Max’ 2017 season’s statistics
Published on 28 December 2017 by Mike Motilall
After a year brimmed with records in 2016, Max’ performance in 2017 was once again fuel for some remarkable statistics.
In 2017 Max was twice victorious, bringing his total to three Formula 1-wins. With that the youngster has won as many Grands Prix as Mike Hawthorn and Phil Hill, world champions in respectively 1958 and 1961. On his second and third win, Max was younger than the second youngest ever Grand Prix-winner, Sebastian Vettel.
However, Max was in 2017, for the first in time in his career, no longer the youngest driver ever on the grid. Lance Stroll was the recipient of that accolade the past year.
Max was leader of the pack in four Grands Prix, just as many as in 2016, but with 133 laps in the lead. Considerably more than the 42 laps the previous year. In Mexico, the Dutchman was the leader the entire race, making him the youngest ever driver in the history of Formula1 to have done this. In total Max has now driven 175 laps at the front of the field in his career, just one less than Red Bull Racing-team mate Daniel Ricciardo.
In Singapore, Verstappen started the race, for the second time in his Formula 1-career, from the front row. Just like the first time, at Spa-Francorchamps in 2016, Max came into contact with both Ferrari’s, causing the race to finish in a big deception. Coincidentally, Max won the races in Malaysia and Mexico from the second spot on the grid. In Malaysia however, this was not the front row, but Kimi Raikkonen’s failing to take the start created a vacancy on P2.
Verstappen is still waiting for his first pole position. He has the entire 2018 season to snatch that record away from the youngest ever pole sitter, Sebastian Vettel. In 2008, he put his Toro Rosso in Monza on pole being 21 years, two months and eleven days.
Twice Max started a race from P16 (China and the United States), his worst starting position of the season and both times he finished third, after a magnificent catch-up race. However, he was stripped from his third place finish in the US, resulting in him being fourth in the final standings. A repeat of what happened to him last year in Mexico as well.
With 421 points in 60 Grands Prix, Verstappen has acquired more points than Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean, they also took considerably more time to do so. In the final six races of the season, Max managed to score 100 points. Together with Lewis Hamilton, the most of all the drivers. With 168 points and a sixth place in the championship, Verstappen finished however one place lower than last year.
The qualifying battle with Ricciardo was won 13-7 in favor of the Dutchman. Even in the races where both RB13’s made it to the finish line, Verstappen had the upperhand. Five times Max finished ahead of Ricciardo, who in turn only finished twice ahead of the Dutchman.
With thirteen DNF’s (the highest amount since 2007) and thirteen podiums, it was quite an unstable season for the Red Bull Racing team with an aptly chosen name for their car: RB13. Max was forced to drop out in seven races, nearly as many times as in 2015 and 2016 combined (8 DNF’s). He also drove the least laps of all the drivers who partook in all the races. The remaining thirteen races that Max finished, with the exception of Monza, where he came in tenth, were all top five-finishes.
Finally, Verstappen was able to add four more podiums to his list this year, bringing the total to eleven. Just like in 2016, Max topped the leaderboard only once, and once again it was at the Brazilian Grand Prix. All in all, a score card not to be ashamed of.
