Over the 74 years of Formula 1, there have been 1,615 occasions of drivers being classified in the world championship.
In 2023, Max Verstappen achieved more throughout his world championship-winning season than all the other 1,614 campaigns in the history of the sport.
Whether Verstappen was the best driver in the grid this year is of no debate. Even his most hardened detractors could not reasonably claim that the world champion did not perform at an exceptionally high level throughout the season.
Statistically, Verstappen’s year was unlike any seen before in the sport. A total of 19 grand prix victories from 22 starts – a winning rate of 86.36%. An unprecedented tally of 575 points – a margin of 290 over his nearest rival at the end of the championship. Leading 1,003 grand prix laps over the course of the season – obliterating Sebastian Vettel’s previous record by 264. He may not broken any qualifying or fastest lap records, but no driver has ever been so dominant on Sundays (and Saturday in Las Vegas) as the now three-times champion was in 2023.
It would be easy to point to the relentlessly fast, unstoppably reliable RB19 that Red Bull provided him as a reason for his unparalleled success, yet that would fail to give him the credit that he fully deserves. After all, the 2023 championship featured a historically tight field in which the order behind Red Bull fluctuated from round-to-round. Red Bull were always on top – except for Singapore – but the fact so many races finished with the RB19 lapping only a handful of rivals or even none at all showed that its performance advantage was nothing compared to the most legendary and dominant cars from Formula 1’s history.
No, Red Bull set multiple new records in 2023 precisely because Verstappen was able to get the best out of it every time he climbed into the cockpit. It’s telling how team mate Sergio Perez – a multiple race-winner – managed only two victories in the same car. And even then, he required something to go wrong for Verstappen to do so.
In Saudi Arabia, the second round of the season, a sudden driveshaft failure in qualifying left Verstappen down in 15th on the grid. But by half distance, he was already up to second place. If he had started from near the front of the field – where he most likely would have – it’s highly debatable whether Perez would have held his team mate off over the race distance. Similarly…
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