– If Max Verstappen fulfills his prematurely extended contract with Red Bull, he will set a special record: He would become the driver who has competed in the most seasons for the same racing team.
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However, this does not mean that Verstappen has always driven for Red Bull in his Formula 1 career so far. At the beginning of his career, Verstappen followed the classic path of all Red Bull juniors: He started at the B-team Toro Rosso, which has since been renamed several times and is now called Racing Bulls.
There are also drivers who have spent their entire Formula 1 career with only one team. Jim Clark is one such driver: He competed exclusively for Lotus from 1960 to 1968 – and very successfully: Clark was one of the dominant drivers of the 1960s and won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1963 and 1965.
In 1968, Clark died in an accident at a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, abruptly ending his career. Otherwise, Clark would probably have been able to compete in more than nine seasons for Lotus in Formula 1. But Clark is not the driver with the most years for only one team: Others have since surpassed him – including Verstappen.
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Clark, Schumacher, Verstappen: Who stayed even longer?
Michael Schumacher also ranks ahead of Clark in this special list: His time at Ferrari (1996 to 2006) is remarkable not only because of its duration of a total of eleven seasons but also because of the great successes: Schumacher won five consecutive world titles for Ferrari starting in 2000. This made him the sole Formula 1 record champion.
Photo series: Formula 1 drivers with the most seasons for one team
But where do Clark, Schumacher, and Verstappen rank in the list of drivers who have competed particularly long for the same team? Our new photo series provides answers – and names the current record holder, who could soon be dethroned by Verstappen…
Note: For our photo series, we count every year in which a driver was active for the same team – regardless of how many races the driver completed in a year. Verstappen’s first, incomplete season at Red Bull is therefore counted here as one year, for example.
