The incredible stats that underline Verstappen’s dominance

Method One’s media has regularly been operating out of adjectives to explain Max Verstappen’s dominance this yr, however the statistics of his phenomenal 2023 season communicate for themselves.

Under is a listing of among the extra staggering data set in the course of the Crimson Bull driver’s runaway title marketing campaign this yr, and the context by which they sit throughout the sport’s historical past books.

Race wins

The file: With 19 victories, Verstappen obliterated the earlier file for wins in a championship season, which he himself set afresh at 15 final yr. The file previous to that had stood since 2004 at 13 for Michael Schumacher’s closing championship yr with Ferrari and was equalled by Sebastian Vettel and Crimson Bull in 2013.

The context: Solely 17 drivers within the sport’s historical past have scored greater than 19 wins within the entirety of their time in F1, not to mention in a single season. Quite a lot of surprisingly huge names fell wanting 19 wins throughout their profession, together with Stirling Moss (16 profession grand prix victories), Jenson Button (15 victories), Emerson Fittipaldi (14 victories) and Alberto Ascari (13 victories).

After all, in Moss’ and Ascari’s day there have been typically not more than eight championship rounds in a yr (one in all which was the Indy 500) and quite a lot of non-championship races that they gained on high.

It is also true that there weren’t even 19 races in a season for the overwhelming majority of F1’s historical past, with the primary 19-race calendar in 2005 and a nineteenth race solely turning into a daily fixture from 2010 onwards. Nonetheless, successful 19 races in a single season is just about exceptional and in addition accounts for over 35% of Verstappen’s personal profession victories, which now stand at 54.

Win share

The file: Maybe a fairer method to evaluate dominance in a single season throughout many years is win share. Verstappen gained 86.35% of the races in 2023, eclipsing the file beforehand held by Ascari from 1952, which stood at 75% (six of the eight races that yr).

The context: Even seen as a share, it could possibly be argued that the comparability between Ascari’s eight-race season (one in all which was the Indy 500 that he did not compete in, elevating his true share to 87.5%) and Verstappen’s 22-race season is fairly tenuous. A extra trendy instance — that simply so occurs to be third on the record of highest win percentages in a season — is Michael Schumacher’s 72.22% from 2004, which noticed him win 13 of the 18 races that yr.

Factors

The file: Max Verstappen scored 575 of the 620 factors on supply in 2023 — one other new file that eclipses the 454 factors he scored final yr and the earlier file of 413 held by Lewis Hamilton from 2019.

The context: Given the modifications to the factors system over time and the rising calendar (together with the addition of points-scoring dash races) the quantity “575” doesn’t suggest an enormous quantity. Nonetheless, when you think about Verstappen scored 92.74% of the factors on supply, it helps to underline the extent of his dominance in a historic context.

What’s extra, Verstappen scored over double the factors of teammate Sergio Pérez (284), who completed second within the drivers’ championship, and 166 greater than the Mercedes staff as a complete, which completed second to Crimson Bull within the constructors’ championship. Added to that, Verstappen’s tally on the Belgian Grand Prix in July (earlier than F1’s summer time break) would have been sufficient to safe this yr’s title.

Consecutive victories

The file: Verstappen gained 10 races between the Miami Grand Prix in Might and the Italian Grand Prix in September, beating the file of 9 beforehand held by Vettel from 2013.

The context: Mercedes staff boss Toto Wolff described the file as nothing greater than an entry in Wikipedia, however the overwhelming majority of the F1 paddock recognised the true significance of going 10 races unbeaten. Arguably the file was linked ultimately to Perez’s incapability to place up a battle within the sister automobile, however the dominance and reliability of the Crimson Bull/Verstappen bundle shouldn’t be underestimated.

The run got here to an finish at Crimson Bull’s solely bogey circuit, Singapore, earlier than Verstappen racked up one other seven in a row to complete the season — a quantity he might fairly conceivably prolong to a brand new file in 2024.

Title decider

The file: Verstappen secured this yr’s title on the Qatar Grand Prix dash race in October, that means there have been nonetheless six grands prix (together with that Sunday’s grand prix in Qatar) nonetheless to run. The file for successful the title with probably the most grands prix remaining matched Michael Schumacher’s file of six from 2002, regardless of a unique factors system and 4 fewer races in 2002.

The context: Verstappen grew to become the primary F1 driver in historical past to win a title at a dash race, including a footnote of peculiarity to his outstanding season. F1’s shortform format additionally meant there have been extra factors on supply on the closing six rounds, with sprints additionally occurring on the rounds within the U.S. and Brazil, solely including to the gravity of his achievement and the issue of securing it so early within the season.

Dash format or not, successful with 1 / 4 of the grands prix left to run is all the time a powerful feat.

Largest and common successful margin

The statistic: Verstappen’s largest successful margin of the yr got here on the Hungarian Grand Prix, the place he completed 33.731 seconds away from Lando Norris in second place. His common successful margin throughout his 19 wins (minus the Australian and Dutch Grands Prix the place late purple flags minimize his benefit) was 13.363 seconds. Neither are data, however the stat nonetheless says lots about his dominance.

The context: Verstappen gained six races by over 15 seconds this yr and there have been solely eight events when he gained by lower than 10 seconds. Normally, nonetheless, he wasn’t underneath menace and due to this fact might select to increase or shorten the hole at his leisure — and sometimes relying on whether or not his race engineer felt a late security automobile would possibly put his win in jeopardy.

The reality is that we’ll by no means know precisely how huge the typical hole to second place might have been had Verstappen pushed to the max each race, however you possibly can assure it could be a great deal increased than 13.363s.