With victory at Interlagos, Verstappen breaks 71-year-old record

With the recent dominance it has built in Formula 1, Max Verstappen has become accustomed to breaking records. A victory at the São Paulo GPin Interlagos, means breaking one of the oldest records in the category – and a very significant one: now, Verstappen is the owner of the greatest dominance of a season in the entire history of the sport.

The triumph achieved at Interlagos was the Dutchman’s 17th of the year. The 17 victories out of the 22 possible throughout the year mean a 77.2% utilization. With this number, he surpasses Alberto Ascari, who was champion of the distant 1952 season, winning 6 of the 8 races, that is, with a 75% success rate.

There are still two races left until the end of the season, one in Las Vegas, the other in Abu Dhabi. If he wins one more of them, Verstappen will reach 81.8%. If he achieves both, the record will be expanded to an impressive 86.3%.

The Red Bull driver had already broken the mark of 15 in the same year (which was his own, last year), and the mark for most consecutive victories in the same season, with 10 (was Vettel’s, who had 9 in 2013).

By winning at Interlagos, he also surpassed Alain Prost in the category’s historical ranking, with 52 achievements. One remains to tie with Sebastian Vettel’s 53. If everything goes as usual, Verstappen will end the year as the third biggest winner in F1 history, behind only Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.