With his win in the final race of the year in Abu Dhabi, the Dutchman matched Lewis Hamilton for second place in the record for most wins in a single season — yet, like Hamilton on two occasions, he still fell short of claiming the World Championship at the end of the year.

In 2016, the seven-time world champion lost out in the title fight to his team-mate Nico Rosberg despite securing eight wins, with the German retiring from F1 immediately afterward.

In 2021, Hamilton again missed out on the championship, this time to Verstappen, despite claiming ten victories, falling victim to the now-infamous Abu Dhabi finale heavily influenced by the decisions of former race director Michael Masi.

Although he didn’t claim the title this time, Verstappen’s stats over the past four years underline his complete dominance over the field. In the ground-effect era, he alone has more podiums than any other team managing to combine both of their drivers’ results.

Over this technical quadrennial, the Dutchman racked up 66 podiums — three more than McLaren, eight more than Ferrari, and 20 more than Mercedes, the only leading team to see a notable decline compared to its 2014–2021 peak.