The 2021 world title victory of Max Verstappen gave the Dutchman the joy of his first world championship triumph, won at the end of a long and thrilling fight between him and Lewis Hamilton. Thanks to this success, the Englishman of Mercedes was unable to achieve what would have been a new, historic record in the history of Formula: if the number 44 had in fact come in front of Mad Max in Abu Dhabi, he would have mathematically obtained the eighth driver’s title, which would have earned him the absolute record of the largest number of championships won by a driver. Accomplice this lack of affirmation, Hamilton instead remains firm on equal points with Michael Schumacher, at 7 world championships each.
The fans of the Kaiser, at least from this point of view, they can therefore breathe a sigh of relief, with a threat to the heart ‘thwarted’ only one lap from the end. However, still speaking of statistics, on the same track as Yas Marina one of the most significant records of Schumacher’s career has been canceled: thanks to the first place obtained in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen has in fact conquered the 18th podium of the season. No one in F1 history had finished in the top three so many times over the span of just one year. Before the final appointment in the United Arab Emirates, Schumacher held the absolute record with 17 podiums, obtained during the 2002 championship.
In that case, the German managed to finish in the top three in all seventeen races on the calendar, a feat never accomplished by any driver before or after him. Verstappen, on the other hand, uncorked the champagne in 18 of the 22 races scheduled, giving up the podium party in Hungary, 8th at the finish line after an accident at the start, and in the three tests in Baku, Silverstone and Monza. While in Azerbaijan he had to retire due to a puncture, in England and Italy he had to surrender for two, iconic contacts with Hamilton. The British driver himself is among other things the only one, together with Sebastian Vettel, to have reached 17 podiums in one season, equaling Schumacher’s now former record: while the current vice-champion succeeded on four occasions – 2016, 2018, 2019 and precisely in 2021 – the German Aston Martin arrived to that figure in 2011.
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