Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen's hunger to succeed in Formula 1 makes him unique as he equalled the all-time wins record in a single season in the United States Grand Prix. Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton late on at Austin to recover after a botched pitstop to post his 13th victory of the season, equalling Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel's tally from 2004 and 2013, respectively. The victory also secured Red Bull the 2022 Constructors' Championship - its fifth overall and first since the end of the Vettel era in '13, ending eight years of Mercedes domination in the turbo hybrid era. It came the day after Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz passed away - although he did live to see Verstappen claim his second Drivers' crown in Japan.
Horner on Verstappen
Verstappen scored his 33rd Grand Prix win in Austin, moving him clear of Fernando Alonso's tally in his 160th start - and sixth on the all-time list. He is now eight victories behind Ayrton Senna's tally of 41 and 18 behind Alain Prost's 51, with Sebastian Vettel (53), Michael Schumacher (91) and Hamilton (103) ahead. Post race, speaking to Sky Sports F1, Horner was effusive about his lead driver. "There's a hunger within him that I've never seen within another driver," he explained. "I think that there's a determination as he's growing and maturing, he's reading races incredibly well. "He was obviously pretty upset after the [botched] pit-stop, but very quickly got his emotions in check, and just got his head down and paced himself so that he didn't burn his tyres up and, and then was able to get the passes done [on Charles Leclerc and Hamilton.]"
Most read
