Max Verstappen confirmed his status as the great sporting idol of the Netherlands by claiming his third consecutive Formula 1 world championship crown at the end of 2023, in which he broke almost every record and in which Austrian team Red Bull confirmed their constructors’ title. .

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“Mad Max” broke his own all-time record for most wins in a single season after reaching the top step of the podium 19 times.

The Batavian driver won the world title with 575 points, another all-time record, bettering the previous year’s total of 454 points.

He is 290 points ahead of his Red Bull teammate Mexican Sergio Perez, who is second in the final standings.

Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) finished the season in third place, ahead of another ex-world champion, the Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), who at 42 is living his second youth.

Verstappen once again drove one of the unsurpassed single-seaters designed by the brilliant English engineer Adrian Newey, the “guru” of aerodynamics, who had already created cars for the previous epic of the Red Bull team, the four-time world champion in piloting. and constructors between 2010 and 2013, with the German Sebastian Vettel in the lead role.

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During the season, the Dutch star took a total of 54 career wins, ahead of Sebastian Vettel (53 wins) and France’s Alain Prost, another four-time world champion (51 wins), as well as the late three-time world champion Brazilian. Ayrton Senna (41 wins).

Now ahead of Verstappen, only the only pilots who have seven world championship titles to their credit: German Michael Schumacher, winner of 91 Grands Prix, and the absolute record holder of the British Lewis Hamilton with 103 victories in Formula 1. .

In terms of titles, if he wins again next year, the Dutchman would draw level with Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel and move within one title of legendary Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio, a five-time world champion.

In addition to the performances already mentioned, Max Verstappen also broke other all-time records related to the number of podiums (21), the number of pole position wins (12), the number of consecutive wins (10) and the number of victories. hat-tricks – wins, starting from pole position and setting the fastest lap at the track – (6) in the same season.

He is also the driver with the most laps led in a race (1,003) in a single season, also a percentage record (he led 75.7% of the laps).

Verstappen demonstrated his exceptional talent, doubled by a constant desire to win, aboard a magnificent car and supported by an extraordinary team.

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Red Bull also confirmed their Constructors’ title thanks to very good performances from Sergio Perez, who in turn took two wins during the season, in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Baku (Azerbaijan), taking his career total to six. , reports Agerpres.

Since 2023, the Austrian team has won all but one of the Grands Prix: the night Grand Prix at the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore, which was won by Carlos Sainz Jr.

The Spanish pilot achieved his second success in Formula 1 and thus saved the honor of Ferrari, which had to settle for third place in the constructors after Mercedes.