Verstappen also broke a unique age record: looking back at the best places on the podium

It’s hard to escape your notice Max Verstappen’s victory in the Austrian Grand Prix last Sunday. The Dutchman dominated the Red Bull Arena where the Orange Army was present en masse to encourage him to victory. His 50th Formula 1 podium victory set a record.

Verstappen is the youngest Formula 1 driver to reach 50 podiums. At 23 years and 277 days old, he is now the record holder by a large margin. He has surpassed four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. The German was 25 years and 327 days old when he reached the 50th podium. Even more than two years difference.

What will Max Verstappen gain if he becomes champion this year?

This only increases when we look at the other names listed below. These are certainly not the least drivers. Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was 27 years and 61 days old when he took the podium for the 50th time. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (28 years, 76 days), as well as seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher (28 years, 163 days) and 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen (28 years, 172 days) took even longer to reach those 50 podiums. coming.

With such a unique milestone achieved, now is the time to take a look at Verstappen’s top podiums.

number one

Of course your first Formula 1 podium is really special, but in Verstappen’s case it couldn’t be more beautiful. The Dutchman led another full season for Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) in 2015, but on May 5, 2016, great news emerged: Verstappen will replace Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull. It was a turnaround that happened early in the season, but one that would have worked well for both Red Bull and Verstappen. In his first qualifier with Red Bull, he immediately finished fourth on the grid.

This fourth position would give him a good view of what will happen in Turn 4 of the FC Barcelona – Catalunya. Title contenders and teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg clash and go off track. The two are eliminated immediately, so Verstappen sees his chance to go straight to the podium – and possibly win. He had to put up with the pressure of Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen for a long time, but at the end of the day he was allowed to call himself the race winner.

Restore your first Verstappen platform via this link.

Brazil 2016

Of course, the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix should not be missing from this list. The rain destroyed the Interlagos and so the race behind the safety car began. The field was cleared after six laps behind Mercedes-AMG. On the soaking track, visibility behind leader Hamilton was poor and the rain would have caused enough problems – and a spectacle. Sebastian Vettel spun and dangerously back on track, Marcus Ericsson hit the wall and on restart Kimi Raikkonen also got into the wall, with Verstappen barely avoiding the Finn.

Verstappen has outplayed Rosberg, but will soon lose some places again after a run in which he managed to push Red Bull off the wall. After an extra pit stop – from center to full wet – Verstappen was back on the track in 16th and so the podium seemed completely out of sight. Especially since there were only sixteen laps left. However, he was followed by the Dutch coach in the rain, who was dealing with driver after driver. After 71 laps and a good race to catch up, Verstappen was still on the podium, at the lowest of the three.

Relive this special course in the rain via this link.

Mexico 2018

Verstappen missed the pole position in Mexico, but he did everything right at the start of the race. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo started from pole position but saw Hamilton and Verstappen pass before they made it to the first round. There, Verstappen stayed inside the Mercedes driver and took the lead. He would then vanish in sight with Red Bull and claim a very dominant victory, 17 seconds ahead of Vettel, at the track where he also won in 2017.

Watch the highlights of this race via this link.

Malaysia 2017

Things went wrong for Raikkonen before the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix, who had to move his Ferrari from second to the garage due to a turbo issue. This gave Verstappen a clear view and thus was able to open the attack on Hamilton. In an exciting and entertaining duel between the two – which certainly wouldn’t be the only battle in hindsight – Verstappen managed to overtake the Briton on lap 4 with a late braking turn of 1. Verstappen managed to escape from Mercedes and will take his second Formula 1 victory at the last Malaysian Grand Prix.

Watch the highlights of this race via this link.

Austria 2021: Verstappen’s fiftieth

Finally, we will of course highlight the most recent: number 50. Verstappen started from the first position and managed to keep Lando Norris back at the start and the restart that would soon follow. Lewis Hamilton was advancing towards the Dutchman, but could not keep up with the pace due to the damage. So Verstappen was able to claim his 15th Formula 1 victory at Red Bull with hilarious ease. Thousands of orange fans came to the Austrian circuit to cheer Verstappen on victory, which they certainly succeeded. The “grand slam” (1st place, victory and fastest lap) made Verstappen’s perfect weekend race. It was the number five win of the season for the championship leader, who is now 32 points ahead of title rival Hamilton.

Prepare for the Austrian Grand Prix via this link.

The full list of Verstappen’s 50 places on the podium

2016

Spain (1)
Austria (2)
Great Britain (second)
Germany (3rd place)
Malaysia (second)
Japan (2e)
Brazil (3rd place)

2017

China (3e)
Malaysia (first)
Japan (2e)
Mexico (1e)

2018

Spain (3rd place)
Canada (3e)
France (II)
Austria (1)
Belgium (third)
Singapore (2e)
Japan (3e)
United States (II)
Mexico (1e)
Brazil (second)
Abu Dhabi (3e)

2019

Australia (3rd place)
Spain (3rd place)
Austria (1)
Germany (1)
Hungary (II)
Singapore (3e)
United States (third place)
Brazil (1)
Abu Dhabi (2e)

2020

Styria (Austria, 3)
Hungary (II)
Great Britain (second)
70th Anniversary of the Grand Prix (Great Britain, 1st)
Spain (2)
Belgium (third)
Russia (II)
Eifel GP (Nürburgring, 2e)
Portugal (3e)
Bahrain (2e)
Abu Dhabi (1e)

2021

Bahrain (2e)
Emilia-Romagna (Imola, 1E)
Portugal (2e)
Spain (2)
Monaco (1e)
France (1)
Styria (1)
Austria (1)