‘Dominance’ may not be the best word to describe the scale of Max Verstappen’s achievement with his 2023 world championship win. ‘Annihilation’ may have been a better description.
Even allowing for the fact 2023 was the joint-longest season ever with 22 grands prix, plus six sprint races for a record total of 28 points-paying contests, Verstappen’s margin over his competitors as he retained the world championship again was something else.
Most wins in a season
Verstappen broke the record for most grand prix victories in a single season last year, raising the record from 13 to 15. He broke it again this year, taking all bar three of the 22 rounds.
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Highest winning rate in a season
Although Verstappen won the most races in 2022, that winning rate fell short of the record. He put that right this year, ending Alberto Ascari’s 71-year reign as the driver with the highest percentage of grand prix victories in a season.
| Rank | Year | Driver | Winning rate (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2023 | Max Verstappen | 86.3 |
| 2 | 1952 | Alberto Ascari | 75 |
| 3 | 2004 | Michael Schumacher | 72.2 |
| 4 | 1963 | Jim Clark | 70 |
| 5 | 2013 | Sebastian Vettel | 68.4 |
| 6 | 2022 | Max Verstappen | 68.1 |
| 7 | 1954 | Juan Manuel Fangio | 66.6 |
| 8 | 2020 | Lewis Hamilton | 64.7 |
| 8 | 2002 | Michael Schumacher | 64.7 |
| 10 | 1965 | Jim Clark | 60 |
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Most points in a season
Another record which Verstappen broke in 2022, then obliterated this year. Granted, three more sprint races meant there was an extra 24 points available, but Verstappen increased his score compared to last year by more than five times that.
Verstappen also scored a higher percentage of the total points offered during a season than ever before. Out of the 620 points up for grabs he amassed 575, 92.7%. Some drivers in past seasons have achieved 100% of the points available, but this was in years when they could only count the best results from a portion of all the races. Ascari did this in 1952 and Jim Clark likewise in 1963 and 1965.
Only since 1991 have drivers counted the points scored in every race towards their final total. The highest proportion any driver had previously managed under that rule was Michael Schumacher’s 84.7% in 2002 (144 out of 170 points).
| Rank | Year | Driver | Points | Races | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2023 | Max Verstappen | 575 | 22 | Six sprint races worth up to eight points each, point for fastest lap |
| 2 | 2022 | Max Verstappen | 454 | 22 | Three sprint races worth up to eight points each, point for fastest lap |
| 3 | 2019 | Lewis Hamilton | 413 | 21 | Point… |
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