Max Verstappen has become the youngest driver in F1 history to reach 25 Grand Prix wins, but his journey to that milestone has been one more patient than might be expected.
The Dutch driver, who secured his 25th win from third on the grid at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, moved past Juan Manuel Fangio on the all-time list.
He also became Red Bull's most prolific podium scorer in the team's history, moving ahead of Sebastian Vettel's 65 with his 66th podium.
But while he may have scored his 25th win at an age five years younger than Ayrton Senna and 14 years younger than Nigel Mansell, only Fernando Alonso took more races to reach the milestone.
Only Fernando Alonso waited longer for 25th win
It took Verstappen 118 races to reach race win number 25, six races more than it took his 2021 title rival Lewis Hamilton.
The Dutchman's first win came in only his second season, after which he was made to wait more than five further years – all while Mercedes dominated – before reaching the milestone of 10 victories.
Since then, he has scored 15 wins in his last 30 races, with Red Bull now able to offer him a car capable of fighting with his rivals at the front.
But, across the history of the sport, only Alonso was made to wait longer in terms of races entered to reach his 25th win.
THE RACE TO 25 WINS (ALL-TIME)
| Driver | Races to reach win 25 | Age on day of win 25 |
|---|---|---|
| Jim Clark | 45 | 31 years, 9 months, 28 days |
| Jackie Stewart | 54 | 33 years, 11 months, 22 days |
| Michael Schumacher | 62 | 28 years, 5 months, 12 days |
| Ayrton Senna | 66 | 30 year, 5 months, 5 days |
| Alain Prost | 67 | 31 years, 8 months, 2 days |
| Sebastian Vettel | 77 | 25 years, 3 months, 11 days |
| Nigel Mansell | 81 | 38 years, 9 months, 9 days |
| Niki Lauda | 88 | 36 years, 6 months, 3 days |
| Lewis Hamilton | 112 | 29 years, 3 months, 13 days |
| Max Verstappen | 118 | 24 years, 8 months, 15 days |
| Fernando Alonso | 123 | 29 years, 2 months, 26 days |
Verstappen: It's nice for the record books
When told of the impressive club he has joined, Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365.com: "Yeah, we also do more races a year, right? So if you have a good car… It's not really comparable, but it's nice for the books."
The Dutchman could, of course, have secured his 25th win sooner had his early-season reliability problems not prevented him from fighting for victory in Bahrain and Australia.
However, Verstappen now feels that he has profited equally from Ferrari's recent misfortune.
He continued: "We had our misfortune at the beginning of the year, so we knew that we had to play a bit of catch-up, but then of course it seems like now it's more or less evened out with the bad luck.
"You have to score points every single weekend if you want to really fight for the championship. Everyone knows that, everyone of course tries that, but it's not always that easy."
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