Comparing the stats at 28 years old

Red Bull star Max Verstappen he has been the standout driver for the Milton Keynes team for the last half decade with unseen dominance. Only Sebastian Vettel came close to the Dutchman's dominance in a Red Bull when the German dominated in the early 2010s.

Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel are the only two Red Bull Racing drivers to win F1 championships for the team. While the German retired from the sport at the end of the 2022 season, the Dutchman is still going strong and is only 28 years old.

Both drivers achieved much of their F1 success in their 20s. So it makes sense to compare their stats when they turned 28 (Verstappen's current age). Let's take a detailed look at how Verstappen and Vettel failed against each other in different parameters when they turned 28.

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Max Verstappen vs Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel he made his F1 debut with BMW Sauber as a test driver in 2006 and joined Red Bull's junior team Toro Rosso in mid-2007. 2008 was the German's first full season with the Faenza team. He was promoted to Red Bull Racing the following year and finished as runner-up Jenson Button.

When Max Verstappen arrived on the F1 grid in 2015, Vettel had already won four championships with Red Bull and moved on to Ferrari. Although the two drivers shared the track for 8 years, they never had a battle for the championship.

When Vettel was dominating Red Bull or struggling Lewis Hamilton for the title, Verstappen wasn't in the sport or simply wasn't fast enough to fight the leaders. As the Dutchman began to challenge for the title and became Red Bull's main driver, Vettel had a difficult 2019 and 2020 seasons with Ferrari, before moving to Aston Martin before finishing his career.

Let's see how the two drivers go at the age of 28 with their first success with Red Bull Racing.

F1 seasons and race starts

Sebastian Vettel turned 28 midway through the 2015 F1 season. Since making his F1 debut in mid-2007, he had 8 seasons under his belt and 147 race starts. Max Verstappen, on the other hand, made his debut in 2015, and is 28 years old this year, and has 10.5 seasons with 226 starts to his name.

Despite only having 2.5 more seasons than Vettel, Verstappen has far more race starts under his belt with 28 (53% more races) because the F1 calendar is longer compared to the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Championships (4 vs 4)

After being promoted to Red Bull in 2009, Vettel challenged for the title in the Adrian Newey-designed car, but fell short. However, in 2010, the German driver came out on top in what was a four-way title battle in the final race and became world champion.

This began a string of back-to-back dominant seasons, with Sebastian Vettel claiming four consecutive titles between 2010 and 2013 before the arrival of the turbo hybrid, which shifted the balance of performance towards Mercedes-Lewis Hamilton.

Max Verstappen, on the other hand, did the first 5 seasons in the sport and only won his first F1 title in 2021. While the big rule change didn't favor Vettel, it did the opposite for the Dutchman, who won back-to-back titles between 2021 and 2024.

Wins (67 vs 40)

Verstappen (67 wins) had far more wins than Vettel (40 wins) at the age of 28, but that's mainly because the Dutchman started earlier and had more races under his belt. Max Verstappen also had a dominant season in 2023, where he won 19 out of 22 races, increasing his winning statistics.

However, when comparing average races per win, Vettel averages 3.67 races per win, while Verstappen averages 3.37 races per win.

Pole Positions (46 against 45)

Despite having 50% more races, Max Verstappen (46 poles) has only one more pole position than Sebastian Vettel (45 poles) at 28 years old. What is noticeable is that the Dutchman has more victories in pole position with 28, while in the case of the German, he has fewer victories than pole position.

This is possibly because the V6 hybrid turbo engine is much more reliable, as well as the Pirelli tires being much more durable, often leading to one-stop racing. Whereas in Vettel's era of dominance, the V8s were not as reliable and the tires also had more degradation.

Podiums (120 against 71)

The podium is where Verstappen clearly has the superior stat compared to Vettel. The Dutchman had 120 pole positions to 28, which is 49 more than the German driver. That's because Verstappen has had a car good enough for podiums since joining Red Bull in 2016, and was often the third-best driver behind the two Mercedes drivers in the late 2010s.

Fastest laps (35 vs. 24)

Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel are again comparable in fastest laps when looking at averages (45% more fastest laps in 53% more races). However, the Dutchman has 11 more laps faster than Vettel, possibly because F1 changes the rules and gives him an extra point.

Career Points (3278.5 vs 1828)

Although both Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel have four titles each at the age of 28, the German driver had a tough title race in a couple of years, scoring less than 300 points to win the title.

The Dutchman, on the other hand, scored almost 400 points in 2021, followed by two title seasons with more than 400 points and 575 points in 2023. This is due to less competition in some seasons, as well as more race weekends.

Another factor affecting the tally is that Vettel raced under the old points system for the first three seasons, which awarded just 10 points for a race win compared to 25 under the current format.