Max Verstappen rewrote most of the Formula 1 record book in 2023 with 19 wins, 575 points and over 1,000 racing laps led in the single most-dominant campaign in World Championship history.
The RB19 machine guided him to some records which might just stand the test of time, but will he be able to match the extraordinary season in the coming year?
Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren will be the closest challengers to the Dutchman – but will it be enough to stop him from climbing further up the records list?
Most pole positions
With all records being as of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Verstappen currently has 32 pole positions, despite qualifying not being his favourite part of the weekend.
There are 24 races planned for the coming season, and so, in theory, Verstappen could achieve 56 poles by the end of it – but that would still be just be a tick over half the current record.
MOST POLE POSITIONS IN F1
# Driver Number of poles
1. Lewis Hamilton 104
2. Michael Schumacher 68
3. Ayrton Senna 65
4. Sebastian Vettel 57
5. Jim Clark 33
– Alain Prost 33
7. Nigel Mansell 32
– Max Verstappen 32
9. Nico Rosberg 30
10. Juan Manuel Fangio 29
Most fastest laps
In terms of the number fastest laps, it is actually Hamilton who is the one to watch going into 2024.
He is just 12 behind the record held by Schumacher – with his last coming at the 2012 German GP.
MOST FASTEST LAPS
# Driver Fastest laps
1. Schumacher 77
2. Hamilton 65
3. Kimi Raikkonen 46
4. Prost 41
5. Vettel 38
6. Mansell 30
– Verstappen 30
8. Clark 28
9. Mika Hakkinen 25
10. Niki Lauda 24
Most podiums
If he takes two podiums, which is extremely likely, Verstappen will join Hamilton, Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Alain Prost, Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso in the Centurion Club with 100 podium visits.
Elsewhere, Hamilton can become the first to smash through the double-century if he gets just three more top-three finishes in his final Mercedes season.
MOST PODIUMS IN F1
# Driver Podiums
1. Hamilton 197
2. Schumacher 155
3. Vettel 122
4. Prost 106
– Fernando Alonso 106
6. Raikkonen 103
7. Verstappen 98
8. Senna 80
9. Rubens Barrichello 68
10. Valtteri Bottas 67
Most laps in the lead
With 1,003 laps led in 2023, Verstappen climbed into fifth place, and has both Vettel and Senna in his sights.
Verstappen currently has led 2,858 laps in his career, and is 73 laps behind Senna’s total of 2,931, with Vettel just one of three drivers to break the 3,500 barrier.
The final time the four-time champion led was for two laps during the 2022 United States Grand Prix, taking him above the 3.5k mark with Hamilton and Schumacher.
LAPS IN THE LEAD IN F1
# Driver Laps in the lead
1. Hamilton 5455
2. Schumacher 5111
3. Vettel 3501
4. Senna 2931
5. Verstappen 2858
6. Prost 2683
7. Mansell 2091
8. Clark 1943
9. Jackie Stewart 1919
10. Alonso 1773
Most number of wins
Since the adoption of ground effects at the start of 2022, there have been 44 races and Verstappen has won 34 of them.
In those races, he’s won more than Alonso has in 377 starts (32 wins) and has rocketed up to third in the all-times wins list.
Ahead of him now are only Hamilton and Schumacher on 103 and 91, respectively.
Combined, Hamilton, Schumacher and Verstappen (54) have 248 F1 races with a total of 1,101 as of Abu Dhabi 2023.
That gives the trio a hit-rate of 22.52% – meaning just under a quarter of every World Championship Grand Prix ever held since the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone has either been won by Hamilton, Schumacher or Verstappen, despite Schumacher not making his debut until race 511.
If that total is then re-calculated, 248 wins from 590 Grands Prix, gives the trio a hit-rate of 42.03%.
MOST VICTORIES IN F1
# Driver Wins
1. Hamilton 103
2. Schumacher 91
3. Verstappen 54
4. Vettel 53
5. Prost 51
6. Senna 41
7. Alonso 32
8. Mansell 31
9. Stewart 27
10. Clark 25
