Per Max Verstappen, 2023 it was a year special. Not only did the third consecutive world title, but the Dutchman rewrote the history of Formula 1 breaking numerous records which had persisted for several years. Let's discover them one by one and we will see why the season of the Red Bull number 1 was, from a statistical point of view, the best ever by a Formula 1 driver.
Verstappen's records in 2023: victories
- Higher winning percentage in a season. Verstappen won 86% of races held in 2023, beating Ascari's record which had stood since 1952.
- Most wins in a season. With 19 victories in 2023, Verstappen has shattered the previous record of 15 victories, set by Verstappen in 2022.
- Most consecutive wins. At Monza, Verstappen took his tenth consecutive win, breaking Vettel's streak of nine straight victories in 2013.
- Only driver to win three times in one country in the same season. For the third time in the history of Formula 1, a nation (the United States) hosted three Grands Prix in the same year, after 1982 and Italy in 2020. However, if 1982 had seen three different winners and in 2020 Gasly had denied Hamilton a historic en plein victory, this year Verstappen has dominated far and wide.
- Most wins from pole position in a season. Verstappen has converted all 12 of his season poles into victories, beating Mansell (1992) and Vettel (2011)'s record of nine.
- Most consecutive victories from pole position. Since the 2022 Dutch GP, Verstappen has converted every pole position into victory. This is a streak of 16 races that began after the Austrian GP, which saw Leclerc defeat Verstappen, who started from pole.
- Most hat-tricks (pole, win and fastest lap) in a season. With six hat-tricks in 2023 (Spain, Austria, Great Britain, Japan, Qatar and Abu Dhabi), Verstappen has beaten the record of five set by Ascari (1952) and Schumacher (2004).
Verstappen's records in 2023: points and podiums
- Most points in a season. Since victory began to be worth 2010 points in 25, no one has scored more points in a season than Verstappen this year. With 575 points, the Dutchman beats his own record from 2022 (454 points).
- Most podiums in a season. With 21 seasonal podiums, Verstappen beats his own record of 18, set in 2021. The absence of Singapore, however, makes Schumacher the only driver to have achieved a podium in every seasonal race (in 2002).
- Most consecutive top 2 finishes. From Abu Dhabi 2022 to Monza 2023, Verstappen finished 15 races in a row in the top 2, equaling Schumacher's record from 2002.
- Most laps led in a season. With an astonishing 1003 laps in the lead in 2023, Verstappen has shattered Vettel's record of 739 laps.
- Higher percentage of laps leading in a season. Verstappen spent 75,54% of the season's laps in first position, beating Clark's 71,47% recorded in 1963.
Other records set by Verstappen in 2023
- Most pitstops in a race by the winner. In the crazy race at Zandvoort, Verstappen pitted six times, as did 2011 Canadian GP winner Jenson Button.
- Greater gap from the second place in the championship. Verstappen beat his teammate Perez by 290 points. Vettel's previous record (155 points over Alonso in 2013) now appears trivial in comparison.
- Highest percentage between first and second place in the championship. In 1992 and 1997, Mansell and Villeneuve won the championship by scoring 48,1% more points than the world runner-up. This year Verstappen went even further, with a percentage of 49,5%.
- Championship won with the greatest number of races remaining. When Verstappen won his third world title in the sprint in Qatar, there were still six races remaining in the season. The Dutchman thus equaled Schumacher's record from 2002.
- Most consecutive points. From Imola 2022 to Abu Dhabi 2023, Verstappen has accumulated 1004 consecutive points, beating Hamilton's record of 998, set between Silverstone 2018 and Bahrain 2020.
- Most races leading the world championship. From the 2022 Spanish GP to today, 39 Grands Prix have been held and Verstappen has always been at the top of the world championship. This means that the Dutchman has broken another record, as Schumacher's previous record stood at 37.
