Max Verstappen tops 2015's passing charts - but overtaking decreases

F1 rookie of the year Max Verstappen completed the most overtaking moves during the 2015 season.

In statistics released by tyre supplier Pirelli, Verstappen made 49 passes during his debut campaign - an average of nearly three moves per race - with fellow rookie team-mate Carlos Sainz not far behind on 45. The Toro Rosso duo's combined tally of 94 overtakes was the most of any team-mate pairing on the grid.

Unsurprisingly, the team who had their cars overtaken the least was world champions Mercedes - with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg passed on track just three times apiece all season.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel pulled off the most moves in any one race - 13 - in the German's surge from 18th on the grid to fifth in June's Canadian GP. Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, made the most headway at the start of races with a total of 28 such early moves during a season in which the McLaren driver regularly started near the back of the grid.

Overall, the 19-race season saw 509 overtaking moves - an average of 27 per race. However, this represents a 20 per cent decrease from 2014 when there were 636 passes, albeit with two more cars in the field.

The final year of F1's V8 engine era in 2013 produced 985 overtakes, meanwhile - nearly double this year's tally.

In 2015, the Malaysia GP witnessed the most overtakes - 60 - with Australia and Singapore delivering the fewest, 11.

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Pirelli class an overtaking manouevere as one that takes place during complete flying laps - so not on the opening lap - and is then maintained all the way to the lap's finish. Position changes due to major mechanical problems or lapping/unlapping are not counted.

There were 706 pit stops during the season - an average of 1.88 per driver per race - while Pastor Maldonado's Mercedes-powered Lotus clocked the fastest speed during the campaign of 366.4kph (227.7mph) at the Mexican GP.