Zak Brown recalls the moment Max Verstappen ‘reminded me of Ayrton Senna’ ahead of his 200th Red Bull Grand Prix

Follow us on Google Discover

Max Verstappen is set to start his 200th Grand Prix for Red Bull at the 2025 Hungarian GP, a run that has so far yielded 65 race wins, 44 pole positions and four drivers’ titles.

The 27-year-old has raced for Red Bull since the fifth round of the 2016 Formula 1 season as Daniil Kvyat was demoted back to sister crew Toro Rosso. Red Bull even saw Verstappen get off to a winning start in their top squad at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, in only his 24th race.

Verstappen beat Kimi Raikkonen to win the 2016 Spanish GP on his Red Bull debut, after the Dutchman picked up the pieces from the first-lap collision between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. He would very much become Red Bull’s talisman, who carries the team on his back.

Since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull after the 2018 campaign, four-time defending F1 drivers’ championship winner Verstappen earned 66.6% of their points in 2019, 67% in 2020, 67.5% in 2021, 59.8% in 2022, 66.8% in 2023, 74.1% in 2024 and also boasts 96.3% so far in 2025.

Max Verstappen reminded Zak Brown of Ayrton Senna with his 2024 Sao Paulo GP win

Verstappen will also go into his 200th Grand Prix start for Red Bull at the 2025 Hungarian GP with their only race wins (Japan, Imola), pole positions (x4) and podium finishes (x5) thus far this term. But Zak Brown cannot forget Verstappen winning the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Brown has recalled ahead of Verstappen’s 200th Grand Prix with Red Bull how he ‘reminded’ the McLaren CEO of Ayrton Senna with his win in Brazil last November. Verstappen won the 2024 Sao Paulo GP from 17th on the grid in heavy rain to almost end Lando Norris’ title bid.

Norris started from pole position in Brazil but crumbled to P6, having struggled following the red flag for Franco Colapinto crashing behind the safety car. In contrast, Verstappen utilised lines no rival would, and he benefitted from the red flag before winning by 19.477 seconds.

“His race in Brazil last year was legendary,” Brown has told De Telegraaf. “It reminded me of Ayrton Senna, especially because it was in Brazil!

“Max is a relentless fighter who knows no mercy. What he’s shown is very impressive, and he absolutely belongs among the greatest drivers of all time.”

Max Verstappen has resembled Ayrton Senna in more than just his driving

Brown is not alone in suggesting that Verstappen resembled Senna when he won in Brazil in 2024. As the Dutchman charged from P17 on the grid, Karun Chandhok likened Verstappen’s 2024 Sao Paulo GP win to Senna’s 1993 European Grand Prix win in heavy rain at Donington.

It is also not only down to his driving that Verstappen has resembled Senna during his career in the pinnacle of motorsport. Verstappen admits he has used Senna’s iconic quote about no longer going for a gap on the FIA’s stewards to try and get out of potential penalties, as well.

Aston Martin’s Brazilian F1 reserve driver Felipe Drugovich also believes Verstappen is to the Netherlands what Senna was to Brazil, having harvested the support of a nation. It was even down to Verstappen’s vast fanbase that the Dutch Grand Prix returned F1’s calendar in 2021.