How F1's Verstappen era compares to Schumacher's early 2000s dominance

He won so many Formula 1 races. Often they were with such crushing performances that there ended up being a discussion about how he acted during the regular airings of his team’s national anthem.

Back in the early 2000s, Michael Schumacher’s regular ‘conducting’ of the Ferrari mechanics joyously belting out Il Canto degli Italiani drew criticism from former Italian prime minister and president Francesco Cossiga. In 2023, there were countless skits and memes acknowledging that the Dutch/Austrian national anthem combination ringing out after every Max Verstappen/Red Bull walkover is now as familiar to the close of a grand prix as the thumping Brian Tyler-composed refrain is to the introduction.

There are plenty of Schumacher/Verstappen comparisons, and what ties them together nicely is the familial bond between the two camps – Verstappen once referred to Schumacher as an “uncle”, and became a racing contemporary of his son, Mick.

The elder Schumacher is an F1 legend. And although Verstappen’s career is surely nowhere near its conclusion, with three world titles he has already established his own similar status. Both drivers have amassed huge followings for their success, and the manner in which they have achieved it.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can reflect on how the seemingly never-ending march of Schumacher/Ferrari race and title victories in the early 2000s came to an end in 2005. In 2023, we might consider this a hypothetical mid-point in Verstappen’s era of domination.

Schumacher’s run was ended by the combination of Ferrari and Bridgestone messing up the 2005 tyre rules against rising star Fernando Alonso at Renault, and we can’t predict when Verstappen’s current streak will conclude. All eras end but, given how 2023 has just played out, Verstappen is on course to be a five-time champion by the time we get under way in 2026.

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It's difficult to foresee Verstappen's period of dominance ending before F1's rules revamp for 2026

That year is central to our mid-point suggestion. It’s set to be the next reset on F1’s car design rules, with expanded moveable aerodynamic parts likely to be the most visible changes to how the machinery will look. That is likely to provide more opportunity for Red Bull’s technical team, helmed by its genius chief technical officer Adrian Newey. But, unlike in the delayed 2022 rules reset, the engines will change concurrently.

PLUS: The key ingredients changing as F1's 2026 engine war shapes up

Given Red Bull’s polemics at July’s Austrian GP – where team boss Christian Horner claimed that F1 needs to “ensure that we’re not creating a technical Frankenstein” on the 2026 power unit and chassis rules – the new engines add peril possibly already being felt for this era’s dominant squad. Its rivals suggested that those comments were motivated by it possibly being behind on development. Hence 2023 might end up being remembered as ‘mid-Verstappen’.

For Schumacher, that point became his staggeringly smooth run to a fifth title – his third consecutive with Ferrari – in 2002. Were there echoes of that in 2023? After all, 21 years ago The Sunday Times ran a column headed: ‘Michael Schumacher: the serial winner who murdered Formula 1’. And he won a mere 11 races that year, not 19.

On the actions taking place inside those famous cockpits, Schumacher and Verstappen are closely aligned. Verstappen’s father Jos says his son and his former team-mate are “very close” on their ability to hyper-focus and compartmentalise

Like other great F1 dominators of the modern era such as Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton (there was generally a greater spread of success when Juan Manuel Fangio, Jackie Stewart, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were racking up titles), both Schumacher and Verstappen swept all before them. For Schumacher in 2002 and again in 2004, we can read ‘Verstappen’ ever since Ferrari’s 2022 challenge fell away, Red Bull refined its first ground-effect concept, and moved on into his 2023 march to title number three.

There are even rather prescient points concerning the cars Schumacher and Verstappen used to hit their greatest heights. For example, the Ferrari F2004 has remarkable similarities to the Red Bull RB19 in how both, relative to their opposition, performed better in race trim than in qualifying.

Back in 2004, Schumacher and team-mate Rubens Barrichello weren’t dominant against the clock, but were able to unleash stunning race performances thanks to the team’s integral work with tyre supplier Bridgestone on car balance over a stint. The opposition couldn’t really get close – bar the odd off-colour weekend for Ferrari, such as at Monaco and Spa.

In 2023, the RB19 was engineered to cope with something the F2004 never had to – the fragile, high-degradation tyres prevalent in modern F1. That Sunday Times headline highlights how the Schumacher/Ferrari era of domination led to F1’s obsession with improving its ‘spectacle’, even though there are examples of competitors and enthusiasts griping about ‘the good old days’ throughout the generations since the world championship began in 1950.

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Schumacher and Ferrari took a fifth consecutive title double in 2004, as he notched 13 wins from 18 starts despite not always having the best package for qualifying

The RB19’s strengths lay in how low it could be set up to generate its peak downforce, something no Red Bull rival has yet managed in the current rules cycle. This came with an occasional weakness over bumps, as the race stints through Eau Rouge at Spa showed –Verstappen and Sergio Perez were obliged to lift off through the compression to avoid wearing their underfloor planks excessively. So too did the whole Singapore weekend.

That defeat for Red Bull, at the hands of Carlos Sainz and Ferrari, ended Red Bull’s hopes of a 100% win record. But just as the F2004 came to be renowned for its crushing race performances, the RB19 sits just above the legendary McLaren MP4/4 of 1988 in hitting a 95.5% win strike rate (versus 93.8%).

Verstappen enjoyed the RB19 so much that he described himself as “emotional on the in-lap” after winning the 2023 Abu Dhabi season finale. “It was the last time I was sitting in the car, which has given me a lot,” he added. Schumacher praised the F2004 for being “so versatile”, and winning so much it was “hard for [Ferrari’s team spirit] to be better”.

On the actions taking place inside those famous cockpits, Schumacher and Verstappen are closely aligned. Verstappen’s father Jos says his son and his former team-mate are “very close” on their ability to hyper-focus and compartmentalise during long title campaigns.

They also share a remarkably similar driving style in corner entry. They carry huge amounts of speed in and turn the car with dramatic rear rotation – an oversteer preference that so many of Verstappen’s team-mates have been unable to replicate in recent years. His advantage over them is clearest in low and medium-speed turns, which was another area where the RB19 struggled.

Verstappen’s style is slightly smoother than Schumacher’s overall, judging by onboard camera views of their steering wheel movements. For the Dutchman, this is part of his impressive Pirelli tyre management skills, something Schumacher didn’t have to worry about at his peak.

Each also has a rather controversial reputation for driving in battle. Any assessment of Schumacher’s fantastic achievements would be wholly incomplete if they failed to mention his many ugly racing episodes: Macau 1990, Adelaide 1994, Jerez 1997 and Hungaroring 2010 are just the headlines. But it’s important to note that Verstappen’s controversial episodes very much pale compared to those of Schumacher.

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Verstappen's career hasn't featured the same degree of controversial incidents of Schumacher - pictured in his infamous clash with Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez in 1997

His frequent moves in braking zones leading to the adoption of a specific ‘Verstappen rule’, and his many do-or-die moves on Hamilton in 2021, sit in their own position. But they’re nothing compared to Schumacher’s deliberate attempts to knock title rivals out of contention – as with Damon Hill in 1994 and Jacques Villeneuve in 1997.

Of late, Verstappen hasn’t had any on-track clashes. It says much about the campaign just gone that his most famous sparring episodes have been of the verbal variety via his team radio with engineer Gianpiero Lambiase rather than with Charles Leclerc or Hamilton, although his penalised move on the Ferrari driver at the start in Las Vegas was pretty cynical.

So, what does Verstappen make of matching Schumacher in becoming a dominant multi-champion? “The success of some of the greats, that’s amazing,” he said at Suzuka in September. “You might get a little bit of inspiration from it, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to try and do it the same way. The world is changing every time, right? Every different era. So, you also have to take that into account.”

Hakkinen was a career-long contemporary of Schumacher while in Hamilton, Verstappen had a rival who had already been a champion for 13 years by the time they really became rivals

Horner says “all the greats had a huge hunger and determination”. “And I think Max even takes that to another level,” he added at the 2023 Mexican GP. “He’s not obsessive in chasing records or statistics, although he knows more than you think, but he has an inner desire, an inner belief, an inner hunger that drives him. And, as I say, if you look across some of the greats across many sports, you see that as a common trait.”

There’s also a similarity in how each of the respective dominant eras began – the 2000 and 2021 seasons were, in their own ways, utterly epic. In 2000, Schumacher and Ferrari got off to a brilliant start while poor reliability hurt McLaren and Mika Hakkinen. Indeed, it was Hakkinen’s team-mate David Coulthard who provided Schumacher with his main opposition during the first part of the season, around the Scot nearly losing his life in a plane crash.

The pair had a fiery battle at the French GP, and a further clash in the US GP, while there was officiating controversy in Austria when it was discovered that one of the two mandatory seals on the electronics box aboard Hakkinen’s winning McLaren was missing (he kept his win, but the team was docked its constructors’ points).

PLUS: David Coulthard's top 10 greatest F1 drives

Hakkinen came back strong during a disastrous mid-season run of crashes and unreliability for Schumacher, before the German returned to winning ways at Monza. A final reliability twist for Hakkinen at Indianapolis then eased Schumacher’s path to ending Ferrari’s 21-year wait for a title at the following round at Suzuka.

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

The gladiatorial element of Verstappen's first title in 2021 had a similarly epic plotline to Schumacher ending McLaren's resurgence in 2000

In 2021, Mercedes’ realisation – too late – that the rear-floor rule changes would hurt its low-rake concept more than Red Bull’s high-rake approach set the scene for a season of remarkable parity between the two top squads. Verstappen and Hamilton were also closely matched in terms of driving skill and daring, with the Mercedes man having his own deserved penalty-slapping moment at Silverstone.

That sat alongside Verstappen’s on-the-edge moves at Imola and Barcelona, and over-the-top driving at Monza, Interlagos and Jeddah. Things got devilishly political in discussions over flexi-wings and yellow-flag transgressions – there was a story to chase at seemingly every turn. Netflix cameras and Liberty Media-owned FOM’s efforts enhanced the title story.

But there are, of course, important differences on how this comparison breaks down. Firstly, the 2021 season ended with an officiating saga, with Hamilton’s sublime efforts to get the title all but won undone by race director Michael Masi’s decisions at the Abu Dhabi finale. Suzuka 2000 (that year’s penultimate race) is remembered, thankfully, only for Schumacher’s steering-wheel-damaging celebrations, along with his searing speed in damp and changing conditions.

Also, Hakkinen was a career-long contemporary of Schumacher – it was he who Schumacher blocked so savagely in Macau in 1990, leading to the Finn’s crash, and both made their F1 debut in 1991. In Hamilton, Verstappen had a rival who had already been a champion for 13 years by the time they really became rivals.

There are further key differences between Schumacher and Verstappen, and the first is how they compare to their team-mates during their peak seasons. There can be no doubt, surely, that Barrichello gave Schumacher closer competition than Perez does to Verstappen.

Even so, the Ferrari team orders spats in Austria bear a passing resemblance to Red Bull’s in Brazil in 2022. And there was Verstappen’s agitation that he and Perez should adhere to set time deltas during those few early 2023 rounds where it appeared that the Mexican was something of a threat, and snared two street-track wins in Jeddah and Baku.

On that front, Verstappen confessed earlier this year that he “personally [does not] really enjoy street circuits”, despite having six victories on such courses. There are more temporary venues than ever before in F1 now, which in part explains why Schumacher trails Verstappen with just five street wins in his total of 91. In this context, that smoother steering input can be said to be a hindrance for Verstappen on tracks such as Baku, where the many 90-degree corners require pointed, aggressive turn-in to get the best lap times.

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Barrichello gave Schumacher a stronger challenge than Perez has to Verstappen, and had to cede victory at Austria in 2002

Barrichello never allowed a points gap to build to Schumacher as large as Perez’s to Verstappen in 2023. Adjusted to the current points system, the Brazilian’s biggest deficit to his Ferrari team-mate was 159 in 2002; this year, it was 290 between Verstappen and Perez.

On pure pace it’s a similar story. During their five seasons with championship-challenging cars, Barrichello was on average 0.45%, 0.68%, 0.29%, 0.24% and 0.23% adrift of Schumacher on best laps over a race weekend. Since he joined Red Bull 2021, Perez has come in at 0.70%, 0.55% and 0.76% slower than Verstappen.

Again, the differing tyre rules are worth considering, since it was the challenge in getting the 2023 Pirellis hot enough to provide grip from the off that held the Red Bull back in qualifying and mixed conditions, where confidence was key and Perez struggled to find this following his Miami GP humbling. The tyre warm-up element was partly what made the RB19 so kind to its tyres in a race stint.

PLUS: Why Perez’s best race proved to be his F1 2023 downfall

There are rules stability similarities between the mid-Schumacher and mid-Verstappen eras. But an overarching difference between them is how these days F1’s governance and management are overall very stable. The recent officiating sagas, and the fallout from FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s comments on a suggested $20billion valuation of F1, sent shockwaves through the championship at the start of 2023. But they were rather contained compared to what was going on in the mid-2000s.

What’s intriguing to note is how little agitation there has been – from the teams at least – for rule changes to try to alter the current competitive picture

Back then, the drive to cut costs after years of manufacturer-led financial frivolity became a key part of the political battles of the day. The determination to cut costs, plus the fallout from the 2005 US Grand Prix farce, eventually led to F1 adopting a single tyre supplier.

Insight: Why tyre wars have largely become a thing of the past in motorsport

But the moves to get there, and on other fronts wrapped up in the financial crisis of the decade – such as the £40m cost cap proposed for 2010 – pitted the teams against the FIA and FOM much more regularly than can be seen today. The spat of the anti-dilution fee and Andretti’s attempt to join the F1 grid are nothing compared to the Formula One Teams Association breakaway threat that eventually followed the Schumacher era due to the old cost-cap proposal.

In the current period, the cost cap introduced in 2021 and the great hike in team worth thanks to Liberty’s efforts on promotion (including the Netflix show) mean that such threats are non-existent. The teams are aligned with F1 on financial affairs. 

Other cross-party efforts, such as the move to standardise many parts and adopt significant new safety features, have played their part in the political sphere changing too. F1 can therefore be said to be sanitised these days through being partly standardised compared to the days when designers had massively more freedom.

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Verstappen's crushing dominance has come against the backdrop of a very different F1 to the one in which Schumacher left his mark

When multi-team battles for victory such as those we saw in 2021 and early 2022 are possible, does that matter? The answer is yes, because another crushing period of domination has followed.

F1’s biggest concern now, as TV audiences and social media interactions dwindle, is to recapture that magic. But that’s been made harder, because the cost cap and restrictive rules mean that teams can’t overhaul their designs as they once could.

What’s intriguing to note is how little agitation there has been – from the teams at least – for rule changes to try to alter the current competitive picture. The mid-2000s era was packed with politicking on that front, even though the 2005 changes that Ferrari and Bridgestone messed up actually came via the FIA forcing through its temporary ‘endurance tyre’ rules on safety grounds.

PLUS: The inescapable conclusion from F1's slowing Red Bull debate in 2023

There’s another note from the past that we ought to consider, and it takes us right back to that 2002-03 crossover. This is how Schumacher’s 2002 domination was followed by a feisty fight in 2003 via convergence through rules stability, plus the points rules being altered to reward greater consistency.

That year, McLaren’s new superstar Kimi Raikkonen scored eye-catching early podiums and stayed in contention to the end. And Williams came on strongly too, led by Juan Pablo Montoya around a mid-season Ralf Schumacher purple patch. The Ferrari hero had his work cut out to save his crown, and even briefly looked like losing it to Raikkonen during a gaffe-filled race to eighth position and the single point he needed in the Suzuka finale, handily won by Barrichello.

Archive: How Williams's last F1 title challenge unravelled

With McLaren on the up again with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, plus Ferrari and Mercedes aiming to get Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton and George Russell back into contention in 2024, how F1 could do with a repeat of 2003…

The current extended points system rewards consistency better than 20 years ago, and there are tweaks to sprint race weekends being considered, just as there were one-shot qualifying adjustments to save a show ‘murdered’ by one dominant driver the year before. So, if F1 does get another epic title fight, perhaps the Verstappen era will be shorter than we’ve hypothesised after all…

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Will any team be able to get on terms with Red Bull before 2026 to halt Verstappen's fast-growing collection of world championships?

The ‘what ifs?’ of Verstappen Sr’s F1 career

Oh, what might have been. What if Jos Verstappen had been successful in getting the 2004 Jaguar F1 seat alongside Mark Webber that ultimately went to Christian Klien? Had he got his way, then perhaps Red Bull’s Verstappen era would have kicked off a decade earlier…

Instead, it turned out that Verstappen’s frustrating 2003 campaign with the minnow Minardi was his last in F1. There had been hopes that the Faenza-based team, then helmed by aviation entrepreneur Paul Stoddart, could replicate its points-scoring form with Mark Webber from 2002, especially with its switch to Cosworth power. But reliability improvements from the teams further up the grid restricted Verstappen’s chances of sneaking into the top eight.

There were also issues with Minardi’s last-minute deal for a Bridgestone tyre supply. And there were few wet-weather moments for a driver who had progressed through junior single-seaters to F1 in just two seasons – his son would do it in one in 2014! – to shine as he typically did in such conditions.

Stoddart wanted Verstappen to stick around with Minardi for 2004. But when that – and his Jaguar ambitions – didn’t come off, the Dutchman’s F1 career finished after 106 starts

One famous exception was in first qualifying for the 2003 French Grand Prix. Back then, F1 had one-shot qualifying, with drivers running on Friday in championship order. The track was drying after rain, and Verstappen pumped in a lap 2.6 seconds quicker than anyone else had gone. Only the sister Minardi of Justin Wilson was left to run, and he fell short by 0.1s.

Top 10: Ranking Minardi's greatest F1 drivers

In dry qualifying the next day, the Minardis slipped back to their typical backmarker status, and Verstappen finished last in the race, four laps down. His best result of the season came in Canada: ninth, one place short of the points.

Stoddart wanted Verstappen to stick around with Minardi for 2004. But when that – and his Jaguar ambitions – didn’t come off, the Dutchman’s F1 career finished after 106 starts. His best results were two thirds, from his rookie part-season alongside Michael Schumacher at Benetton in 1994.

Verstappen Sr went on to race in A1GP and sportscars, including at Le Mans. He made his first World Rally Championship appearance last year on the Ypres Rally, and clinched his maiden victory in the discipline in Belgium this May on the Monteberg Rally at the wheel of a Rally2 Skoda Fabia.

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Verstappen topped first qualifying for Minardi at the 2003 French GP in mixed conditions, but normal service was resumed in the dry session that set the grid