Most F1 points in a season: Highest driver points totals in history
RadioTimes.com brings you the top five F1 driver season points totals in history.
At the end of each Grand Prix, drivers who finish in the top ten are allocated points that count towards their championship standing.
While the order is ultimately what matters, the number of points accumulated over a calendar year is often a good indicator of how dominant a driver has been.
The current points system lends itself to high totals, with 25 points available for a win. That goes down to one point for tenth position.
Here are the top five points totals in the history of the sport and here’s a word of warning – you might think you’re seeing double, but you’re not!
RadioTimes.com brings you the top five driver season points totals in history.
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5. Sebastian Vettel – 397 (2013)
Sebastian Vettel's dominance in 2013 should not be underplayed. The Red Bull driver won his fourth consecutive F1 Drivers' Championship by a record margin (155 points over Fernando Alonso) and scooped a number of other records along the way.
The German amassed 397 drivers' points - the most ever at the time - with 13 wins from 19 races in a season that also saw him win nine races on the bounce - a record later broken by Verstappen.
4. Lewis Hamilton – 408 (2018)
Vettel's record would stand for five years before being broken by Lewis Hamilton in 2018.
Hamilton was a four-time world champion already, but he wrote his name into the history books further by finishing with 408 points after winning 11 of the 21 races that season.
He overturned a mid-season points deficit to beat Vettel to the title and break his points record.
3. Lewis Hamilton – 413 (2019)
A year later, a dominant Hamilton went one better on his way to a sixth world championship.
The Brit showed remarkable consistency as he finished in the points in all 21 races, winning 11, and totalled an outstanding 413 points.
The following year he would go level with Michael Schumacher by winning the F1 Drivers' Championship for a seventh time.
2. Max Verstappen – 454 (2022)
Second on the list is Verstappen's outstanding 2022 campaign.
Despite a rocky start, which saw him retire from both the first and third races, a record 15 wins from 22 races helped him go well beyond Hamilton's 2019 total as he established himself as the new force in F1.
1. Max Verstappen – 575 (2023)
Victory in Austin last year saw Verstappen break the points record he set during the previous campaign – a remarkable achievement with five races left.
He was totally dominant last term, wrapping up a third consecutive world championship after just 15 races. Red Bull's star man clinched 19 race wins and 21 podium places in 22 races in 2023.
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