Max Verstappen picks his top 10 F1 wins for Autosport

"It’s tough to remember all of them!” That’s what happens when you put a Formula 1 driver who’s clinched 54 grand prix victories on the spot.

After Autosport had ranked Max Verstappen’s top 10 race wins when he hit 50 with his Austin triumph last year – he took 181 races to reach that target, compared to Lewis Hamilton’s 185 and Michael Schumacher’s record-holding 153 – we were due to interview the Dutchman at the next event in Mexico.

After covering the many topics of his historic F1 season, we deployed a prop: a printed list of the races we’d selected for an article exclusive to Autosport.com. He didn’t hesitate, asking for our pen to “mark what I think was my best”. And so, here we present Verstappen’s own picks.

There’s one important caveat: Verstappen was only reworking our original selection (see panel), so there’s every chance that with a clean slate he might make some different choices. Our long-list ‘near-misses’ of the 2017 Mexican GP, 2018 Austrian GP or 2023 Belgian GP, for example. He also switched out our choice of the 2022 Japanese GP, which we’d included to represent his wet-weather brilliance when a victory as wild as the 2019 German GP had missed out.

What’s clear is that Verstappen considers his best battling drives as more worthy than races he dominated, whereas we’d had several events he’d utterly dominated higher up. It’s also important to consider how our list had been compiled by taking in Verstappen’s various experience levels at the time, the respective machinery at his disposal, the challenges he faced on any given weekend, as well as the nature of his successes. We’d also factored in his opposition strength and championship circumstances at the time of each win.

A couple of his most famous triumphs are also missing – ultimately because Verstappen didn’t make the critical difference. These are the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP and 2016 Spanish GP, although in a chat post-interview in Mexico he agreed he’d also discount his first F1 success, given it required the dominant Mercedes pair to first collide.

10. 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

A rare Verstappen win in a season of Mercedes dominance sneaks into the top 10

Verstappen start: 119
Verstappen win: 10
Car: Red Bull RB16
Started: 1st

The 2020 Abu Dhabi race was far from a classic GP. We called it a “turgid and lifeless” affair, with Verstappen utterly dominating from pole. But it was a statement drive to a 10th F1 win, Verstappen in the process beating two examples of what should be remembered as one of the greatest F1 cars of all time: the Mercedes W11.

These had been given a cut in engine output due to fears over MGU-K fires hitting customer units in practice (and Sergio Perez’s Racing Point in the race), but Mercedes insisted that this wasn’t enough to explain its shock fourth defeat of the season. Instead, the critical factor was missing pole to Verstappen, when Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas failed to get their soft tyres into the required operating window.

In the race, Verstappen was in command from the off and in rebuilding his lead after a pitstop under the safety car, which had been called to cover Perez’s stricken car and erased a 3.3-second advantage built in just nine laps over Bottas. Verstappen pulled off a masterful tyre-management drive, his preferred style in turning a car so much earlier in corner entry allowing him to open the wheel at the apex and take stress off the rubber. It had long been a part of his game, but in the seasons that followed this contest it finally got the recognition it deserved.

Yes, Hamilton was recovering from COVID-19 and Bottas isn’t a top-tier rival, but this was also a confidence-boosting win that supplied critical momentum to Verstappen’s first title-winning season in 2021. 

9. 2019 Austrian GP

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Verstappen got his elbows out to beat Leclerc in a gloves-off duel between F1's future superstars

Verstappen start: 90
Verstappen win: 6
Car: Red Bull RB15
Started: 2nd

“A good day for F1”, declared the issue of Autosport that contained our report of this race. It was the event where Verstappen’s passing aggression on long-time leader Charles Leclerc demonstrated his calculated battling brilliance and in the process showed that F1’s rules at the time were not anti-racing. After all, this was just two races on from Sebastian Vettel losing his Canadian GP victory to a penalty for forcing Lewis Hamilton towards a wall.

The difference here was that the stewards felt that Verstappen wasn’t out of control and hadn’t been off the road as Vettel had, and that Leclerc trying to hang on around the outside was a factor in the clash that sent the Ferrari off. The incident occurred at Austria’s sharp, uphill Turn 3, one lap after Leclerc had been passed at the same spot but powered out of the corner to retake the lead. Verstappen didn’t let him do that again.

Verstappen had started second and fell to seventh with a poor launch and Turn 4 lock-up. But that’s not enough to cost this win a spot on the list, for two reasons.

One was how excellent Verstappen was in maintaining his tyres while closing a 15s gap to the leader, even as he passed Lando Norris and Kimi Raikkonen, overcut the lift-and-coast (for engine temperatures) hobbled Hamilton, and nailed Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.

The other was that race-winning pass against a seriously rapid rival armed with the 2019-spec Ferrari engine grunt on a track with few corners. It sealed the win and set an early marker in what sets Verstappen apart in his generation’s talent peak. It was also Red Bull’s first win with Honda power. 

8. 2020 70th Anniversary GP

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

In front of empty grandstands, Verstappen overpowered both Mercedes in a spectacular win

Verstappen start: 107
Verstappen win: 9
Car: Red Bull RB16
Started: 4th

There was one element of Verstappen’s 2020 campaign that really stood out. This was how, on so many occasions when Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were unleashing the Mercedes W11’s full might, only he could keep them in sight – armed with the inferior Red Bull RB16.

That scenario played out at F1’s muted 70th Anniversary celebration amid the height of the pandemic keeping crowds away from Silverstone. But there was a critical difference here: Verstappen caught, passed and beat the Black Arrows pair.

He did so in part thanks to Red Bull getting him through Q2 on the hard tyres. Back then, your Q2 rubber was what you started on, and this was the best race tyre on a weekend when Pirelli had brought a compound range a step softer than those so famously tested in the British GP one week earlier. That gave Verstappen a strategic edge when the early safety car Mercedes had feared never arrived, and Verstappen had quickly jumped Racing Point supersub Nico Hulkenberg.

Once the Mercedes drivers had pitted out of his way to shed the medium tyres, Verstappen attacked. After so amusingly rebuffing Red Bull’s call to back off from Hamilton early in the first stint with his “I’m not just sitting behind like a grandma” quip, he actually lapped quicker than his rivals even as his ageing hards wore further.

He jumped Hamilton when he did finally pit, and would have got Bottas too but for a slightly slow Red Bull service. No matter, Verstappen was past in three more out-lap corners. The Mercedes was just unable to be pushed on the hards through a combination of its huge downforce levels eating into the fragile Pirellis in Silverstone’s fast corners, the day’s scorching temperatures, and the raising of tyre pressures to avert further blowouts after the incidents of the previous weekend.

From there, Verstappen romped clear, pulling away when back on the hards for his third stint (in between, he’d taken the same medium compound the Mercedes pair had unsuccessfully worked hard to protect in the first stint) to win by 11.3s over Hamilton. Bottas fell back, rueing his shorter middle stint.

7. 2021 Austrian GP

Photo by: Erik Junius

Verstappen destroyed the field at the Red Bull Ring for a second week in a row in 2021

Verstappen start: 128
Verstappen win: 15
Car: Red Bull RB16B
Started: 1st

A week earlier, in the Styrian GP also at Red Bull’s home track, Verstappen had blown away Lewis Hamilton through a combination of better one-lap speed and race tyre wear – Red Bull had finally solved what had been something of a regular issue against Mercedes early that season, and before its rival could use car upgrades to get back on terms for pure pace.

Second time around, team and driver worked hard to fettle the RB16B into another fine set-up window, with the tyre compounds a step softer than the previous weekend. Mercedes didn’t manage to do this, allowing Lando Norris to qualify ahead, and it was he who Verstappen initially romped clear of, after nailing the start and early safety car restart ahead of the slippery McLaren.

This was as assured as Verstappen looked across an entire weekend in all of 2021. 

6. 2017 Malaysian GP

Photo by: Sutton Images

Verstappen had to catch and pass Hamilton to win the final F1 race in Malaysia

Verstappen start: 55
Verstappen win: 2
Car: Red Bull RB13
Started: 3rd

“I was sick there as well,” Verstappen says of Malaysia 2017 as he re-marks our work, in typical racing driver style doing the top picks first. More illness to come later…

He scored this win – his second in F1 – on the weekend he turned 20 years old. It included factors that have kept others off this list, such as the two Ferrari drivers losing out on starting first and second due to qualifying and pre-race engine air intake dramas, and Mercedes being all at sea with the aerodynamic balance of an upgrade package.

But Red Bull at this stage still had a qualifying power deficit to Mercedes, which took pole with Lewis Hamilton, and so this offers mitigation that we couldn’t apply to our ‘near-miss’ long-list selections of Verstappen win choices.

In F1’s final race at Sepang, Verstappen held off Valtteri Bottas’s Turns 1-5 assault. Then, his RB13 finally more of a match for Mercedes in race trim, he caught and passed Hamilton for the lead. For all Hamilton complained of his engine “de-rates” in the skirmish, this was the Briton near the peak of his F1 powers, and so Verstappen’s tenacity to pass is a factor in why this race earned a position on our list.

After getting to the lead, Verstappen impressively dropped Hamilton by more than half a second per lap to the end of the race’s opening third, after which he maintained his lead to the sole round of pitstops, then extended it. His winning margin was 12.8s, but his 22.5s gap to team-mate Daniel Ricciardo caps our call to select this Verstappen win instead of the three ‘near-misses’, especially given he was still relatively inexperienced racing at the front.

5. 2023 Miami GP

Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images

Despite starting ninth, it didn't take Verstappen long to catch and depose Perez

Verstappen start: 168
Verstappen win: 38
Car: Red Bull RB19
Started: 9th

There were 42 tours remaining of a 57-lap contest when Verstappen reached second place behind team-mate Sergio Perez, after starting down in ninth. He was there thanks to Charles Leclerc’s Q3 crash ensuring those drivers who had messed up their opening efforts in the final qualifying segment – such as Verstappen – couldn’t improve. Perez secured pole, and it looked like his race to lose.

That was because five races into 2023, it was clear how much of a performance advantage the Red Bull RB19 had over its rivals. That explained why few opted to fight Verstappen hard as he sliced through the field on his rapid rise – his double pass on Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen was nevertheless a highlight.

Verstappen had bought into Red Bull’s idea of running a contra-one-stop strategy. He started on the hard tyres and went deep into the race, with Perez unable to do so from pole due to the risk of an early safety car ruining such an approach. The fact that there wasn’t one boosted Verstappen, but really it was his brilliance and Perez’s comparative weakness that made the difference.

Perez was too conservative out front in the early laps, and so barely had a four-second lead by the time Verstappen arrived in second place. Then when Perez was on the hards, Verstappen reversed the gains the Mexican had made. Therefore, when Verstappen did finally come in on lap 45, his ensuing Turn 1 pass on Perez was a formality – there was just 1.6s between them when the world champion rejoined.

The win came with a big psychological impact, boosting Verstappen’s season and cracking Perez’s confidence. Next up in Monaco, Perez crashed in qualifying and then failed to reach Q3 in the five following non-sprint sessions against the clock. This defeat really did for Perez’s 2023 title hopes as much as victory enhanced Verstappen’s own.

4. 2021 Mexican GP

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Incredible double pass on the two Mercedes at the start secured Verstappen a key win in Mexico

Verstappen start: 137
Verstappen win: 19
Car: Red Bull RB16B
Started: 3rd

“Some motorsport moments are just magic. Bits of driving that are just spinetinglingly good, showcasing supreme skill, flair and sheer bloody-mindedness.” That’s how this author described Verstappen’s Turn 1 double-pass on Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at the start of the 2021 Mexican GP in our report of that event, just five races out from the season’s thrilling climax. 

The brilliance of the moment combined with the pressure building on Verstappen’s first real attempt to win a title. And that pressure – with just 12 points separating him and Hamilton at this stage – had only gone up when AlphaTauri and Red Bull messed up tow tactics on the final Q3 runs in Mexico City and spoiled things for all their drivers bar Pierre Gasly. 

Bottas started on pole, but Hamilton’s better launch wrecked Mercedes’ plans for them to work together because it meant the Briton could not get a tow to Turn 1. Instead, this went to the grateful Verstappen, who then pulled off arguably the best pass of his F1 career after starting third.  

Armed with Red Bull’s bigger maximum- downforce rear wing – needed in the thin high-altitude air – he bravely chose to brake later than the Mercedes pair and steamed around the outside of both to claim the lead. Verstappen’s efforts to just stay within track limits on the corner exit encapsulated how on the edge this pass was.

Daniel Ricciardo then tapped Bottas out of contention, which led to crashes in the pack and an early safety car, after which Verstappen nailed the restart, then just roared clear. Even while managing engine and brake temperature requirements through plenty of lift-and-coast, he was still able to lap regularly 0.3s clear of Hamilton. That turned Mercedes’ attention to rebuffing Sergio Perez, and Verstappen even had spare capacity to initially thwart Bottas’s efforts to take the fastest lap late in the race. 

We had this race as our original number one choice because, although it only contained one moment of action, that double-pass was sublime. Verstappen could have easily messed it up and retired, handing Hamilton a 25-point swing and shock lead in the standings. But he didn’t. He was finally approaching peak Verstappen – calmer, slightly more mature, supremely confident. 

3. 2023 Japanese GP

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Responding to Singapore disappointment in crushing fashion at Suzuka warranted Verstappen to swap in his 2023 victory over the 2022 wet masterclass

Verstappen start: 179
Verstappen win: 48
Car: Red Bull RB19
Started: 1st

‘How could a wet-weather win like the 2019 German GP not make the cut?’, we hear you cry. That event, after all, cemented Verstappen’s long-held status as an F1 wet-weather great. But it also contained a shocking start, a clumsy spin, and might have been won by Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton had they not crashed.

No such incidents featured in Verstappen’s rainmaster drive at Suzuka in 2022, which sealed his second crown (after various post-race rules sagas for Leclerc and the FIA), and we had in our original selection. But here Verstappen went rogue, as is his wont, by swapping his first Suzuka triumph out for his second with one red pen stroke.

We’d want his wet-weather brilliance recognised but, as this is Max’s choice, here’s what happened on the day at what remains a track that really separates F1’s best from merely its good.

After a relatively sluggish start – something Red Bull’s drivers encountered across 2023 due to its unpredictable getaway system – Verstappen had the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri swarming. He saw the Australian off on the approach to Turn 1, but needed to be brave at Turn 2 to wrestle back his lead from pole. It was actually rather Suzuka 2022-esque – a year earlier, he’d been equally feisty in seeing off Leclerc’s attack at the same spot from a wet start.

From there in the 2023 race, Verstappen bolted clear before having to do that again at the early safety car restart. His initial pace over Norris was around 0.5s faster on average each time. The Briton was also slowed during the virtual safety car period activated by Sergio Perez’s second accident of the day, helping Verstappen build a lead of almost 10s.

He doubled it thereafter, just missing a pre-weekend target of wanting Red Bull to win by 20s (according to team boss Christian Horner) to provide a statement response to its Singapore GP defeat. The RB19 was on territory it loved, with Verstappen getting stuck into the corner types where he excels, all while being able to run softer tyres than the McLarens for most of the race despite Suzuka’s abrasive surface and high-energy layout.

2. 2022 Belgian GP

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

A drive Verstappen picked out as his best win of 2022 only just misses out on his top spot

Verstappen start: 155
Verstappen win: 29
Car: Red Bull RB18
Started: 14th

Verstappen had already picked his second F1 career win at Spa as his best in his march to the 2022 crown, as the challenge of Ferrari and Charles Leclerc imploded. For the race itself, Verstappen started 13th (technically, after Pierre Gasly’s issue ahead) thanks to his grid penalty for changing gearbox, energy store, control electronics and internal combustion engine. He was among a host of drivers to do this, including Leclerc.

Verstappen got stuck in to gain three spots at the first corner, then lost his move on Alex Albon at Les Combes as he wisely backed away from Lance Stroll rejoining. Once the race restarted from an early safety car, he just tore up the rest of the midfield to reach the podium positions by the end of lap eight of 44.

He couldn’t get past Sergio Perez so rapidly, but did eventually with a lap-12 slipstream pass. What was quite incredible about this sequence was that Verstappen, even with all his overtakes (boosted by Red Bull’s straightline prowess and ability to traverse Eau Rouge’s fearsome compression with a lower ride height than the rest), made his soft starting tyres last longer than Perez’s mediums. After the pitstops, Verstappen caught and passed early leader Carlos Sainz, then headed off to claim his stunning 29th F1 victory untroubled thereafter. 

1. 2021 United States GP

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Verstappen lost out to Hamilton at the start of their 2021 Austin clash, but got the upper hand later on

Verstappen start: 136
Verstappen win: 18
Car: Red Bull RB16B
Started: 1st

The pressure factor in many of Verstappen’s best F1 wins flows through this list. He rocked up at Austin after a run of three races without a win since delivering in the face of heavy pressure of a different kind – in front of his home crowd at the first Dutch GP since 1985. The Monza crash with Lewis Hamilton followed, then the Russian and Turkish GPs went to Mercedes.

In Turkey, Red Bull getting its set-up wrong for optimal tyre use had been a critical factor, but in Texas it aced its decisions, with Mercedes forced into running a higher-than-ideal ride height due to the track’s fearsome bumps. The hot conditions all weekend also boosted the RB16B, while the Mercedes W12 tended to struggle more on the Pirellis when the temperatures climbed.

But the heat amplified another element of why this win was good from Verstappen. He “didn’t feel well – I had all sorts of trouble going on”. Team boss Christian Horner opens up on an illness that also impacted Sergio Perez: “Max was so sick, he was starting to have double vision at some points.”

In the race, Verstappen blew the start from pole as Hamilton got forcefully ahead at Turn 1, and was lucky that it was Perez behind to avoid dropping to third at Turn 2. But then Red Bull made two aggressive pitstop calls, helped by Perez’s early presence meaning Hamilton couldn’t go really long in the first stint, before the Mexican’s battle with the illness dropped him back. These undercut Verstappen back ahead, and set up a thrilling chase for the win as his rival recovered with a tyre life advantage.

And this is where the pressure factor really tells, as Verstappen learned from caning his second-stint hards too early. He kept enough life in his next set that he was able to hold off Hamilton’s charge. “The way in which he managed those tyres and soaked up the pressure from Lewis,” says Horner. “That was truly outstanding.”

But why is it Verstappen’s top pick? Well, as he says, “we were not supposed to win that one…”

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Triumphing through illness amid his tense title battle with Hamilton gets the 2021 US GP to the top of Verstappen's list