Steiner: Max is competing in a completely different league.

      Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen are two drivers who, in different years, each won four titles behind the wheel of Red Bull Racing cars. The German driver won the championship from 2010 to 2013, Max from 2021 to 2024. But the difference is that in the first case the Milton Keynes team also won the Constructors' Championship in all four consecutive years, whereas during Verstappen's championship years it did so only in 2022 and 2023. In other words, Max achieved notable success even when his team did not have the fastest car.

      Another important metric to consider is the number of wins. Verstappen, together with Red Bull, has won 71 Grands Prix, making this the third most successful driver-team combination in Formula 1 history. Michael Schumacher and Ferrari have one more win, and leading the list are Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. Driving for the factory team of the Stuttgart-based manufacturer, the British driver has stood atop the podium 84 times.

      Vettel ranks fourth in that list; he won "only" 38 races in Red Bull-built cars. When Sebastian moved to Ferrari he could not replicate his former successes, although he still took another 14 wins and finished as runner-up in the world championship twice.

      Two seasons at Aston Martin, after which he decided to part ways with Formula 1, cannot be called successful — Vettel managed to finish in the top three only once in those two years. However, the cars he had to drive at the time were not particularly competitive.

      Günther Steiner, the former head of the Haas team, remarked on the difference between Sebastian and Max in his own way while appearing on the Red Flags podcast: "Vettel always won behind the wheel of a car that was faster than the rest, whereas Max shows he can achieve success even when he doesn't have such a car. Just recall what he achieved in the outgoing 2025 season. In 2024 Red Bull also didn't have the best car, and yet Verstappen still managed to become champion. With all my respect for Vettel and his achievements, I must admit that when he moved to Ferrari you couldn't say his results were all that impressive. He continued to win races, but it never turned into the kind of success story it was in Michael Schumacher's era. In short, I think Max is performing in a completely different league."