F1 Driver’s Most Dominant Seasons
The Most Dominant seasons in Formula 1
After a flaky start, Max Verstappen is sauntering towards the 2022 drivers’ title with consummate ease but how dominant has he really been?
As the Dutchman looks to break the record for the number of wins in one season and consecutive victories, we take a look at F1’s other most dominant years.
These seasons are often looked on unfavourably, but a runaway leader doesn’t necessarily equate to a boring year of F1, nor do the stats always tell the full story…
5. Nigel Mansell - 1992
56% of races won
67.5% of points claimed
The stats might not jump out as anything spectacular but Mansell’s start to the season, command over the rest of the field, and unfortunate reliability push him above others who may seem more dominant on paper.
Mansell won 8 of the first 10 races of the season and finished at least 2nd in every race he finished, totally outclassing teammate Ricardo Patrese.
The iconic Williams FW14-B was comfortably clear of its rivals, with the team mastering new technologies such as Active Suspension under the guise of design genius Adrian Newey.
There was no doubt where the title was going from early on as the maverick Brit finally took his first, and only, drivers championship.
4. Sebastian Vettel - 2013
68% of races won
84% of points claimed
It’s the hope that kills you…
Vettel and Red Bull had already taken 3 consecutive driver and constructor titles before 2013, with Adrian Newey again mastering the design.
Lotus, Ferrari and Mercedes all took race wins early on in the season, and as the summer break concluded there was fresh excitement that one of the teams might be able to take the fight to Vettel.
Such hope was crushed in an utterly ruthless fashion.
Vettel won the final 9 races of the season to take his victory tally to 13 out of 19. His consistency was mighty, finishing off the podium just twice, and evoking memories of his hero and German compatriot Michael Schumacher.
Vettel’s 2011 season also saw similar levels of consistency and dominance, with 11 wins, 83% of points claimed, and a podium finish in every single race. But 2013 took his mastery to a new level.
F1 was fortunate that big regulation changes were in place for 2014, which brought about a new period of dominance…
4. Lewis Hamilton - 2020
65% of races won
82% of points claimed
One that was never in doubt.
A shortened and heavily changed season calendar, owing to Covid-19, didn’t prevent Hamilton from taking a record-equalling 7th drivers title.
Mercedes had won every title since 2014, and it was immediately clear that their advantage over the field increased for 2020. Hamilton was rarely challenged by team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
11 wins from 17 races doesn’t indicate the true level of dominance here from one of F1’s greatest performers.
Hamilton missed a race after testing positive for Covid and would likely have won two more races but for some strategic errors by the Mercedes team in Italy and Russia.
Regulation changes were the catalyst to finally end Mercedes’ 7-year hold over the drivers championship in 2021.
2. Michael Schumacher - 2004
72% of races won
80% of points claimed
2004 felt like dominance at its finest, or worst.
The season was defined by a lethal combination of a slick Ferrari team with impenetrable reliability, pace and a formidable partnership with tyre supplier Bridgestone; a poor car from expected rivals McLaren and Williams; and Formula 1 Great Michael Schumacher at the peak of his powers.
Schumacher took 12 wins from the first 13 races of the season and clinched the title with four races to spare.
Only a single victory from the last 5 races followed, but with the championship wrapped up long ago, it can’t be seen as anything else but emphatic domination.
This was his and Ferrari’s fifth consecutive driver-constructor championship double, and this unprecedented period of dominance was actively damaging the sport as a form of entertainment.
The early dominance drained the season of excitement before it had barely begun.
F1’s governing body, the FIA, decided to act and made sweeping regulation changes at short notice for 2005.
Tyre changes during the race were outlawed and this delivered the desired effect, hampering the Bridgestone tyres and ending the Schumacher/Ferrari juggernaut.
1. Alberto Ascari, 1952
75% of races won
100% of points claimed
With fewer races than the modern day, most of the earlier seasons in F1 feel less dominant as the points gap between drivers fails to truly extend.
Ascari’s utterly supreme 1952 season makes it impossible it ignore.
In previous decades, only a drivers’ best few results would count towards the championship.
This system was designed to equal out reliability issues, which were far more common in the 1950s.
Of the 8 races in 1952, only the best 4 finishes of any driver would count. Ascari entered 7 of the races and won 6 of them, taking fastest lap at each of them for the extra point.
So he could have retired from two of the races he won and still taken maximum points…
Ascari also dominated the 1953 championship, taking 5 wins in total and 9 consecutive wins across his two title-winning years. He remains the last Italian to win the F1 world title.
