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Two-time world champion Max Verstappen could break another record held by Sebastian Vettel - leading most laps in a season - at the upcoming Qatar GP.
The Red Bull driver has been creating new records almost every time he has been on the track this season. He recently became the first driver in F1 history to win ten straight races, eclipsing the record held by Sebastian Vettel (9), at the Italian GP.
Heading into the Qatar GP weekend, Verstappen is in prime position to take his third consecutive world championship during the Saturday Sprint. If he leads the main race on Sunday for 28 laps, he will break Vettel's record of most laps (739) led in a season.
The Dutch driver has led for 712 laps led after his win at the recent Japanese GP in Suzuka ahead of the Qatar GP on October 8.
Red Bull F1 team boss on Max Verstappen's promise to him ahead of Suzuka
Red Bull F1 Team Principal Christian Horner has said that Max Verstappen was very "fired up" heading into Japanese GP after finishing fifth in Singapore, which snapped his ten-race win streak.
As per Autosport, Horner said:
"I played padel tennis with Max on Wednesday, and he was properly fired up and he said: 'I want to win the race by 20 seconds'. And in fairness, he came within 0.7s of achieving that. You could tell from the very first lap in FP1 where on the hard tyre, he was 1.8 seconds quicker than the rest of the field on medium or soft tyres at that point, he was totally focused on this event.
"It was an outstanding performance. His final lap in qualifying has got to be up there with one of the best laps of all time in qualifying. And then he converted that after not the best of getaways, but he was able to hang on to the lead and then thereafter build a very commanding lead and control the race. He is just a racer, and he doesn't need a lot of motivation. But he said he came here very keen to re-establish the season that he's been having.
It will be fascinating if Max Verstappen wins the remaining six races of the 2023 season.
