Is Max Verstappen a European Lord?
Max Verstappen has been awarded an honorary title by his country, Netherlands, for his contributions towards motorsports, which places him atop Lewis Hamilton despite the latter's Knighthood which was conferred upon Lewis in 2020.
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Max Verstappen winning the Dutch GP (via F1)
When he was only 23 years of age, Dutch racer Max Verstappen was already out there displaying immense prowess behind the wheels of his Red Bull car. Even though he was so young and it was just his first year of aiming for the F1 title victory, he did not shy away from challenging seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton for the coveted Championship win in 2021. So close was the battle between Max and Lewis that it went down to the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi where the former defeated the latter and earned his first-ever Formula 1 Championship title.
Since then, Max Verstappen has come a long way as he is now a triple F1 title-holder. The Dutchman has brought back to Red Bull the glory that the Austrian outfit enjoyed during Sebastian Vettel’s era when he had scored four consecutive World Championships for them. And indeed, Max Verstappen has also played a crucial role in highlighting the name of Netherlands amongst the racing nations in the world. Before Max, his father Jos Verstappen had been a prominent Dutch racer who used to compete against the legendary Michael Schumacher, but Jos never achieved the success that Max has.
In September, 2022, just before Max Verstappen zeroed in on his second World Championship title, he was honored by the Dutch Kingdom for his contributions towards sports in the country. Max Verstappen is currently an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. This is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry. The Minister for Sport, Conny Helder, awarded Verstappen with this royal decoration. After being honored with the title of the Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau, Max took to his X handle and shared his comments.
Does Max Verstappen outrank Lewis Hamilton as per the royal hierarchy in Europe?
Just like most Formula 1 drivers, both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen hail from Europe–the former is from Britain and the latter from Netherlands. And because of their exemplary achievements in Formula 1, they have been awarded by their respective nations with titles that place them amongst the royal hierarchy of Europe. In 2020, Lewis Hamilton was awarded the honor of Knighthood by the monarchy of Britain and two years later, Max Verstappen got the title of the Order of Orange-Nassau as well.
Now, as per CarBuzz, Lewis Hamilton’s Knighthood is outranked by Max Verstappen’s title of the Order of Orange-Nassau since both the British and the Dutch royal hierarchies are quite similar. Lewis is currently a Knight Backelor with an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and his title ranks fifth and lowest in the British order. On the other hand, Max is an Officer of Orange-Nassau, and his title ranks fourth in the Dutch order.
While Lewis Hamilton still has four World Championship titles over Max’s three, the age difference between the two racing talents must be considered. The Briton is 39 while Max is only 26. Thus, the Dutchman will surely go ahead with his F1 career for many more years even when it will be time for Lewis to retire. It remains to be seen if Max Verstappen can surpass Lewis Hamilton’s title count to script F1 history with his immense talent.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)