Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Yas Marina, 2023

Verstappen voted Driver of the Year for third year in a row by RaceFans readers

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Max Verstappen has been voted Driver of the Year by RaceFans readers for the third year in a row.

The Red Bull driver, who won the world championship for the third year running this season, was the choice of more than half of our readers.

Verstappen smashed records as he extended his reign as F1 world champion. As well as winning 19 grands prix in a single season and scoring more than twice as many points as his closest rival, he became the first driver in the history of the world championship to win 10 consecutive races.

RaceFans F1 Driver of the Year poll winners since 2010

2023: Max Verstappen
2022: Max Verstappen
2021: Max Verstappen
2020: Lewis Hamilton
2019: Lewis Hamilton
2018: Lewis Hamilton
2017: Lewis Hamilton
2016: Daniel Ricciardo
2015: Sebastian Vettel
2014: Daniel Ricciardo
2013: Sebastian Vettel
2012: Fernando Alonso
2011: Sebastian Vettel
2010: Lewis Hamilton

RaceFans 2023 F1 Driver of the Weekend winners

Two drivers scooped the majority of votes in our post-race polls during the 2023 season. Verstappen and Fernando Alonso were each voted Driver of the Weekend a total of four times each.

Only two other drivers did so more than once. Lando Norris topped the poll for three rounds running in the middle of the season.

Carlos Sainz Jnr won the poll twice and his Singapore Grand Prix victory – the only defeat inflicted on Red Bull all season – earned him the most emphatic win in our poll of the season, as over three-quarters of readers named him their Driver of the Weekend.

All our Driver of the Weekend polls for 2023 are now closed, but be sure to register a RaceFans account so you can join in during 2024.

Race DOTW winner Share of votes
2023 Bahrain Grand Prix Fernando Alonso 70.5%
2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Fernando Alonso 31.0%
2023 Australian Grand Prix Nico Hulkenberg 33.3%
2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Sergio Perez 51.5%
2023 Miami Grand Prix Fernando Alonso 36.4%
2023 Monaco Grand Prix Esteban Ocon 43.8%
2023 Spanish Grand Prix Max Verstappen 44.3%
2023 Canadian Grand Prix Alexander Albon 69.4%
2023 Austrian Grand Prix Lando Norris 43.7%
2023 British Grand Prix Lando Norris 75.8%
2023 Hungarian Grand Prix Lando Norris 56.3%
2023 Belgian Grand Prix Max Verstappen 51.9%
2023 Dutch Grand Prix Max Verstappen 33.6%
2023 Italian Grand Prix Carlos Sainz Jnr 54.9%
2023 Singapore Grand Prix Carlos Sainz Jnr 77.7%
2023 Japanese Grand Prix Max Verstappen 42.2%
2023 Qatar Grand Prix Oscar Piastri 60.7%
2023 United States Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton 34.1%
2023 Mexican Grand Prix Daniel Ricciardo 41.4%
2023 Brazilian Grand Prix Fernando Alonso 71.2%
2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix Charles Leclerc 58.8%
2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Yuki Tsunoda 31.7%

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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57 comments on “Verstappen voted Driver of the Year for third year in a row by RaceFans readers”

  1. It’s been said countless times before in all kinds on contexts: well deserved, Max.

    The field overall looks closer considering lap times. There’s a bunch of excellent drivers that could be champion given the right circumstances (or have been alredy). And one driver has been at sharp end more often than anyone else. Hasn’t made a lot of mistakes in 2023 and no costly ones at all. A bit curious that he didn’t get all that many dotw wins, but he won’t care.

    Sidenote: I want the race winners list in 2024 look like this year’s dotw list. Pretty please!

    1. He didn’t get driver of the weekend wins cause of the car obviously, he didn’t really have to do a lot, and verstappen himself, like everyone, makes less mistakes under 0 pressure than in a 2021 situation example.

      1. Yep, that’s why Checo made no mistakes all season either, great car, much leisurely driving.

        1. Yep, that’s why Checo made no mistakes all season either, great car, much leisurely driving.

          Checo seemed to be doing fine until there was a tweak in the car build/setup that suited Max.

          1. Please provide proof of said tweak.

          2. about the same time Max’s family accused Checo of infidelity, and started throwing a huge fit in the media.

          3. Really? This has been debunked countless times, even by Checo himself.

        2. +1, I feel it is fair to enjoy and celebrate his achievements. Isn’t that after all why we watch the sport? To see it be executed at the highest level?

        3. I agree. I feel it is fair to celebrate Max achievements, after all that’s why we watch; to see the sport be played at the highest level by the best athletes.

          1. Robert Henning
            27th December 2023, 13:35

            It’s the same old drivel by the same old folks. SteveP, Michael, the new 447 person and so on.

            Yes the car obviously helps immensely but like unlike 2019/2020 or even 2018 to some extent where Verstappen’s consistency brought him into discussion about being the best driver on the grid even without the best car, since 2021 that discussion has also died given that he’s just as consistent driving cars capable of competing every race weekend, and that hurts the above folks. Because afterall one excuse back then was how would he deal with title pressure, etc etc.

            And while @Esploratore has a point, which is indeed very valid, they have always remained consistent on this matter of car v/s driver and always maintained that a good car makes a driver look better.

            We should appreciate Max but the standouts for me are the races in Zandvoort, Monaco, Vegas, COTA and Suzuka personally where Verstappen did show it was not all the car. The other races, frankly were quite boring and a procession.

  2. Just 2 months left and we will see all the new cars that are Red Bull clones.
    But Max’s accolades are well deserved. His Dad and Mom raised him right.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      26th December 2023, 13:11

      Say what? :) By far the funniest comment on any F1 forum…

    2. Are you actually serious? Please use a search engine e.g. assault charges.

      1. Maybe the reference is to his athletic sports achievements? No denying they did a stellar job there. Why would you ever get involved (or be interested for that matter) with someones personal life?

    3. What an odd thing to say

  3. Silent but Deadly
    25th December 2023, 22:58

    But surely – it’s the car. I’m certain that the majority of frequent commenters were completely agreed on this, at least they used to be, for many years previous to the last 3 or so. I wonder what could have changed their opinions?

    1. My opinion at least didn’t change, the car makes a driver look better, I don’t remember hamilton being considered one of the best drivers ever before the 2014 season started, even though his debut season was one of the most impressive ever.

      I think verstappen’s most impressive title so far is 2021, there was no competition at all in 2023 and for a big part of 2022, though his ability to maximise the stats to the extent he did is something hardly any driver in history would’ve done, surely drs is a help compared to 13+ years ago, but hamilton in 2020 wasn’t able to do something like this for example, despite a really dominant car and bottas as a team mate, and drs.

      1. 2021 Hamilton showed him up in a slower car, it took Masi and Todt to concoct a way of rigging the race which they did, Latifi did them the favour and they pitted Checo who was underfuled and was going to stop on track anyway. Biggest stitch up in F1 history. Race Fans like Planet F1 is a site full of 33 fans anyway so it’s no surprise, he doesn’t deserve it and never has, 3years of cheating and the cosy Ben S relationship. Can’t wait to see him lose which is coming as the Karma train will be rolling into town

        1. So by “showing him up” you mean by sliding into the gravel at Imola and knocking his own front wing off trying to rejoin the track? (to only be saved by a red flag to pinch 18 points) Running on at T1 at Baku with another mistake? A poor showing at Monaco finishing 7th and over 1 minute behind? Ramming Max at Silverstone? (only to be saved by yet another red flag and pinch a further 26 points while Max DNF’d)?
          Remember Max only benefitted from 7 extra points at AD with a bit of overdue luck??

          All while Max had more DNF’s but finished either 1st or 2nd in the races that he didn’t have terrible luck or was taken out by a Mercedes?

          If Lewis was half as consistent as Max he would have taken the title in ’21 due to Max’ extra DNF’s. He only has himself to blame that year and showed himself up if anything.

          1. I am afraid these facts can be repeated endlessly without convincing some..

          2. Clueless gibberish

          3. @fourfourseven
            Just facts my friend.
            Facts you obviously can’t seem to deal with. I wish you wouldn’t try and cope by posting all your hate on here.

          4. Opinions are not facts.

          5. So Lewis didn’t make all those unforced errors? Was the video evidence all a lie?
            As I said, Max finished either 1st or 2nd in the races where he didn’t have car/tyre failures or was taken out by Hamilton or Bottas.
            The fact Lewis got to AD tied on points, even though Max had a few more DNF’s, shows that Max had to perform at a higher and more consistent level in the races that he could score points.

          6. Again! Your opinions are not facts

          7. Which of my points aren’t facts then?

      2. I think verstappen’s most impressive title so far is 2021

        I think you mean “only impressive season, although with a tendency to collide with his opposition” – not that the latter was anything new, and had been commented on by Horner a year or so earlier.

      3. Silent but Deadly
        26th December 2023, 19:00

        the car makes a driver look better

        Will the driver matter again when your driver isn’t winning everything at a walk?

      4. @esploratore1

        I don’t remember hamilton being considered one of the best drivers ever before the 2014 season started, even though his debut season was one of the most impressive ever.

        At the end of 2013, Hamilton had one title and 21 race wins. That’s not enough to be considered the best ever, his standing in the sport was similar to Verstappen in at the end of 2021.

        And Hamilton did beat Alonso as a rookie, very impressive, but a lot of goodwill was lost when he lost to Button five years later as a much older and more experienced driver. No GOAT should be losing to Button, so that’s why there were more question marks over him at the time.

    2. It is the car, once he has to actually race someone he will crumble.

      1. @fourfourseven

        He was easily the best driver in 2019 and 2020 with the third best car so I doubt it.

        1. Yet he cant handle pressure, goes long at corners and drives them off track, soon as he has to race anyone in a car that’s not a Newey DRS great he won’t manage it. Dirtiest driver on the track gifted three titles for what exactly, ah yes the cosy Ben S relationship and uncle Masi.

          1. Poor boy, delusional till the bone ;)

    3. Incomparable situations have changed their minds. For starters the advantage in performance of the RB19 was nothing compared to the most legendary and dominant cars in F1’s history. Secondly -and underlining the first- the nr2 driver did not regularly finish races in 2nd like for instance Webber and Bottas did in dominant material. Thirdly the level of consistency was not achieved by any other driver before with a car just as dominant or actually ‘with cars even more dominant’.

  4. Car of the year, The 2023 Newey DRS champion. Press pedal lead from the front, hello Vettel 2.0 average driver in a fast car. Yawn.

    1. I guess if you do not like Max, you do not like him, which is totally fine. It is also an option just to state that.

      1. Max isn’t the problem, his driving style and team however are the pro lem.

        1. Your hero put moves on Rosberg similar to the ones you dislike Max doing. The problem for you, is that the bully finally got bullied himself. I can see how that is hard to take when you completely idolise someone.
          First lap, T1, COTA 2015 for one of many examples.

          1. You haven’t got one clue who my hero is. Take your keyboard warrior Isms somewhere else.

          2. It’s not hard to work out @fourfourseven.

          3. For you it is, keep guessing.

        2. I understand you are probably referring to 2021. Yes, that was different from the processional wins from Lewis with his wing man right behind and people making sure to get out of the way. It was quite a shock to see actual wheel to wheel action coming back to F1, at least for some, who had gotten used to 8 years of routine Sunday’s seeing Mercedes driving off into the distance. I personally like wheel to wheel action instead of political or power unit or budget advantages, but hey that’s just me.

  5. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    26th December 2023, 13:05

    For Verstappen, 2 factors are important to finishing a race and winning it. First that he has a car that disappears after turn 1 and second that he has no pressure in terms of potentially losing the race or championship. Even so,he’ll do weird things like pass people in the pit lane, push people out on track or dive into them. The strangest part is that he seems to have more immunity on track than Al Capone prior to being convicted. He breaks the rules with impunity and remarkably even gets other drivers to receive penalties on his behalf.

    Very polarizing driver. Fast yes, good racer, in the words of John McEnroe “you cannot be serious!”

    1. Like @kingshark said:

      He was easily the best driver in 2019 and 2020 with the third best car so I doubt it.

    2. Very polarizing driver

      Yep, that’s how it works. You have to cross the finish first to really polarize.

  6. “Max has been faultless and no-one can take that away from him.”
    “He and the team have been phenomenal. They’ve raised the bar.”
    – Lewis Hamilton (2023)

    1. That’s just a quote when accepting a trophy, it means it’s the car.

  7. Was there every a doubt that he’s going to win this?

    1. Not on this site, none so blind.

  8. The comments on this site are devolving into childish nonsense. I wish some of you would grow up.

    1. Just because people have opinions you don’t agree with has nothing to do with being grown up, you sound like a Tik Tok member, doesn’t like opinions that don’t agree with yours or people telling you no!

      1. @fourfourseven you are the worst offender by far currently. Even worse than @freelittlebirds and SteveP.

        Every time you reply or post you reveal just how little you understand about F1 or racing in general.
        I’d block you if it was an option.

    2. For real @Shimks, it has not been a good year for racefans.net in this regard unfortunately.

    3. Agreed. It seems the days of interesting discussion and debate are gone and it seems to be driving away some of the more thoughtful posters too.

  9. Stephen Taylor
    27th December 2023, 14:04

    Well deserved award

    1. It’s an award, deserved is another story.

      1. Agreed, another story and an even better one ;)

Comments are closed.