A year later Max won on his Red Bull Racing debut, claiming victory at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix to become the sport’s youngest winner.
Matching the Team’s improving fortunes, Max racked up a solid 10 victories and 42 podiums across his first four seasons with the Team, but in 2021 the Dutchman at last had a car with which he could mount a title charge and, with 10 wins, 10 poles and 18 podiums he secured his first world title at the end of a hard fought 2021 season.
While his first title was impressive, what followed was truly exceptional, as Max stormed to a record-breaking 15 wins on his way to all-conquering second successive crown. The following year, in the remarkable RB19, the Dutchman doubled down on the dominance, winning all but three of the 22 races to claim a third title and set a host of new benchmarks, including breaking his own record for most wins in a season, establishing a new marker for consecutive wins – with 10 in a row between Miami and Monza – and racking up the largest single-season points haul for a driver with 575.
2024 told a different tale, however, and after the Team’s dominance the field became more competitive. After taking seven wins from the opening 10 races, the field increased in car performance which saw Max not win for the next 10 races. Battling back, a drive for the ages from 17th on the grid in Brazil to the top of the podium in wet conditions restored the momentum and three weeks later Max sealed his fourth straight Championship win in Las Vegas. The achievement puts him in an exclusive club of just six drivers to have won four titles or more, alongside legends such as Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost.
