Verstappen ready for more milestones in Austin

Max Verstappen will be hoping to celebrate the 50th win of his Formula One career at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin this weekend as the sport kicks off a four-race swing through the Americas.

The Red Bull driver has won for the last two years at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) which this time runs to the sprint format with a race on Saturday before Sunday's main event.

It will be the first time Formula One has had two sprints in succession, with the race in Texas following on from Qatar.

Verstappen took his 14th win in 17 races and clinched his third world championship at the Lusail circuit but the 26-year-old still has records to set and is not about to let up.

"He wants to win every race, we will see if that's going to happen," his father Jos told Reuters when asked about Verstappen's motivation for the remaining five races.

The Dutch driver overtook triple champion Ayrton Senna's 41 career wins last June and victory in Austin would set him up to match four-times champion Alain Prost (51) at the following race in Mexico.

If he then also triumphs in the Brazil sprint weekend, he could equal Sebastian Vettel's 53 at November's Las Vegas night race before ending in Abu Dhabi as the third most successful driver of all time after Michael Schumacher (91) and Lewis Hamilton (103).

His own 2022 record of 15 wins in a season can be equalled in Austin, the first of three races on successive weekends.

The champion is also on a record run of most laps led in a single season (739 and counting) and should add more at an anti-clockwise and undulating track with a reputation for being bumpy.

Verstappen is not one to get ahead of himself, however.

"It could be quite hectic for us, we only have one session to try and find the optimum balance