Along with numerous records that Max Verstappen claimed this season in F1, the three-time world champion also secured the record of leading 1000 laps in a single year. Now, the Dutchman revealed that it was a deliberate move that saw him sacrifice the theoretically fastest strategy.
Verstappen, talking to the media following the conclusion of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix revealed that it was possible from both engineering and strategic points of view. In a nutshell, neither the team nor the driver was ready to let go of such an impressive record.
Lap 1 ⇢ Lap 1,003 led in 2023 by Max pic.twitter.com/DWdpNQAMky
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) November 29, 2023
The Red Bull driver, speaking about this, said as per Motorsport, “From an engineering point of view, with the strategy, we wanted to try to plan everything so that I didn’t have to pit too early.” Admittedly, the Dutchman led the Abu Dhabi GP from Lap 1 to Lap 16 before he went for the PitStop.
Following this, he further added, “In the first stint I didn’t know what to expect, because I hadn’t done a long run. So I probably went a little too slow at the start, but I think it was better than trying to push too hard and risk destroying the tires.”
Verstappen regained the lead of the race in Lap 23 after it changed hands from Charles Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda in the middle. The defending champion stayed calm with his tires throughout the race, but he began to push only in the last few laps to get the maximum out of the tires.
Verstappen took the risky path despite knowing the outcome
Even though leading 1000 laps in a single season looks illustrious, there were risks on the way, which Max Verstappen was well aware of during the race. He knew that it was not the best strategy on paper and an untimed safety car could have ruined it all.
Speaking about this, Verstappen revealed, “Naturally, to try to achieve this goal, we didn’t always choose the fastest strategy. But I wanted to stay in the lead to gain laps and lead the race, trying to reach a thousand laps in the lead this season.”
This is the perfect way to end our extraordinary season I’m extremely grateful for all of the hard work that’s gone into this year by each and everyone of you involved @redbullracing & @HondaRacingGLB To win 19 races in a season is just incredible It’s a privilege to be… pic.twitter.com/vOkhVPyD0k
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) November 26, 2023
As the three-time world champion regained the lead of the race in Lap 23, he ended up being in the lead till the last lap. In doing so, he crossed the 1000 mark as he ended on 1003. As Verstappen took the Chequered Flag, it also marked his 19th GP win of the season.
In the end, Verstappen led a staggering 1003 laps, out of a total of 1325 possible laps in 2023. This is like leading around 75 percent of all laps combined together this year. In doing so, he broke Sebastian Vettel’s long-standing record of leading 739 laps in 2011.
