What records did Max Verstappen and Red Bull set, and how did it compare to earlier seasons, as they won the 2022 Formula 1 world championship?
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The 73rd season of Formula 1 is officially over, and it was truly amazing. Verstappen won the drivers’ world championship for a second consecutive year, and Red Bull finally won the constructors’ championship. But from a point of view of numbers, how dominant were they? Before we flip the page to 2023, let’s take one last look at the records Verstappen and Red Bull set this year.
Right away, the major one, which hadn’t been shattered in nearly 20 years. By winning 13 races in a single year in 2004, Michael Schumacher set new records and earned his seventh world championship. After nine years, it was Sebastian Vettel, Schumacher’s protégé and a fellow German, who tied the record in 2013 during his most dominant season while competing for Red Bull. Verstappen overtook both legends nine more years later in Mexico, and at the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi, he established a new record of 15 victories in a calendar year. Verstappen’s achievement was made possible by Ferrari’s multiple season-long issues, Mercedes’ issues with their car idea, and porpoising.
Schumacher once had yet another record, which is fine. He earned 148 points over the course of 18 races in 2004, but since the current points structure was instituted in 2010, it was only a matter of time before it was compromised. Lewis Hamilton outperformed Sebastian Vettel twice, in 2018 (408 points from 21 races) and 2019, to surpass Vettel’s 2013 season high of 397 points (from 19 races). Verstappen smashed the record this year with two rounds remaining after it stood for so long. One could wonder if the Dutchman’s record-breaking total of 454 points for the entire season can ever be surpassed. However, compared to 2023, there will be two more races and three more sprints.
Max Verstappen finished sixth in the standings following the Australian GP, 46 points behind championship leader Charles Leclerc, as a result of two DNFs in the first three races. In just three races, the Dutchman not only reduced Leclerc’s advantage but also knocked the Monegasque from the top spot by the Spanish GP. Verstappen maintained his lead throughout the race, winning at Suzuka to break the previous record for the largest points margin needed to win.
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Verstappen went above and beyond by winning in 2022 by taking the lead from seven different starting positions, as if claiming 15 victories in a year wasn’t enough. The Dutchman had never won outside the top four on the grid before this season. His victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which also featured a rare spin while attempting to catch the leaders, put an end to that statistic. Verstappen was penalised on the grid for exceeding his allotted power unit elements at the very next race in Belgium, forcing him to start from 14th. But that didn’t stop him from moving up the rankings and becoming just the second driver in Formula One history (after Bruce McLaren) to win back-to-back races after starting from 10th or worse. He was back at it two races later, winning the Italian GP after starting from seventh. Alan Jones (1980), Alain Prost (1990), and Kimi Raikkonen (2005) held the record prior to Verstappen, each of whom had triumphed from five different grid positions in those years.
Ferrari was the team to beat on Saturday even if Red Bull ended up being the masters of Sunday. The Maranello-based team finished first or second in 12 of the 22 races this season, which is a joint-highest total for a calendar year. Verstappen, though, was undeterred and accomplished a first by winning nine races in 2022 without starting from pole position. At the US Grand Prix, he broke Schumacher’s (seven) and Hamilton’s (eight) previous records, which they had each established in 1995 and 2019 respectively.
