F1
Max Verstappen is a four-time World Champion and fully confirmed as one of the all-time greats. But, as the Dutch maestro sets new records in F1, which are his best ever drives?
Summary
- 12015 Malaysian Grand Prix – qualified 6th, finished 7th
- 22016 Spanish Grand Prix – victory
- 32016 Brazilian Grand Prix – 4th to 3rd (via 16th)
- 42018 Austrian Grand Prix – victory from P4
- 52018 Mexican Grand Prix – victory from P2
- 62021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – P3 to victory
- 72022 Hungarian Grand Prix – 10th to 1st
- 82022 Belgian Grand Prix – P14 to victory
- 92023 Spanish Grand Prix – grand slam!
- 102024 Brazilian Grand Prix – Simply lovely
- 11And finally...
From the moment he arrived in the F1 paddock, Max Verstappen has proven himself to be the brightest talent of his generation, setting an astonishing run of new records in his wake. These are what we think to be his best drives in an F1 car, from commanding drives from the front to dramatic drives through the field to the top.
01
2015 Malaysian Grand Prix – qualified 6th, finished 7th
There's no such thing as consensus in F1, but it came close when Max Verstappen was announced as a Toro Rosso – now rebranded as Scuderia AlphaTauri – driver for 2015. He was too young and didn't have enough experience. On his debut he would be 17 years and 166 days old, almost two years younger than Jaime Alguesuari had been when he set the existing record. On top of that, Verstappen hadn't raced anything more powerful than a Formula 3 car. His critics' knives were sharpened and ready before he even had his first seat fitting.
Verstappen ignored the background noise and made an excellent debut, qualifying 11th and running in the points before suffering an engine failure. It was to get even better at the second race of the season, qualifying sixth and finishing seventh, and beating his team-mate Carlos Sainz and the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat.
In challenging conditions of heavy rain and high temperatures, he brought the Toro home in seventh to become F1's youngest-ever points scorer. He was even mildly annoyed with the result after struggling with poor braking performance for the first 15 laps. As for his critics? They were now silent.
02
2016 Spanish Grand Prix – victory
Following the departure of Sebastian Vettel in 2014, the race was on between the star graduates of the Red Bull Junior Team to occupy the vacant seat at Red Bull Racing. Verstappen was racing not only his Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz, but also Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull Racing. As Kvyat felt the pressure, Varstappen’s eye-catching performances made a compelling case and the two swapped seats for the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
With very little prep time, Verstappen jumped into the RB12 and won the race. In what has become his signature style, he low-balled it afterwards, saying he did okay, got lucky with the Mercedes drivers falling over each other, and lucky again to get the 'good' strategy to Daniel's 'bad' one. The fact remains however that he took a debut grand prix win while holding off two charging Ferraris in a new car where he still didn't know what all the buttons did. It's difficult to imagine tougher circumstances in which to become a Grand Prix winner – the youngest in F1 history.
03
2016 Brazilian Grand Prix – 4th to 3rd (via 16th)
Like Ayrton Senna's mesmerising drive for Lotus in the wet at Monaco in 1984, this was the moment when the world sat up and took notice of a generational talent. Verstappen's team gambled and lost by choosing Inters and he then performed miracles to catch a spin on the main straight – all of which left him in P16 with just 14 laps remaining.
In those 14 laps, the Dutchman dragged himself up to third place, finding grip where no one else could around Interlagos as he propelled himself up the order. He was unstoppable and it was as if Verstappen was driving on a different surface to everyone else. Sure of his braking points, decisive in his overtaking moves and 100 percent fearless. A new talent arrived on the world stage and – spoiler alert – this was a dress rehearsal for an even greater performance at the same circuit.
04
2018 Austrian Grand Prix – victory from P4
Verstappen rules the Red Bull Ring, taking five wins at the mountainous circuit – four at the Austrian Grand Prix, including his first ever grand slam in 2021, and one more at the Styrian Grand Prix. As the Orange Army packed the grandstands, the Dutch driver's win in 2018 was a signal of what was to come. As in Spain in 2016, both Mercedes cars were out of the running, but when Lewis Hamilton rolled to a halt this time, Verstappen was already leading and 30 seconds up the road.
He started brilliantly, pulling-off an audacious pass on the first lap, banging wheels with Kimi Räikkönen to take third place heading towards the Rindt Kurve – not a place one usually sees overtaking. He then inherited second when Valtteri Bottas slowed to a halt on Lap 13 and he was handed the net lead of the race when Mercedes decided to not pit Hamilton under the subsequent Virtual Safety Car. "I'm so happy to win at the Red Bull Ring and with so many Dutch fans here," Verstappen said after the race. "It was also so unexpected and that makes it even better. An amazing weekend. If you want to win a race this is the perfect place, in a Red Bull car at the Red Bull Ring."
05
2018 Mexican Grand Prix – victory from P2
Verstappen had performed a masterful win here in 2017, seizing the lead from Sebastian Vettel with a bold pass at the start and racing away into the distance. 2018 was almost a carbon copy, but this time he was beaten to a maiden pole position by his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who edged him by just 0.026s. Lining up P2 on the grid, Verstappen was quicker off the draw and took the lead.
From there he was imperious, driving faultlessly to the finish and building a 30-second lead to his nearest rival Vettel in a Ferrari. Such was Verstappen's lead, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, who claimed his fifth world title that afternoon, were the only other drivers on the same lap when the checkered flag fell.
I'm so happy to win at the Red Bull Ring and with so many Dutch fans here. It was also so unexpected and that makes it even better.
06
2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – P3 to victory
Mercedes had enjoyed an unprecedented period of dominance in F1, but all that changed in the feverish days of 2021 and this was the starting point. Verstappen had secured pole at the opening race of the season in Bahrain, but had missed out on victory by the narrowest of margins. It didn’t look promising at Imola, as Hamilton claimed pole and Sergio Pérez took P2.
Heavy rain meant Verstappen could use his wet-racing skills and he got the jump on his team-mate at the start to challenge Hamilton for the lead in the chase up to Tamburello. They traded paint and Verstappen emerged in the lead, which he retained despite a safety car period and a restart after the race was red flagged. It was a clear signal that Hamilton was in a serious fight for the championship.
07
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix – 10th to 1st
Problems in qualifying with his power unit meant that Verstappen couldn’t set a time in Q3 and lined up in P10 at the Hungaroring – a notoriously narrow track where overtaking is at a premium. None of that bothered him and from the start he scythed his way past his rivals and moved up the grid. The team's pit strategy helped him get the undercut on Hamilton and Fernando Alonso for P5.
As if there wasn't enough drama, he spun after passing Charles Leclerc, but recovered and passed him again. Another round of pit stops and he took the lead on Lap 51 of 70, racing away to take the checkered flag nearly eight seconds clear of the field. Speaking after the race, Verstappen said: "It feels crazy to have won the race today from P10, especially on a track like this where it's very hard to pass. We made all the right calls today, there were some good undercuts and overall we did a great job today as a team. This was definitely one of my best races, despite the little 360-degree spin!”
08
2022 Belgian Grand Prix – P14 to victory
Verstappen was quickest in qualifying but was demoted to P14 thanks to a slew of penalties for replacing components. Unphased, he began picking his way past his rivals and after one lap of the undulating Spa-Francorchamps circuit he was already running in eighth place. By Lap 12, he took the lead from team-mate Sergio Pérez, before pitting four laps later. This time he needed to take the lead from Carlos Sainz and then enjoyed a clear run to the flag. He also claimed a bonus point for the fastest lap as he lead the field home by more than 17 seconds. Victory in the land of his birth and on one of the toughest circuits on the calendar.
09
2023 Spanish Grand Prix – grand slam!
A grand slam in F1 – or grand chelem – is winning from pole position, setting the fastest lap and leading every lap of the race. Max Verstappen has five grand slams, Austria 2021, Emilia-Romagna 2022, Spain 2023, Qatar 2023 and Bahrain 2024. That puts him third on the all-time list, level with Alberto Ascari and Michael Schumacher, with only Lewis Hamilton (6) and Jim Clark (8) ahead.
His third came on the circuit where he scored his first win and was the gold standard performance in the most dominant season in F1 history as Oracle Red Bull Racing won 22 out of 23 Grands Prix, with Max on top in an astonishing 19.
The Spanish round is often the race where rival teams close the gap after adding new components, but Verstappen didn't put a foot wrong in a lights-to-flag victory, looking every inch a three-time world champion elect and leading by such a large gap that he could pit and retain the lead over his team-mate Sergio Pérez. After the race, he said: “To win here again feels incredible. It's a massive pleasure to drive a car like this.”
10
2024 Brazilian Grand Prix – Simply lovely
Perhaps the greatest-ever wet weather driver and a definitive performance by Max. This was the World Champion proving his superlative skills in the very toughest conditions. After the dominance of 2023, 2024 saw Max’s rivals close the gap and for long stretches of the season, he no longer had the quickest car. At the tail-end of the season, the pressure was on as the momentum seemed to be with Lando Norris of McLaren, who claimed pole position after victory in Saturday’s Sprint race. After a Quali session delayed and disrupted by heavy rain and five red flags, Max picked up a penalty for fitting a new engine which saw him lining up P17.
On race day, the rain was unrelenting which led to false starts, crash, false restarts, more crashes and even a black flag confining Nico Hülkenberg to the garage. But Max Verstappen’s supreme skill in the wet saw the Dutchman finding grip where no one else could as he weaved through the field passing Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Oscar Piastri and to pass race leader Esteban Ocon to deliver a victory that underlined Max’s status as the best driver on the grid and a four-time World Champion.
11
And finally...
Of course, being a natural contrarian, were you to ask Verstappen about his best race he wouldn’t list any of those. According to the man himself you have to go back to 2013 and the World KZ Championship at Varennes-sur-Allier, France. Verstappen won the coveted KZ1 title, the highest category in karting, open only to those 15 and over. He, naturally, was 15 at the time.
