Max Verstappen dominated the 2023 Formula 1 season with an impressive 19 wins from 22 races, making a record-breaking year for the Dutchman.
Verstappen displayed his impressive skill at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix, where he started from pole position, set the fastest lap and crossed the line to take his 13th win of the year.
The Dutchman’s victory saw Red Bull take their sixth Constructors’ championship title on 24 September 2023, with six races of the season remaining.
This saw the Austrian team secure the record for the earliest a team has ever won a championship title, beating McLaren (1988) and Ferrari (2004), who both took the title with five races remaining.
Verstappen’s win meant that he was also in reach of the drivers’ championship, with only his teammate Sergio Perez remaining in contention heading into the Qatar Grand Prix weekend.
With only three races not won by the Dutchman before the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, it seemed guaranteed that he would take the title at the next race weekend.
Max Verstappen broke several records during 2023 domination
With Verstappen’s 19 wins from 22 races, the Dutchman broke the record for the highest win percentage in a single season with 86.36%.
The record was previously held by Alberto Ascari in 1952 with 75%, after the Ferrari driver won six out of the eight races of the year.
In more recent years, Michael Schumacher had held the highest win rate in a single season after winning 13 out of 18 races in 2004, resulting in a percentage of 72.2%.
Despite a dominating performance from Verstappen in 2023, the Dutchman finished fifth at the Singapore Grand Prix, meaning that he was unable to match an impressive record set by Schumacher.
During the 2002 season, Schumacher finished on all 17 podiums of the season, giving him a 100% record compared to Verstappen’s 20 out of 21 races, which translates to 95.4%
Verstappen broke 14 records during 2023, including six hat-tricks (pole, win, fastest lap) in Spain, Austria, Britain, Japan, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, beating Schumacher and Ascari.
The Dutchman also took 10 consecutive race wins between Miami and Italy, beating Sebastian Vettel’s 2013 record where he won nine.
How Michael Schumacher’s 2004 season compared to Max Verstappen’s 2023 victory
Michael Schumacher’s 2004 was the most dominant of his seven-time world championships, after 13 wins in 18 races.
The German driver secured his fifth consecutive championship title with four races remaining and marked a year of pure dominance by himself and Ferrari.
Verstappen’s impressive performance in 2023 has not been seen since Schumacher, with an impressive number of race victories in one year.
With Verstappen’s 2023 win rate at 86.36% and Schumacher’s 2004 win rate of 72.2%, they are the most dominating seasons in modern Formula 1 history. The only other drivers to come close to the two world champions’ records are Sebastian Vettel (2013 – 68.4%) and Lewis Hamilton (2020 – 64.71%).