Max Verstappen took his 13th race win of the 2022 Formula 1 season on Sunday at the US Grand Prix, prevailing following a late battle with Lewis Hamilton.
The victory saw Verstappen equal a record shared by fellow multi-World Champions Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.
The trio have all taken 13 race wins in a single season, which stands as a record in F1 – Schumacher achieved the figure in 2004, while Vettel matched his German compatriot in 2013.
Verstappen’s dominant 2022 campaign, which delivered him his second title, sees him match the impressive record – however the Dutchman asserts that the is not overly impressed by his own achievement.
With more and more races being added to the calendar, drivers are now more likely to break the record.
This year, 23 races are being staged, with Verstappen having the potential to take 16 wins as three remain on the 2022 schedule.
In 2004, when Schumacher achieved the record, there were 18 grand prix held while in 2013, 19 took place.
“I’ve said before that we are also doing more races a year,” Verstappen said. “So they are not always justifiable.
I mean, I think, yeah, we are having an amazing season, but of course when you have a great car, you can win a lot of races.
“But of course I’m proud of winning a lot of races, but I don’t really look at these kinds of stats. I’m just happy winning races.”
Verstappen has the chance to make the record his own this weekend in Mexico, which hosts the third-to-last round of the season.
Red Bull enters the race weekend having picked up the Constructors’ Championship in Texas, its first since its dominant 2013 season with Vettel.
It’s about the win percentage. When Schumacher won 13 of 18 races, that’s a 72% win rate. If Max wins the remaining 3 races, yes he’ll have 16 on the year, but it will still only be 70% of races. He would have to win 17 races in a 23 race calender to beat Schumacher’s record.
Yes, but the difference, and most impressive thing here is Verstappen actually won these races largely on talent. True, Verstappen has a good car, but it’s not mind-blowingly dominant and he has whipped the hell out of his opponents this year. When Schumacher did it, he had an illegal car and a contracted #2 driver to block the rest of the field. When Vettel did it, he had one of the most dominant and unbeatable cars in the history of F1, and RB was giving inferior cars to his teammate (who was better than him at one point until he lost all motivation) so he was out there every week just cruising to victory. I will however be the first to admit that if Alonso (or maybe even someone like Norris) was in a Ferrari or even a Mercedes, Verstappen would not has so many victories.
16 out of 22 races is 72.727272727273 %
If Max wins the remaining 3 races he will have that record.