Christian Horner on prospect of Max Verstappen beating Lewis Hamilton to eighth title

Christian Horner said Max Verstappen is still “a huge amount of distance away” from setting the all-time record for most championship wins.

The Dutchman is expected to confirm his third title this weekend, making him just one of five drivers to win three or more in a row.

And having turned 26 at the weekend, Verstappen certainly has time on his side to beat the seven title mark set by Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schuamcher.

Christian Horner says Max Verstappen focused on short term

To do that, Red Bull would need to continue to provide him with a car capable of challenging with Verstappen signed to the team until 2028. Another obstacle may be Verstappen’s desire to stick around in F1 with the Dutchman regularly hinting that he may call it quits sooner than many expect.

As for his boss Horner’s opinion, he suggested Verstappen was still far off the target and that he is more focused on short-term goals than setting new records.

“Eight is a huge amount of distance away,” Horner told Sky Sports News.

“There are not many drivers with more than three [titles]. You’ve got Sebastian [Vettel], Alain Prost, [Juan-Manuel] Fangio, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.

“It’s a pretty select club he’ll enter when he wins his third world title.

“For him, he’s just an out-and-out racer. I know he’s proud of what he’s doing and achieving, but he’s forward-looking. He’s not rearward looking and I think that for him it’s about the next race.

“There are still six races to go this year and I know he’s motivated to try and win all of them.”

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Verstappen though has insisted his legacy in the sport is of little concern and maintained he believes there is plenty of life outside of Formula 1.

“我在这里试图实现everything I can, and I try to, of course, give everything I have to that. But I also know there’s much more to life than only Formula 1,” he told CNN.

“Once I’m done with Formula 1, I want to just enjoy my life and do other things and then what happened in Formula 1 is done,” he adds. “It’s not something probably I will look back to when I’m 60 or 70.”

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