Summary Of All 10 Drivers That Led Races In 2023

Throughout the 2023 season, ten drivers from six teams have led some Grand Prix race at one point.

Not surprisingly, Max Verstappen topped the charts with his 1003 laps in the lead. The Dutchman has broken the record for the most laps in the lead in a single season and is the first driver to break the magical 1000-lap barrier.

Interestingly, the triple World Champion deliberately chose a sub-optimal strategy during the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi just so he could spend more time in the lead and break the above-mentioned record.

Second place belongs to Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez, who had 146 laps in the lead, which is a significant jump from the 1003, but it only highlights the dominance of the Dutch driver.

Carlos Sainz is the only non-Red Bull F1 driver who was able to win the race in 2023, and he probably scored most of his leading laps during the victorious Singapore Grand Prix.

The Spanish driver also recently mentioned that Ferrari had a faster car than Mercedes, and the stats support his claims. The Silver Arrows drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell spent only 19 laps in the race's lead altogether.

McLaren made a huge step forward in the middle of the season, and it shows. Lando Norris spent 30 laps in the lead while his rookie teammate Oscar Piastri led one lap.

While it seemed at the start of the season that Aston Martin would be the only team able to compete with Red Bull, Fernando Alonso spent only three laps in the lead of the race.

The trend we can identify in this chart is that 9 of the 10 drivers are from the top five teams. However, there is one outlier, Yuki Tsunoda from AlphaTauri.

While his team finished only eighth in the Constructors' Championship, they made great progress towards the end of the season, and Yuki Tsunda led five laps during the last race - the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.