GPDA chairman issues clear stance on Max Verstappen vs Sebastian Vettel debate

Formula 1 crowned a new four-time drivers’ champion in 2024 as Max Verstappen put the Dutchman’s name beside Sebastian Vettel’s and Alain Prost’s in the record books.

Only joint-record seven-time champions Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher plus five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio now eclipse Verstappen for F1 titles. The Red Bull racer has also secured his four in four successive seasons and should challenge for a fifth in 2025.

Verstappen and Red Bull have been the force to beat since Formula 1 re-introduced ground-effect car regulations in 2022. His consistency to still be fighting at the front as McLaren and Ferrari surpassed Red Bull in the constructors’ standings was also vital for his title in 2024.

Alex Wurz believes you ‘can’t compare’ Max Verstappen’s F1 titles to Sebastian Vettel’s

Had the 27-year-old had a more competent teammate in 2024, then McLaren may not have dethroned the Milton Keynes crew for their first constructors’ title since 1998. Red Bull fired Sergio Perez at the end of 2024 after he only scored 152 points to Verstappen’s haul of 437.

Securing his fourth title in succession also heightened the debate about who was the better driver for Red Bull between Verstappen and Vettel. Like the Dutchman from 2021-24, Vettel won four titles in a row with Red Bull from 2010-13 and he dominated F1 in 2011 and 2013.

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Yet GPDA chairman Alex Wurz is clear that you cannot compare Vettel’s success to what Red Bull have seen Verstappen achieve to date or with what Prost achieved for his titles in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993. Prost won three of his F1 titles racing for McLaren and one at Renault.

“I find it difficult to judge,” Wurz told Formule1. “You can’t compare it, just like you can’t compare it to Prost’s performance, for example. [They raced in] different times.”

Max Verstappen is more successful on paper than Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost

Vettel entered 300 Grand Prix and started 299 over his Formula 1 career from 2007 to 2022, including entering 113 rounds for Red Bull from 2009-2014. Verstappen is now approaching the German’s career tally, too, as the Dutchman has entered 212 and started 209 Grand Prix.

Both also boast careers featuring more Grand Prix entries and starts than Prost, who penned 202 and 199 respectively from 1980-1993. While Verstappen often threatens to quit F1 after or before his Red Bull contract ends in 2028, he should shatter Vettel’s career F1 figures, too.

Already, having debuted in F1 with Toro Rosso in 2015, Verstappen is third for all-time Grand Prix wins with 63 while Vettel (53) ranks in fourth and Prost is fifth (51). But the Dutchman is only fifth for pole positions, one place behind Vettel, while Prost is sixth in the all-time table.

Vettel, in part owing to starting more Grand Prix than Verstappen, also leads the Dutchman plus Prost for podium finishes in third, fourth and fifth place all-time respectively. But Vettel has the worst totals for wins and podiums by percentage of Grand Prix entered of the three.

READ MORE: All to know about Alain Prost including Ayrton Senna rivalry and failed F1 team

So, on paper purely by the statistics, Verstappen is the better four-time champion between himself, Vettel and Prost. But the statistics do not take into account the inferior reliability in F1 during Prost’s era – particularly during Formula 1’s first turbo era when they often failed.

The Frenchman retired from 59 or 29.65% of his Grand Prix, also helped by controversies on circuits like Prost’s rivalry with Ayrton Senna. Vettel retired from 44 Grand Prix or 14.72% of his Grand Prix, whilst Verstappen has retired out of 32 or 15.31% of his Grand Prix thus far.