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Max Verstappen’s win at the Monaco Grand Prix passes Sebastian Vettel for most wins in Red Bull history.
Since his entrance into the Red Bull team in 2016, Max Verstappen has been a force to be reckoned with. His most recent display of dominance around the streets of Monaco gave him his 39th career win, passing Sebastian Vettel for most in Red Bull history.
Verstappen is currently a double World Champion and has his sights set on a third at the end of this season. Sebastian Vettel achieved 4 championships for the Austrian team, yet another milestone Verstappen has his eyes on surpassing.
The last two seasons have been quite simple in terms of Verstappen’s championship charges. However, after spending his first 5 years with the team behind the utter dominance of Hamilton and Rosberg, this record is a well-deserved pat on the back to Max Verstappen.
Here is a look back on the years, and notable races, that led to this accomplishment:
2016: The rookie year
Max Verstappen stands on the podium and soaks in his first win in Formula One at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix (Image Credit: Urbanandsport / Getty Images)2016 was actually Verstappen’s second year in the sport, but his first with Red Bull Racing. Max would spend this season’s first four races with Toro Rosso, the Red Bull junior team, before getting the call-up at the Spanish Grand Prix in replacement of Daniil Kvyat. His first race for the team ended with Verstappen seeing the podium’s top step for the first time.
This would be the only time this season that Max was able to pull a win out of the bag, but he was able to stand on the podium in another six races.
2017: Finding his form
Max celebrating his win at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix (Image Credit: Lars Baron / Getty Images)The 2017 season featured Verstappen becoming a little more comfortable in the car. This is the season in which he achieved wins number 2 and 3 in Mexico and Malaysia. This season also saw Max amount to four more podiums and the second-fastest lap of his career.
This season would find Max finishing 6th place in the driver’s championship, one place down from last year.
2018: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast
Max Verstappen celebrating his win at the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix (Image Credit: Charles Coates / Getty Images)This is the first season that we began to see the Max Verstappen that races today. With another 2 wins added to his tally in Mexico and Austria, this would mean for the first time in his career, Verstappen would outperform his teammate on overall points. Max would also put up a then career high 11 podiums in his march to finish P4 in the standings.
This would also be the last year that Verstappen spent with Ricciardo, a driver pairing that amounted to P2 constructors finish, as well as a handful of wins.
2019: The changing of the guard
Max receiving the P2 trophy for his podium at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, the race that saw his first ever pole position (Image Credit: Marco Canoniero / Getty Images)The start of the 2019 season featured Max Verstappen paired up with Pierre Gasly, a graduate of the Toro Rosso programme. With Gasly as his teammate, Max achieved 2 wins, and his first Pole Position, however, Gasly was not having the same fortune. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, the weekend that saw Verstappens maiden pole, the Red Bull team would replace Gasly with Alexander Albon, yet another graduate of the junior team.
After the replacement, Verstappen continued on his same form of excellency, achieving yet another pole and win. This brought his win tally to 8, only one behind the great Mark Webber.
2020: Couldn’t keep up
The Red Bull F1 team celebrating Max’s win at the 2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix (Image Credit: Mark Thompson / Getty Images)2020 featured a shortened season due to the Corona Virus pandemic. However, for the races that were able to take place, Max couldn’t do hardly anything about the pace of the Mercedes. The W11, which is now considered one of the most dominant F1 cars in history, and a prime Lewis Hamilton, held Verstappen to only 2 wins the entire season.
Verstappen however became very familiar with the podium. He was able to finish in the top 3 11 times, equaling the career high that he set for himself in 2018.
It was at this point where Verstappen started to finally find his feet in terms of being able to contend for the championship. On top of using this season as a growth season, Red Bull would also come out early in 2021 with a car that could keep up with Verstappen.
2021: Champion at last
Max hoisting the trophy after winning the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Image Credit: Dan Istitene / Getty Images)The 2021 season featured Verstappen finally being able to perform at the top level of his form. The addition of new teammate Sergio Perez allowed for Red Bull to finally have a shot at winning the Constructors Championship. After months of competing with Hamilton, Verstappen had claimed 9 win, 9 poles, and 17 podiums heading into the final weekend of the season.
What would happen next would go down in history as the most controversial finish to not only an F1 race, but an F1 championship as a whole. However, Max Verstappen crossed the line as was deemed the rightful owner of the 2021 championship. However, the Red Bull team were not able to secure the Constructors Championship over Mercedes
This season brought him ever closer to the likes of Sebastian Vettel in terms of wins.
2022: Back-to-Back
Max celebrating his 2nd World Championship at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix (Image Credit: Clive Mason / Getty Images)The 2022 season featured the first sign of utter domination from Verstappen. 15 wins, 7 poles, 17 podiums, and 5 fastest laps were able to be added to his resume, as well as clinching the World Championship at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The competition this season was not scarce, but the likes of Perez and Leclerc just weren’t able to keep up with the consistently flawless performances that Verstappen was able to achieve.
2023: To be continued…
Max stands on the top step of the podium at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix (Image Credit: Eric Alonso / Getty Images)The 2023 season has only just begun, and after the first 6 races it seems like the Verstappen era won’t be ending anytime soon. Max has finished on the top step of the podium in 4 of the 6 races, while his teammate Sergio Perez finished in first the other two weekends. When the Dutchman isn’t on top of the podium, he is always in contention, finishing P2 in the only two races this season that he did not win.
This weekend’s race in Monaco passes Vettel as the driver with the most wins in Red Bull history
This season is still on going, and anything could happen, but it looks like we will be congratulating Max on passing the likes of Senna and Prost very soon.
