![]() But he was only six points clear of Pérez, who had been a step ahead through the Baku weekend to make it two wins apiece to start the year. Yes, Verstappen was leading and the natural favorite for the title. ![]() Rewind a month to the eve of the Miami Grand Prix, and the championship picture didn’t look quite so set. But it’s also a sign of the kind of domination we could come to expect in the coming months as Verstappen marches toward a third championship - and hits the part of the season that should really show his strength. The win strengthened Verstappen’s grip on the championship, extending his lead over teammate Sergio Pérez (who finished fourth after starting P11) to 53 points. Had it not been for Pierre Gasly impeding the Red Bull in Q1, it may well have been a clean sweep. It was as close to perfect a weekend as Verstappen could have produced. But there was one session missing: “Q1!” Verstappen said, scrunching up his face in a moment of faux annoyance. He’d led all three practice sessions, scored pole position, and led every lap of the race on the way to his win. Looking through his notes, Clarkson turned to Verstappen to check a statistic: Was he correct in saying Max had led every single session of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend? The small talk continued as they waited a few more minutes, discussing social media, phones, and how Verstappen wished they’d never been invented. “Don’t remind me,” Verstappen said, laughing. The press conference emcee, Tom Clarkson, joked it was the first time all afternoon Verstappen had broken into a sweat, and how it was like being back at school. “What’s going on with this?” he asked, pulling the arm up and down. All rights reserved.Verstappen began to fiddle with the table, which wouldn’t budge. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information/Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. ^ Back to Top ^ © 2023 ESPN Internet Ventures. Red Bull's 19th win of the campaign equalled Mercedes' 2016 record and broke their rivals' record from that same season of most laps led (1,055). He has won more times (11) from pole position in a season than any other driver, after last year setting a record for most wins in a season not from pole (nine). Verstappen has led the championship standings across two seasons, since the Spanish Grand Prix of May 2022, and is guaranteed to end the season with a record run of 39 races in a row as leader. That same gap is also bigger than Vettel's entire points haul (256) in winning the 2010 title. ![]() The gap between him and teammate Sergio Pérez, second in the standings, is 266 points - way more than the record margin of 155 points between first and runner-up set by Sebastian Vettel with the same team in 2013. He has led 922 laps, another record for a season, and counting. His 19 podiums for the year so far are also a record, even if seasons were far shorter in the old days, as are the 524 points scored, although scoring systems have also become far more generous. Verstappen took a then-record 15 wins in 2022 but an unprecedented run of 10 successive victories from May to September and a new ongoing streak of five in a row could mean he ends this year with 19 out of 22 - an 86.3% win rate. "For me it's more about just enjoying the moment and trying to maximise every single opportunity." ![]() So then you can get a season like we are having. I feel good in the car, the car is very competitive, and the team barely makes mistakes as well. "These kinds of things come along when everything just works really well. I mean, it's not something that when I joined Formula One, I need to have a 75% win record over a season you know," he told reporters. Not that the 26-year-old was paying too much attention to the statistics when asked how much the numbers resonated and motivated him. Verstappen's tally so far from 20 races puts his percentage at 85%, and even if he does not win the remaining two rounds of the season in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi, he will still finish above 77%. Unlapped: How to listen or watch ESPN's new F1 show, episode archive, and more Until Sunday's São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos, the highest win percentage for a season was the 75% of late Italian champion Alberto Ascari who won six out of eight world championship races with Ferrari in 1952. Max Verstappen's 17th win of the Formula One season rewrote the record book and established the triple world champion as the most dominant driver the sport has ever seen over the course of a campaign. Max Verstappen's 2023 officially the most dominant F1 season ever You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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