Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan believes Max Verstappen is on course to hit ten World Championships in his career as a Grand Prix driver.
Verstappen first world title in 2021 was a controversial affair involving a disputed showdown in Abu Dhabi with arch-rival Lewis Hamilton.
But the Dutchman's second championship was signed and sealed last year in Japan with four races to spare thanks to Red Bull Racing's enduring domination throughout 2022.
And so far, the Milton Keynes-based outfit's supremacy has extended into 2023, with Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez trading wins in Bahrain and Jeddah, and setting themselves up for an intra-team battle for the title.
Jordan believes Hamilton needs to get a move on and secure his milestone eighth world crown, or risk being surpassed by the Verstappen steamroller.
"If everything stays well with Max - and I’m hoping that it will mentally and physically and everything to do with the car - Max is gonna hit 10 World Championships, because he’s that young and that good," Jordan told David Coulthard on the latter's Formula for Success podcast.
"How fast is he? He’s just ridiculous.
"I think Lewis needs to get on his bike and hurry up and get number eight because it’s soon to be passed up by Max."
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Jordan's lofty projections call for Verstappen to win another eight world championships and assumes therefore that the 25-year-old would remain in F1 well past the term of his current contract which expires at the end of 2028.
But Verstappen has repeatedly said that he does not want to remain on the grid forever, and that he has no real interest in beating records. He could therefore sail off into the sunset in five years' time.
"I know I'm very lucky to drive a Formula 1 car. I can do what I want, but at some point it doesn't matter," Verstappen told Sports Illustrated.
"I already have a lot of plans for what I want to do. It's also about quality of life. There are other things in life besides Formula 1. I have a contract until 2028 and after that I'll see.
"I don't want to spend my best years physically just in Formula 1. With the races multiplying, 23 or 24 a year is far too many."
Ten world titles in F1? It's a long shot for Max Verstappen, both statistically and in terms of sustaining his motivation.
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