Max Verstappen had statistically the greatest Formula 1 season in history after breaking even more records at the recent Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The triple world champion secured a record-extending 19th victory of the 2023 season, which meant he became the first driver to ever win three times in one country during a campaign.
His victory in the streets of Vegas added to wins in Miami and Austin meaning he has won every grand prix in the United States this year.
Verstappen also broke a 60-year-old record in Vegas having led for 29 laps before taking the chequered flag.
It means the Red Bull driver has led 75.06% of laps in 2023, the highest percentage ever, which is greater than Jim Clark’s record of 71.47% from the 1963 season.
So with the 2023 season over, which records has Verstappen set or broken?
F1 records Verstappen has in 2023
F1’s highest percentage of wins in a season
In only F1’s third season, Ascari became a world champion after winning six of the eight races that year for Ferrari. It is a win percentage that the likes of Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel could not even break during their championship-winning campaigns.
But then came Verstappen. Being far and away the most dominant driver in 2023, he won 19 of the 22 races in 2023, which gives Verstappen a win percentage of 86%.
F1’s most wins in a season
While Verstappen broke Ascari’s record in Sao Paulo, he is also beating his own. In 2022, Verstappen won 15 grands prix which surpassed Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel’s record of 13 victories in 2004 and 2013, respectively.
But, amazingly, Red Bull and Verstappen took it to new heights in 2023. Verstappen now stands at 19 victories for the season where he surpassed his total from 2022 at October’s Mexico GP.
F1’s most consecutive wins
Verstappen continued to break the records set by Red Bull’s other drivers’ world champion. Vettel won the final nine races of the 2013 season, which broke the previous record of seven straight wins set by Ascari and Schumacher.
It initially looked as though Vettel’s record would stand for quite some time, but a decade on Verstappen became untouchable. He started the run by winning the Miami GP in May, before matching Vettel’s record at Verstappen’s rain-hit home race in Zandvoort three months later. The Red Bull driver then won a 10th consecutive race at the Italian GP a week after, before Carlos Sainz’s victory in Singapore ended Verstappen’s record-breaking run.
F1’s only driver to win three times in one country during a single season
Verstappen became the first driver to take three victories in one country during a single year, after winning all three grands prix in the USA in 2023. It started with a win at the Miami GP in May, before victories in Austin and Vegas later in the year.
However, it was only the third time in F1 history that a country has hosted three grands prix during a season. The USA did it in 1982 with races in Long Beach, Detroit and Vegas, while Italy hosted grands prix at Monza, Mugello and Imola during the COVID-struck 2020 campaign.
While the three US races in 1982 were all won by different drivers, Hamilton claimed victories at Mugello and Imola while Pierre Gasly took the chequered flag in Monza.
F1’s most wins from pole in a season
The grand prix is not won on a Saturday (or Friday for the sprint race format), but if Verstappen achieves pole then it’s quite a foregone conclusion what will happen. The Red Bull driver has converted all of his pole positions into victory in 2023.
That means he has won 12 races from pole this season, which beats Nigel Mansell and Vettel’s record of nine in 1992 and 2011, respectively.
F1’s most consecutive wins from pole position
While Verstappen has converted all 12 poles this season into victory, it is part of a wider record that the Red Bull driver currently owns.
He has converted his past 16 pole positions into victory, a run which dates back to the 2022 Dutch GP. The last time he failed to convert a pole into victory was the 2022 Austrian GP, which was won by Charles Leclerc.
F1’s most hat-tricks in a season
Of those 12 poles, six have been part of a hat-trick. This is when a driver achieves pole position, race win and the fastest lap on a grand prix weekend. Verstappen's six hat-tricksin 2023 (Spain, Austria, UK, Japan, Qatar and Abu Dhabi) pushes him one further than the total achieved by Ascari in 1952 and Schumacher in 2004.
F1’s most points in a season
When race wins became worth 25 points in 2010, the point tallies have become a lot higher. For example, Schumacher scored 148 points in his final championship-winning year which is a total the top six drivers passed in the 2022 standings.
Nevertheless, Verstappen has achieved the most points in a single F1 campaign. This is another record of his own that he has beaten from 2022. In Verstappen’s second title-winning campaign the Red Bull driver scored 454 points which beat Hamilton’s record of 413 from 2019. In 2023, Verstappen blew that out of the water by scoring 575 points in the season.
F1’s most podiums in a season
This is another one where in 2023 Verstappen has surpassed his own record, but not from 2022. During his legendary 2021 championship fight with Hamilton, the Red Bull driver scored 18 podiums which was one more than the previous record set by Schumacher, Vettel and Hamilton.
Verstappen followed it up in 2022 by joining his fellow world champions with 17 podiums in a season, before breaking his own record in 2023. He stood on the podium 21 times, with Singapore being Verstappen’s only finish outside of the top three. That meant Schumacher’s 2002 campaign remains the only time a driver has stood on the podium at every race.
F1’s most consecutive top two finishes
This is a record that dates back to the 2022 season finale in Abu Dhabi. That victory at Yas Marina Circuit started a run of 15 consecutive top two finishes for Verstappen, which ended at the 2023 Singapore GP. It meant Verstappen matched Schumacher’s record from 2002 of most consecutive top two finishes. Behind the pair is Hamilton on 12, which he set across 2014 and 2015.
F1’s most laps led in a season
Verstappen remarkably broke this record with five grands prix (and two sprint races) left in the season. At the Qatar GP, the triple world champion overtook Vettel’s record of leading 739 laps in a season en route to his victory in the middle east. Verstappen now holds the record at 1,001 and counting.
F1’s highest percentage of laps led in a season
The 1963 season was one of the best F1 has seen from a driver, as Clark won seven out of 10 races to clinch his maiden championship with three grands prix to spare. In doing so, he led 506 of the 708 laps that year which gave him a record-breaking percentage of 71.47%.
As the years went by, and dominant eras came and gone, no driver was able to exceed such a percentage until Verstappen. In 2023, he has led 1,001 of the 1,325 grand prix laps so far which gives him a percentage of 75.54%.
F1’s most pitstops by the winning driver in one race
Probably one of the more peculiar records set by Verstappen. He joined Jenson Button in making six pitstops en route to a race victory at the 2023 Dutch GP.
The 2009 world champion first set the record at the dramatic 2011 Canadian GP. The race started under safety car conditions due to rain, and it was not until late on that a victory appeared likely for Button. At first, he endured a horrible outing that included putting team-mate Hamilton out of the grand prix. His sixth and final stop placed the McLaren driver last, but that was Button’s saving grace as he became the only driver on slick tyres.
Amid drying conditions, he quickly cut his way through the field before taking first on the final lap after Vettel went wide at Turn 6.
Meanwhile, Verstappen’s home race was much less dramatic. Although drivers were forced to pit for intermediate tyres by the end of lap three after starting on slicks, before conditions then constantly changed between wet and dry, Verstappen led the race throughout to take victory.
F1’s biggest points gap between first and second in the championship
Not many things highlight Verstappen’s dominance in 2023 more than the margin he holds in the championship. Especially when it is over team-mate Sergio Perez in the same machinery. Verstappen secured a 290-point gap over second-placed Perez in the championship - almost double Perez's total.
F1’s most races left in a season before championship win
It became clear very early on that Verstappen would become a triple world champion in 2023. His season has been that dominant that the Red Bull driver sealed the championship in October after the Qatar GP sprint race.
Because he did it after a sprint race, it meant Verstappen clinched the title with six grands prix left in the season. It is a record he holds with Schumacher, who achieved that feat in 2002. He won his fifth championship at the season’s 11th round where he won the French GP.
F1’s most consecutive points scored
Hamilton amassed a record 998 consecutive points from the 2018 British GP until the 2020 Bahrain GP. It is a streak which ended when he missed the Sakhir GP which followed, because the seven-time world champion tested positive for COVID-19.
That came to an end in 2023, as Verstappen scored 1,004 consecutive points. He started this current run of point scoring form with a victory at the 2022 Emilia Romagna GP, after he retired from the Australian GP two weeks’ prior.
Highest percentage points difference between first and second in championship
While Vettel had the record for biggest championship winning margin before 2023, it was Mansell and Jacques Villeneuve who held the largest margin in terms of percentage. In 1992, Mansell scored 48.1% more points than Riccardo Patrese in second while five years later, Villeneuve held the same percentage margin over Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
However, that is only because Schumacher, who scored three points less than Villeneuve, was disqualified from the 1997 championship for intentionally attempting to crash the Williams driver out of the season finale when the two drivers were battling for the drivers’ crown.
Verstappen’s gap over Perez stands at 49.5%, pushing him above the previous record.
F1’s most consecutive races as championship leader
Verstappen ended the 2023 season having led the championship for 39 consecutive grands prix. This is a run which dates back to May 2022, when a turbo and MGU-H failure caused race leader Leclerc to retire from the Spanish GP. This then helped Verstappen to win the race and overtake his Ferrari rival for the championship lead that weekend.
He did not lose it again for the rest of 2022, and then victory at the 2023 season-opening Bahrain GP aided Verstappen to lead the standings after every race this year. Verstappen is therefore breaking the record set by Schumacher, who led the standings for 37 consecutive races from the 2000 United States GP until the 2002 Japanese GP.
Other F1 records held by Max Verstappen
| Record | Age | Achieved |
| Youngest driver to start a race | 17 years, 166 days | 2015 Australian GP |
| Youngest driver to score points | 17 years, 180 days | 2015 Malaysian GP |
| Youngest driver to win a race | 18 years, 228 days | 2016 Spanish GP |
| Youngest driver to score a podium | 18 years, 228 days | 2016 Spanish GP |
| Youngest driver to lead a lap | 18 years, 228 days | 2016 Spanish GP |
| Youngest driver to set a fastest lap | 19 years, 44 days | 2016 Brazilian GP |
| Youngest driver to score a grand slam | 23 years, 277 days | 2021 Austrian GP |
| Most sprint race wins | 7 | 2023 Brazilian GP |
