We all know the 2019 F1 season will see the 1,000th round of the world championship – but there are many other noteworthy records which will and could be broken this year.
Hamilton could pass Schumacher’s wins tally (but it’s a long shot)
For the first time in 18 years, a driver will begin a season with a chance of breaking the all-time record for most race victories.
As we noted two years ago, this isn’t likely to happen quite so soon. Lewis Hamilton would need to win 19 of the 21 races on the 2019 F1 calendar to overhaul Michael Schumacher’s tally of 91 F1 wins.But it is a remarkable achievement for him to be within striking distance of a tally which seemed unapproachable when Schumacher set it with his final win 13 years ago.
Rather more likely is the possibility we will see Hamilton become the second driver in F1 history to win a sixth world championship. Juan Manuel Fangio held the record of five titles which he set in 1957 and wasn’t beaten until Schumacher reached six in 2003.
Mercedes could score the first ‘sextuple double’
Last year Mercedes matched Ferrari by sweeping both championships for the fifth year in a row. If they do it again this year, they will become the first team to do a ‘sextuple double’.
Ferrari has won six consecutive constructors’ championships before (1999 to 2004). However no team has ever taken one of its driver to the championship in six consecutive seasons, a record Mercedes can break this year.
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Kubica’s long-awaited return
That will be the fourth-longest gap between consecutive starts ever recorded by an F1 driver. Jan Lammers holds the record at 3,767 – more than a decade – between his starts in the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix and 1992 Japanese Grand Prix. Luca Badoer (3,584 days) and Pete Lovely (3,226) also had longer absences.
During that time Kubica will have missed 159 races, which is nine fewer than Badoer and six fewer than Lammers missed in that time.
The 1,000th world championship race
The third round of the championship in Shanghai will be the 1,000th world championship race. However it will not be the 1,000th Formula 1 race, for several reasons.
For example, F1 races were held before the championship began in 1950. And there were many F1 races which did not count towards the world championship after then, the last of which was held in 1983.
Also some world championship races were not run to F1 rules, such as the 1950 to 1960 Indianapolis 500s, and every other race in the 1952 and 1953 seasons, which were run to Formula 2 rules. Because of this, while there have been 997 world championship rounds so far, there have only been 971 world championship F1 races.
The 1,000th world championship F1 race would therefore be the eighth round on the 2020 F1 calendar. Based on this year’s schedule, that would be next year’s French Grand Prix.
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Driver firsts
New Ferrari hire Charles Leclerc is out to become the first ever Monegasque driver to win a race in F1. He also has the chance to be the second driver from Monaco to stand on the podium after Louis Chiron, who finished third at his home race in 1950, which was the second round of the world championship.
The same venue was also the scene of the last race win by a French driver, when Olivier Panis won the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. Pierre Gasly’s move to Red Bull could end that 23-year wait.
Also within the Red Bull stable, Alexander Albon will be the second driver from Thailand to start a race. The first was since Prince Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh – better known a ‘B Bira’ – who raced between 1950 and 1954, and was born before the country changed its name from Siam.
One last ‘youngest ever’ record for Verstappen?
Max Verstappen is already the youngest driver ever to start a race, score a point, win a grand prix, stand on the podium and set a fastest lap. He can’t become the youngest driver to start from pole position – Sebastian Vettel is holding on to that for the time being.
But he could become the youngest driver to win the world championship, if the Red Bull-Honda is up to it. Verstappen has two years left to beat this record, which is also held by Vettel.
To do that this year he’ll need a race-winning car underneath him. The last time a Honda-powered car won a race was Jenson Button’s 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix win 13 years ago.
Verstappen had the advantage of being able to enter F1 as a 17-year-old, before the FIA introduced its 18-year age limit. His new team mate Gasly is a year and a half older than him but has started 55 fewer F1 races.
Another record-equalling calendar
The introduction of the Vietnamese Grand Prix means there’s already one new race confirmed on next year’s calendar. So unless one race drops from the schedule at the end of this year we could see a record-breaking 22-race 2020 F1 season.
Milestones
In addition to the 1,000th world championship race there are several other milestones coming up in 2019:
- Monaco Grand Prix: Kimi Raikkonen’s 300th race appearance
- French Grand Prix: Daniil Kvyat will pass Jean-Eric Vergne as the driver to have started the most races for Toro Rosso
- Austrian Grand Prix: Raikkonen’s 300th race start, Kubica’s 100th race appearance, Lance Stroll’s 50th race start
- Russian Grand Prix: Verstappen’s 100th race appearance
- Mexican Grand Prix: Kevin Magnussen’s 100th race appearance
- United States Grand Prix: Carlos Sainz Jnr, Verstappen and Magnussen’s 100th race starts
- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Hamilton’s 250th race start, Leclerc’s 50th race appearance
Over to you
Have you got your eye on any other significant F1 statistics for the season ahead? Share them in the comments.
2019 F1 season
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- “He smashed my office door”: 23 must-see moments from ‘Drive to Survive’ season two
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
25th January 2019, 14:02
Dumb question: race appearance vs race start, difference? What counts as an appearance?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th January 2019, 14:32
@m-bagattini This is one of those things where I never know whether to explain it in an article or if it’s something that’s referred to so widely that enough people will know!
Anyway, a race appearance means they took part in practice but not the race. Kubica, for example, did loads of practice session appearances for BMW Sauber before he started his first race, and did a few more for Williams last year.
[TR]
25th January 2019, 14:53
Might it be more accurate to call it Event Appearance? The event is the race, of course, but since there are other parts to a Race Event, like you mention Practice, I take it that Race Start is for the actual Race itself whereas Race Appearance would be for taking part in any of the other officially timed parts, right?
Either way, this can all get confusing rather quickly.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
25th January 2019, 15:05
@keithcollantine makes sense and also explains the high number in Kubica’s stats. Thank you, and thanks @phylyp too! I second @[TR] suggestion, event appearance maybe?
Tommy Scragend
26th January 2019, 13:03
I haven’t really come across “race appearance” before. I’m more used to the concept of “entry” v. “start”, where an entry means you appeared in practice/qualifying with the intention of trying to make it into the race, but for some reason you didn’t actually start it, e.g. failed to qualify, injured in practice etc.
Kubica has 76 entries, and also 76 starts. But, it seems, 91 appearances.
[TR]
25th January 2019, 14:37
Not launching at the start, perhaps? Breaking down before you even pass the start lights? Not making it out of the garage?
Or it could be just showing up, saying “Hi” and going home on Sunday.
PS: In a much more mean-spirited way, it could be like Williams, where by all appearances they were racing last year…
Phylyp (@phylyp)
25th January 2019, 14:39
@m-bagattini – I think a case like Kimi at Malaysia in 2017 would illustrate the difference – he qualified for the starting grid, was there on Sunday in the pits/car, but didn’t actually start the race due to an electrical issue.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
25th January 2019, 14:40
Eh, beaten to it by the correct explanation by Keith, ignore my comment above!
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
25th January 2019, 18:16
@keithcollantine So in this instance is Kimi considered to have started the race because he Qualified for the race and had a place allocated to him on the starting grid, or does he have to accept that despite all the efforts of the team he only “appeared” at the race?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th January 2019, 14:31
51 wins in 5 seasons is astonishing progress… says a lot about about the lack of competition, like at the start of the millenium.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th January 2019, 14:36
@fer-no65 It’s all about context isn’t it? Seasons like 2004 and 2014 don’t really speak to the greatness of Schumacher or Hamilton because their cars were so dominant. But Schumacher winning nine in 2000 or Hamilton winning 11 last year (Sochi notwithstanding), those are very impressive feats given the quality of the competition.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th January 2019, 18:12
@keithcollantine it is, numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. But it does show how fierce competition make a difference… 2003 for Michael, for instance, he won 4 more GP than any of his rivals in what it was a hardly fought championship. Those 6 victories that year have a lot more shine given the context as you say, don’t they?
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
25th January 2019, 17:15
It is a paradox that the while margins between the pole position and last on the grid are perhaps smallest in history of the World Championship, but at the same time the sport is arguably least competitive since the 1950s. Mercedes AMG winning 74 of the last 100 races says it all…
mmertens (@mmertens)
25th January 2019, 18:27
Yes, and let’s not forget that reality plays a huge role on these stats. For more the last 2 decades, reliability improved so much that cars are almost bullet proof, and this can mislead comparisons between drivers from different generations. If we consider that in 1985 Ayrton Senna led the most laps than any driver in the whole championship but ended with only 2 wins, we can start to understand why these comparisons of wins per season, or total wind per drivers are a bit worthless. I would say that a Jackie Stewart tally of 27 wins is much more impressive than Hamilton’s or Schumacher’s. The same for Prost or Jim Clark’s. It’s a bit of pointless comparison.
mmertens (@mmertens)
25th January 2019, 18:51
Ops, dams auto correction, it’s reliability and not reality!
Xcm
25th January 2019, 19:33
2018 f1 cars are about as “almost bulletproof”, as I am “almost rich”.
Let’s keep some sanity here…
mmertens (@mmertens)
25th January 2019, 22:34
Compare the rate of mechanical failures from the 80s and 90s and you’ll understand what was insane. The « Ricciardo like » dnfs happened to half of the grid, and even more than that. And we are not talking about the 60s or 70s reliability.
anon
26th January 2019, 7:55
@mmertens, mind you, by that same token it could then be pointed out that statistic in itself does not take into account that Senna was starting so frequently on pole that season. That, in turn, was due to the fact that Lotus were the first team to introduce modern tyre blankets at the start of the 1985 season, giving Senna a major technological advantage over his rivals in qualifying.
tonyyeb (@tonyyeb)
25th January 2019, 14:50
Hasn’t Silverstone already used its break in contract clause to pull out from 2020? So it won’t be record breaking year unless a new race is added?
Phylyp (@phylyp)
25th January 2019, 14:58
Is that where talk of the second China race is coming from? Both as a negotiation technique with BRDC, and as a plan B for FOM.
schooner (@schooner)
25th January 2019, 14:59
So Verstappen is nearly at 100 races already? Crazy. Seems like he just got started. Given the age he began, maybe he can crack 400!
hobo (@hobo)
25th January 2019, 18:02
@schooner – Long calendar = very high race count. I think 400 is very reasonable.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
26th January 2019, 2:00
Yes, if he’s successful he could easily stay in f1 for at least 20 total years, which would make him still competitive just before retiring, just like schumacher’s first stint, which would break 400 races np.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th January 2019, 15:09
”French Grand Prix: Daniil Kvyat will pass Jean-Eric Vergne as the driver to have started the most races for Toro Rosso”
– That is unless he gets dropped once again before then.
”when Schumacher set it with his final win 13 years ago.”
– 12 years and little under four months ago to be perfectly precise as the Chinese GP was a late-season race back then (It took place in September in 2004, and then October for the following four seasons before moving to April for 2009.)
”The same venue was also the scene of the last race win by a French driver, when Olivier Panis won the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. Pierre Gasly’s move to Red Bull could end that 23-year wait.”
– Coincidently, that’s also the year Gasly was born.
Furthermore, Leclerc also has two years left to beat the record of youngest ever world champion held by Vettel. Gasly, on the other hand, doesn’t have any chance for that anymore due to his birthday being February 7th Vs., Vettel’s July 3rd, which means that by the end of the next season he will be approximately five months older than Vettel was at the end of the 2010 season.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
26th January 2019, 2:02
Yes, gasly would need to win a season in a dominant fashion like schumacher 2002 to challenge vettel’s record!
Jonathan Parkin
26th January 2019, 15:10
He was just 103 days old when Olivier Panis won Monaco
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
25th January 2019, 17:11
I don’t care what license Albon carries, he is British…at least as much as Wehrlein is German.
anon
25th January 2019, 18:21
@gpfacts, I presume that is based on the argument that, because he was born in the UK, he is therefore British. By that logic, do you therefore believe that Grosjean should be called a Swiss national and Verstappen a Belgian national, as those are the countries that those two drivers were born in respectively?
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
25th January 2019, 20:44
I think the examples you give are a little different. But I don’t want to argue about it, it just seems to me that he’s not really spending a whole lot of time to live and speak like Thai national. It’s like Nico Rosberg saying he is 100% German…I just don’t see it ;-). I have lot easier time to see Grosjean as French, if he say so.
Tango (@tango)
25th January 2019, 23:57
I’m a binational. I’d probably choose to fight / play / etc. Under the French flag… But I’d probably argue quite hard to anybody saying I’m not a British either. It’s (literally actually) choosing between your mother or your father (be it blood mother or figurative motherland). Those three drivers have to choose a flag, they have their reasons, and I believe it won’t make them anyless British, Belgium or Swiss.
Tango (@tango)
25th January 2019, 23:59
Damned, citizen got lost in my answer :D. Having said all of that, I’ll have to agree Grosjean is a very French Swiss.
Leandro_onix (@leandro)
26th January 2019, 18:29
Piquet Jr is born on Germany
reg (@reg)
25th January 2019, 17:24
The 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix – I still remember watching the wheel nut come off Alonso’s Renault and screaming with my wife, “Jenson is going to win a race!!” The US announcers were having a whale of a time with David Hobbs imitating the Queen’s voice in a mock congratulatory phone call to Jenson. Fun memory.
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
25th January 2019, 20:45
+1
Sumedh
25th January 2019, 17:32
French Grand Prix: Daniil Kvyat will pass Jean-Eric Vergne as the driver to have started the most races for Toro Rosso
Err, I will let Helmut Marko weigh in on that one.. :)
Coanda (@ming-mong)
26th January 2019, 2:43
These stat comparisons are kind of useless. 16 race calendar in 92 compare to 21 race calendar in 2018.
I’m not a Schumi fan, however as time as gone on I do respect more and more for what he was able to achieve. They are both great drivers however hypothetically If I had to choose one in their prime to pilot my teams car I would choose Schumi. No doubt.
fred
26th January 2019, 10:07
Stats or not, I think those that know would agree that Schumacher was on another level than Hamilton.
DonSmee (@david-beau)
26th January 2019, 20:27
Rose tinted glasses. Schumacher had a chance to show what he could do against a competitive teammate in Nico Rosberg, and I believe he did quite well even when we remove age affected attributes. However, he never smote Nico into oblivion like we thought he would. He was just another elite racer, arguably in the same league as Alonso, Hamilton but no more.
jmlabareda
27th January 2019, 22:14
McLaren and Williams finishing in the last two spots of the constructors championship for the first time ever?
Wayne
28th January 2019, 7:53
Schumi was very very very good. But when you have THE WHOLE TEAM geared around you for many many years. Even the other driver played sevond fiddle to him…then that does put some shade over an otherwise bright legacy
tony mansell
29th January 2019, 10:03
I’ll be returning to Spa for the 1st time since I had a kid in 2009. Being ‘allowed out’ now is a personal milestone. I just hope its as wet and cold as I remember !!