Lewis Hamilton has been warned that Max Verstappen may well be coming for many of his Formula 1 records.
The Dutchman won his first title last season and is in an excellent position for a successful defence. Team-mate Sergio Perez and Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc are among those who can mathematically catch him, though it would take an extraordinary set of events for Verstappen to squander his 93-point lead.
He doesn't turn 25 until the end of this month and already has 29 F1 race wins to his name. He will hope that number is 30 by the end of this weekend, and a few more than that by the time the current season draws to a close.
Hamilton's record for race wins stands at 103 and the Brit matches Michael Schumacher with seven world titles. Lando Norris believes both those figures could be under threat from Verstappen if he and Red Bull continue their dominance over the next few years.
"If Max has two seasons like this, he can get another 30 to 40 wins in the next year-and-a-half to two years, and then he is up to 70 already, so he could quite possibly [beat Hamilton’s records]," he told the Independent .
""I don't think he cares too much about numbers, or what you see on paper, he just wants to be known as the best driver. But if it gets to a point where it is close he will absolutely stay in Formula 1 as long as he needs to to get to that point."
Not only is the Dutchman a remarkable racer, but Norris believes he has matured as a person after a heated and often ugly title fight with Hamilton last season. "At the end of last year it was win or nothing, but now he is looking at the bigger picture," added the McLaren star.
"From what I see, it looks as though he wants to be a little bit more respectful. But if it went down to the wire and if he needed to pull something out of the bag, and be forceful and aggressive, it is still well within him to do things like he did last year, and push it to the absolute limit.
"If Charles was leading the championship, a few points ahead of Max, he would be taking those bigger moves and putting both of them at risk. But he leads by so many points and knows he is probably not going to finish worse than second or third.
"He has got a car which has allowed him to look like he is on another level. He could have started 20th in Spa and still won the race. It is a powerful combination. Such a team, such a car, such a driver, they look unstoppable at the moment."
