Max Verstappen can keep racing with the number one on his car next season having clinched the world championship for the second year running at Suzuka. At the following race in Austin he claimed win number 33, matching the race number he used for every other F1 season until he became champion.
That 33rd win also moves him past Fernando Alonso into sixth place in the list of most successful drivers by wins.It was also his 13th win of the season which means he equalled the record for most wins in a seat which Michael Schumacher set in 2004 and Sebastian Vettel equalled in 2013. With three races left, and having won seven of the last eight rounds, there is a high chance Verstappen will go on to break that record.
The wins scored by the three multiple champions make for an interesting comparison. Verstappen’s Red Bull predecessor Vettel scored all of his 13 wins from the front row in 2013 over a 19-round season – the same number of races held so far this year. Schumacher, nine years earlier, needed only 18 races to win 13 times, and only two of those came off the front row.
Verstappen, however, took six of his wins from off the front row and only four from pole position. His average starting position over the 13 wins is 3.92 to Schumacher’s 1.85 and Vettel’s 1.38.
| Michael Schumacher, 2004 | Sebastian Vettel, 2013 | Max Verstappen, 2022 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | Round | Track | Grid | Round | Track | Grid | Round | Track | Grid |
| 1 | Australia | Albert Park | 1 | Malaysia | Sepang | 1 | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah Corniche Circuit | 4 |
| 2 | Malaysia | Sepang | 1 | Bahrain | Bahrain IC. | 2 | Emilia Romagna | Imola | 1 |
| 3 | Bahrain | Bahrain IC. | 1 | Canada | Montreal | 1 | Miami | Miami International Autodrome | 3 |
| 4 | San Marino | Imola | 2 | Germany | Nurburgring | 2 | Spain | Circuit de Catalunya | 2 |
| 5 | Spain | Circuit de Catalunya | 1 | Belgium | Spa-Francorchamps | 2 | Azerbaijan | Baku City Circuit | 3 |
| 6 | Europe | Nurburgring | 1 | Italy | Monza | 1 | Canada | Montreal | 1 |
| 7 | Canada | Montreal | 6 | Singapore | Singapore | 1 | France | Paul Ricard | 2 |
| 8 | USA | Indianapolis | 2 | Korea | Korea IC. | 1 | Hungary | Hungaroring | 10 |
| 9 | France | Magny-Cours | 2 | Japan | Suzuka | 2 | Belgium | Spa-Francorchamps | 14 |
| 10 | Great Britain | Silverstone | 4 | India | Buddh IC. | 1 | Netherlands | Zandvoort | 1 |
| 11 | Germany | Hockenheimring | 1 | Abu Dhabi | Yas Marina | 2 | Italy | Monza | 7 |
| 12 | Hungary | Hungaroring | 1 | USA | Circuit of the Americas | 1 | Japan | Suzuka | 1 |
| 13 | Japan | Suzuka | 1 | Brazil | Interlagos | 1 | USA | Circuit of the Americas | 2 |
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Verstappen’s win ensured Red Bull took their fifth constructors’ championship title, and first since 2013. It also meant Red Bull’s power unit operation, which runs rebadged Hondas, won the championship at their first attempt. The last engine manufacturer to win the championship in their first season was Repco in 1966.
Carlos Sainz Jnr gave Ferrari their first ever pole position at the Circuit of the Americas. It was the first time Ferrari has had pole position for the United States Grand Prix since Schumacher did so at Indianapolis in 2006. However it was Ferrari’s second pole position in the USA this year. Charles Leclerc took pole for the Miami Grand Prix, but there as in Austin victory went to Verstappen.
This was the third pole position of Sainz’s career. He now has as many as Jose Froilan Gonzalez, Tony Brooks, Dan Gurney, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Jody Scheckter, Elio de Angelis and Teo Fabi and Daniel Ricciardo. It didn’t do him much good in the race, however, as he was taken out at the first corner. Not only was that his sixth retirement of the year, it’s the second time this year he’s only completed a single racing lap over two consecutive events.
After Fernando Alonso became the seventh different driver to officially lead a race this year at Suzuka, Sebastian Vettel became the eighth in Austin. It was the first time he’s lead a race since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last year.
Alonso’s post-race penalty – which is under protest – promoted Vettel to seventh place. He passed Kevin Magnussen on the final lap, who nonetheless gave the team only their second points finish in their home race. The first came courtesy of Romain Grosjean in 2016.
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the United States Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2022 United States Grand Prix
- Steiner annoyed by lack of apology from race director over COTA protest error
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- Income from new title sponsor will bring Haas up to cost cap level – Steiner
- Mexico’s first home win or Verstappen’s record 14th? Six Mexican GP talking points
- Mercedes doubt tyre strategy cost Hamilton chance to beat Verstappen to win
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
26th October 2022, 7:32
The longer season, as we all know, makes this primary stat somewhat moot, however a record is a record at the end of the day.
Doubtless future statisticians will likely refer to the (probable) higher win rate over a given season to elevate MV’s version of the record above the others, but of course this will still be a factor of the longer season given that we do not know what the situation would have been if MS or SV seasons ran to the same number of races.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
26th October 2022, 8:04
Depends on how you look at it. Yes, he will break the record due to the season be longer than the other two, assuming he wins another race or more (which seems likely).
But if you take the 13 races stat, he only took one race longer than Michael and equalled Vettel, so you can’t say his record is somehow less because there’s more races after that, either. What’s more impressive to me is the starting position factor that @keithcollantine mentions. Verstappens 13 wins seem much more impressive considering that stat.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
26th October 2022, 8:44
@sjaakfoo I wasn’t really trying to suggest it was less, though I can see how my comment could be read that way. In all honesty the achievement could be considered greater when considering other factors such as the starting position you mention.
My point was merely that there are records and stats, and then there are the real world details that surround these, and they do not always paint the same picture.
Ambrogio Isgro
26th October 2022, 11:40
You have to consider also that MV has the DRS. This Is a huge advantage in comparison to the previous eras, as make it easier to pass the cars in front of you.
sethje (@seth-space)
26th October 2022, 14:54
Any idea how many cylinders MSC had or VET. Cars and aero change over the years.. every comparison is moot if you take those things into account.
MCG (@malrg)
26th October 2022, 23:23
100% all comparisons with Drivers from different eras are mute. Just like the ongoing argument around the GOAT, all Mute, just statistics with many varying factors.
Pflite
26th October 2022, 15:52
@Ambrogio Isgro, correct note! This year Red Bull DRS mode is a couple of notches above any other opponent, it has really helped him to recover from critical situation where he was behind so many cars, without DRS it would have been way harder to him to recover.
Another thing to note is the budget cap rule which forced his team even more to decide between him and Perez, who, according to this website’s articles, was left a few races without the latest floor evolution.
Steveetienne
26th October 2022, 19:20
Vettel had DRS in 2011-2013.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th October 2022, 11:06
@cairnsfella
If you just compare Max’s starting positions in each of these races as compared to Vettel and Schumacher, it shows how incredible his 13 race record already his. They’ve had the 2nd best car in qualifying this year, which was never the case for Schumacher or Vettel in 2004 and 2013 respectively. Max has been hit with grid penalties and still won races. Something Schumacher and Vettel didn’t deal with in that season.
Honestly, even if Max doesn’t cross the 13 mark (highly unlikely), I will still rate his season higher than Schumacher’s and Vettel’s seasons.
Evans
26th October 2022, 11:26
Some views are assuming that Max’s car is worse than Ferrari based on not always being on pole. Sometimes their race pace was far better than their opponents that it didn’t matter where they started. Their inability to be on pole has not always been because Ferrari are faster, it also includes bad underfueling strategy, penalties, tipping setup towards race pace rather than qualifying and either bad setup or qualifying lap mistakes from their Max himself.
The dominance that Vettel (and his cars) had in qualifying is somehow being used to make his records look worse than Max’s
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
26th October 2022, 11:29
I mean, whatever the reason, starting with more cars ahead of you is undoubtedly a handicap.
hobo (@hobo)
26th October 2022, 16:57
Sort of.
If you have a completely dominant car, it matters a lot less (since 2014) where you start. And between a dominant car and DRS, and a good driver, the Mercs of 2014-2021 and RBs from at least 2021-2022 (with some Ferrari times mixed in) the cars could start from back of the grid and win or be on podium.
It has an impact, starting behind cars, but I don’t think it is all negative anymore.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
26th October 2022, 17:13
Obviously a lot less if there’s DRS, even less of a handicap given that VER drives like the fastest car on a straight. Plus, I’d say since Pirelli is the tyres supplier, things ”spiced up” even more ”thanks” to the tyres too. This stat of wins per season is impressive no doubt, most drivers are not capable of such feat even with the best car, but it’s hard to say it’s more impressive than Schumacher’s record of wins per season given that VER had at his disposal like the fastest car in the straights + DRS. I mean, if ALO had DRS back in 2010… pretty sure he would have been crowned champ. That’s the ”DRS power”.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th October 2022, 15:23
The Ferrari of 2004 and the Red Bull of 2013 was miles ahead of the 2nd best car that year. This was not the case for Max this season. Also, I think Max was coming in as favourite regardless of his starting position.. because he is so strong on Sundays, shows how much more formidable an opponent he is. No one expected Vettel to win from below P4 on the grid or Schumacher to win from 8th on the grid. Its just because they didn’t demonstrate the level of race pace and race craft we’ve expected from Max.
hobo (@hobo)
26th October 2022, 16:59
Part of that is the car though, too. Merc did this for years now with dominant car and DRS. Now RB have the best car.
To say that MSC and VET couldn’t do the same also indicates to me that there is a difference. I believe that the rules (DRS) play a real part in it.
Jonathan Edwards
26th October 2022, 20:42
Ridiculous. The Ferrari chews through tires, and subsequently, is no where near Red Bull on race pace. Mercedes are miles off on most tracks as well. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking Max is driving a car with equal pace on Sunday’s.
MichaelN
26th October 2022, 22:55
It’s hardly a mark against a driver that they have their act together in qualifying, too. Besides, Schumacher would have won from 4th in Monaco had Montoya not intervened, and he did win from 6th in Canada and 4th in England. He also didn’t have DRS, and even if the Ferrari was a great car, that was a huge difference from 2004 to 2013 and 2022.
This year Verstappen has definitely had a car that was, often literally, miles ahead of the competition. In the few races where Red Bull has had to really push, they could, and carved through the field so fast it became a bit of a sad reflection of the other team’s incompetence. That Verstappen isn’t pulling huge Spa and Suzuka like gaps every time is just a sign of the times; there’s no benefit to pushing engines, gearboxes etc. because he’ll have to use them again later.
That Ferrari this year is a fast qualifying car is a small consolation, as their often horrible tyre management on Sundays makes races almost impossible to win – and recently it’s even been tough for them to keep up with Mercedes. The Ferrari’s can usually stay with Verstappen in the first half of a stint, and they’ve been unable to do much about that problem all season. It’s not a coincidence that the last time Ferrari won was when Red Bull too had a bad tyre strategy in Austria (lack of testing being a rare good argument in favour of the Sprint Races).
SteveP
27th October 2022, 7:25
@MichaelN
I’d say it’s more a reflection of extra development costs.
Everyone else stuck within the cost cap, RBR did not. The reason given for the cost cap in the first place was that big teams were simply throwing money at the problem and squeezing out others.
With a cost cap that some obey, and others don’t, you get big disparities showing. That’s what you’re looking at here, overspending.
Spachamp
26th October 2022, 11:56
May be % of wins would help in resolving that
José Lopes da Silva
26th October 2022, 21:44
+1
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
27th October 2022, 1:25
Well yes, and no.
If MV goes on to win three more, who is to say that the others being mentioned would not have gone on to win all the remaining races if their seasons had been extended.
To take the example to an extreme. If there were one race in the season, then the winner would have a 100% win record. Does this automatically mean they had a better season (In real terms rather than statistically) than a driver that wone 9 out of 10 races or 16 out of 22.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
26th October 2022, 7:38
Schumacher and Vettel achieved that in absolutely dominant cars, while Max did it in 2nd fastest car, which makes it simply unreal and proves he’s the best driver in F1 history. Hamilton also had dominant cars, 0.5-1s/lap quicker than the rest between 2014 and 2020, yet he only won 11 races in a season. 7 years and he couldn’t do what Max did in only 2 – so much for the GOAT?
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th October 2022, 7:58
2nd fastest on CERTAIN circuits and in qualifliers as there were circuits the Red Bull was the fastest. Lewis had a second driver won would win a amount of races in the begin of the season as Lewis always starts slow to end the season very strong as you can see in this season.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
26th October 2022, 8:15
Yes, at Spa, which is 1 circuit out of 19. At the remaining 18 tracks Ferrari was either faster or equal to Red Bull, with Max making the crucial difference.
Which means Max is better than Hamilton, because he was beating his team mate even when not comfortable with the car.
bosyber (@bosyber)
26th October 2022, 15:38
Or arternatively Verstappen had less quick teammate(s) @armchairexpert as the discussion illustrates how comparing records isn’t easy or straightforwards, which the article manages to capture quite well.
Remains that they all clearly had very special season where the team, car and driver combination managed to stand out over all others for a large stretch of it.
jff
26th October 2022, 9:09
What surprises me is that most Max fans are still very anti-Hamilton, and most Lewis fans are still very anti-Verstappen. Even when only one is mentioned, they drag in the other.
The real fight (early) this season was between Verstappen and Leclerc. You don’t see as much animosity between those two fan bases.
I guess this is partly due to the fact that the WDC fight between those two never really got started.
jff
26th October 2022, 12:56
Oh, so it’s simply a case of ‘but, they did it first’! :P
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
26th October 2022, 10:24
No, Max isn’t driving backmarker car. It’s second fastest car behind Ferrari, yet he was able to completely dominate the season due to his otherworldly talent.
I completely agree with you! Sir Lewis Hamilton is 2nd best driver in F1 now, but Max is nowhere near him – he’s much better than Sir Hamilton. When Sir Hamilton was busy making mistakes in Imola, Monaco, Baku, Austria, Hungary last year and Jeddah, Imola, Belgium, Singapore this season, Max was finishing all races virtually mistake-free in either 1st or 2nd. That’s a different class. Still, Sir Hamilton and his fans should be happy, second best driver means he’s better than remaining 18 ones. Although it would look nicer if he can manage to finish the season ahead of Russell, rather than lose to 3rd team mate in his career, after Button and Rosberg.
Ola Ray
26th October 2022, 15:06
Second fastest car or he is just poor at qualifying?
You cannot go from 12 and win at Hungary NEVER unless your car stands out
Schumacher had a speed and power advantage
Vettel had the advantage of the downforce
SteveP
27th October 2022, 7:34
As noted by various F1 teams (including Ferrari) the Ferrari picks up the tag of fastest single lap pace but it is hard on the tyres “chews tires” I think someone has said.
Over a race distance, and in overtaking moves, the RB wins hands down. All that extra money had to go somewhere other than expensive sarnies.
JohnEver (@johnever)
27th October 2022, 12:17
related to setup, or?
because from memory… they (Ferrari) were by far the best car in Australia and Austria.
maybe more races, but don’t recall it right now.
Austria… that’s where RB was eating their tires
Sometimes I think I understand, and sometimes I don’t ;-)
JohnEver (@johnever)
27th October 2022, 12:10
I love your comments…
just without bias
This year is already very different from for example last year. Pole this year is not as important as with the cars from the last years.
Following cars more closely, together with DRS, makes it even easier to pass this year… (taking a little away from Max’s achievement)
On the other hand, compare the 2 teammates, world of difference. (Adding to Max’s achievement ;-) )
I truly dislike that people act as if their favorite driver is the best there is.
I support Max, he is one very outstanding driver. Getting the maximum out of the car.
Lewis on the other hand, I think this isn’t his best season ever, but his driving-skills from the pre formula 1, and the formula 1 era are simply remarkable
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th October 2022, 7:46
As Max Verstappen said himself those stats are not compairable and find them not interesting to chase them.
The only thing is the starting positions are interesting to know Vettel got those in a absolute fastest car as he wins from 1-2 even Schumancher had some wins from other then 1-2 starting positions (1×4, 1×6).
Jonathan Parkin
26th October 2022, 8:43
Although it should be noted that in India that year Seb pitted for new tyres on Lap 3 or 4 dropping him to the back of the field
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th October 2022, 13:36
But every driver pit for something during the season how do the stat people log that? A (x) behind on how low they went because of a pitstop? For example Max 2016 Brasil he finished 3th so 3(16) would be the notification?
It get very hard to keep track on those things.
Jonathan Parkin
26th October 2022, 16:52
This race stands out to me because in his RB days, Vettel won nearly all of his races the same way. Started on the front row, got a demon start and just zoomed into the distance. Occasionally he would lose his lead during the pit stop phase but he would get it back. And this was the reason why I didn’t rate him much back then
The only two exceptions to this were the 2012 Singapore GP where he started 3rd and inherited the lead when Lewis retired and the 2013 Indian race where he started on the front row as usual, but then pitted early for tyres and (presumably, I didn’t watch it) fought his way back into the lead
Initially
26th October 2022, 18:51
Another view on the matter is that Vettel is the better and more reliable qualifier…
Another noteworthy thing is that Verstappens competition is far worse. Leclerc is not a good racer. He’s very prone to make mistakes. Very quick on one lap, but it’s become evident he’s very clumpsy in the races. And Sainz isn’t top quality.
The Ferrari has been exceptional most of the season. The car that is. Not it’s drivers or strategists.
Btw I’m a massive Verstappen fan! By far the best driver on the grid imo.
Edvaldo
26th October 2022, 19:58
People never said these things about Leclerc at all, and then comes France and suddenly he is not a good racer anymore and “error prone” because he made a mistake on the rain while running out of tyres in Suzuka.
If there’s someone that at some point made that Ferrari at least look like a world championship winning car is Leclerc and his speed. Were not for him and Verstappen would start on pole and pull away 8 times out of ten just like Vettel did on his days.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
26th October 2022, 20:49
Leclerc may be a little error prone but he is also by far the most exciting driver to watch on the grid, which is perhaps a slight cause of that. He reminds me of Jean Alesi and Gilles Villeneuve in that regard, and a great example came in Singapore when he was chasing Sergio Perez; you could tell he was really giving it everything and taking risks on slick tyres on that damp track. And if I were to pick the top five overtakes of the season it could potentially be made up entirely of Leclerc, including his moves across in front of Verstappen in Bahrain and Russell in Hungary, his dives down the inside of Verstappen in Austria and Perez in COTA and, the best of all, his move around the outside of Hamilton at Copse on old hard tyres. (Obviously there have been other brilliant overtakes too, including Vettel’s passes on Albon and Magnussen in COTA and Alonso at the start on Norris and Russell in France).
If Lewis Hamilton is the Alain Prost of the current grid, and Max Verstappen is Ayrton Senna, Charles Leclerc is certainly Nigel Mansell, not quite as complete a driver as the previous two but the most entertaining to watch, and with the best racecraft.
José Lopes da Silva
26th October 2022, 21:46
This.
hyoko
29th October 2022, 18:45
“If Lewis Hamilton is the Alain Prost of the current grid”
Sorry, not worth a clip of Alain Prost’s toe nail
MichaelN
26th October 2022, 23:07
People had actually been saying that about Leclerc for a while. He’s crashed out of quite a few races in 2019 and 2020. It was actually surprising to see him crash out in France 2022 because in the year and a half previous, he’d been quite solid, which led many to compare it to Verstappen post-Monaco 2018.
Why Leclerc has had some issues again is probably a coincidence, the sample size isn’t great after all, but every driver makes more mistakes when under championship-contending pressure; Hamilton and Verstappen included. Schumacher, curiously, tended to have his worst races after the championship had been wrapped up. If you look at China 2004 for example, that whole event was almost comically bad.
amian
26th October 2022, 8:23
It has taken almost a decade for RedBull to again have the best car in the field. I wonder if Mercedes will also have that long of a drought now. At least I hope so.
bosyber (@bosyber)
26th October 2022, 15:46
I definitely don’t hope that, given how Ferrari, like in 2019, seems to have been unable to keep up the fight. It’s a lot more interesting to have Mercedes there to be a consistent thorn in the side of Red Bull.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:01
Yes, the problem is there’s low competition, we criticise a lot ferrari but there’s only 2 teams that were consistently at ferrari’s or higher level: red bull and merc; mclaren, renault etc. are nowhere.
NoName (@noname)
26th October 2022, 9:02
Really not that hard when you have more races in a season and cheating while every other team stayed inside the costcap and RBR didn’t, the FIA trying a hard job not to punish RBR. Dutch media came with the “catering” excuse and these DTS Max fans running away with it, the sooner Max leave this sport so his fans will follow so we can have our sport back. FIA really trying to make Max the face of F1 which failed
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
26th October 2022, 9:49
@noname – you need help – so much wrong in this post
NoName (@noname)
26th October 2022, 10:33
@ahxshades Start to pin point out what..
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
26th October 2022, 11:51
So much anger and disappointment – you need to get a grip before it’s all you have @noname – yes there are issues, but wow – take a breath.
Be more Kimi.
Puzano (@puzano)
26th October 2022, 12:09
You are on a 17 posts (2 months) streak with blind hatred against RBR/Max (fans).
Quite the achievement. Calm down mate.
petebaldwin (@)
26th October 2022, 12:24
@noname – Sure.
“Really not that hard when you have more races in a season”
They’ve not completed all of the races yet. He’s matched the total having completed 1 race more than Schumacher and the same number of races as Vettel.
and cheating while every other team stayed inside the costcap and RBR didn’t
We don’t know if that’s actually the case yet but to suggest that overspending by a small amount guarantees victory is another huge step into speculation. We’ve seen teams spend more than the rest many times in the past and yet they didn’t set any records.
the FIA trying a hard job not to punish RBR.
They haven’t announced what any punishment is yet. It’s being looked into as there is disagreement over whether there is an actual overspend.
Dutch media came with the “catering” excuse and these DTS Max fans running away with it,
In the absence of any facts, what are the DTS Lewis fans such as yourself running with? You seem to be pretty certain of what happened and will claim speculation to be fact but I doubt you can link any verified facts here…
the sooner Max leave this sport so his fans will follow so we can have our sport back.
It’s not your sport. I’m sure, as a Lewis fan, the years of domination where the number 1 driver in the team was guaranteed an easy title were fun but there were also many years prior to Lewis joining F1 where there were closely contested title fights.
FIA really trying to make Max the face of F1 which failed
They’re not trying to make anyone the face of F1. If they were going to pick someone, I’m sure they’d go with someone who was more willing to get involved with things like DTS and they’d certainly go with someone who was less controversial. They’re stuck with Max being the face of F1 because he’s faster than everyone else.
I think that covers the main points.
Gubstar
26th October 2022, 13:41
Bravo @Petebaldwin. 100% agree with all of your points. Couldn’t have put it better myself. So many comments I see on here recently have acted like F1 didn’t exist before 2014, so thank you for you well articulated and subjective responses to some laughable statements.
Mayrton
26th October 2022, 13:52
+1
sethje (@seth-space)
26th October 2022, 15:01
nice refutation..
Severin
26th October 2022, 16:07
I normally don’t bother replying to any comments on here as in general the quality of them has massively deteriorated in the last couple of years, but this had to be remarked upon. This is a perfect example of a well reasoned, well thought out, laying out of the facts, with no partisan bias and I salute you.
Posts like this are too few and far between
Itsmeagain (@)
26th October 2022, 18:03
@petebaldwin Great response
M
26th October 2022, 23:12
He’s matched the total having completed 1 race more than Schumacher
Advantage Schumi.
We don’t know if that’s actually the case …
RB have confirmed
They haven’t announced what any punishment is yet.
Negotiations are only needed when not applying the maximum in a timely manner. It also allowed 2 WCs to be awarded.
In the absence of any facts,
It was RB who claimed there was an absence, then that also turned out to be false.
the sooner Max leave this sport
He is the product of poor parenting. Both Jos and the FIA allowed him to get away with too much. That further leads to the sort attracted to such behaviour.
They’re not trying to make anyone the face of F1.
That’s mostly Newey. The ‘face’ is usually the winner, and right now that’s whoever has that season alongside the compliant journeyman.
If they were going to pick someone …
… it should be Adrian :-)
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th October 2022, 8:56
Very well said
F1 frog (@f1frog)
26th October 2022, 9:54
Highest percentage wins in a season (Indy 500 excluded):
1. Alberto Ascari, 1952 (85.7%) – 6/7
2. Juan Manuel Fangio 1954 (75.0%) – 6/8
3. Michael Schumacher 2004 (72.2%) – 13/18
4. Jim Clark 1963 (70.0%) – 7/10
5. Sebastian Vettel 2013 (68.4%) – 13/19
6. Max Verstappen 2022 (68.4%) – 13/19 (provisional)
7. Juan Manuel Fangio 1955 (66.7%) – 4/6
8. Michael Schumacher 2002 (64.7%) – 11/17
9. Lewis Hamilton 2020 (64.7%) – 11/17
10. Jim Clark 1965 (60.0%) – 6/10
For a bit of context about the earlier seasons:
Ascari actually won every race he entered in 1952, but missed the Swiss GP as he was racing in the Indy 500, technically an F1 round at the time. The Ferrari was the dominant car, but Ascari still had to beat champion teammate Giuseppe Farina in every race, although Farina was past his best by 1952. He also led every lap bar the first stint at Monza which Gonzalez led, but knew he had to pit unlike Ascari, and the first lap at Spa which Jean Behra led for Gordini. Ascari also recorded five poles and five fastest laps from the six races. This was certainly the most dominant season of all time, although it was run to F2 regulations.
In 1954, Fangio impressively drove and won for both Maserati and Mercedes, but the two races he lost were as a result of mistakes by his team, and with Ascari unable to race the full season and Moss yet to find his feet, his main challengers were the Ferraris of Gonzalez, Hawthorn and Trintignant, as well as teammate Karl Kling.
In 1963, Jim Clark could have won every race but was denied by gearbox failure in Monaco, engine glitches in the Nurburgring and a battery problem at Watkins Glen, all three of which would most likely have been his victories without these problems. Of his seven wins, he led every lap in five of them, and all bar three in Silverstone due to a poor start, while in Monza he was part of a slipstreaming battle. His closest rival was Graham Hill in the BRM, and Clark had no competitive teammate. It also contained his incredible Spa victory, five minutes ahead despite driving one-handed in torrential rain due to a gearbox problem.
In 1955, Juan Manuel Fangio lost two races, due to retiring from the lead in Monaco and finishing right behind Stirling Moss in Aintree, with some saying that Fangio gifted Moss that victory. His record was made particularly impressive by the fact that his teammate was the second-best in the world at the time, Stirling Moss, and Fangio also led almost every lap in three of his race victories, and in the fourth he completed every lap in Buenos Aires as the Ferrari drivers repeatedly had to swap cars due to heat exhaustion.
In 1965, Jim Clark lost Monza due to a fuel pump failure, and Watkins Glen and Mexico City with engine problems, although he wasn’t on for a certain victory in any of the three (unlike 1963). However, his car was less dominant, not necessarily even the best, and he missed Monaco due to racing in the Indy 500. Of his six wins, he led every lap in five and all bar five in the sixth, while his Silverstone win was outstanding, as he had to turn the engine off around the corners in the final laps to nurse an oil problem. His season was also remarkable because Clark also won the Indy 500 and the Tasman series, which the likes of Hill, Brabham and McLaren also competed in.
I suspect everyone already knows about the Schumacher, Vettel and Hamilton seasons, but it is worth noting that Schumacher was on the podium in every race in 2002 and won 12 of the first 13 in 2004, while Vettel won the final nine races in a row in 2013 and Hamilton missed a race in 2020 due to COVID and perhaps wasn’t fully fit in the finale. And Verstappen could increase or decrease his win percentage depending on the final three races, moving up to third if he wins all three, but dropping to tenth if he fails to win any.
A M (@amam)
26th October 2022, 10:10
Hamilton only entered 16 races in 2020……11/16 is a rate of 68.75%
F1 frog (@f1frog)
26th October 2022, 10:23
It is wins as a percentage of races there were, hence why Hamilton, Clark and Ascari don’t have higher scores in 2020, 1965 and 1952. But I still ignored the Indy 500s entirely because they were completely different regulations, had almost entirely different drivers and teams, and should never have been part of the Formula 1 championship.
A M (@amam)
26th October 2022, 10:29
I agree, but all i’m saying is that Lewis didn’t enter 17 races in 2020. If we simply look at the races he entered (16), his win rate is 68.75%, which makes it the 5th highest percentage on your list
Tommy Scragend
26th October 2022, 11:02
And if we simply look at the races that Ascari entered, his win rate is 100%. Which is exactly the point that @f1frog is making.
A M (@amam)
26th October 2022, 11:10
@Tommy Scragend
I agree– i think the point i’m making is this—-if one is going to produce a win percentage stat, then do so by including only those races the drivers actually entered. Ascari’s rate should be 100%, Lewis’s should be 68.75%.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
26th October 2022, 22:46
Jim Clark in 1968 would also be on 100% (he won the first race then was killed before the second race).
grapmg
26th October 2022, 14:38
@f1frog nice stats and fun to read the context, thx.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th October 2022, 11:01
Sainz’s first entirely dry pole in F1.
The second time this season that Norris progressed in qualifying through someone’s lap time invalidation.
Russell & Stroll are the only drivers who bettered their 2021 PB lap times in qualifying.
Coincidently, Stroll collided with a future teammate for the second time (he also collided with Seb before they were teammates on the 2017 Malaysian GP cool-down lap).
Seb reached 3500 laps in the lead.
The first entirely lapping-free race in a while at least.
Axel
26th October 2022, 14:37
Third time then. Stroll also collided with Perez in China 2017.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th October 2022, 16:43
@Axel Good catch, I had forgotten that collision.
Cris S
26th October 2022, 11:19
The ammount of people who think Ferrari had the fastest car is staggering. And so wrong. Other than the first few races, they’ve been 2nd fastest and even 3rd. The only races I remember them being clearly the best were Bahrain, Australia and Austria.
The rest of the races they were setting their car up for Quali in the hope of starting ahead of RB and try and beat them on strategy (oh, the irony, Ferrari trying to win with strategy).
The perfect example is US GP. Ferrari lockout front row (before penalties), but in the race they were nowhere near RB pace. That was the story most of the season. RB had the best race car this season, no question.
Regarding the average starting position, that’s heavily skewed by engine penalties and not reflective of actual car performance. And Schumi was doing quali with race fuel on. Yes, Max’s Hungary win from 10th was impressive but in Spa he could’ve started from the pit lane and still won.
To me, Vettel’s 1.38 averge starting position is more impressive. And his 9 race wins in a row. He had the best car and he delivered quali after quali after quali after quali. And then race after race after race after race after race. Lewis had the car for 7 years and couldnt do it. Max had it this year and couldn’t do it. The smallest thing can break your streak, if you let it, as we saw in Singapore.
Vettel didn’t let anything get in the way. He just kept on winning. He was in such a zone that if that season had 10 more races he would’ve won all of those too.
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th October 2022, 13:46
Autria i think the Ferrari were the fastest for sure but earlier there was a race where Charles was winning big but he got a engine failure. In the beginning they had the fastest BUT Red Bull wasn’t much slower after 8-10 races Red Bull is the fastest with Ferrari almost as fast. But it clear the Ferrari has the fastest car on 1 lap (there was some exceptions ofcourse) but the Red Bull has the racepace.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:12
Agree with austria, because of being way better on the tyres, but generally speaking yes, red bull clearly faster.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:14
And the race you mention is spain, but if you go look back at the comments, you will notice that it was a matter of circumstances: verstappen made a mistake and went wide, got passed by russell and lost a lot of time, that’s the only reason leclerc was way ahead; we can’t be sure ferrari was significantly faster than red bull, to me it seemed only slight when they both could push.
Constantijn Blondel
26th October 2022, 18:00
@Christ S
“The smallest thing can break your streak” … Brock Lesnar, for example ;)
Constantijn Blondel
26th October 2022, 18:00
Erm … strike that final t, @Chris S … sorry :D
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:11
Ahah, as you’re at it you might also want to remove the h, and fun the word it turned out in your first comment!
Jehannes (@jehannes)
26th October 2022, 12:35
I hadn’t noticed it could have been 13 wins already.
Different era’s and all, surprised Mercedes isn’t in there.
I Find Max had to work hard for it to be 13 wins and not more 2nd, 3rd places.
He is able to get the the full potential out of the Team and Car, setup and development.
A M (@amam)
26th October 2022, 13:04
The question now is do RB allow Checo to compete with Max and win a race in his hometown of Mexico?? Let’s say Checo wins Mexico–that will drag Max’s percentage down. But let’s suppose Max wins the other 2 remaining races (Brazil and AD)-that will be 15 wins out of 22 races, which ranks at a 68.18-win rate percentage. That’s lower than Lewis’s 68.75% (won 11 out of 16 races entered) and Seb’s 68.4% (13 out of 19 races entered)
grapmg
26th October 2022, 14:37
I don’t think Max will care much about that %. If it’s a 1-2 RB in Mexico it would surprise me if it wasn’t Checo who would take the victory.
Jehannes (@jehannes)
26th October 2022, 21:04
Is that really a question.
RB stated before it was about team championship, that’s clear.
Having checo as high up as possible is the next goal.
Yet Max is faster then checo, he’ll have to fight for it and beat merc/fer
MattDS (@mattds)
26th October 2022, 21:49
@amam what is it with this “allow Checo to win” thing? Checo is slower. They aren’t ‘disallowing’ him to win. They ARE quick to hand out orders when Max is behind for some reason and he is coming up faster, so as not to make him lose time.
But from the moment Checo shows to be just faster than Max, watch them give him a proper go. That’s always how they’ve done it. When Vettel came in next to Webber and was faster, when Ricciardo came in next to Vettel and was faster. And do we remember any occurences of Dan not being allowed to race Max and take wins? I sure don’t.
M
26th October 2022, 22:56
Max’s first race. Dan was pitted to be behind.
grapmg
27th October 2022, 12:21
That’s BS. Both Ricciardo and Vettel had the prefered strategy. It only turned out that Max and Kimi could make their strategy work and finish close in 1th and 2nd
Mayrton
26th October 2022, 14:00
These stats dont mean much in terms of quality label. Just seeing mediocre (at best) Vettel in them says enough. I mean we debate quite a bit on how much of Lewis achievements are down to the unprecedented dominance of his car, but Vettel clearly wouldnt have won a single WDC without that 4 year streak dominance of RB. And then still he needed to start from the front row in order to win. Together with Lewis imho the most lucky drivers in F1 history (LOAT), albeit as opposed to Vettel I believe Hamilton would have been good for 3 WDC titles on his own merit.
A M (@amam)
26th October 2022, 14:14
This is the ugly side of Verstappen fans that the sport could do without…and i would implore Keith to start clamping down on your type of derogatory commentson here. Vettel won 2012, without the RB being a dominant car, so learn to give credit where it’s due. And if you really want to go there, i’d rate all Seb’s titles ahead of Max’s two. At least Seb won his titles fairly, without the race director making unprecedented safety car rule changes (AD 2021) and cost cap breaches. And where was Max before he got into the equal fastest car in 2021 and a rocketship in 2022?? Like every champ before him, he too needs a fast car
Mayrton
27th October 2022, 9:49
I understand you do not agree with me which is totally ok.
Ruben
26th October 2022, 14:53
Now that’s a bold statement Mayrton. While I don’t agree with @amam that this kind of comment needs a clampdown (everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how silly I might find it), however: there’s a lot to argue there – let me put it the other way around: if Lewis and Seb were “so lucky”, who got extremely unlucky? Nico Rosberg, who needed all the devotion he had and a bit of luck to beat Hamilton and only found himself capable enough to make this effort for one season only? Kimi Raikkonen, who wasn’t able to beat Seb at Ferrari? Danny Ric in his one peak year? The only man who qualifies for an extra title in my book is Fernando Alonso, but he never showed to be the glue that could keep a team together. Verstappen was knocking on the door in 2020, but was both unlucky in races and faced unreliability – part of the sport.
While I do think that Lewis’s stats might be flattered slightly by the fact that Mercedes built a monster of an engine right when it became very hard for the others to catch up, I think your statement is a bit of a stretch (and you’re not doing the reputation of Verstappen fans a favour with attempts to sink other drivers’ reputations).
bosyber (@bosyber)
26th October 2022, 15:52
Thanks Ruben, solid post that says just about anything that needed to be said.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:20
Alonso was every bit as good as hamilton, so I think 2 vs 7 titles is a huge difference that can be blamed on the car.
Mayrton
27th October 2022, 9:46
Thanks, I understand your points but all can live in harmony with my opinion. Just because Vettel beats Webber and I call it lucky, it doesn’t mean Webber needs to be the unlucky one. Vettel just outdrove Webber. As to Verstappen, I do not know why he is brought in. it’s a pretty toxic habit on this forum to presume if you are fan of one, you automatically have to be against another? Seems pretty childish. I have been around F1 way way before Verstappen and comment on individual drivers. Currently I am talking about Vettel mostly, with some reference to Lewis. I am not of the opinion Seb is a good racing driver (WDC level) at all. He surely is good and worthy of a seat in F1. He might be one of the quickest in F1 history over a single lap, but has proven countless times to not master wheel to wheel racing. He won all races (or the fact checkers may say ‘all but x races’) from the front row with a car that enabled him to drive off in the distance. I call that a one trick pony that got pretty lucky.
Mayrton
27th October 2022, 9:57
Furthermore I think it also depends on your frame of reference. I come from an angle where I am disappointed with about 70% of the current field. I feel there is no reason why we shouldn’t have 20 Max, Lewis, Charles, Alonso kind of drivers. So I intend to be harsh on people that are below that level (and especially when they then luck into results) because frankly, they are wasting our time within the pinnacle of motorsport. There are plenty of other racing categories for that 70%. I feel FIA should also play a role in this and on the side stimulate inclusion. For instance by mandatory promotion of the F2 champion or something along these lines so we do get people in cars that actually are the best of the best. We are way too lenient vs the performances out there considering this is the pinnacle of motorsport. The level really needs to improve. But that’s just my opinion.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:19
Agree, don’t see why people have issues admitting hamilton would’ve won less titles (3 seems right) without a dominant merc, he admitted that himself; I know vettel was better in the red bull era and that a couple of years weren’t that dominant, I believe 2010 and 2012, certainly the red bull era wasn’t comparable to the merc, but indeed he hasn’t shown to be capable to win from bad grid slots often.
Edvaldo
26th October 2022, 14:06
Verstappen won all races he should have won, all those he could have won and a some others Ferrari gifted him.
He did a stellar job this season but i can’t remember a team gifting so many wins in a single season as Ferrari did this year. At least 3 of these wins fell on his lap due to sheer incompetence on the red side. Even Perez got a gift this year.
Schumacher and Vettel didn’t luck as much into race wins, but Max has 3 races to make the record his, luckying into it or not. Most likely not.
bosyber (@bosyber)
26th October 2022, 15:55
Evaldo yeah, I don’t know the stats, but it might be that in 2019 Ferrari also gifted quite a few wins to Mercedes; @amam compared that season to the current season, and there’s quite a bit to that I think, especially where Ferrari’s record is concerned!
MattDS (@mattds)
26th October 2022, 21:57
Not really – Silverstone was bad luck or that would have been another win. And who knows how Singapore could have ended if he hadn’t been underfueled in Q3?
WesselV1
26th October 2022, 16:23
So far, the drivers who won 13 races in a season…
– Didn’t manage to win another world title afterwards.
– If it were not for USA 2005, did not win a race in the next season.
MattDS (@mattds)
26th October 2022, 21:58
So you mean 50% of the drivers who won 13 races in a season won a race in the next season ;)
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:23
I guess verstappen has good chances to break both, schumacher also had a good 2006 campaign, while vettel wasn’t really close to winning a title any more, in 2017 he didn’t have the car (overall), in 2018 he was the one letting the team down.
CP
26th October 2022, 17:59
People are actually claiming Ver has the second best car…..lolololololol…
This is one of Newyes greatest every designs.
Ferrari have great one lap pace, but that could be qualifying strategy, engine mode etc. It’s quite clear race pace is dire, arguably worse than Merc….
Sergio Perez if frankly a joke of a competitor. He is like a complaint husband being cheated on, I mean grow a pair mate and stop noshing off Verstapean.
Not to compare but Lewis has had Alonso, Button, Roseberg as teammates and Ver has has Ricardo who we can all see was hugely overrated and now Perez.
All the people shouting about Lewis having the best car and no competitive team mate are very quite now.
Edvaldo
26th October 2022, 18:41
Red Bull has build a situation just like that of Vettel and Webber again. A young talent combined with an older journeyman, a safe pair of hands, bringing some points on the WCC and falling short of the number one throughout the development of the car.
To me it’s very clear that Perez is the least talented of the top 6. Sainz is quickly building a case of his own but it’s too early to jump to conclusions. They had more than one more promising driver on their ranks but chose to bring an outsider, the first in more than 10 years, to pair with Max. Because he doesn’t care to be the number 2, he may make some noise but he’ll comply. There’s no “runner-up title” anyway, so why should the team compromise and go for a neutral car when one driver is much better than the other?
It’s the exact same recipe from the Vettel era, and Webber was not runner-up not even a single time on those seasons, and it doesn’t take anything from the quality of those cars, just as it will not take from this car if Perez fails to beat Leclerc on the standings.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:26
And we know verstappen is 20-30 sec faster than perez over a race distance!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:26
I mean, I’m one of those who think hamilton got way more wins and titles he should’ve got because of his dominant cars, but I thought it was pretty obvious perez is at best bottas level and red bull is the best car, unfortunately indeed I saw some people consider ferrari best, which I don’t understand.
If ferrari has the best car, how comes, if we look at singapore, leclerc, the top ferrari driver, wasn’t even able to beat perez?
Edvaldo
27th October 2022, 14:34
Because to some people that adds some extra merit to the achievement.
“Verstappen won with the best car? Big deal, everybody does that!”
They want to make it special. It has to have something more, yes, he won 13+ races in a single season without even driving the fastest car!
But yeah, to say that a car that won 15 races out of 19 isn’t the fastest, that’s gonna need a lot of convincing. Ferrari did gift them a few but even without that both championships would be pretty much done by this point anyway.
Rafael Perez (@rafaelperez)
26th October 2022, 20:07
One more record is the number of wins in a single season by the RB18 (15/19 so far), 15 wins matching the all mighty MP4-4 (15/16) in quantity
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:27
That car was insane, they could’ve won 16\16, senna made a mistake and prost had a techical problem in monza!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:28
technical*
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
26th October 2022, 22:49
First time this year that both Mercedes have started in the top 4.
Hamilton has scored more points in 2022 than in either 2012 (where he won 4 times) or 2013 (where he also took a victory).
Leclerc has passed his 2019 points total.
First time this season that Latifi has started between 12th and 17th inclusive.
First driver since Alan Jones in 1981 to win twice in the USA in the same season.
Verstappen has as many F1 victories as all USA drivers combined.
Hamilton has always finished in the top 4 in Austin.
Thanks to statsf1 and the official F1 site for some of these.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th October 2022, 5:32
Hamilton has always been strong indeed in austin, I was thinking if he doesn’t win here he won’t win any more this year, it was also an ending where he had to make tyres last, which is usually his speciality.
The alan jones stat indicates how it used to be more popular to race in the usa back when lauda\prost raced (a good thing I’d say) and the 2012 vs 2022 comparison for hamilton is impressive, a bit because of more races and a bit because 2012 was a very inconsistent season, with several problems\retirements, while this one mercedes didn’t have the pace but mostly maximised the result.
Ben (@bamey)
27th October 2022, 0:51
Schumacher and Vettel didn’t have to s challenge Ferrari tactics. Question.
Trido (@)
27th October 2022, 2:05
More races yes, but this will always be a useful stat because you can convert it to % of races won and chuck in starting position. Those will keep the stat relevant.
Ben
27th October 2022, 8:19
VES has done what any world class driver would do in a dominant car, win races.
A lot of people are hating on Ham for only winning 11 races multiple times. If Perez was Ham’s teammate during that time, he would have won probably 15 races a season. 1 lap Perez is poor.
If Rosberg / Bottas was VES teammate this year, they would have won at least 5-6 races this year due to them being a fast Qualifier/Max DNF/Mistakes. Would RB have let them win over max is another question?
Carlos (@)
27th October 2022, 13:48
Verstappen was already a favorite from the beginning in the bookmakers
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
27th October 2022, 16:08
I do love these articles. I had no idea Repco had been anywhere near F1 or who the heck ‘Bill Vukovich’ is. Sends me off down a google rabbit hole.