Max Verstappen reveals Sebastian Vettel had reached out to him with words of encouragement to beat his record

Two-time world champion Max Verstappen revealed that former four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel had encouraged him to beat his record.

The Dutch driver has an opportunity this weekend in Zandvoort to match the record of nine consecutive race wins which is currently held by Sebastian Vettel. The German driver too achieved the same feat with Red Bull in his iconic title-winning season in 2013.

It is quite common for the former F1 driver to personally express his thoughts directly with his fellow drivers. In his post-qualifying press conference, Max Verstappen pointed out that earlier this season Vettel had done the same with him and said:

"Well, I think after like five wins in a row or something like that, Seb texted me, you know ‘Well done, what you're doing at the moment, keep it up’ and something like ‘You’re going to do it’. But you know, I was like, ‘That's nine wins in a row, it’s something very impressive’ and I never thought I would be able to be already on eight.

"I mean, if it's possible tomorrow of course I’ll go for it, but it's not something I have in the back of my head, constantly like ‘I need to do this, I need to do this’. I'm not in this sport to try and break records. I'm just here to win at the moment.

Max Verstappen analyzes his thrilling pole position at Zandvoort

The Red Bull driver stated that he really enjoyed his final Q lap after he pulled off a gap of half a second to second-placed Lando Norris in the shootout for pole position.

As per F1.com, Max Verstappen said:

"Qualifying in these conditions on new tarmac can be quite tricky but that last lap was very enjoyable. It’s all about putting in good laps and staying out of trouble. We’ve had wet conditions at the last few races but it’s the first time here in Zandvoort, the wind and drying track played a big factor in Q3, and turn one on my final lap was a bit tricky, but the Team made all the right calls today.

"The pressure's always there to perform in front of your home crowd but when you can pull it off it feels incredible.

It will be interesting to see if Max Verstappen can match the record held by Sebastian Vettel on Sunday and win three races in a row in front of his home fans to celebrate this achievement.