Ex-Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan has backed Max Verstappen to eventually surpass Lewis Hamilton’s current record-sharing benchmark of seven World Championships.
Verstappen overcame Hamilton in a captivating title fight that went down to the wire in 2021 as the Dutchman passed the Brit on the final lap of the race after a controversial restart procedure.
But with Mercedes unable to supply Hamilton with a car capable of reigniting their battle in 2022, Verstappen saw off a renewed threat from Ferrari to surge to a record-breaking 15 wins in a single season and scoop a second consecutive Championship.
Having already obtained 1-2 finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to open the 2023 campaign, Red Bull has asserted itself as the team the rest will struggle to catch over the remainder of the season.
The reigning champion’s crushing dominance of early proceedings signals that Verstappen will only have to fend off his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez to clinch a third successive crown.
With the Austrian outfit potentially ushering in a new era of success up until the point the regulations are overhauled again in 2026, Verstappen, contracted to the end of 2028, is well-placed to close on the various records Hamilton surpassed during his latest title-winning year in 2020.
Jordan has therefore suggested that Verstappen has the speed and the potential environment in which to become the first driver in F1 history to achieve double-digit titles, comfortably surpassing the current record number shared by Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.
“If everything stays well with Max, and I’m hoping that it will mentally and physically and everything to do with the car, Max is gonna hit 10 World Championships,” Jordan said on his Formula for Success podcast with fellow pundit David Coulthard.
“Because he’s that young and that good. How fast is he? He’s just ridiculous.”
He added: “I think Lewis needs to get on his bike and hurry up and get number eight because it’s soon to be passed up by Max.”
Although Red Bull looks set to cruise to both Championships for the second consecutive season of F1’s newest ground effect era, team boss Christian Horner is refusing to take its advantage for granted.
Last October the Milton-Keynes outfit was found guilty of a minor breach of the cost cap for the 2021 season and hit with a penalty that included receiving 10% less wind tunnel testing time for the entirety of 2023.
Red Bull was already restricted to the least wind tunnel and CFD testing time of any team on the grid courtesy of its 2022 Constructors’ Championship win.
However, the penalty has further reduced its allowance down to 63%, compared to the 100% Aston Martin, currently sitting second in the standings behind Red Bull, will enjoy up until it resets in July.
Ferrari and Mercedes will similarly be entitled to complete more wind tunnel simulation runs than its main rivals.
Subsequently, Horner is confident that Red Bull’s commanding advantage over the rest of the field will be whittled down as the season progresses.
