Greatest overall season performances

[BTCC frog]

After 15 races this season, Max Verstappen currently sits on ten wins, and looks set to beat the record of 13 wins in a season set by Michael Schumacher in 2004 and Sebastian Vettel in 2013, albeit with 22 races with which to do it, while they only had 18 and 19 races respectively.

It got me thinking, assuming he keeps up his current form, could this be a contender for the greatest season performance in Formula 1? Ten out of fifteen races is good, but made all the better by the fact that he does not have a dominant car. The Red Bull is probably the overall best on the grid and he has been helped by blunders by the opposition, but his car is not significantly better than the Ferrari, which has a very capable driver in Charles Leclerc leading. He has made just one real mistake, spinning off in Spain, and has had just one off-weekend, Monaco, where he was outpaced by his teammate.

However, we have to look at the opposition, of course. Some similar seasons include that of Lewis Hamilton in 2018, Sebastian Vettel in 2011, Michael Schumacher in 2001 and Alain Prost in 1985. In all four cases, the drivers probably had the best car but certainly not by the margin that they dominated the season.

Similarly, you could point to seasons of total domination by one driver in the best car. Sebastian Vettel's nine wins in a row in 2013 were certainly extraordinary, as were Michael Schumacher's 12 from 13 in 2004 and podium finishes in every race in 2002. Further back in history, Jackie Stewart won six out of 11 races in 1969 and retired while leading from three more, while Jim Clark won seven from ten in 1963 and without mechanical dramas could have taken a clean sweep of the season, while his 1965 season was almost as dominant. Juan Manuel Fangio could also have taken a clean sweep in 1955 had he not retired in Monaco, and beaten Moss in Aintree (where he may have allowed his teammate to win). He also won six from eight in 1954 but had less of a chance in the other two. The only driver to win every race they started was Alberto Ascari in 1952, winning six races for Ferrari, but there were no other competitive teams and his best teammate, Giuseppe Farina was a little past his best. But it was still one of the greatest season performances.

Another series of contenders would be the championship challenges in cars that shouldn't have been there. First to be worthy of a mention would be Alain Prost in 1986 and Niki Lauda in 1977, as both cars were certainly not the best in the season but the drivers were able to fight their way to the title. Lauda's season was particularly impressive given he seemed in no way affected by the Nurburging crash the year before, and he didn't even need to compete in the final races.

Fernando Alonso in 2012 took a Ferrari that was far from the best on the grid just three points away from winning the championship, while Ayrton Senna drove incredibly well in 1993 with five wins in a McLaren that was no match for the Williams, and Stirling Moss took two victories and finished third in the championship in a Lotus that was 30bhp down on the Ferrari in 1961. All three would surely have walked the championship in the season's best car.

Another season I think is worth mentioning is Lewis Hamilton in 2007, as while he obviously had a huge amount of testing time before the season, to finish just one point off the championship, ahead of his teammate the reigning double champion, in the second-best car, as a rookie, was extraordinary.


Personally, I would select Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955 as the greatest season performance, because as well as winning six races out of eight and being close to taking all eight, he did it with Stirling Moss as his teammate, the second-best driver in the world at the time. Jim Clark in 1963, Jackie Stewart in 1969 and Lewis Hamilton in 2007 would be my runners up, with honourable mentions to every season mentioned above. I would be interested to know what others think.

[Tourer]

To me it is never about just the driver as F1 is most definitely a team sport, with the driver being simply one member of the team (although an important member).

Greatest overall season performance therefore would be hard to go past McLaren in 1988 - winning 15 of the 16 races. Ayrton Senna won 8 of them, including 4 in a row and he was up against a very, very good team mate in Alain Prost (7 wins). Bear in mind that it would have been 16 out of 16 had if Senna hadn't tripped over JL Schlesser and the overall season performance was truly epic and I reckon the greatest to this date.

[S griffin]

Excellent analysis. I think Stirling's season of 1961 is worthy of mention. The only driver to beat the dominant Ferraris in WCs that year

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Tourer

To me it is never about just the driver as F1 is most definitely a team sport, with the driver being simply one member of the team (although an important member).

Greatest overall season performance therefore would be hard to go past McLaren in 1988 - winning 15 of the 16 races. Ayrton Senna won 8 of them, including 4 in a row and he was up against a very, very good team mate in Alain Prost (7 wins). Bear in mind that it would have been 16 out of 16 had if Senna hadn't tripped over JL Schlesser and the overall season performance was truly epic and I reckon the greatest to this date.

If there is a caveat on the '88 domination by McLaren it is that it was a World Championship between three teams and six cars. The regs meant that anyone driving a 3.5 litre car never had a chance.

Of those three teams Lotus was a mere shadow of its former self and Ferrari was just being Ferrari, while McLaren had their act together.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Tourer

To me it is never about just the driver as F1 is most definitely a team sport, with the driver being simply one member of the team (although an important member).

Yep. If the RB isn't the dominant car (and at times, e.g. Spa it has been so dominant that no-one else was even within a sniff of challenging Max) then he certainly is in the dominant team. When this season finishes it will surely be record-breaking for Max and RBR but at times it's been an absolute breeze....

[S griffin]

People complained about Merc dominating, but at least with Hamilton and Rosberg it was a two horse race. Yet to see that happen with RBR

[mattcanary]

Originally Posted by chavez

If there is a caveat on the '88 domination by McLaren it is that it was a World Championship between three teams and six cars. The regs meant that anyone driving a 3.5 litre car never had a chance.

Of those three teams Lotus was a mere shadow of its former self and Ferrari was just being Ferrari, while McLaren had their act together.

There were a few other teams that has turbo power that year, Arrows and Ligier were two I believe. But yeah, point taken

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by chavez

If there is a caveat on the '88 domination by McLaren it is that it was a World Championship between three teams and six cars. The regs meant that anyone driving a 3.5 litre car never had a chance.

Of those three teams Lotus was a mere shadow of its former self and Ferrari was just being Ferrari, while McLaren had their act together.

Ferrari and some others could have done better. Sure Williams lost the Honda but Lotus had them.
If you looked at the fastest race laps they speed wasn't the most dominating factor. Berger (Ferrari) had fastest laps in Brazil, Portugal and Belgium. Alboreto (Ferrari) had fastest lap in Italy. Mansell (Judd) in the British GP, Nannini (Benetton) in Germany.
That's in 6 of the 16 races. It was a transitional period yes, but there were several teams with similar resources. One team was exceptional.