Verstappen versus Vettel: More on the podium, but the world title is still missing

At 23, Max Verstappen cannot become the youngest world champion ever. For the time being, this honour is reserved for Sebastian Vettel, who became the youngest world champion in 2010. In some statistics, however, Verstappen remains ahead of the German at 23.

Max Verstappen debuted in Formula 1 with Toro Rosso back in 2015 and after winning on his debut for Red Bull Racing in 2016, it was immediately predicted that he would become the youngest world champion. Almost five years later, Verstappen has yet to win that title, but his list of statistics is impressive.

Verstappen was on the podium more often than the German. Verstappen had already been on the podium 42 times, while Vettel had only been on the podium 27 times. The point was, however, that Vettel had already won 15 times, while Verstappen remains stuck at ten.

Vettel's statistics are mainly due to a great year in 2010, but also to a strong finish to the season in 2009, where Red Bull came very close to BrawnGP. Verstappen has never been in a position to become world champion in all those years, and that is reflected in the figures.

At that age Vettel had already started from pole 22 times and won one world title. Verstappen drove the fastest lap more often (10 versus 7) and also scored more points. However, Verstappen's 1162 points were all achieved with the current points system, whereas Vettel drove his first three seasons with the old points system, where he could have scored 60 points more with his four wins, for example.

The title is not yet on Verstappen's CV, but his achievements remain impressive at a young age. With Mercedes in power, he still knows how to make the most of the moments to grab a win here and there. Now it's just a matter of waiting until he has the right car at his disposal.