Top 5 drivers with most wins in a single F1 season

Max Verstappen breaks the record for most wins ever.

The number of races over the calendar year has kept increasing with the evolution of Formula 1 (F1). It has gone from seven races in 1950 to 30 (24+6 sprint races) next year in 2023. Depending on that, a driver has more chances to increase the number of wins per year. This is subsequent in the list of the most number of wins in a single season, where the top five belong to the 21st-century drivers.

Here we take a look at the top five drivers with the most race wins in a calendar year:

5. Lewis Hamilton (10)

Hamilton won 10 races in 2015 and 2016. However, despite winning ten races in 2016, he lost out to his German teammate Nico Rosberg in the driver's championship. The battle went down to the last race but Rosberg finished ahead of Hamilton, sealing the deal.

16 of 19 feature races were won by Mercedes in the year of 2015. The number of races extended to 21 next year and a Mercedes driver secured the win 19 times, with Hamilton and Rosberg rotating more often.

4. Hamilton, Vettel, Schumacher (11)

Eleven wins in a season might seem a very common occurrence due to the fact that this number has been touched nine times already. Schumacher did it first in 2002 when there were 18 races on the calendar. This was the record back then (broken by himself two years later). Vettel matched the tally in 2011 (with 19 races on the calendar). Vettel's last win that season came at the Indian Grand Prix, which was held at the Buddh International Circuit Greater Noida.

Lewis Hamilton, with Mercedes, did it on four occasions - 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

3. Sebastian Vettel (13)

Vettel is the second driver to hold the record of winning 13 races in a season. He achieved this feat in 2013 with Red Bull. Not only did Sebastian Vettel win 13 races out of 19, but he was also the only Red Bull driver to win in 2013. His teammate Mark Webber picked up no victories. Even more remarkable was the fact that Sebastian Vettel won 9 of those 13 races consecutively. The German won all nine races after the summer break, from Belgium to Brazil. Schumacher won eight in 2004 but no other driver has won nine consecutive races in a single season and stands as a near unbreakable record.

2. Michael Schumacher (13)

This happened in 2004 when there was no touching Ferrari and Schumacher. He won 13 out of 18 races in the season. He also established an unbreakable record of a hundred per cent podium record. Ferrari won a total of 15 races that year, making it the most dominant season in its history.

Michael won five back-to-back races in the first five rounds of 2004. After a DNF at Monaco, he went on an eight-race winning spree - the longest winning spree at the time. He could only finish second in the following Belgium Grand Prix. His last win came in the penultimate round at Suzuka.

1. Max Verstappen (14)

Max Verstappen is on verge of breaking another F1 record with his Red Bull. If he wins two of the remaining four races this season, his 2022 campaign will have the single highest number of wins in a calendar year. The Dutch World Champion wrapped up his second championship at Suzuka.

Verstappen didn't have a great start to the season but the strength of his RB18 kept growing race by race, making it impossible for anyone to catch up to him. He got his first victory at Jeddah. He went on a five-race winning spree from France to Monza.