Verstappen falls just short of Vettel’s record

· by · in Daily F1 News and Comment. ·

This Formula One season has seen records aplenty tumbling as Max Verstappen delivered one of the most dominant performances in living memory. The Dutch F1 driver claimed his 15th win of the season which is an all time record, though due to the schedule having 22 races he fell just short of Michael Schumacher’s season % win record of 70.2%.

Charles LeClerc triumphed in his battle with Sergio Perez for 2nd in the drivers’ championship as Ferrari strategists make the right call to one stop the Monegasque as soon as Checo made his second tyre change.

 

 

LeClerc record season

LeClerc’s previous best finishing position was 4th in 2019 beating his team mate Sebastian Vettel by 264 to 240 points.

Sergio Perez has though claimed 11 podiums in 2022 which equals his cumulative total for the previous 7 seasons combined.

Max broke the all time record for the number of podiums in a calendar year in 2021 by collecting 18 on the way to his first championship. Despite winning more races this year, Max failed to make the podium on 5 occasions meaning his 2022 tally was just 17.

As Charles LeClerc clinched P2 in the drivers’ championship, Max was almost an astonishing 6 GP wins ahead of the Ferrari driver. Max’s winning lead concluded at 146 points, though he failed to capture the all time record held by Sebastian Vettel whose championship win in 2013 saw him finish 155 points ahead of Fernando Alonso in P2.

 

 

Mercedes still holds dominance records

Mercedes as a constructor still have the top three % race wins from their 2014-2016 seasons, however Red Bull are now 4th in that table winning 17 races from 22 at a rate of 76.2%.

There are many records Verstappen could go on to claim given he has signed a contract until 2028. At that time the Dutch driver would be 31 years of age.

The most F1 race starts record is currently held by Fernando Alonso at 355. The Spanish driver is set for another two years with Aston Martin where the season schedule will be 24 races so Alonso will have racked up 403 by then and he will be 43 years of age.

Max has 163 starts so by the time of Alonso’s possible retirement he would be 192 race starts behind the Spanish double world champion’s tally.

 

 

Verstappen may not stick around long enough

If we presume the F1 race calendar remains at 24 events per year, this means Max would require exactly 8 seasons to equal Fernando’s 403 tally.

Could Verstappen go on to win the most F1 drivers’ championships of all time? This record is currently held jointly by Hamilton and Schumacher with 7 each.

To achieve this by the age of 30, Verstappen would need to surpass Michael Schumacher’s record of 5 consecutive titles. The biggest question is whether Max will remain in the sport long enough to achieve what his potential clearly is.

Lewis Hamilton currently holds the record for most race wins at 103 though given the number of races each year, were Verstappen to claim 7 world titles he will easily pass this total along the way.

READ MORE: Coulthard, Perez can just leave the team

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