MONTREAL: Red Bull’s F1 team driver Max Verstappen after winning the Canadian Grand Prix last Sunday secured the 41st win of his career, equalling the legendary Ayrton Senna’s record for most wins in a career.
Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver, who won the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship in 1988, 1990, and 1991. Senna is one of three Formula One drivers from Brazil to win the World Championship. He won 41 Grands Prix and 65 pole positions.
According to the official website of Formula 1, reflecting on the historic moment, Verstappen said: “I mean, I hate to compare different generations. From my side, the only thing I can say is that when I was a little kid driving in go-karting, I was dreaming about being a Formula 1 driver and I would have never imagined winning 41 Grands Prix.
He added, “Of course, to tie with Ayrton is something incredible. I’m proud of that, but of course, I hope it’s not stopping here, you know – I hope that we can keep on winning more races.”
Max Verstappen’s 41st Grand Prix victory came on Father’s Day. He took time out to appreciate the efforts put in by his dad, Jos Verstappen.
While appreciating his father, Verstappen said, “He was preparing everything, go-karts, engines and then driving all the way to Italy with me, in between school, then back. So many stories we can share, sometimes we still talk about it when we are together – it’s crazy.”
He added, “I probably only will fully realise how much he has done to me once I get kids, then you start to understand this kind of relationship. But yeah, without him, I would not sit here today. He has taught me so much and prepared me so much from a very young age.”
The two-time world champion added, “Sometimes I thought, ‘Why does it need to be so serious straightaway?’, where you maybe want to play around a bit more and have fun, but he was working towards this goal. He had this goal set for me to first of all be better than him and then try to get to F1, and then I got to F1.”
He said, “We still call every day. Before the race, I was talking to him about what we will do with the strategy and stuff like that. He likes to know even when he’s not here and just like to have that kind of relationship with your dad. After go-karting, when you go into cars, it’s a bit less personal what was happening here.” (ANI)