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Max Verstappen is on a roll right now. The Red Bull driver can do no wrong. He holds a championship lead of a whopping 116 points over Charles Leclerc and has been untouchable since the summer break.
Verstappen's season did not start on a positive note. The driver suffered a DNF in Bahrain, followed by a closely-battled win against Charles Leclerc in Saudi Arabia. Things turned worse when the F1 circus reached Australia and the Dutchman suffered his second DNF. Meanwhile, Leclerc cruised to his second win of the season.
At this point, the reigning world champion proclaimed that he was not focussing on the championship anymore. Rather, he would focus on a race-by-race basis. As it turned out, Verstappen's mercurial consistency, complemented by Red Bull's stable and stoic support, helped overhaul Ferrari's early-season advantage.
In due time, Red Bull has pulled away from the Italian squad and the season is now more about the records that Verstappen can break instead of the championship battle. The F1 circus heads to Singapore this weekend and if Verstappen can clinch another win, he is poised to break three very special records. What are they? Let's find out!
3 records Max Verstappen could break with a win at 2022 F1 Singapore GP
#1 Lewis Hamilton's career-best most race wins in a season (11)
Max Verstappen has scored 11 wins so far this season. The Red Bull driver has done it in 16 races with Charles Leclerc having three wins and Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz having one win each.
By winning the 2022 F1 Italian GP, Max Verstappen matched Lewis Hamilton's career-best tally of 11 wins in a season. The Mercedes driver has achieved this feat four times in his career: 2014, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
There are still six races left in the season, including the 2022 F1 Singapore GP. Consequently, it's hard to imagine the Red Bull driver not breaking Hamilton's record anyway. Having said that, if he wins this weekend, Verstappen will be able to get this done with 5 races left.
#2 Lewis Hamilton's career-best consecutive race-winning streak (5)
Lewis Hamilton's career-best consecutive race-winning streak in F1 is five races. The Mercedes legend has done this twice already in his career in 2014 and 2020. In 2014, he had Nico Rosberg as his teammate. The Briton was under tremendous pressure from a deficit in the championship that he was able to overcome with this winning streak.
The second 5-race win streak came in 2020 and was far more straightforward. Mercedes was miles ahead of any sort of competition that could be mustered. Hamilton's only challenge was his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was not a worthy challenger whatsoever.
Max Verstappen, for his part, is on a 5-race win streak. The Red Bull driver was comprehensively beaten at the 2022 F1 Austrian GP where Charles Leclerc was untouchable in his Ferrari. Since then, Verstappen has picked up the pace with wins at Paul Ricard and in Hungary. Similar or arguably more dominant wins followed at Spa and Monza while he had to work hard to win at Zandvoort.
If Verstappen can pick up his 6th consecutive win, he leaves behind Lewis Hamilton's career-best win streak of 5 consecutive wins.
#3 Nigel Mansell's record of most wins for a one-time world champion (31 wins)
Another unlikely record that Max Verstappen is poised to break is the almost two-decade-long Nigel Mansell record of having the most wins as a one-time world champion. The former Williams driver was a perennial frontrunner. Having said that, Mansell could never win the title in an era where McLaren was a dominant car and always at the service of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
Due to this and a lengthy career, Mansell's statistics were very impressive as he picked up his first and only title win with Williams in the 1992 F1 season. The British F1 driver ended his career with 31 wins to his name.
Max Verstappen is level with Mansell at 31 wins. If he picks up another one this weekend, that would mean Verstappen will become the most successful one-time world champion.
