My Opinion (For Kids and Red Bull Fans); Max Verstappen is not a GOAT
This is the simple version for Max and Red Bull fans who still do not understand why some of us do not put his trophies next to Lewis Hamilton’s.
First, let’s be clear.
Max Verstappen is really, really good at driving race cars.
He is fast, brave and super tough in his head.
He has many wins, many poles and a lot of shiny trophies.
Lewis Hamilton is also really, really good.
He has even more wins, more poles and more trophies than anyone in Formula 1 history.
So why do I say their trophies are not the same?
Because how you win matters, not just how many times you win.
1. Two Kids, Two Big Trophy Shelves
Imagine two kids at school.
Kid 1, Lewis, has 7 big gold trophies.
Kid 2, Max, has 4 big gold trophies.
You cannot just count trophies.
You need to ask:
Did they follow the rules?
Did they have the same help?
Were their races fair?
That is what this story is about.
2. The Race Where The Teacher Changed The Rules
Think about a big race in the playground.
Lewis is leading the whole time.
There are only a few laps left.
If he stays in front, he wins the race and the big championship.
Then a grown up, the “teacher” of the race, suddenly says:
“Wait, I am going to change how we handle this safety car.
Only some kids get to unlap themselves.
And we will restart right now.”
The teacher does not follow the written rule.
The rule says something else should happen.
Because of this change, Max gets one last lap to attack on fresh tyres and he wins.
Later, the school looks at what happened and says:
Yes, the teacher made a mistake.
The rules were not done correctly.
We will change how we do this in the future.
But the school does not change the result.
Max keeps the trophy.
That is Abu Dhabi 2021 in kid language.
Max did nothing wrong on that last lap.
But one of his championships sits on a race where the grown ups admit they did not use their own rule book properly.
Lewis’s titles do not have a race like that.
3. The Money Rule That Was Broken
Now imagine the school says:
“Every team can only spend 10 dollars on their car this year.
Nobody is allowed to spend more, so it is fair.”
Later they check the receipts and find out:
Red Bull spent more than the limit in the year Max fought Lewis for the title.
They call it a “minor” overspend.
They give Red Bull a money fine and less testing time.
But the championship result stays the same.
So in that same 2021 season we now know two things:
The last race had a rule mistake that helped Max.
His team spent more money than allowed.
Again, Max still drove amazingly.
But if you care about fairness, that first title does not look as clean as Lewis’s.
4. The One Car Project
Now let’s talk about teams.
Every team has two cars and two drivers.
In the new cost cap rules, teams can only spend a certain amount of money.
Inside that limit, they can choose how to use the money.
The rule book does not say they must spend it evenly on both drivers.
Red Bull has used this to make what feels like a one car project.
The car is built to feel perfect for Max’s driving style.
New team mates arrive, struggle and usually leave.
Max’s side of the garage stays the same and is clearly the main focus.
It is like a group school project where:
One kid, Max, gets all the best pens, the best paper, the best teacher help.
The second kid gets “make sure you do not fail us, please.”
Other teams often still let both drivers fight.
At Mercedes, for many years, Lewis and his team mates were both allowed to go for wins and even the championship.
So yes, every top team has a “leader”.
But with Red Bull and Max it feels like the whole project is built for one person.
5. Who Are You Racing?
Look at who Lewis had to beat in the same team:
Fernando Alonso
Jenson Button
Nico Rosberg
Valtteri Bottas
George Russell
All of them are race winners, some are world champions.
Many times his team mate was strong enough to fight him for the title.
Max’s hardest fights have usually been drivers in other teams:
Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel earlier in his career.
Lewis in 2021.
Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and the Ferrari drivers now.
Inside his own team, there has been no long fight on equal terms.
The second Red Bull car almost never looks like a true threat across a whole season.
It is easier to win when the car beside you on the grid, in the same colours, is not really allowed or able to beat you.
6. The Magic Car Builder
Here is another big difference.
Red Bull has Adrian Newey.
Think of Newey as the best Lego builder in the world, but for real racing cars.
His designs have won many, many championships with different teams.
Every one of Max’s titles so far has come in cars shaped by Newey and his ideas.
Lewis did not win his championships in Newey cars.
He won:
With two different teams, McLaren and Mercedes.
In different rule eras, V8 and hybrid.
With cars created by other design groups.
So when people say “they both had great cars”, that is true, but not the full story.
Max has had the best car in the field, built by the most famous designer ever, inside a team mostly focused on him.
7. Time Matters Too
One more big point is time.
Lewis has been winning and standing on podiums since 2007.
That is almost the whole lifetime of a new Drive to Survive fan.
He has:
Won races in his first year.
Stayed at the front through many rule changes, different tyres and different engines.
Changed teams and still stayed a star.
Max is still in the middle of his story.
He might race many more years.
He might get more titles.
But he has not yet shown that he can do what Lewis did:
stay at the top across completely different eras, teams and rule sets.
8. So What Am I Saying About Max?
I am not saying Max is bad.
He is clearly one of the best drivers on the grid.
I am saying this:
One of his titles came from a race where the rules were not used correctly.
That same season his team spent more money than they were allowed.
His team is built around him more than any other top team.
He has always had Newey level machinery for his titles.
He has not yet had to prove himself across as many years, rule changes and teams as Lewis has.
So when someone shouts “Max is already a GOAT”, I do not agree.
To me, Max is a brilliant driver with a super car, a super designer and a whole one car project behind him.
Lewis is the driver who has done it in more eras, with more different cars, under more pressure, for a much longer time.
Maybe one day Max will catch that.
But for now, their trophies do not belong in the same conversation.
If you are already angry reading this, that probably means you understand the point perfectly.
Sources and further reading
FIA, “FIA release findings and recommendations after 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix analysis” (executive summary of the Abu Dhabi investigation).
FIA / Formula 1, “Red Bull enter agreement with FIA over breach of 2021 financial regulations” and related coverage of the 2021 cost cap overspend.
Formula1.com, official driver pages and statistics for Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen (career wins, poles, podiums, titles).
Motorsport Stats, Hamilton and Verstappen F1 statistics summaries.
Reuters and other statistical round ups on recent seasons, including dominance of the RB19 and comparisons to previous eras.
Written December 1st, 2025 by Shane Canekeratne