Verstappen needs 19 more wins to equal Schumacher’s career total
GPBeat reports that Max Verstappen’s Sunday win at Sepang brought him to 72 career victories, 19 short of Michael Schumacher’s 91; Lewis Hamilton has 106. Verstappen’s 72 wins for Red Bull also match Schumacher’s 72 for Ferrari.
Sunday’s victory at Sepang lifted Max Verstappen to 72 career Grand Prix wins. Michael Schumacher’s career total is 91: Verstappen needs 19 more wins to draw level and 20 to pass him. Lewis Hamilton, with 106, remains the only driver above both.
The same 72 appears in a separate record. Verstappen has won 72 times for Red Bull, matching Schumacher’s 72 for Ferrari; Hamilton leads the single-team list with 84 for Mercedes. These are team totals, not career tallies.
Age and starts tell different stories. By age 28, Verstappen had more than doubled Schumacher’s win total at the same age. RacingNews365 attributes that gap largely to Verstappen’s earlier F1 debut and the sport’s expanded modern calendars, which offer more races each season. Across equivalent numbers of race starts, however, Schumacher had more victories and a higher win percentage.
Red Bull had become more competitive in recent weeks and came close to victory in Baku, but needed 16 race weekends to secure its first win of 2026. Formula 1’s technical analysis sees the foundation for Verstappen’s Sepang win in the RB22 upgrade Red Bull unveiled in Baku roughly 10 days earlier, rather than in his pole position. After Sepang, team principal Laurent Mekies said he thought Red Bull could fight for podiums in the coming races, but that it was impossible to know whether the team could contend for wins at every circuit. He said maximizing learning from the current package was the priority.
Verstappen’s Red Bull contract runs through 2030, giving him a potential runway of at least four more full seasons to pursue Schumacher’s total—provided the team stays competitive through the new technical regulations.
Sources 04
- SOURCEWill Max Verstappen beat Michael Schumacher's grand prix victory tally?RacingNews365 English
- SOURCEVerstappen equals Schumacher record with ultimate Hamilton score in sightRacingNews365 English
- PRIMARY SOURCEHow Red Bull cured weaknesses to give Verstappen his first 2026 victoryFormula 1
- SOURCERed Bull waakzaam ondanks zege Verstappen: "Altijd in die strijd gezeten"RacingNews365 Nederland
Claims and supporting evidence 8
The source reports the totals; the number of additional wins needed to equal or pass Schumacher is arithmetic derived from 72 and 91.
These are victories with one team, a separate measure from career totals.
This is a synthesis of RacingNews365's comparisons: Verstappen had more than doubled Schumacher's age-28 win count, while Schumacher had more wins and a higher percentage over equivalent starts.
The publication's comparison gives this explanation for the age-based difference.
This is reported as Formula 1's technical analysis of the victory.
The source records both the team's improving form and the number of race weekends before its first win.
This retains Mekies's near-term expectation, his qualification about winning at every circuit and the team's stated priority.
The source describes a potential, conditional time horizon rather than predicting that Verstappen will reach the total.
This article was produced with AI assistance. Source references make its supporting evidence traceable.