Verstappen’s performances in 2016 tended to be more action-packed than not. When races sometimes began to wane, he was one of the drivers able to bring a race back to life.
If the young Dutchman hadn’t been able to create his own racing lines at Interlagos, the race would have been duller and remembered for the red flag fiasco’s – The racing stewards should have bought him a caipirinha after the race for saving them from being perceived as masterminding a stop-start Brazilian boo-fest.
Pirelli have released some stats that encapsulate Verstappen’s season at Red Bull Racing. He managed 78 overtakes throughout the season, an average of 3.7 per race – the highest of any individual F1 driver over a season since 1983, when these stats were first recorded.
Other surprising stats included Sebastian Vettel’s remarkable ability to avoid being overtaken. He was overtaken only once on-track all season and you can guess who managed that and where it occurred from the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I1cpZphH2I
Fernando Alonso was the statistical control freak at race starts, perfecting his getaway and leaving his midfield rivals for dust on the opening lap with 41 positions gained on the first lap over the season. Lewis Hamilton registered the most overtakes in a single race with 18 passes at the Chinese Grand Prix after the Brit fought back from contact at turn-one.
The highest speed registered this season came from a flying Finn in a Williams around Mexico City. Bottas reached a whopping 372.5km/h.
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