Max Verstappen closed out his most dominant Formula 1 season with a triumph that echoed through history. As he secured a third straight world championship, the Dutch driver rewrote records and reshaped expectations. At 26 years old, he has ample runway to extend his legacy, finishing the year with 19 wins from 22 races in Abu Dhabi while suffering only three defeats.
Carlos Sainz stood out by being the sole driver to win a race this year without a Red Bull, taking victory in Singapore. The other two wins that eluded Verstappen went to his teammate Sergio Pérez, in Saudi Arabia and in Baku. Verstappen’s season numbers underscore a relentless pursuit of excellence across the calendar, a frame of reference for the sport’s new era.
More wins and higher percentage per season
Verstappen tallied 19 victories in 22 Grands Prix, delivering an efficiency rate of 86.36 percent. That figure surpassed the longstanding record of 75 percent held by Alberto Ascari since 1952. It also stands apart from the previous benchmark of 13 wins in a season set by Michael Schumacher in 2004, which equaled a 72.22 percent rate. These numbers mark a historic peak in winning consistency and race-day dominance for a single driver. [Attribution: official Formula 1 statistics]
More podiums
Across the year, Verstappen reached the podium 21 times. He logged 19 race wins, two second-place finishes in Arabia and Baku, and his lone lowest finish was fifth in Singapore. His performance not only surpassed his own targets but also exhibited a level of consistency rarely seen in the modern era. [Attribution: season summaries from motorsport analytics]
Most consecutive wins
A remarkable stretch saw Verstappen win ten races in a row from the Miami Grand Prix through the Italian Grand Prix. This run surpassed the previous record of nine consecutive wins set by Sebastian Vettel during his dominant period with Red Bull in 2013. The streak underscored how the RB19 package and Verstappen’s form created an almost unstoppable momentum. [Attribution: race-by-race analysis]
Second and first driver to double the largest points lead
Despite sharing the same Red Bull RB19 machinery, Sergio Pérez could not match Verstappen’s season-long performance. Pérez had the early promise with two race wins in Arabia and in Azerbaijan, but the overall points haul fell short of Verstappen’s. Verstappen finished the year with 575 points, while the team tally reached 860, reinforcing a dominant combined effort. Pérez ended as runner-up with 285 points. [Attribution: championship standings]
More points than other teams alone
Red Bull came close to a team title on its own because Verstappen accumulated 575 points, dramatically outpacing the combined effort of Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who together managed 409 points. The season highlighted how a single driver can carry a team in the modern era of Formula 1. [Attribution: constructors’ standings records]
Third driver with most victories in history (54)
The year began with Verstappen holding 35 wins overall and climbing in the all-time rankings. Ending 2023 with 19 additional victories pushed his career total to 54, placing him behind Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton but well ahead of many other champions. The road ahead remains promising, as a calendar of 24 races per season and Verstappen’s youth leave open the possibility of climbing higher still. [Attribution: historical records]
Driver with the most laps led in a year
Verstappen’s dominance extended to lap leadership. In Abu Dhabi he became the first driver in Formula 1 history to lead 1,000 laps in a single year, totaling 1,003 of 1,325 laps led. He led 75.70 percent of the laps, shattering the previous percentage record and surpassing Jim Clark’s 1963 mark of 71.47 percent. [Attribution: lap leadership records]
Most Grand Prix leads per season
He also set the standard for leading at least one lap in the most Grands Prix in a year, with 20 races featuring lap leadership, surpassing Lewis Hamilton’s 19 from 2019. [Attribution: race leadership statistics]
Red Bull and McLaren’s record
Red Bull’s season featured 21 wins out of 22 races. Only Sainz and Ferrari interrupted the sweep with a Singapore victory. The team’s efficiency rate reached a historic high, surpassing McLaren’s 1988 peak when Senna and Prost helped set a 93.8 percent win rate in a 16-race season. The 95.5 percent mark stands as a benchmark for exceptional performance across an entire season. [Attribution: team records]