world championship grands prix – the same number as Alain Prost – won three Formula 1 titles and taken 61 victories. He’s third on the wins list and seems well on his way to a fourth world crown, so where does he sit in the pantheon of all-time greats?

Verstappen’s victory strike rate is currently 31%, behind just Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari and Jim Clark, and very similar to Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Jackie Stewart. Prost and Ayrton Senna, whose careers overlapped considerably, both had strike rates of just over 25%. Verstappen is thus very much worthy of comparison with F1’s best.

Statistics alone are notoriously fraught with pitfalls. Just the improving reliability of the cars and number of races per season skew things to such a degree that the data can only be a rough guide.

Comparing across eras is tricky, given how much motorsport has changed, so a reasonable place to start is the era-defining drivers, those regarded by many – including their peers – as the best of their time. In world championship terms, that gives us Fangio, Stirling Moss, Clark, Stewart, Niki Lauda, Prost, Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton. Then there are those who perhaps briefly held that mantle or could be regarded on a similar level, chiefly Ascari, Gilles Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell and Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen is well on his way to being the 10th name on the first list. It’s not yet guaranteed – the same could have been said of Sebastian Vettel in 2013 when he was on his way to a fourth consecutive title – but the Dutchman’s record already puts him in the debate, and most would regard him as the current benchmark.

PLUS: Where Vettel sits in the list of F1 greats

Verstappen’s qualifying pace has never been in doubt and nor has his wet-weather prowess – he already has more rain-affected GP wins than all but Schuey, Hamilton and Senna. He also proved he was capable of maximising a car that isn’t the best, brilliantly challenging for wins in 2019-20.

Verstappen has also dominated his team-mates since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of 2018. Ricciardo beat him in 2017 and had the momentum earlier the following season. He might not admit it publicly but, after mistakes in China and Monaco cost him possible victories that Ricciardo hoovered up, Verstappen upped his game. Mistakes became fewer and there is little doubt he had the edge over the Australian by…