Max Verstappen had an utterly dominant 2023 season as he clinched a record 19 wins after 22 races. In the process, he also broke innumerable records. One of the records he registered was the number of laps he led in a single campaign.
Following the conclusion of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen became the first driver to lead 1,000 laps in a single season. He led a total of 1,001 of the 1,325 laps in the season.
This means that he led a whopping percentage of 75.54% of the laps in 2023. Although Verstappen was able to achieve so much domination primarily because of how quick the RB19 was, it is pertinent to note that he was also able to utilize the best of his ability to extract the maximum out of the car.
Max Verstappen broke innumerable records in 2023
Max Verstappen had such an outstanding season in 2023 that it is even difficult to count the number of records he broke. Perhaps the most impressive record he broke was for the most wins in a single season.
The Dutchman registered a record last season when he won 15 races. However, just a year later, he broke his own record by winning 19 races in 2023.
While there is no surprise that Verstappen won on various types of circuits, a particular kind of track perhaps where he struggled were the street circuits. All the races that the 26-year-old failed to win were street circuits.
In the early part of the 2023 season, Verstappen failed to win in both Saudi Arabia and Baku. From there on, he registered an outstanding streak of 10 consecutive victories. During this run, he registered wins in Miami, Canada, and all the European tracks F1 visited.
Once the European leg ended, he failed to win in Singapore. However, once that race concluded on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Verstappen resumed his outstanding run by winning all the rest of the races in the season.
The only place where he perhaps faced stiff competition thereafter was in Las Vegas, another street circuit. Since Verstappen won a record 19 out of the 22 races, he broke another record in the process.
With a staggering win percentage of 86.36% in 2023, the Red Bull driver broke a 71-year-old record. Alberto Ascari previously held the record for the highest percentage (75%) of wins in a single campaign when he registered six wins from eight starts back in 1952.
Although Verstappen has been breaking records for fun, he has interestingly yet stated that he does not care about them. However, the same may not be entirely true.
Verstappen once deliberately asked Red Bull for a favor to register a record
Following the conclusion of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen revealed during the press conference about the favor he had asked of Red Bull. Despite being in the lead of the race, the Dutchman asked his team to pit Sergio Perez before him.
While many at the time believed that the 26-year-old was perhaps just being generous, he revealed during the post-race press conference that he had a record in mind he wanted to achieve. When quizzed about the same, Verstappen revealed that he knew that he only needed to be in the lead for a few laps to register the record for most laps led in a single season.
The three-time champion will now hope to register more wins and records in the future. Since the regulations are relatively stable until 2026 and Red Bull have the quickest car on the grid by far, Verstappen is likely to have the opportunity to add his name to the history books more often.
