During the first practice session at the
2014 Japanese Grand Prix, Verstappen replaced
Jean-Éric Vergne as part of his preparation for a full-time seat at
Toro Rosso in the season. Aged 17 years and three days, Verstappen was the youngest person in history to participate in a Formula One race weekend. In August 2014, Verstappen joined the
Red Bull Junior Team after testing a Formula Renault 3.5 car. He also considered an offer from
Mercedes to join their
driver development programme.
Toro Rosso (2015–2016) ) became the youngest driver in Formula One history at the , aged 17. Verstappen then became the
youngest driver to start a World Championship race through joining Toro Rosso's race drivers' line-up with
Carlos Sainz as his teammate, in his Grand Prix debut as a full-time driver at the
2015 Australian Grand Prix at the age of breaking
Jaime Alguersuari's existing record by almost two years. In this first race, Verstappen ran in points-scoring positions until he was forced to retire due to an engine failure. However, at the subsequent race in
Malaysia, Verstappen qualified sixth and finished the race in seventh place, scoring his first Formula One points aged , breaking the record of the then-
youngest driver to score World Championship points. At the
2015 Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen was involved in a high-speed collision with
Romain Grosjean, after clipping the back of Grosjean's
Lotus on the approach to the tight first corner, Sainte Devote, and crashed into the barriers at high speed. Verstappen was given a five-place grid penalty for causing the accident, and was branded "dangerous" by
Williams driver
Felipe Massa. Verstappen continued to regularly finish in the points as well as achieving his best finish of the 2015 season in
Hungary by finishing fourth, and equalled this result at the
United States Grand Prix. At the end of the season, Verstappen received three awards at the
FIA Prize Giving Ceremony, for "Rookie of the Year", "Personality of the Year" and "Action of the Year", for his overtake on
Felipe Nasr on the outside of the Blanchimont corner at the
Belgian Grand Prix. Verstappen began the 2016 season at Toro Rosso, again alongside Sainz. Verstappen qualified fifth for the opening race of the season in
Australia, but during the race made several radio calls to his team due to frustration at being behind Sainz on track before Verstappen's Toro Rosso came into contact with his teammate's car whilst attempting to pass him with three laps to go, and he eventually finished tenth. Verstappen enjoyed a more successful weekend at the following race in
Bahrain, finishing sixth to score Toro Rosso's first-ever points at the Sakhir circuit.
Red Bull (2016–present) 2016: Youngest Grand Prix winner , in his first race for the Red Bull Racing team On 5 May 2016, following the , Red Bull Racing announced that Verstappen would be replacing Daniil Kvyat from the
Spanish Grand Prix onwards, with Kvyat returning to Toro Rosso. According to Red Bull Team Principal
Christian Horner, "Max has proven to be an outstanding young talent. His performance at Toro Rosso has been impressive so far and we are pleased to give him the opportunity to drive for Red Bull Racing." After qualifying fourth for the Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen rose to second behind teammate
Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap after Mercedes teammates
Lewis Hamilton and
Nico Rosberg crashed out of the race. Verstappen took the race lead as he was placed on a two-stop rather than the same three-stop strategy as Ricciardo, and he held off
Ferrari's
Kimi Räikkönen in the later stages of the race to take his first Formula One victory. By doing so he displaced
Sebastian Vettel as the youngest driver ever to win a Formula One Grand Prix at the age of 18 years and 228 days. In his first eight races with Red Bull, he achieved six top-five finishes, including four podiums. and
Nico Rosberg at the
2016 Malaysian Grand Prix During the
Belgian Grand Prix, Verstappen collided with Räikkönen at the first corner, pushed Vettel, Räikkönen and Pérez wide at
Les Combes, and aggressively blocked Räikkönen on the Kemmel straight. Verstappen was criticised for his driving, with Räikkönen saying that he was "going to cause a huge accident sooner or later". Christian Horner noted that the driving was "on the edge", and that Verstappen will "look at it and learn for future races". In September, Formula One director
Charlie Whiting called in Verstappen for a discussion, and later gave him a 'gentle warning' due to his aggressive driving. In October, drivers' concerns about Verstappen's defensive tactics led the FIA to disallow moving under braking. At the
2016 Brazilian Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified fourth. In a rain affected race, he almost hit the barrier after he slid on the main straight due to a loss of traction, causing
oversteer. After an additional tyre change from intermediates back to rain tyres, he ran in 16th place with just 15 laps remaining. Verstappen then made several overtakes in quick succession during the closing laps to eventually finish on the podium in third place. He received considerable praise for his performance: rival team Mercedes' team principal,
Toto Wolff, labelled it "The Verstappen Show", and described Verstappen's drive as "physics..being redefined". However, Verstappen came under criticism from four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who stated that Verstappen had pushed him off the track at the Junção corner late in the race. The race stewards did not share Vettel's view and decided that no reprimand was warranted.
2017–2018: Reliability issues and rise to prominence During the first 14 races of the 2017 season, Verstappen suffered seven retirements, four due to mechanical issues, and three due to first lap collisions in
Spain,
Austria and
Singapore. Of the races he finished, however, he claimed a third place in
China, and in another five races he finished fourth or fifth. He finished second in the following
race in Japan. He then finished third at the
United States Grand Prix, but was classified fourth after his final lap overtake on Kimi Räikkönen was deemed illegal. He won his third Formula One race at the
Mexican Grand Prix, after passing
Sebastian Vettel on the opening lap. In the first six races of the season, Verstappen had been involved in at least one incident in each race. In
Australia, he qualified fourth but fell behind
Kevin Magnussen at the start. In his attempts to retake the position he ran wide multiple times and damaged his car, with a spin causing him to fall further down the order. He recovered to eventually finish the race in sixth place. At the next race in
Bahrain, he crashed during qualifying and started in 15th place. He had a productive first lap after which he found himself in the points while challenging Lewis Hamilton. He attempted an overtake on the reigning World Champion at the start of lap two, but collided with the Mercedes driver and suffered a puncture that ultimately led to suspension damage, forcing him out of the race. At the next race in
China, Verstappen qualified fifth and had moved up to third at the end of the first lap. Both Red Bull drivers pitted for fresh tyres during a safety car which left them with a tyre advantage over the front-runners ahead. In an overtake attempt on
Sebastian Vettel for third place, Verstappen collided with the championship leader, causing him to fall to eighth and receive a 10-second penalty. He recovered to fourth place, with his penalty causing him to be classified fifth. Teammate Ricciardo went on to win the race. In
Azerbaijan, Verstappen was embroiled in a race-long battle with Ricciardo for fourth place. After numerous position changes between the two teammates during the race, Ricciardo ran into the back of Verstappen during an overtake attempt from which the Dutchman aggressively defended, causing the retirement of both cars. Both drivers were blamed by the team and reprimanded by the stewards. Verstappen bounced back in
Spain with his first podium of the season by finishing third behind the Mercedes drivers, holding off
Sebastian Vettel. However, the race was also not without incident as he had run into the back of
Lance Stroll during the virtual safety car period, causing minor front wing damage. In
Monaco, Verstappen made another error and crashed near the end of the third free practice session in an incident which closely resembled a crash he had at the same spot
two years earlier. His team could not repair his car in time for qualifying and Verstappen had to start the race from the back of the grid. Verstappen did not compete and did not set a lap time in qualifying, therefore teammate Ricciardo pressed home Red Bull's advantage at the track by taking
pole position and the race win. Verstappen managed to salvage two points by finishing ninth place, overtaking six cars on track. Team principal Christian Horner commented on Verstappen's start of the season, saying he "needed to stop making these mistakes" and that he could "learn from his teammate", while
Helmut Marko, head of driver development at Red Bull, said that Verstappen was "too impatient". and
Sebastian Vettel after winning the
2018 Austrian Grand Prix In
Canada, Verstappen topped all three practice sessions and qualified third, two-tenths off Sebastian Vettel in pole position. He eventually finished third and set the fastest lap of the race. The following race in
France brought him second place. In
Austria—Red Bull's home track, he started fourth on the grid, passed Kimi Räikkönen before taking advantage of retirement from
Valtteri Bottas and a botched pit-stop strategy by Lewis Hamilton, who later had to retire from fourth place, to claim the fourth race victory of his career. In
Britain, Verstappen was plagued by issues, finishing the first practice session early due to a gearbox problem and crashing in the second practice session before retiring from the race due to a brake problem. He would then finish fourth in
Germany after strategy errors let a recovering Hamilton get past him as he went on to win the race. Verstappen ended the first half of the season with a retirement in
Hungary and was narrowly behind his teammate in the championship due to his own recent resurgence and Ricciardo's unreliability. Verstappen enjoyed a very strong second half of the season, achieving podium finishes in
Belgium,
Singapore,
Japan and the
United States, the latter of which he achieved second place having started from 18th on the grid due to a suspension failure in qualifying. Following the qualifying session at the
Mexican Grand Prix, Verstappen revealed that a mechanical problem with his Red Bull under braking cost him any chance of becoming the youngest-ever Formula One pole-sitter. As a result, Ricciardo beat Verstappen to pole position by just 0.026 seconds. Verstappen had a better start than Ricciardo and took the lead of the race into the first corner, overtaking the fast-starting Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen earned his fifth career win in Mexico. He was poised to win the
2018 Brazilian Grand Prix, having overtaken Räikkönen, Vettel, Bottas, and Hamilton. However, he collided with
Force India driver
Esteban Ocon who was trying to unlap himself on faster tyres. Ocon received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for the incident. After the collision with Ocon, Verstappen finished in second place behind Hamilton. During an argument with Ocon after the race, Verstappen pushed the Force India driver, for which he was given two days of "public service" as a penalty by the FIA. He then finished his season with another podium as he finished third in Abu Dhabi. Verstappen ended the season in fourth place in the championship with 249 points, claiming two wins, eleven podium finishes, and two fastest laps.
2019–2020: Dominating teammates , where he started on pole position for the first time in his career In , Red Bull switched from Renault to
Honda power units. After Ricciardo moved to the
Renault team for 2019, Verstappen was joined at Red Bull by
Pierre Gasly. Verstappen qualified in fourth and finished third in
Australia, the first podium finish for a
Honda-powered driver since the
2008 British Grand Prix. Verstappen was on course for a second third-place finish in
Bahrain before a late safety car prevented him from overtaking Charles Leclerc's ailing Ferrari, keeping him in fourth place. Two more fourth-place finishes followed in
China and
Azerbaijan, and a podium in
Spain in third place. In
Monaco, Verstappen qualified in third place. He was released into the path of Valtteri Bottas during the drivers' pit stops, gaining second place but receiving a 5-second penalty as a result. Verstappen crossed the line in second place but was demoted to fourth by the penalty. In
Canada, Verstappen's final lap in the second qualifying session was hampered by a red flag brought out by
Kevin Magnussen's crash. This caused Verstappen to qualify 11th and start the race in ninth place. He later recovered to finish fifth. In
France he started and finished in fourth place. In
Austria, Verstappen started third but suffered a poor start, dropping down to eighth. After a charge towards the front, he made his way up to second before controversially passing Leclerc for the lead of the race with three laps to go. This marked the first Honda-powered race victory since the
2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. In
Britain, Verstappen, running in third place, was hit from behind during an overtake attempt by Sebastian Vettel and spun into the gravel. Verstappen was able to continue and crossed the line in fifth place. The wet and chaotic
German Grand Prix began similarly to the race in Austria for Verstappen, as a poor start caused him to fall behind. However, he would inherit the lead midway through the race after a crash by race leader Hamilton. Verstappen would go on to extend his lead after the track began to dry, claiming his second victory of the season. In
Hungary, he claimed his maiden
pole position—becoming the
first Dutch driver to do so—and led most of the race before being passed in the closing laps by Hamilton, who had made another stop for fresh tyres in a gamble to catch the leader. Before the
Belgian Grand Prix, Verstappen received a new teammate in Alexander Albon after Pierre Gasly was demoted back to Toro Rosso. In the race, Verstappen had a poor start and collided with Kimi Räikkönen at the first corner, resulting in suspension damage and causing Verstappen's first retirement of the season. In
Italy, he did not set a time during qualifying after his car lost power in Q1, but he was already required to start from the back of the grid due to an engine component penalty. After damaging his front wing on the first lap, he recovered to finish the race in eighth place. Third and fourth-place finishes followed in
Singapore and
Russia respectively. After suffering damage in a first-lap collision with Charles Leclerc in
Japan, Verstappen suffered his second retirement of the season. In
Mexico, he qualified in first place after setting the fastest lap-time of the session, before being handed a grid penalty for ignoring
yellow flags after a crash by Valtteri Bottas. Verstappen suffered a puncture early in the race after making contact with Bottas, falling to the back of the field before eventually recovering to sixth place. A third-place finish in the
United States followed, before Verstappen took the second pole position of his career with a 1:07.508 pole lap time in
Brazil. In a chaotic race, he passed Lewis Hamilton for the lead on two occasions before going on to claim his third victory of the season. Verstappen ended the season with a second-place finish in
Abu Dhabi. Verstappen finished the 2019 season in third place in the championship with 278 points. He claimed three race victories, nine podium finishes, two pole positions, and three fastest laps. Verstappen continued to race for Red Bull in , alongside Albon. At the
2020 Austrian Grand Prix, he started second, but retired early in the race after a flywheel-related problem caused an electronic issue within the power unit. Honda introduced countermeasures in response to the retirement. At the
2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, he crashed in wet conditions during the
formation lap while he was on his way to the starting grid, but he was able to drive the car back to the grid where his mechanics fixed the suspension of the car in the short time that was left before the start of the race. After the repairs, Verstappen progressed from seventh place on the grid to second place by the end of the race. Verstappen won the
70th Anniversary Grand Prix at
Silverstone, having started from fourth. Verstappen clinched second place at the
Spanish Grand Prix, after qualifying in third. At the
2020 Belgian Grand Prix, he scored a podium in third place, following his third place on the starting grid. He suffered from two consecutive DNFs at the
Italian and
Tuscan Grands Prix after which he lost second place in the Championship. At the
Russian Grand Prix, Verstappen finished the race in second, his seventh podium finish of 2020. At the
Eifel Grand Prix, Verstappen finished in second after qualifying in third. He also managed to get the fastest lap of the race. At the
Portuguese Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified third, however a poor first lap meant that he dropped back down the order to fifth place. He recovered to third and took his 40th podium in Formula 1. At the
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Verstappen looked set to claim second due to
Valtteri Bottas' ailing Mercedes slowing down, but a sudden puncture denied him any chance of a podium finish; Verstappen spun, resulting in his fourth retirement of the 2020 season. During Free Practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix, Verstappen was criticised for comments he made on the team radio after a collision with
Lance Stroll, where he used the words "retard" and "mongol" in response to the clash. Verstappen admitted following the session that the word choices he used were "not correct". The Mongolian government and the Mongol identity asked Verstappen to apologise for the comments; the Mongolian government also urged the
FIA to take action on the comments he made. Verstappen finished the 2020 season in third place in the championship with 214 points. He claimed two race victories, eleven podium finishes, one pole position, and three fastest laps.
2021: Successful title battle with Hamilton Verstappen won his first F1 championship in
2021. At the
Bahrain Grand Prix, Verstappen topped all the practice sessions and subsequently took a career fourth pole position. This was the first time he achieved back-to-back pole positions. He fought Lewis Hamilton for the race victory, and on lap 53 Verstappen overtook Hamilton, but went off track whilst doing so, resulting in him being instructed by race control to let Hamilton back into the lead and ultimately finishing second behind Hamilton. At the next race, the
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified third with teammate
Sergio Pérez second, marking the first time he was out-qualified by a teammate since the
2019 Italian Grand Prix. At the race start, Verstappen was able to pass both Pérez and pole-sitter Hamilton to take the lead. He remained in the lead after the first round of pit stops as well as the restart, following the race being suspended on lap 33. Rival Hamilton finished second, reducing his championship lead over Verstappen to one point. In the following
Portuguese Grand Prix, Verstappen finished second after a long battle with Hamilton. At the
Spanish Grand Prix, the battle between Verstappen and Hamilton continued, with Hamilton employing a faster two-stop strategy versus Verstappen's one-stop race. This provided Hamilton the advantage of faster tyres, allowing him to overtake Verstappen with several laps remaining in the race. Hamilton took the victory, with Verstappen taking second and the fastest lap, increasing Hamilton's championship lead to 14 points. in
Japanese colors white and red, as a tribute to their engine supplier
Honda At the next race in
Monaco, Verstappen qualified second behind
Charles Leclerc, but Leclerc suffered a driveshaft failure on the way to the grid and was unable to start the race. Verstappen controlled the race from the front on the way to victory. Hamilton (who qualified seventh) finished seventh, though claiming an extra championship point by setting the fastest race lap. The result enabled Verstappen to become the
first Dutch driver to lead the World Drivers' Championship, by a margin of four points over Hamilton. At the
Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified third behind Leclerc and Hamilton. Verstappen and Hamilton passed Leclerc in the opening laps before Verstappen took the lead by way of a faster pitstop. Verstappen would comfortably hold the lead until lap 46 when he suffered a tyre failure causing him to crash at high speed and retire. A mistake by Hamilton on the restart dropped him to last place, meaning Verstappen maintained his championship lead. Verstappen took pole for the
French Grand Prix. Verstappen's mistake on the first lap allowed Hamilton to take the lead which Verstappen retook during the pit stop phase. Verstappen pitted for a second time from the lead and set after the Mercedes duo, overtaking Hamilton for the lead on lap 52 of 53. He also took the fastest lap point, extending his championship lead to twelve points and achieving the first
hat-trick of his career. Verstappen clinched pole position again at the
Styrian Grand Prix and led the race from start to finish, to give him his fourth win of the season and further extend his lead to 18 points. Verstappen took pole position at the
Austrian Grand Prix, led every lap from start to finish, set the fastest lap, and won the race for his first career
grand slam, being the youngest to do so. With the win, Verstappen also became the first driver to win three races in three consecutive weekends, starting at the French Grand Prix on 20 June, then the Styrian Grand Prix on 27 June and ending with the Austrian Grand Prix on 4 July. At the next race; the
British Grand Prix, Verstappen was involved in a high-speed collision at the
Copse corner with Hamilton on the first lap. This resulted in a impact with the barrier. He was taken to the Silverstone circuit's medical centre after the crash and was then taken to Coventry hospital for precautionary checks and further assessment, before eventually being discharged at 22:00 local time on Sunday night. Hamilton would go on to win the race, reducing Verstappen's lead in the championship to eight points. At the next race, the
Hungarian Grand Prix, Verstappen's car suffered damage in a multi-car collision on lap 1, where Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was deemed at fault. He ended the race in tenth which was promoted to ninth after Sebastian Vettel was disqualified. The outcome of the race allowed Hamilton to take the lead of the championship. Following the summer break, Verstappen qualified on pole at the
Belgian Grand Prix, ahead of Williams driver
George Russell in second and Lewis Hamilton in third. The race was run for three laps, all behind the safety car, with the race official race results taken from the running order at the end of the first lap, with Hamilton and Verstappen both retaining their qualifying positions. As less than 75% of the race distance was completed, half points were awarded, resulting in Verstappen closing the gap to Hamilton to three points. At the
Dutch Grand Prix Verstappen again qualified on pole, beating Hamilton by 0.038 seconds. During the race Verstappen was able to fend off attacks from both Mercedes drivers to take the win, taking the lead in the Drivers' Championship by three points. For the , Verstappen was required to start at the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit components. He made his way back up the field, and after taking an early pit stop for intermediate tyres late in the race, he finished second. At the
Turkish Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified second with Bottas on pole. With the race being run in wet conditions and the drivers on intermediate tyres the whole race, Verstappen finished second behind Bottas, taking the lead in the Drivers' Championship by six points as Hamilton finished fifth. At the
United States Grand Prix, Verstappen took pole position in qualifying, edging Hamilton by 0.209 seconds. Verstappen won the race and extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to twelve points as Hamilton finished second with the fastest lap. At the
2021 Mexico City Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified third with a gap to pole-sitter Bottas of 0.350 seconds. Verstappen's main rival Hamilton qualified second. At the start, Verstappen took the lead from Bottas and Hamilton into turn 1, and won the race; and as a result extended his lead in the championship to 19 points. Verstappen and Hamilton each entered the final round of the championship—the at
Yas Marina—on exactly 369.5 points, with Verstappen leading on countback. Verstappen qualified on pole position by nearly four-tenths of a second, but had a slow start and lost the lead to Hamilton into turn one. He attempted to re-pass Hamilton at turn six, who cut the track but was not penalised and maintained the lead. The stewards deemed that no advantage was gained, amidst Verstappen's and Red Bull's complaints. Verstappen was trailing Hamilton by over 10 seconds until a safety car was deployed with five laps remaining. The ending of the safety car and subsequent resumption of the race for one single lap caused significant controversy; race director
Michael Masi allowed all lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves, but no other. He also restarted the race for the next lap in supposed contravention to the rulebook. Verstappen passed Hamilton at turn five of the final lap of the final race to become the
first World Drivers' Champion from the Netherlands and the
34th overall. Mercedes' protests were dismissed by the stewards and Verstappen was provisionally confirmed as world champion, pending any appeal. Having initially lodged their intention, Mercedes later decided not to submit an appeal of the race results. Verstappen was named the best driver of the season by
Autosport and
The Race, whilst also topping polls of fellow drivers and team principals.
Mark Hughes of
Motor Sport also ranked Verstappen first, describing his season as a "stunning combination of speed and racecraft, totally fearless, incredible tenacity and ability to comeback from adversity".
2022: Defending the championship , where he won his second World Drivers' Championship In March 2022, Verstappen signed a five-year contract extension with Red Bull Racing for the 2023 to 2028 seasons. From this season onward, he would use the number 1 instead of his regular number 33 as the reigning world champion. Verstappen retired from second place at the
season-opening with a fuel system issue. He won the , having benefited from a pit stop during safety car conditions to pass teammate and pole-sitter Pérez, but suffered another fuel-related retirement from second place at the . This left him 46 points behind championship leader Charles Leclerc after three races. Verstappen won the next three races; including sprint victory and a
grand slam at the , won from third on the grid at the while profiting from Leclerc's retirement at the to take the championship lead. Further wins came at the , where Leclerc again retired, and from pole position at the . Verstappen qualified second at the , but floor damage from running over debris harmed his pace and resulted in a seventh-place finish. Verstappen took pole position at the and won the sprint, but was overtaken by Leclerc in the race and finished second, reducing his championship lead over Leclerc to 38 points. Following this, Verstappen went on to win five races consecutively. Pole-sitter Leclerc crashed out of the , allowing Verstappen to win. Power unit issues meant he qualified tenth for the , but overtakes in the opening laps and pit stop
undercuts meant he went on to take victory, despite briefly losing the lead after a spin. He set the fastest qualifying time at the but was demoted to 14th on the grid with a power unit components penalty. Despite this, he progressed to the race lead by lap 12 and went on to win. He took pole position and his 30th race victory at his home race, the , and then won from seventh on the grid at the . Verstappen's winning streak was ended at the . He ran out of fuel in qualifying and started the race eighth. He lost places at the start and later had to make an extra pit stop due to a tyre lock-up, finishing seventh. Victory from pole at the shortened gave him a 113-point lead in the standings with four races remaining, securing him his second World Drivers' Championship. He won the next two races, the
United States and
Mexico City Grands Prix, finished sixth at the after a collision with Lewis Hamilton, and won the season-ending from pole. Abu Dhabi was his fifteenth victory of the year, breaking the record of thirteen race wins in a season shared by Michael Schumacher in and Sebastian Vettel in . He won the championship with 454 points, beating Lewis Hamilton's record of 413.
2023: Record-breaking third title Verstappen remained with Red Bull alongside Sergio Pérez for the
2023 season. His campaign began with a win from pole at the . A driveshaft failure in qualifying at the resulted in a 15th-place start, but he gained positions in the race to finish second behind Pérez. He again won from pole at the despite losing positions to the Mercedes drivers during the race, but finished second to Pérez, who made a safety car pit stop, at the . After this began Verstappen's record-breaking win streak. He started ninth at the as
red flags in qualifying aborted his lap but passed the drivers ahead including pole-sitter Pérez to win. The next four races, the
Monaco,
Spanish,
Canadian and
Austrian Grands Prix, were won comfortably from pole position by Verstappen, including Red Bull's 100th victory in Canada, as well as a sprint win in Austria. He took pole at the but briefly lost the lead to
Lando Norris at the start before regaining the position to win. He qualified 0.003 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton at the , but overtook him at the first corner and went on to take victory. He claimed pole and the win in the sprint and set the fastest qualifying time, but started the race sixth due to an engine component penalty. He went on to overtake Pérez to win the race. He won from pole at the rain-affected and was victorious again at the despite qualifying behind Carlos Sainz Jr. This victory marked his tenth consecutive win, breaking Sebastian Vettel's record of nine from 2013, and Red Bull's fifteenth consecutive win, a record previously held by
McLaren with eleven in . Both Red Bulls were eliminated in Q2 at the and were unable to make an impression in the race, with Verstappen and Pérez finishing fifth and eighth respectively, ending the winning streak. This would be the only break in Verstappen's success, as he went on to win the remaining seven races of the season. His victory from pole at the gave Red Bull their sixth Constructors' Championship title. Verstappen clinched his third World Drivers' Championship title at the sprint despite finishing second to
Oscar Piastri, then won the race from pole. He won the despite having started sixth due to a lap time deletion in qualifying. He qualified behind both Ferraris at the but passed both drivers to claim the win. He took pole and victory at the and won the sprint having overtook pole-sitter
Lando Norris at the first turn. He started behind Charles Leclerc at the and received a penalty for forcing him off the track, but Verstappen reclaimed the lead to win. His pole and victory at the season-ending was his nineteenth win of the year, breaking his own record of fifteen from 2022. He scored 575 points, more than double that of second-placed Pérez and beating his own points-scoring record from 2022.
2024: Fourth title despite Red Bull struggles Verstappen began the season with his fifth career grand slam at the and followed this with another pole and victory at the , his 100th Formula One podium. He took pole again at the but retired on lap 4, his first retirement since the
2022 edition of the race, with a brake fire, ending his nine-race winning streak and 43 race-finishing streak. This was followed by a pole and win at the . He won the sprint at the after starting fourth, then claimed pole and victory in the race. He took another sprint win at the and started on pole position, but lost the lead to Lando Norris during the pit stops and was unable to reclaim the place, finishing the race second. He matched
Ayrton Senna's record of eight consecutive poles at the and converted this into his fifth victory of the season. His pole streak ended at the where he qualified and finished sixth; Verstappen commented that his
RB20 was losing time to its rivals in low-speed corners. Verstappen and George Russell set identical lap times in qualifying at the , but Russell started on pole position as he had set the lap time first. Both drivers were overtaken by Norris, but Verstappen later passed Russell then gained the lead from Norris during the pit stops to claim his 60th race win. He qualified second behind Norris at the but passed him at the start and then overtook Russell to win for the seventh time in 2024. Verstappen won the sprint from pole at the and then qualified fastest for the main race. He led most of the race but was challenged by Norris in the closing laps before the two drivers collided; Verstappen was handed a time penalty for causing the collision and finished the race fifth. He later commented that the crash did not affect his close friendship with Norris. He qualified fourth at the and passed Norris in the closing laps to finish second behind Lewis Hamilton. He started third at the but collided with Hamilton and went on to finish fifth. He criticised his team's race strategy and suggested that the RB20 was now behind the race-winning
McLaren MCL38 on pace. Verstappen qualified fastest at the but started outside the top ten due to an engine component penalty. He recovered positions and was classified fourth in the race, extending his lead in the championship to 78 points over Norris going into the summer break. At his home race, the , Verstappen qualified second behind Norris and gained the lead at the first corner, but was later overtaken by Norris and finished second. He qualified and finished outside the top four at both the
Italian and
Azerbaijan Grands Prix, after which Red Bull lost the lead of the Constructors' Championship to McLaren. He then finished second to Norris at the , reducing his championship advantage to 52 points. Verstappen described his car as "fucked" at the official press conference in Singapore, for which he received a punishment from the FIA to "accomplish some work of public interest". He responded by hosting an impromptu media session outside the press conference room in protest, and later suggested that the decision could push him to leave the sport. He won the sprint at the and was classified third in the race ahead of Norris, who was penalised for overtaking Verstappen off-track. This extended Verstappen's championship lead for the first time since the Belgian Grand Prix. He started second at the but received 20 seconds worth of penalties for his driving during a battle for position with Norris, resulting in a sixth-place finish, reducing his championship lead to 47 points. Verstappen was classified fourth in the sprint after receiving a
virtual safety car infringement penalty, and started the race from 17th following an engine penalty, whilst Norris qualified on pole. He gained seven positions on the opening lap, with further places obtained via several crucial overtakes, as well as surviving the worsening conditions on his intermediate tyres until the
red flag period. Following this—and his overtake for the lead on Ocon—Verstappen set ten of the eleven fastest laps of the race, with his quickest being 1.045 seconds quicker than any of his rivals; he won by a 19-second margin, increasing his championship lead to 62 points. Verstappen was lauded by drivers and critics for his drive; Giles Richards of
The Guardian opined that his performance was "worthy of recognition in the
pantheon of Formula One's wet-weather drives", describing him as a
regenmeister (). By finishing ahead of Norris at the subsequent , Verstappen secured his fourth world title with two races remaining. Winning eight Grands Prix in all, Andrew Benson of
BBC Sport proclaimed it as a "towering achievement from a driver recognised as one of the all-time greats of Formula 1", describing his season as "almost flawless" whilst "not [having] the best car for the majority". Verstappen won the , leading every lap after having his pole position stripped for driving unnecessarily slowly in qualifying; the incident led to a widely publicised feud with
George Russell. After the season-ending , Verstappen became the first driver to win a title driving for a third-placed team in the
World Constructors' Championship since
Nelson Piquet in .
2025: Runner-up to Norris drivers.|alt=Verstappen driving the Red Bull RB21 at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix Red Bull trailed
McLaren for performance into , with Verstappen finishing second at the season-opening after battling
Lando Norris and
Oscar Piastri for the lead in wet conditions. He claimed third in the sprint and fourth in the main race in
China amidst tyre wear and performance struggles with the
RB21, whilst new teammate
Liam Lawson finished outside the points; Verstappen claimed Red Bull had also dropped behind
Ferrari and
Mercedes, as Lawson was replaced by
Yuki Tsunoda. He received widespread acclaim for his surprise pole position at the , before holding off both McLaren drivers to claim his first victory of the year; Andrew Benson of
BBC Sport described it as "a weekend of the sort of rare perfection that comes only from drivers of the very highest quality". He finished sixth in
Bahrain amidst further performance and
pit stop struggles, prompting Red Bull to hold crisis talks over his future. He returned to pole in
Saudi Arabia, where he finished second after receiving a penalty for a first-corner incident with Piastri. Verstappen finished fourth in the
Miami sprint, demoted to seventeenth following a penalty for an unsafe pit release; he took pole for the main race, ultimately finishing fourth. .|alt=Verstappen driving the Red Bull RB21 at the 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Verstappen won the after a first-lap overtake on Piastri into
Variante Tamburello, which was widely hailed as one of his greatest. His fourth-place in
Monaco was followed by tenth in
Spain, where he was penalised for an intentional collision with
George Russell as he fell out of contention for the victory; the pair
finished 1–2 in
Canada, with Verstappen second. After qualifying seventh for the , Verstappen retired after being hit by
Kimi Antonelli on the first lap; 61 points behind championship leader Piastri, Verstappen admitted his fifth title challenge was "case closed". He took another pole at the on a low-
downforce setup, before ceding the lead to Piastri and spinning during a
safety car restart in wet-weather conditions; he recovered to fifth and criticised his lack of
grip. He won the
Belgium sprint after a first-lap overtake on Piastri and claimed fourth in the Grand Prix. He dropped to ninth in
Hungary before finishing second to Piastri at the , dropping him 104 points behind the Australian McLaren driver who led the points standings after that race and 70 points behind Norris who retired from the race with power issues. Verstappen's pole lap in
Italy was the
fastest in Formula One history, where he overcame early opposition from Norris to win the Grand Prix by over 19 seconds in record speed. He claimed a
grand chelem with his 14-second victory at the , before finishing second to Russell in
Singapore. His back-to-back victories in the
United States sprint and Grand Prix reduced his deficit to 40 points, and he recovered from fifth to third in
Mexico City with a
one-stop strategy. Finishing fourth from sixth at the
São Paulo sprint, Verstappen qualified sixteenth for the Grand Prix, his lowest qualifying position – excluding any penalties – since the
2021 Russian Grand Prix, which he chose not to run any qualifying laps for due to impending engine and grid penalties. Red Bull started him from the pit lane after changing his engine in
parc fermé; surviving an early puncture, he climbed up to third in the race to draw ever closer to the championship lead. Verstappen won at
Las Vegas with both McLarens being disqualified post-race, moving him level on points with Piastri and 24 behind championship leader Norris. Verstappen finished fourth in the
Qatar sprint before improving to collect a win in the Grand Prix, bringing him twelve points behind Norris and overtaking Piastri for second in the championship. Converting pole position in
Abu Dhabi to a win, he achieved the most Grand Prix wins throughout the season with eight overall, with both McLaren drivers winning seven apiece. He ultimately placed merely two points behind Norris, who secured the Drivers' Championship.
2026: New regulations Verstappen was partnered with
Isack Hadjar for the
2026 season. Ahead of the season, Verstappen announced he would run the number 3 on his car as the FIA granted drivers permission to change their number ahead of 2026, instead of reverting to his old number 33. Verstappen started the season with a crash in qualifying at the
Australian Grand Prix, where he recovered to sixth after battling defending champion
Lando Norris. At the , Verstappen qualified in eighth for both the sprint and Grand Prix, and recorded no points in both races, suffering an engine-related retirement during the Grand Prix. Ahead of the , Verstappen refused to answer media questions until
The Guardian journalist Giles Richards was removed, following Richards's pointed questioning
in Abu Dhabi regarding the
2025 Spanish Grand Prix. Following an eighth place finish in Japan, Verstappen told
BBC Sport that he was considering retirement following the 2026 season. ==Driver profile==