Horner: Verstappen now ranked alongside best-ever F1 drivers

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has stated that MaxVerstappen deserves to be listed among the best drivers in Formula1 history. The Dutchman took his third F1 title this year afterdominating the campaign by winning 19 out of the 22 Grands Prixstaged. Verstappen now ranks third all-time in F1 race wins, withonly Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher having more victories intheir careers. His dominant stretch this year following anotherone-sided campaign in 2022 - an achievement that Horner admitted hewasn't sure Verstappen could top. “Max has just been incrediblethis year,” he told media including RacingNews365 . “I don't thinkany of us thought after 2022 that we'd manage to better that. “Ithas broken all records, it's smashed the records. And I think justas a driver, the way he's grown, he's just constantly evolving.”Horner continued: “His capacity within the car just gets greaterand greater, to read a race, to be able to look after the tyres, toknow when are the key moments to absolutely deliver. “Time and timeagain, he's done that. The way he works with the team, and you cansee that since winning the championship back in Qatar, he's notlifted off at all. “With the records that he's now achieved,becoming the third most-winning driver in Formula 1, a three-timeWorld Champion, with the statistic of most wins in a season, andeverything that he's done, you have to start to talk about himamongst some of the greatest names in the sport. “I think he'searned his position there. And what's phenomenal is that he's doneit at 26 years of age. He's got a lot of racing still ahead ofhim.”