Which F1 driver holds the record for most points won in a season? Top five best seasons ranked

2023-07-31
4 min read
Red Bull Content Pool

Max Verstappen set a new record of 15 race wins in a single season when he triumphed at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He has also smashed the best-ever points tally set by any driver in a single campaign across Formula One history.

Finishing the 2022 Championship on 454 points, Verstappen won his second consecutive world title along the way and beat Lewis Hamilton's points record from three years ago.

With a hefty lead already in 2023, Verstappen will fancy his chances in beating his own record this time around as Red Bull continue to produce some of the fastest cars in the sport's history. 

MORE: Which driver has recorded the most wins in an F1 season? A list of the top ten greatest ever campaigns by drivers

Most points won in a F1 season

Max Verstappen — 454 points (2022)

Verstappen set a new record of 454 points for a single season with victory at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he also became the first driver to win as many as 15 races in one campaign.

Verstappen beat the record set by Hamilton. Back in 2019, Hamilton and Mercedes dominated the field as the British driver won his sixth world championship in total whilst the German team took their sixth straight constructors title. 

That season, Hamilton won 11 races and took 17 podiums overall. He also remarkably finished in the points in every single Grand Prix that season, 21 in total. 

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Top five for most points won by a single driver in an F1 season

Driver Team Season Total Points Tally
Max Verstappen Red Bull 2022 454
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2019 413
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2018 408
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 2013 397
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 2011 392

MORE: Which driver has the most wins in F1 history? Top 10 with most victories in Formula One

What's the biggest winning margin recorded in an F1 season? 

Sebastian Vettel (155 points — 2013)

Former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel still holds the record for the most emphatic win in an F1 season when he finished 155 points clear of runner-up Fernando Alonso. 

Although the start of the 2013 campaign saw four different drivers win across the first six races, Red Bull and Vettel came back from the winter break to completely dominate the second half of the season. 

In fact, the German driver went on to win the last nine races of that season in astonishing fashion. 

With a lead of 143 points over Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen could also break this record in 2022 if he can amass enough points across the final two races of the season.