Max Verstappen told he’s now replaced 53-win legend in the ‘Big Five’ drivers in F1 history

Max Verstappen has now written himself into the all-time F1 history books by taking his fourth title on the streets of Las Vegas.

The Dutchman started the year by winning seven of the first ten races, continuing his sublime 2023 season in which Red Bull dominated 21 of the 22 Grands Prix.

While the RB20 proved to be even quicker than the RB19 initially, as the season went on the field converged and Red Bull’s advantage came under threat. Verstappen would have a 10-race win drought between the Spanish and Sao Paulo Grands Prix, although he would still finish consistently inside the top six.

Title rival Lando Norris managed to close the points gap, but there were too many moments the McLaren driver conceded points during race weekends which enabled Verstappen to maintain his title lead.

Now that he has entered the four-time world champion club, former F1 test driver Robin Frijns believes he has replaced another F1 great in the championships ‘big five’ drivers when speaking to Formule1.nl.

Max Verstappen has replaced Sebastian Vettel in F1’s ‘big five’ drivers

Finishing in fifth place was enough for Verstappen to clinch his fourth drivers’ title at the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, matching Sebastian Vettel’s tally when he also won four successive titles at Red Bull.

Vettel took a remarkable 53 wins in his F1 career, winning his first title in 2010 at just 23 years old making him the youngest in the championship’s history to achieve the feat.

Comparing Vettel’s titles to Verstappen, fellow Dutch driver Frijns believes this years title bid from Verstappen cements him as one of the all-time greats of F1.

“What I can judge is that Max now belongs to the ‘Big Five’ of Formula 1, along with Fangio, Senna, Michael Schumacher and Hamilton. Vettel, no. He had a car that went like a rocket. Okay, you can say: Max had that too,” said Frijns.

“But Vettel, I think, has fallen through the basket at Ferrari and a bit. Look, Alonso always says: you only see how good a driver is when he is in a bad (more) car. Well, Max had that this year. And yet he wins the title. Because he scored points that he actually couldn’t have scored at all.”

Four generations of four-time F1 World Champions

Verstappen clinching his fourth title in Las Vegas makes him the fourth driver to do so this century along with Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton.

It marks a generation of drivers whose dominance on track became their main weapon against rivals, taking multiple victories in a season and consistently doing so across years.

Verstappen entered the top three drivers on the all-time win list last season with his dominant display behind the wheel of the RB19, overtaking Vettel with 62 victories to the German’s 53 wins.

This means Verstappen is now just 29 wins away from Schumacher’s 91 career victories, and a further 42 away from Lewis Hamilton’s record 105 wins.