Search to find next Max Verstappen aborted as Helmut Marko ‘gives up’

Henry Valantine
Max Verstappen wins his 50th F1 Grand Prix, celebrating on the podium at the Circuit of the Americas.

Max Verstappen: Racking up the F1 wins

Helmut Marko has given up on trying to find the next Max Verstappen, instead lowering his aim to look for a future race winner as another Verstappen “doesn’t exist”.

Verstappen has swept all before him since taking his first World Championship in 2021, winning 32 of the 42 races since to win two more titles and overtake the career victory tallies of some of the sport’s greats in the process.

He now sits one win behind four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel on the all-time chart heading into Las Vegas this weekend, and despite the pool of talent available to Red Bull, Marko does not believe another Verstappen is among them.

Helmut Marko: Another Max Verstappen ‘doesn’t exist’

Verstappen has already earned enough points to win this season’s Constructors’ Championship on his own, with a record 17 wins in 19 races also breaking the seven-decade-long landmark held by Alberto Ascari for highest win ratio in a season.

While discussing new Red Bull junior Oliver Goethe and how he may progress within the team, Marko explained the teenager will have to impress next season on his own way up the motorsport ladder.

“Good name, good guy,” Marko said of new signing Goethe to Austrian publication OE24.

“A German who lives in London and Monte Carlo, he was fast in the tests, next year he has to prove himself in Formula 3.”

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When pressed on immediate comparisons to previous title winners in Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, the Red Bull motorsport advisor admitted finding another golden goose like that is not his target for now.

“He has a certain amount of boldness, but I’ve already given up looking for a new Verstappen, he doesn’t exist,” he admitted.

“I’ll be happy if we find a future GP winner.”

Verstappen’s points tally is more than double that of team-mate Sergio Perez in second place in the Drivers’ standings heading into Las Vegas this weekend, and 142 more than the combined total of Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

Read next: Las Vegas Grand Prix: How Sergio Perez can beat Lewis Hamilton to P2 in Drivers’ Championship