'I’m just trying to stay on top', insists wary Verstappen

Max Verstappen might have won three Formula 1 world championships in a row, and be hot favourite to take at last two more in quick succession, but he's already downplaying talk that he could be set to break the all-time record.

Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton currently tie for the highest number of titles with seven apiece. Hamilton's break to win an eighth was denied in the controversial 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

That race saw Verstappen win his first championship, and since then it's all gone the Red Bull driver's way after a rules tweak at the sart of 2022 saw the team take a dominant hold in the sport over Mercedes and Ferrari.

With no more rules changes due until 2026, Verstappen could easily be within touching distance of the current record by then. But the 26-year-old told the Times newspaper that it all came down to luck.

“If it happens, it happens," he shrugged. “But you need to be lucky to be in a great car for a longer period of time. You’re very dependent on the material you have.

• Read also: Verstappen rejects claims Red Bull 'creates cars for him'

“When I won my first title, I said everything that comes next is a bonus," he pointed out. "Because realistically, in F1 I’ve achieved everything that I wanted to achieve.

“Being on the podium, having a pole position, winning a championship - these kinds of things were my dream to achieve in F1. From now on I’m just trying to stay on top.

“The season we’ve had has probably been the best season in F1, in terms of statistics and records," he said of a year in which he clinched 19 victories and 21 podiums from 22 races. “It can’t always be like that, I know."

The passing of the torch from Hamilton to Verstappen in recent seasons has given rise to report of friction between the pair off as well as on the track, but Verstappen has no time for such distractions.

“I don’t need that kind of rivalry,” he insisted. “Of course we want to beat each other, but honestly, - once we’re in a private setting, it’s like just normal guys.”

Hamilton used to be the best paid driver in the sport, but these days Verstappen is ahead in that race as well, pocketing an estimated $45 million per year from Red Bull as a result of his recent performances.

Along with £25m in bonuses for race wins and his part in securing the constructors' championship, Verstappen is estimated have received up to $70 million in total - something the driver is reluctant to confirm or deny.

“Maybe, I’m not sure," was his enigmatic comment when asked by the newspaper about the financial package he signed at the end of 2022 to keep him with the team for the foreseeable future.

However, success comes with a price with Verstappen now on the hook for a a whopping $1.2 million in entry fees to race in F1 in 2024 on the basis of last year's results. “The team pays that, fortunately.

"I don’t think anybody expected that there would end up being that many points scored," he added. “I do think there should be some normal ratio in that. But you know, things like that get written down."

Verstappen can expect to pay a little less than that next year. His rivals on the grid will certainly be hoping that's the case after a much closer season.

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