Verstappen vs. Hamilton math
A quick F1 stat check shows Max Verstappen has 71 wins since joining Red Bull versus Lewis Hamilton’s 62, and across the hybrid era Verstappen and Hamilton are tied at 83 wins — numbers that frame the current rivalry in raw victories, not just recent form. Social tracking also highlighted how recently drivers have won: Jack Antonelli 9 days ago, George Russell 30 days, Verstappen about four months, while Fernando Alonso’s last win was more than 12 years ago — useful context if you follow momentum and “how hot is a driver” narratives. (x.com) (x.com) (x.com)
The numbers look upside down until you split Lewis Hamilton’s career in two. Max Verstappen has 71 wins for Red Bull Racing alone, while Hamilton has 62 wins outside Mercedes and 43 at McLaren plus 19 at Ferrari would still leave most of his total tied to one team. (formula1.com 1) (formula1.com 2) That is why one comparison making the rounds lands so hard: Verstappen joined Red Bull in 2016 and has won 71 races there, while Hamilton won 62 races in 10 seasons at Mercedes from 2013 through 2024. One driver built his whole peak at one team, and the other built his biggest block of wins at another. (formula1.com 1) (formula1.com 2) The other stat uses a calendar cutoff instead of a team cutoff. Formula One’s hybrid era began in 2014, and Verstappen’s 71 Red Bull wins plus his 12 Toro Rosso and Red Bull wins outside that team split put him level with Hamilton on 83 wins in the hybrid era. (formula1.com 1) (formula1.com 2) That tie says less about who is better and more about how long each man has owned this rules cycle. Hamilton banked a huge share of those wins in the early Mercedes turbo-hybrid years, and Verstappen piled up his share later with 19 wins in 2023 alone and a fourth straight title in 2024. (formula1.com) (formula1.com) (formula1.com) The recent-win tracker adds a different lens because it ignores career totals and asks a simpler question: who has actually stood on the top step lately. Kimi Antonelli won the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29, 2026, which was 11 days before April 9, 2026, and George Russell won the Australian Grand Prix on March 7, 2026, which was 33 days before April 9, 2026. (formula1.com) (formula1.com) Verstappen’s last win is much farther back. Formula One’s official Red Bull team history says he won six of the last nine Grands Prix in 2025, and his driver page shows zero wins through the first three races of 2026, so his most recent victory came late in the 2025 season rather than in the current year. (formula1.com) (formula1.com) Fernando Alonso is the extreme version of that same stat. Formula One’s official archive still labels his home win in Barcelona as his last race victory, and that race was the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, which puts the gap at nearly 13 years by April 2026. (formula1.com) (formula1.com) So the math is doing two different jobs at once. The 71-versus-62 comparison measures how much Verstappen has wrung out of one team compared with Hamilton’s Mercedes peak, while the 83-all comparison says the hybrid era has effectively had two kings sharing the same win count. (formula1.com) (formula1.com) And the recency list keeps the argument honest. Hamilton still owns 105 career wins and sits first on the all-time list, Verstappen is already on 71 at age 28, and the hottest names in the first three races of 2026 are Antonelli and Russell, not either half of the sport’s defining rivalry. (formula1.com) (formula1.com) (formula1.com) (formula1.com)
