Max Verstappen told he’s now copied a Michael Schumacher trick that won Ferrari five F1 titles

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Max Verstappen has the chance to match Michael Schumacher as the only driver ever to win the F1 title in five seasons in a row should the Red Bull ace lift the 2025 crown.

It was seeming increasingly unlikely that a slice of history could await Verstappen at the end of the 2025 F1 season earlier this year. Yet an upturn in form since the Italian Grand Prix has put the four-time reigning champion back into the fight with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Verstappen won the Italian GP from pole position, won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pole and secured P2 in the Singapore Grand Prix to outscore Piastri and Norris in each of the last three rounds. He cut his deficits to the McLaren pilots from 104 and 70 points to 63 and 41.

Red Bull’s front wing upgrade in Singapore has made their RB21 a more rounded package to challenge McLaren at more than just high-speed, low-downforce circuits. So, from the likely impossible, Verstappen has the chance to match Schumacher by winning five titles in a row.

Max Verstappen has copied at Red Bull how Michael Schumacher ‘took over’ Ferrari

Schumacher won the F1 drivers’ championship with Ferrari each year from 2000 to 2004, as the German became the first person to win seven titles following his successes for Benetton in 1994 and 1995. But he did not find immediate success after moving to Maranello in 1996.

READ MORE: The five worst moments of Max Verstappen’s career in Formula 1

Ferrari and Schumacher needed five seasons to build the Scuderia into a title-winning team again under Jean Todt, including hiring Ross Brawn as technical director and F1 design icon Rory Byrne later in 1996. Brawn and Byrne followed Schumacher from Benetton to Ferrari.

And Jeroen Bleekemolen believes Verstappen has now “done the same” at Red Bull as what Schumacher did at Ferrari by rebuilding the Milton Keynes-based crew around him. Red Bull sacked Christian Horner back in July and named Laurent Mekies as their new team principal.

Bleekemolen told Paddockpraat about Schumacher: “He was an icon. You really looked up to a man like that who took over the sport. [Lewis] Hamilton, [Sebastian] Vettel and Verstappen have since done the same.

“With Schumacher, it was special because he did it with Ferrari. [Fernando] Alonso and Vettel tried later, and even Hamilton now, but none of them managed to become world champion there.”

Bleekemolen added: “He took over that entire team. He attracted the right people, including Jean Todt, of course. Schumacher contributed a great deal to that… And you see Max has now done the same at Red Bull, so in that sense it’s comparable.”

Max Verstappen and Laurent Mekies are reshaping Red Bull without Christian Horner

Dutch racing driver Bleekemolen is not the only pundit to note how Verstappen has changed since Red Bull fired Horner, who formally left in September after agreeing on his severance package. The Briton was the only team boss Red Bull had known since their debut in 2005.

Jolyon Palmer believes Verstappen has become a more “prominent” leader at Red Bull since Horner was stripped of his operational roles as their F1 CEO and team principal. Mekies and Verstappen have agreed to take more risks, as well, in their efforts to rival Piastri and Norris.

Red Bull have even seen a rapid resurgence after 14 months of declining results, which was a key reason behind Horner’s departure. Now, Verstappen could even match Schumacher’s feat of winning five titles in a row if his momentum can persist through the final six rounds.