Max Verstappen has driven 209 Grands Prix in his Formula 1 career and has taken a few dominant victories during that period with Red Bull.
His best season was in 2023 when he made winning races look effortless behind the wheel of the RB19, taking 19 victories out of a possible 22 races.
A Red Bull mechanic claimed winning in 2023 was ‘easy’ for the team, as Verstappen effectively ended the season as the third driver with the most wins in F1 (54 wins) behind Michael Schumacher (91) and Lewis Hamilton (104).
The Dutchman added nine to that tally in 2024 with a car that was not as competitive as the RB19, including suffering from an 11-race win drought between the Spanish and Brazilian Grands Prix.
Brazil turned out to be one of Verstappen’s most iconic wins as he came from P17 on the grid to take victory, and effectively seal his fourth title.
But of all the victories, Verstappen has named one race as the favourite in his career when speaking on his official website.
Max Verstappen names 2016 Spanish Grand Prix as best race of career
David Coulthard said Verstappen’s victory at the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix was one of the greatest wet weather drives of all time, considering he kept out of trouble while his title rivals struggled.
Discussing the topic of which race he likes the most out of his career, Verstappen chose one race that he thinks stands out because of how ’emotional’ it became for him.
“It’s hard to choose. First of all, I don’t remember all of them”, Max confesses, “but I think my first race win was very emotional. Then at the same time, winning your first championship, you know, these kind of milestones are of course incredibly important, so they have to be one of your favorite races.
“But then at the same time, you know, winning a race by like 30 seconds, which I think (we did) in Hungary, maybe. In Austria as well. When everything is just going really well – the whole weekend, that can be also really enjoyable. And of course we cannot forget Brazil because that was just incredibly important at that stage of the season.”
Max Verstappen wins race after Mercedes collide
Verstappen took his first Grand Prix victory at the Circuit de Catalunya Barcelona in 2016, following an unexpected turn of events.
Mercedes was dominant that year and both their drivers; Hamilton and Rosberg had locked out the front row. But after three corners that advantage turned into a disaster when they collided on the run into Turn 5, with both drivers retiring on the spot.
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Verstappen had qualified in third and effectively inherited the lead from the Silver Arrows, but had to hold off a charging Kimi Raikkonen.
As one of the most experienced drivers on the F1 grid piled on the pressure, Verstappen kept calm for 60 laps and took his first victory. Little did he know that it would be the first of over 200 wins and counting.
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