The Formula 1 season concluded Sunday as Max Verstappen put a stamp on a third consecutive world driving championship with a victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After 22 races, Verstappen topped Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez by 290 points in the standings. The 26-year-old capped off a season in which he won a record 19 races, including the final seven events.
Here are some of the eye-opening stats from his title season:
26 — Verstappen became only the second driver ever to win three F-1 championships by the age of 26 after Sebastian Vettel (Vettel won four titles by the time he was 26)
6 — Verstappen clinched his championship with the highest number of races remaining — six, tying Michael Schumacher who also clinched his title with six races remaining in 2002.
11 — Verstappen joined a group of only 10 other drivers who have ever won three or more Formula 1 championships. He is currently tied for sixth place with five other drivers for the most overall championships won (Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton are tied for first with seven wins each).
5 — Joined a group of only four other drivers with three or more consecutive championship wins (Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Vettel, Hamilton) and he is currently fifth overall (Schumacher is first with five consecutive championships between 2000-’04)
10 — Verstappen broke the record for the most consecutive races won in a season, surpassing Vettel’s record of nine consecutive wins from 2013.
21 — Verstappen broke his own 2021 record for the most podium finishes in a season — 21 (his 2021 record was 18), and he joins Hamilton as the only driver to have 17 or more podium finishes in three different seasons (Hamilton had more than 17 podium finishes five times).
15 — Verstappen joined the top four of the drivers with the most consecutive podium finishes with 15 podium finishes between the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Italian GP this year, tying for third place with Fernando Alonso (No. 1 is Schumacher with 19 consecutive podium finishes between 2001-’02).
998 — Verstappen broke Hamilton’s record for the most consecutive points scored (998). Verstappen’s current run started in 2022 at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and is still ongoing with 1,004 consecutive points scored.
9 — Verstappen broke Vettel and Nigel Mansell’s record for the most wins from pole position in a season (nine wins from a pole) — Verstappen has achieved 12 wins from pole position.
Stats provided courtesy VegasInsider.com