Hamilton takes fourth grand slam as Stroll grabs first points

2017 Canadian Grand Prix stats and facts

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Sunday was Lewis Hamilton’s sixth victory in the Canadian Grand Prix. It’s the race he’s won more times than any other, and a seventh win will tie him with Michael Schumacher as the most successful driver of all time in this race.

This was his first ‘grand slam’ at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Hamilton won the race from pole, leading all the way and setting the fastest lap. Despite having had very dominant machinery at his disposal for the last three years, two of Hamilton’s four ‘grand slams’ were achieved this season (the other was in China).

He and title rival Sebastian Vettel have the most ‘grand slams’ of any active driver with four. They are tied with Jackie Stewart, Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell. Only Jim Clark (eight), Alberto Ascari and Michael Schumacher (five each) have more.

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Hamilton celebrated Senna milestone
Hamilton’s win also meant Mercedes took their first one-two finish of the season.

Saturday was all about one big statistical milestone: Lewis Hamilton equalling Ayrton Senna’s tally of 65 pole positions.

This stood as the outright record for most pole positions from Senna’s final pole position on that fateful San Marino Grand Prix weekend in 1994 until Michael Schumacher surpassed it at the same track 12 years later. Schumacher pushed the record on to 68.

But their strike rates were very different. Schumacher took 68 poles from 306 races, a 22.2% strike rate, whereas Senna took pole in 40.4% of the races he started (65 from 161). Hamilton’s rate is closer to Senna’s than Schumacher’s. He has taken pole for exactly one-third of his starts (33.3%, 65 from 195).

This was Hamilton’s third consecutive pole position in Canada. He also took pole for his first three races at this track in 2007, 2008 and 2010 (there was no Canadian Grand Prix in 2009). Sebastian Vettel then produced a hat-trick of his own from 2011 to 2013.

That means since Hamilton and Vettel came into the sport ten years ago the only driver besides them to take pole in Canada is the now-retired Nico Rosberg. They also shared the front row of the grid for the fourth time in seven races so far this year. On each of those occasions Hamilton was on pole.

Vettel’s disappointing race meant his 100% record of top-two finishes and podiums ended last weekend. However three drivers continued their 100% records against their team mates in qualifying: Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Massa.

Stroll delivered some Canadian pride at home
Although Lance Stroll was beaten by his team mate again he did manage to bring his car home in the points. The last time a driver took the first points of his career in his home race was five years ago, when Daniel Ricciardo also finished ninth for Toro Rosso in Australia.

Stroll is the third Canadian driver in the history of the sport to score a point and the only one not to come from the Villeneuve family. However there are three other Canadian drivers who scored top ten finishes in the days before points were awarded for those places: Peter Broeker (seventh, 1963 United States Grand Prix), George Eaton (tenth, 1970 Canadian Grand Prix) and Peter Ryan (ninth, 1961 United States Grand Prix).

At 18 years and 230 days old, Stroll is the second-youngest driver of all time to score a point in F1. However he’s over a year older than record-holder Max Verstappen, who was 17 years and 184 days old when he took seventh in the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix.

For much of the race Esteban Ocon looked set to improve on his career-best finish of fifth. He didn’t but he did become the first driver not in a Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull to run as high as second place.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Canadian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

2017 Canadian Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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65 comments on “Hamilton takes fourth grand slam as Stroll grabs first points”

  1. In spite of 2 Grand Chelems, Hamilton is yet to win the F1 Driver of the day vote on the official website even once. That has been won by Vettel 5 times, and once each by Bottas and Verstappen.

    @Keith: Why is Michael’s pole position in Monaco 2012 not counted? What is the definition of pole position: The driver who is fastest in qualifying or the driver who starts the race in first position?

    1. The fastest driver that doesn’t brake the rules.But he did.

      1. Michael didn’t break any rules in Monaco. He broke them in the previous race at Spain.

    2. to keep it simple Its the race start position which determines the Grid officially. So in 2012 Monaco GP Micheal got the Fastest lap time which forms the Provisional Standings but due to his penalty of 5 Place Grid position from 2012 Spanish GP his Grid position became P 6 and the driver who got the next fastest time in Monaco qualification got the Pole position which is Webber in that occasion in Final Grid.
      Pole Position records are determined on Official / Final Grid than Provision Grid

      1. And that’s why grid penalties for previous race infractions distort the statistics. What would be the alternative, I wonder… carrying this punishment to the race, to be paid in the first pit stop, instead of the starting position? Would this, in turn, stimulate bad behavior?

      2. @miki:

        Here’s an interesting one.
        There was a race in the 70’s (forgot which one) where the drivers on row 1 lined up incorrectly. So the fastest driver from qualifying lined up in position 2, the second fastest driver lined up on pole position. (They were alongside each other as the grid was not staggered then). The race was started this way and there were no penalties awarded to either driver. So who should be credited with pole position?

        Also there have been races were the driver on pole position broke down on the formation lap and did not start, or stalled on the formation lap and started from the back row. So the pole position spot on the actual grid was empty. Who should be credited with pole position?

        Just asking… ;-)

        1. Leo B
          The Provisional Grid converts into official Grid when the penalties applied so taking that into account
          For your First question: the Driver who started 2nd will be counted as Pole sitter and he will have the Pole Doesn’t matter where he started in the mix up as it occurred after the qualification is done
          For your 2nd Question : For both of the situations its still the same. I remember that Silverstone 2007 where Felipe massa actually qualified 5th on Grid but got stalled on formation lap hence started from Pits. Its still counts as P5 for career record.
          I simply repeat Qualification Official Grid is done after penalties applied if there is any. So if driver broke down or crashed or stalled or started in different Grid Position the fastest driver who was in official grid will take the Pole position hence becomes pole man of that particular Grand Prix.

          Daniel : In My view if Driver mistake is the reason of penalty then we should carry as it is but if the Car is the Problem like Gearbox/ Engine failures causing the problem of penalty then i believe having the Cut in Constructors points would be ideal but then again considering the apparent disproportion in points standings these days a cut in WCC for Sauber would be drastic than say for Mercedes or Ferrari. Hence Unfortunately we dont have too much of any other choice unless some body comes up with idea that punishes Team than Driver when its the equipment that fails Driver

          1. Miki
            I can follow your logic, but there remains one problem with it: the term pole position refers to an actual physical position on the starting grid*. So it feels strange to me to credit anyone with pole position if he didn’t start from that exact location.
            I understand in statistics the term pole position isn’t interpreted as strictly, because then there would be races without a pole position credit. But maybe staticians shouldn’t call something pole position, when they mean “most forward starting car” or in your case “first car on the official grid sheet”.

            ( * closest to the timing pole at Indy, or inside row 1 at that particular track)

    3. For Hamilton’s Driver of the Day vote on the official website, you’d have to go back to last year’s Belgian GP.

      1. Typical of British Bias…. :p

        1. @Tango. Sorry you’ll have explain that (British bias) please.

          1. @baron, it’s a joke on how every body generaly accuses this site of british bias whenever something positive is said of Hamilton (or in his time Buton) and also in DoTW polls.

        2. Formula1 official website in more international than that.

      2. Why would ham get drive of the day? He starting on pole and drove at the front in clean air and apart from the first lap was never threatened…great drives in the mid midfield

    4. Of the DOTW results so far, he has 1 grand chelem, and several drivers were more impressive than him that day. He got lucky with a safety car.

      1. Seems like that’s all Lewis career boils down to, him just always being lucky, god forbid if he were to ever truly work to achieve anything in F1. 😏

        1. Just always being lucky? Certainly not. There’s also outright cheating. Check the Mexican cross-country races.

        2. Fritz@drfritz.com
          13th June 2017, 10:36

          1+

    5. Pole position is the guy starting from the best position in the gris, not the fastest in qualifying.

      That’s the definition of “pole position”.

      1. NASCAR never got the memo on this one. Pole position is credited after qualifying. If someone moves to the back for an infraction afterwords (engine change or other unapproved change) they are still credited with winning pole.

    6. Fuel rules of early 2000s skew this a lot, often it was better to have more fuel on start.

      I would Hazard a bet Lewis will break it this year.

    7. Why is Michael’s pole position in Monaco 2012 not counted?

      Because Mark Webber started the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix from pole position:

      https://www.racefans.net/2012/05/28/2012-monaco-grand-prix-stats-facts/

  2. McLaren win their first race since Brazil 2012 after they won the Montreal raft race behind the paddock on Sunday. Imagine what else they could achieve without a Honda engine.

    1. McLaren’s last win in the dry remains the US GP 2012. As this win was also in the wet.

    2. further proof that they have the best chassis/hull

    3. At least Alonso will stay now!! Wait, the raft race wasn’t the kind of win he was talking about?

  3. Hamilton led every lap of the race for the 11th time in his career, tying him with Michael Schumacher and Jackie Stewart for 4th place. Only Senna (19), Clark (13) and Vettel (13) have more.

  4. You suppose Alonso might prefer to have his Indycar for use in F1 races going forward? I understand it would be slower than the F1 machinery, but at least he might stand a better chance at completing the race.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      12th June 2017, 15:30

      Makes very little difference which car he uses providing it has a Honda strapped to it. He’s tried both already this year with the same results!

    2. ALO most likely ran out of fuel. Would happen for sure with the Indy-motor.
      He was warned early on about too much consumption, and after switching modes started to complain about having no power at all, so he switched back to another mode. ALO isn’t interested in finishing outside the points. We’ll see if he needs to replace components for next race. (I expect the TC to be replaced anyway, since it ran 2 races)

      1. Haha, I know. You’re both right about everything you’ve said.

    3. Did you see the Indy500?

  5. I can’t see this record ever being matched:

    They also shared the front row of the grid for the fourth time in three races

    1. That’s how far ahead of the rest of the grid they are, lol.

  6. So Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton walk into a bar…

    Just kidding. Alonso’s car broke down two blocks away.

    1. “… walk into a BAR HONDA”? :D

  7. Raikkonnen finishes outside the top 5 for the first time this year bar Spain, of course

  8. Telegrafista
    12th June 2017, 15:42

    McLaren established their new longest point-less streak with 7 consecutive grand prix without scoring a point (their previous record was 6 in 1971).

  9. Stroll was first driver since Daniel Ricciardo to score his first points at the home race. In 21st century there are four such drivers as Webber and Sato did it in 2002.

  10. Not a Schumacher fan but… what would the graph (and subsequent strike rate) look like if it started from each driver’s first pole and ended with each driver’s last pole position. Michael’s underachieving machinery at the beginning and end of his career really weigh him down on these points.

    1. Ferrari, Seb fan
      12th June 2017, 16:30

      Michael’s underachieveing machinery at the beginning and end of his career really weigh him down on these points

      +1. Especially about the underachieving Merc during his last 3 years in Formula 1. It also ruins his win and podium strike rate.

    2. Lol! Funny

    3. I did the math (number of starts might be inaccurate by one or two races (such as France 1996 for Schumacher)):
      – Schumacher: first pole at race 41, last at 241, strike rate of 34.00 %
      – Senna: first pole at race 17, last at 162, strike rate of 44.83 %
      – Hamilton: first pole at race 6, last at 195, strike rate of 34.39 %

      1. =Senna still the boss.

      2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        13th June 2017, 15:10

        @kaiie
        I wonder if it’s fair to compare them when you consider Parc Ferme? When was it introduced?

        In the new era, drivers and teams have to walk the fine 0line of quali pace and race pace since the car can only be marginally changed between qualifying and racing.

    4. I’m not saying I agree with your methodology, but should we also exclude similarly uncompetitive cars from the middle part of a driver’s career rather than just the ends?

  11. Ferrari wins 1-2 in Monaco and Mercedes 4-7.
    Mercedes wins 1-2 in Canada and Ferrari 4-7.

    1. nice find @bilarxos :-)

    2. Ooo nice one.

  12. Michael Brown (@)
    12th June 2017, 17:43

    I think you mean Hamilton equalled Senna’s pole tally, not his points tally @keithcollantine

  13. Yeah you hear of the rich kid who comes in and pays his way in, but rich kids aside, I’ve seen a lot of rookies come in and talk it up like they are corporate spokesperson. Stroll comes in and speaks what he thinks, and it’s not all PR rose colored glasses of positive bs even though it’s hell struggling (place Honda PR memo here). I like the kid. I hope he comes around.

  14. Grand Slam Ratio
    Driver/ Grand Slam total/ Grand Prix total/ Grand Prix per Grand Slam
    Clark/ 8 / 72 / 9
    Ascari/ 5/ 32/ 6.4
    Schumacher/ 5/ 307/ 61.4
    Stewart/ 4/ 99/ 24.75
    Senna/ 4/ 161/ 40.25
    Vettel/ 4/ 185/ 46.25
    Mansell/ 4/ 187/ 46.75
    Hamilton/ 4/ 195/ 48.75

  15. If you transfer the poles from “fast teammates” to the drivers in question, then Hamilton strike rate is the highest. Generally, Schumacher’s and Senna’s teammates were not known for being fast in qualifying (when they had the car to get pole).

    1. @david-beau Yeah, and Kovalainen+Button were considered strong in qualy by no one ever. That’s half of his career. Alonso’s qualifying too was never considered his strongest trait. Rosberg’s also debatable. He was trashed in qualy by Webber, then had weak team-mates like Wurz and Nakajima, and then the 40+ year old Schumacher.

      Now compare that to Senna: De Angelis was considered mega fast in qualy. Prost was only weak in qualy in comparison to Senna. All his other team-mates he thrashed and some very strong ones among those. Berger before he was destroyed by Senna was considered a very good qualifier as well.

      Schumacher I agree, he had usually weaker team-mates over one lap. But Senna, not in a million years! One can argue he had much stronger team-mates than Hamilton. And that over 40% pole strike rate will never be beaten. It took LH 34 more races to get to 65

      1. I think you underestimate Rosberg’s one lap pace

    2. @david-beau

      Senna’s teammates were not known for being fast in qualifying

      Alain Prosts quali-battles against the other 4 (!) world champions he had as teammates didn’t look too bad.

  16. Stroll is the first driver since Verstappen (Malaysia 2015) to score his maiden points by finishing higher than 10th.
    3rd time that Hamilton has started 3 consecutive Canadian GPs from the same position: 1st in 2007-10 (no race in 2009), 2nd in 2012-2014, 1st in 2015-17.

    Hamilton’s first fastest lap in Montreal.

    Bottas has started 3rd in 6 of this year’s 7 races. Vettel has started 2nd in 5 of those races.
    In every race so far this year Sainz has either scored points or collided with a Williams.

    Raikkonen is now the only driver (bar Button) not to have finished ahead of his team-mate (including races where only 1 driver finished) at all this year.

    First race without Vettel on the podium since Brazil 2016.

    First race without a German on the podium since Germany 2016.

    Hamilton’s 35th win for Mercedes – equals Senna for McLaren.

    Hamilton has managed the hat-trick (pole, fastest lap, win) in all 3 of his 2017 victories.

    Thanks to statsf1.com, magnetimarelli.com, and formula1.com for some of these.

    1. In every race so far this year Sainz has either scored points or collided with a Williams.

      Great stat !

      Now i wonder, since Schumacher’s arrival, what percentage of races had no germans on podium, and no germzn or british on podium ?

    2. Hamilton has managed the hat-trick (pole, fastest lap, win) in all 3 of his 2017 victories.

      Hamilton can only win from pole! He can also only win with Mercedes engines! (sarcasm)

    3. In every race so far this year Sainz has either scored points or collided with a Williams

      Haha, good one. I think these particular incidents have further exaggerated the points difference of Force India over Toro Rosso and Williams. While they have all been the 4th fastest car at one weekend or the other, Force India drivers have not been involved in any incidents and maximized their points.

  17. First time in 2017 no Ferrari on podium

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