Formula One’s media has gradually been running out of adjectives to describe Max Verstappen‘s dominance this year, but the statistics of his phenomenal 2023 season speak for themselves.
Below is a list of some of the more staggering records set during the Red Bull driver’s runaway title campaign this year, and the context in which they sit within the sport’s history books.
Race wins
The record: With 19 victories, Verstappen obliterated the previous record for wins in a championship season, which he himself set afresh at 15 last year. The record prior to that had stood since 2004 at 13 for Michael Schumacher’s final championship year with Ferrari and was equalled by Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull in 2013.
The context: Only 17 drivers in the sport’s history have scored more than 19 wins in the entirety of their time in F1, let alone in a single season. A number of surprisingly big names fell short of 19 wins during their career, including Stirling Moss (16 career grand prix victories), Jenson Button (15 victories), Emerson Fittipaldi (14 victories) and Alberto Ascari (13 victories).
Of course, in Moss’ and Ascari’s day there were often no more than eight championship rounds in a year (one of which was the Indy 500) and a great deal of non-championship races that they won on top.
It’s also true that there weren’t even 19 races in a season for the vast majority of F1’s history, with the first 19-race calendar in 2005 and a 19th race only becoming a regular fixture from 2010 onwards. Nevertheless, winning 19 races in a single season is pretty much unheard of and also accounts for over 35% of Verstappen’s own career victories, which now stand at 54.
Win percentage
The record: Perhaps a fairer way to compare dominance in a single season across decades is win percentage. Verstappen won 86.35% of the races in 2023, eclipsing the record previously held by Ascari from 1952, which stood at 75% (six of the eight races that year).
The context: Even viewed as a percentage, it could be argued that the comparison between Ascari’s eight-race season (one of which was the Indy 500 that he didn’t compete in, raising his true percentage to 87.5%) and Verstappen’s 22-race season is pretty tenuous. A more modern example — that just so happens to be third on the list of highest win percentages in a season — is Michael Schumacher’s 72.22% from 2004, which…
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