The facts and stats behind Verstappen’s historic F1 title

The Red Bull driver’s controversial last-lap pass on Lewis Hamilton for victory in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw him become the 34th world champion in the history of F1, and the first from the Netherlands. 

Here are a selection of some of the best facts and stats behind Verstappen’s most impressive F1 season yet…

- Verstappen took the most wins of any driver (10) in 2021, two more than Hamilton. 

- In doing so, Verstappen amassed the same number of race wins he had achieved in his entire F1 career since 2015, moving him onto a total of 20

- Verstappen had the most pole positions of any driver (10), double the amount of Hamilton 

- Verstappen had the most podium finishes of any driver (18), setting a new season record in the process. Hamilton racked up 17

- Verstappen is one of four drivers in F1 history to have become world champion before the age of 25. All four (Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel) will be on the grid in 2022

- Verstappen is the fourth youngest F1 world champion in history at 24 years, two months and 12 days. He was eight months older than the youngest ever (Vettel)

- Verstappen is the second world champion to win the title for Red Bull after Vettel won four in a row between 2010 and 2013 

- Verstappen is the only non-Mercedes driver to have won the world championship in the V6 turbo hybrid era 

- Verstappen become the first driver in F1 history to clinch the title with a last-lap overtake for victory. It also marked the first time since Jenson Button’s victory in Canada 2011 that a driver won after leading only the final lap 

- Verstappen led a total of 652 laps across the course of the season - more than double the number of laps led by Hamilton (297) and more than the other nine drivers who led races combined (348). It equates to 50.3 percent of all race laps across 2021

- Verstappen had an average finishing position of 1.84. Excluding non-finishes in Baku, Silverstone and Monza, and a ninth-place finish in Hungary (with a damaged car), Verstappen never finished outside of the top two

- Verstappen’s points tally of 395.5 is the fourth highest points total ever achieved in a single season, just 1.5 points fewer than what Vettel scored in his final title-winning campaign with Red Bull in 2013. Hamilton holds the outright record with 413 points in 2019, while he also notched up 408 on his way to his fifth world title the year before