How a dramatic 2026 resurgence at Sepang and Marina Bay saved a decade-long consistency record.
The demanding nature of modern motorsport means that consistency is often valued far less than outright championship titles. While Max Verstappen’s four world championships firmly define his racing legacy, a newly secured milestone highlights an entirely different facet of his career: the rare ability to win races in dominant machinery and uncompetitive cars alike.
By securing a dominant victory at the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver has entered one of the most exclusive statistical clubs in Formula 1 history.
Verstappen has become only the third driver in the history of the sport to claim multiple Grand Prix victories in ten consecutive seasons.
This achievement places him alongside French legend Alain Prost, who managed a ten-season streak of multiple wins between 1981 and 1990, and leaves him just one year behind Michael Schumacher’s ultimate benchmark of eleven straight multi-win campaigns set between 1994 and 2004.
Defining a Demanding Motorsport Benchmark
To truly appreciate the weight of this milestone, one must understand how strictly the statistic is measured. In Formula 1, it is common for elite drivers to enjoy long careers of winning a singular race per year.
However, the multi-win metric demands that a driver stand on the top step of the podium at least twice in every single calendar year for an entire decade. Very few careers sustain that level of repeatable excellence across sweeping technical changes, which explains why only three names exist on this historical list.
For Verstappen, this decade-long journey began in 2017.
Although his maiden Formula 1 victory occurred at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, that debut campaign with Red Bull yielded only a single win, meaning his consecutive multi-win sequence officially kicked off the following year.
- Michael Schumacher (11)
- Max Verstappen (10)
- Alain Prost (10)
From 2017 onward, he delivered multiple victories every season, navigating the intense title fight of 2021 with ten wins, a dominant fifteen victories in 2022, and a record-breaking nineteen triumphs in 2023. Even as the field closed up in 2024 and 2025, he consistently extracted maximum performance to keep the streak alive.
The 2026 Resurgence at Sepang and Marina Bay
The 2026 season has tested Verstappen’s consistency more than any prior year. Following a major technical regulation shift introducing a new power unit era, Red Bull Racing found itself struggling to match the outright pace of a resurgent Mercedes team.
With rookie sensation Kimi Antonelli building a commanding lead in the drivers’ championship, Verstappen spent the vast majority of the season completely winless, leaving his historic streak in serious jeopardy.
The turnaround finally arrived during a dramatic autumn stretch. On 4 October, Verstappen captured his first victory of the year at the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, which was uniquely staged at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit due to early-season calendar disruptions.
Beyond giving the new Red Bull-Ford engine partnership its first-ever victory, the result extended Verstappen’s baseline record of winning at least one race to eleven consecutive seasons.
Just one week later, the definitive milestone was reached at the Singapore Grand Prix. Verstappen delivered a flawless weekend at the Marina Bay street circuit, securing pole position, winning the sprint race, and dominating the main Grand Prix to finish more than seven seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The triumphant performance marked his 73rd career victory in his 250th Grand Prix start, officially unlocking his tenth consecutive multi-win season.
Legacy and the Regulation Eras
What makes this run particularly impressive to motorsport analysts is the sheer amount of change Formula 1 has undergone since 2017. The sport has shifted through massive aerodynamic rewrites, wider tyres, the introduction of the cost cap, and now a completely revamped hybrid engine formula.
Many drivers find their form tied explicitly to a specific type of car or regulation loop. When the car suits their driving style, they flourish; when the regulations pivot, they drop back into the midfield.
Verstappen’s statistical journey demonstrates a chameleon-like adaptability.
He won when Red Bull relied on Renault power units as a gritty underdog, he won when Honda brought them back to championship dominance, and he has now won under the newly introduced Ford partnership.
To extract multi-win seasons across entirely distinct engine configurations requires an elite level of communication with engineers and a rare capacity to alter driving habits on the fly.
Chasing History in the 2027 Campaign
With the milestone secured, Verstappen’s outlook for the remainder of the 2026 season shifts from preserving his record to building momentum for the future. Following the action in Singapore, Kimi Antonelli leads the championship standings with 325 points, while Verstappen sits in fourth place with 221 points.
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Because a maximum of 26 points are available in a standard race weekend, the 104-point deficit means Verstappen is out of realistic championship contention with several rounds remaining on the calendar.
However, the conclusion of this season lays a fascinating foundation for 2027. Verstappen enters the upcoming year with a clear narrative storyline: matching Michael Schumacher’s all-time record.
Should the Dutch driver secure just two victories in 2027, he will draw level with Schumacher’s eleven-season streak, further cementing his position as one of the most relentlessly consistent forces the sport has ever seen.
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