Prime Tire: Max Verstappen's unparalleled 43-race stretch; Is Carlos Sainz underrated? (2024)

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Welcome back to Prime Tire, where we’re wondering if you’ve heard that Guenther Steiner is the new ambassador for the Miami Grand Prix? I really thought the dude would retire to a vineyard or something after he left Haas. He’s everywhere right now!

One week until the Japanese Grand Prix. I’m Patrick, and Madeline Coleman will be along shortly. Let’s dive in.

How Verstappen’s 43-race streak stacks up

When the right rear brake on Max Verstappen’s RB20 stuck, overheated and died during the Australian Grand Prix last Sunday, it ended an incredible streak you might not have been aware of. The DNF was Verstappen’s first since the 2022 Australian GP – 43 consecutive races without a retirement.

I was just starting to get my head around that feat this week when F1 posted some interesting numbers on X (formerly Twitter). In those 43 races, Verstappen racked up 35 wins, 39 podiums, 989 points, 15 fastest laps, and two World Championships. He averaged 23 points and an average finish of 1.6. Gaudy numbers.

It got me thinking—how does Verstappen’s 43-race streak compare to other 43-race stretches of dominance in F1 history? So, I started some research.

Instead of going through all 1,106 F1 world championship events, I decided to limit my investigation to a “modern era” of racing, which I arbitrarily set at 1990. (The Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990. Dial-up Internet started in 1992. Oasis released “Definitely Maybe” in 1994. Modern era.)

I defined “stretch of dominance” as “this guy sure has a lot of ‘1s’ in his ‘finish’ column.” By that highly scientific method, I landed on five other drivers with 43-race stretches similar to Verstappen. (Note: I didn’t consider points, as the F1 points system has changed over time.)

A couple of takeaways:

• Verstappen’s 43-race streak is unparalleled. The other drivers go toe-to-toe with him in podiums, average finish, and fastest laps, but nobody touches Verstappen’s 35 wins in 43 races. Not close.
• I could’ve included two 43-race periods for Michael Schumacheraround that time, but because they overlapped, I took the one with the more impressive numbers.
• Nigel Mansell’s stretch was interesting. This was near the end of his career when he was in an off-and-on again relationship with retirement and Williams. Consistency was hard to come by in this stretch (he has the most DNFs of this bunch), but his 1992 world championship season at age 39 was transcendent – nine wins, and he still holds the F1 records for the highest percentage of poles won in a season (88 percent).
• Nico Rosberg sure burned bright at Mercedes, didn’t he?

I’ll reiterate that Verstappen is the only one of these drivers who finished all 43 races while lapping them in every category. Something tells me next week, in Japan, he’ll begin another otherworldly 43 races.

Inside Williams’ plans to get Alex Albon’s car in shape

What goes into repairing an F1 chassis? You’ll recall that when Alex Albon cratered his Williams during practice in Australia, Williams was left without a spare chassis – leading to Logan Sargeant giving up his car to his teammate for the weekend.

Meanwhile, Albon’s chassis was shipped back to the U.K. for repairs. In his “Vowles’s Verdict” recap video, Williams team principal James Vowles detailed the next steps for the team:

“We put measures in place to make sure the chassis was back here (in Grove) very early on Monday morning,” Vowles said. “I think it arrived around 2 a.m. or so, and since then, there was already crews inside the building working on it, stripping it down and doing repairs … Back in Melbourne, there were photographs and techniques called NTT, which is nondestructive testing. So there’s various (tests) you can do (at the track), but it allows us to fully understand how big the damage is and what we have to do. And that preparation was key. What it meant was, already, at 2 a.m. on Monday, work could start.”

That work is almost complete—Williams will be able to run both cars in Japan next week. Williams will not have a spare chassis again in Japan but should have their third chassis ready for China on Apr. 21.

Now, let’s throw it to Madeline for a burning question …

Inside the Paddock with Madeline Coleman

Over the last 25 races, only one non-Red Bull driver has won a race (two, in fact): Carlos Sainz. Yet, the 29-year-old remains without a job next season after Ferrari opted not to renew his contract and signed Lewis Hamilton for 2025.

It begs the question: Is he underrated? Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris were asked this question during the post-race press conference in Australia, and we’ll dive into those answers in a moment. We decided to ask F1 fans the same question and sent our readers a poll via X (formerly known as Twitter) this week. We received 1,046 votes, and an overwhelming majority of y’all voted yes, you think Sainz is underrated.

Sainz is one of the most complete drivers on the grid, and a zero-point weekend is a rarity. He’s calm under pressure (remember Monza qualifying last year?) and methodical in nature. His dedication to the sport is undeniable. Just 16 days after undergoing surgery for appendicitis, Sainz recovered and won the Australian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen retired early due to a brake problem.

“There’s no reason anyone should think he’s underrated,” Norris said after the race in Melbourne. “I think the people who know him know what he’s capable of doing, know his effort level, his approach, and dedication to wanting to be one of the best, exactly like he’s proved today and over the last couple of weeks.”

His teammate, Leclerc, concurred: “He’s one of the highest-rated drivers in the paddock, and he’s been extremely strong every time he was in a Formula One car. And he has showed it multiple times. So, I don’t think he’s underrated for that. I think everybody knows Carlos’s worth. And that’s why I’ve said many times that I’m not too worried about his future.”

That being said, results do matter. Sainz is a three-time grand prix winner after being on the F1 grid since 2015 and has stepped onto the podium 20 times. “Results are always a bit of a point to show, and people on the outside just easily judge things from what you see on TV,” Norris said. “But when you’ve worked with him, when you know what he’s capable of doing, and when things click, they click very well, and he has performances like he does this weekend. And I would say all year, he’s proved to be a step up from maybe what he has been last year.

“Yeah, you’re silly if you underrate him.”

Let us know your thoughts about Sainz and whether he’s underrated in the comments below or on this form. We’ll share some of your feedback in next week’s edition of Prime Tire.

Thanks, Madeline! Now,

Let’s Remember a Race

The 2000 Japanese GP was the third race in the 43-race stretch for Schumacher I mentioned earlier. It was also the race that clinched the German driver’s third world championship—his overtake of Mika Häkkinen on lap 40 put their title fight to bed. My favorite thing about this race is that Schumacher was criticized by former Italian President Francesco Cossiga for daring to imitate a conductor and dance on the podium during the Italian national anthem.

So disrespectful!

Outside the Points

Felipe Massa is seeking more than $80 million in damages from Formula One Management, former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA regarding the “Crashgate” scandal that cost him the 2008 drivers’ championship. Massa’s lawyers told The Athletic that Massa is trying to set a “strong precedent” for athletes in motorsports. “There is a lot of fear and skepticism by star drivers to seek correction of clear injustices; it is time to change that,” Bernardo Viana said.

And, finally, remember William Storey? The founder of Rich Energy who had a bizarrely short-lived sponsorship deal with Haas in 2019? The Athletic did a terrific profile on the guy and his repeated attempts to buy a football team in the U.K.

Lead image of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen: Martin KEEP / AFP, Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto via Getty Images