The 73rd season in the Formula 1 world championship was a record-setting one in a variety of ways with new all-time benchmarks set and some long-running sequences coming to an end.
A 15-year continuous run ended for Lewis Hamilton, as did a peculiar record held by Daniel Ricciardo. And something happened in 2022 that has not occurred in Formula 1 since the 1979 season.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are some of the most outstanding records that were either set, broken or ended in the 2022 season…
Record breakers
Max Verstappen soared to unparalleled heights in 2022. As well as successfully defending his world championship title from 2021, he set a new all-time record for most wins in a single season with 15, breaking clear of Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher’s previous record of 13. Despite the incredible achievement, Verstappen’s season win percentage (68.18%) was actually lower than both Vettel’s from 2013 (68.42%) and Schumacher’s 2004 season (72.22%).
Verstappen ended the year with a total of 35 wins, taking sixth place in the all-time standings. Over the course of the season, he overtook Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkönen, Damon Hill, Nico Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Juan Manuel Fangio, Niki Lauda, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and Fernando Alonso. His total of 454 points scored is also an all-time highest ever tally.
Curiously, Verstappen led fewer laps in 2022 (616) than 2021 (652) – despite winning five more races this season. Even more interestingly, Verstappen actually led for more kilometres (3,164) in 2022 than in 2021 (2,988).
Outside of the world champion, a new all-time mark was set for most career grand prix starts by Fernando Alonso. He matched former Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen’s previous record of 349 race starts at the Italian Grand Prix, then broke it the following round in Singapore. With 355 career starts by the end of the season, Alonso has competed in close to a third of all world championship races ever contested and will cross that mark when he starts the second round in Jeddah.
Sergio Perez took pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, establishing a new record for most F1 starts by any driver before their first pole, at 214. After Kevin Magnussen held the honour of most starts without pole for any driver on the grid until taking pole in Interlagos, Perez’s former Force India team mate Esteban Ocon becomes the active…
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