Verstappen finished 2023 on a record 575 points, and his teammate Sergio Perez scored 285 points, 49.57% of Verstappen’s total.

Looking through the books, the previous record margin in terms of percentage of points was held by Nigel Mansell in his 1992 championship win with Williams.

Mansell finished 1992 on 108 points, and teammate Riccardo Patrese scored 56, 51.85% of Mansell’s total.

True story – Mansell was on track to double everyone’s total with 2 races remaining in 1992, but failed to finish those last 2 races thanks to an engine failure at Suzuka and Ayrton Senna taking both drivers out in Adelaide, Patrese won at Suzuka to jump to 56 points, then had an engine failure in Adelaide, and that’s the way it stayed.

Looking through the books, these are the biggest percentage gaps between the Runner-Up’s points total and the World Champion’s points total… that we know of

1. Perez (Red Bull) to Verstappen (Red Bull) in 2023 (49.57%)

2. Patrese (Williams) to Mansell (Williams) in 1992 (51.9%)

3. Heinz Harald-Frentzen (Williams) to Jacques Villenueve (Williams) in 1997 (51.9%) – This is thanks to Michael Schumacher’s disqualification for deliberately hitting Villeneuve in the season finale at Jerez.

4. David Coulthard (McLaren) to Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) in 2001 (52.8%)

5. Ronnie Peterson (March) to Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell) in 1971 (53.2%)

5. Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) to Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) in 2002 (53.4%)

6. Graham Hill (Lotus) to Jim Clark (Lotus) in 1963 (53.7%)

Although, if you count all the races from 1963, in which drivers only counted their 6 best results, then Jim Clark has the record, as he finished on 73 points compared to unofficial runner-up Richie Ginther’s 34, a mere 46.5% of Clark’s total…

However, Clark’s official tally for ’63 is 54 points as his 6 best results were all wins (Clark won a record 7 races and it was 9 points for a win until 1990), and Ginther finished tied with Hill on 29 points, with Hill getting 2nd thanks to his 2 victories to Ginther’s none.

Funnily enough, this year Verstappen broke another record Clark had held since that 1963 season – Highest percentage of laps led in a season (75.7%, Clark led 71.47% in ’63)