Verstappen set to match Hamilton pole record

Max Verstappen’s dominant Formula 1 campaign this year has delivered him a third World Championship as he has taken a record 17 victories (and counting).

Red Bull’s strong race pace during the Grands Prix has helped Verstappen en route to his run of wins.

However, qualifying sessions have not always gone his and Red Bull’s way, with nine outings this year seeing someone other than Verstappen taking pole position.

Although he will end the season with the most wins in a single season, the same record can’t be achieved for pole positions.

That record currently sits with Sebastian Vettel who secured 15 pole positions during his dominant 2011 title-winning campaign.

Verstappen joining the legends

Last time out in Brazil Verstappen scored his 11th pole of the campaign, achieving the same tallies as Mika Hakkinen (1999), Michael Schumacher (2001), Nico Rosberg (2014) and Lewis Hamilton (2015, 2017 and 2018).

But should he take one more pole position in the remaining two rounds this year, Verstappen will equal Hamilton’s 12 in a season from 2016.

It remains the seven-time World Champion’s highest number of pole positions in a single year, despite losing the championship that season to Nico Rosberg.

If Verstappen takes pole position at both events in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi, he will tie for third with Ayrton Senna (1988 and 1989) and Alain Prost (1993).

Ahead of the two legends is 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell who managed 14 pole positions during his title-winning campaign at the wheel of the famous Williams FW14B car.