Top 5 Crazy Stats of Max Verstappen’s Brazilian GP Victory

Three-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen made a decisive leap towards his fourth straight title by winning the Brazilian GP on Sunday (3/11) with one of the greatest driving recitals of his career.

At the start of the year it would have seemed incredible that this victory for the Dutchman, in a Red Bull RB20 that had looked invincible until April, would be his first after a 10-match losing streak to the drivers of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes. The Dutchman had lost 10 consecutive games since 2020, while in 2022 and 2023 he lost in total 10 matches.

But that’s exactly what happened, and it’s not like Max’s victory came because of the (undoubted) improvement of the RB20. He came because of his driving skill, in the most difficult, unpredictable, rainy GP of the year. And with his win he scored some amazing stats – let’s check them out:

• He became the first to win a GP from 10 different starting positions
  With his win from 17th on Sunday, Max has now won a race from 10 different grip positions. The remaining nine were positions 1-2-3-4-6-7-9-10-14. Second in the relevant table, Fernando Alonso, has won from nine different starting positions.

• It was just the 5th win in 1,121 Formula 1 GPs from 17th and back
  In F1’s seven and a half decades, and in its total of 1,121 GPs, just five times has a driver won from 17th place and back. Kimi Raikkonen won in Japan in 2005 from 17th, while Rubens Barrichello won in Germany in 2000 from 18th. The other two such wins have been achieved by John Watson: from 17th place in the 1982 Detroit GP and from 22nd place in the 1983 US GP West.

• 10 of his final 11 laps were the fastest of the race
  On a track that was still wet in places and beginning to dry out in others, the Dutchman set the fastest laps consecutively in the last 11 of the Brazilian GP – although for everyone the grip was at least vague. And in the end his fastest lap of 1:20.472 was more than a second faster than second place, set by Lando Norris. Nine of Verstappen’s last 11 laps, in fact, were faster than Norris’.

• The biggest margin of victory in Brazil since 2000
  With his 19.447 seconds clear of second-placed Esteban Ocon, Verstappen took the most commanding victory at Interlago since 2000, when Michael Schumacher in his dominant Ferrari beat Benetton’s Giancarlo Fisichella by 39.898 seconds. At the same time, this is the 6th largest margin in favor of the winner in the history of the Brazilian GP.

• He broke the record for longest time leading the drivers’ championship
  With his victory at Interlagos, Max not only took a giant step towards his fourth consecutive title, but also broke Michael Schumacher’s record for the longest driver’s time at the top of the F1 standings. “Sumi” had held it for 896 consecutive days.