The all-time record for most pole positions fell during 2017 and many other statistical milestones were reached too. Here’s the most notable from each race.
Australia

- The first time a team other than Mercedes and a driver not in a Mercedes had led the championship for three years
- The 100th race led by Lewis Hamilton
- Esteban Ocon scored his first point
- Daniel Ricciardo failed to score a point for the first time in 17 races. This is the longest points-scoring run by a driver who hasn’t won a world championship
- Albert Park’s shortest ever grand prix
China
- Hamilton’s third ‘grand slam’ – pole position, fastest lap, led every lap and victory
- This is the 11th consecutive season in which Hamilton has won a race
- Two drivers tied at the top of the championship for the first time in five years
- Renault’s first appearance in Q3 since Brazil 2011 (Bruno Senna)
- In the 14 seasons since the Chinese Grand Prix began this was the first one in which Fernando Alonso wasn’t classified
Bahrain
- First pole position for Valtteri Bottas, the 98th different driver to earn one, and the first for a Finn since Silverstone 2008
- Two wins and a second for Sebastian Vettel was the best start to a season for a Ferrari driver since Michael Schumacher in 2004
- Third race in a row drivers from five different teams were eliminated in Q1
Russia

- Bottas scored his first win in any category for 2,044 days. His previous victory came with an F3 team which was set up by Kimi Raikkonen
- More than half of all Finnish drivers to race in Formula one have won grands prix
- Mercedes remain unbeaten in Russia
- However Mercedes’ run of 30 consecutive front row starts (five less than the record) and 18 consecutive pole positions (six less than the record) ended
- The total duration of all racing activity during the Russian Grand Prix weekend was just two hours and nine minutes, almost 90 minutes of which was the F1 race
Spain
- Three cars finished on the lead lap, the fewest seen in a dry grand prix for almost a decade
- Sergio Perez scored his 15th consecutive points finish
- Esteban Ocon finished a career-best fifth and Pascal Wehrlein a career-best eighth
Monaco
- Ferrari’s first win in Monaco for 16 years
- Raikkonen set a new record for longest gap between consecutive pole positions in terms of races (129) and time (3,262 days)
- Jenson Button made his 306th and likely final F1 appearance, giving him the same number of starts as Michael Schumacher
Canada
- Hamilton equalled Ayrton Senna’s former record tally of 65 pole positions
- Hamilton’s fourth grand slam
- Lance Stroll scored his first points in his home race; the last driver to do the same was Daniel Ricciardo in 2012
- Stroll became F1’s second-youngest points-scorer after Max Verstappen
- Ferrari lost the constructors’ championship lead to Mercedes (and never regained it)
Azerbaijan

- Ricciardo won from tenth, the lowest starting position of a race winner since Alonso won from 11th at Valencia in 2012
- Vettel became the first driver to accumulate nine penalty points
- Stroll became the second youngest driver to finish on the podium in F1 after Verstappen (he missed the record by one race) and the first Canadian to appear on a rostrum since Jacques Villeneuve at Hockenheim in 2001
- Nine different teams finished in the ten points-scoring positions with Renault the only absentee
Austria
- Bottas set the shortest pole lap time for 32 years
- Williams posted their worst qualifying performance for four years
Britain

- Hamilton became the third driver to score a ‘grand slam’ at home, joining Jim Clark and Nigel Mansell who both did it twice
- This was the only race all year where Raikkonen started and finished in front of Vettel
Hungary
- No Brazilian driver on the grid for the first time in 35 years due to Felipe Massa’s absence
- Alonso set McLaren’s only fastest lap of the season, as he did last year at Monza
- The top five drivers on the grid all finished where they started
- Daniil Kvyat became the first driver to accumulate 10 penalty points
Belgium
- Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of 68 pole positions
- Hamilton started his 200th race and became the fourth driver to win this milestone grand prix along with Schumacher (Europe 2004), Button (Hungary 2011) and Rosberg (Singapore 2016)
- Marcus Ericsson marked his 40th consecutive point-less race
Italy
- Hamilton broke Michael Schumacher’s record of 68 pole positions
- This was the only race all season where the all-time track record wasn’t beaten. Had qualifying been dry, it might have been
- Stroll became the youngest driver to start a race from the front row, breaking Verstappen’s record by 23 days
- The second-highest number of grid penalties ever was applied: 150, 18 less than was seen at the same race two years earlier
- For the fourth year in a row Mercedes led every lap at Ferrari’s home track
- Massa’s 1’40.660 in a streaming wet final practice session was the slowest lap which headed a session at Monza since 1976
- This was the only time all year the drivers’ championship lead changed hands, as Hamilton passed Vettel
Singapore

- The first time Ferrari saw its only two cars in a race retire on the first lap
- Nico Hulkenberg broke Adrian Sutil’s record by reaching 129 starts without ever standing on the podium
- Vettel’s 200th start
- Ricciardo’s fourth consecutive podium in Singapore, none of which have been wins
- No German driver in the points for the first time since France 2008
- Career-best finishes for Carlos Sainz Jnr (fourth), Jolyon Palmer (sixth) and Stoffel Vandoorne (seventh)
Malaysia
- Hamilton took his ninth pole position and won the Pole Position Trophy for the third year in a row
- Sepang, which is not on the 2018 F1 calendar, is the only circuit where Mercedes failed to win in the last three years
- This was the shortest Malaysian Grand Prix which ran to the scheduled distance
Japan
- Hamilton’s first pole position at Suzuka, meaning he has had at least one pole at every venue on the 2017 calendar
- Jolyon Palmer started his final F1 race of the season
- Sainz Jnr left Toro Rosso after 56 starts for the team, two fewer than longest-serving driver Jean-Eric Vergne
United States
- Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix for the sixth time, a new record, which he achieved in just seven appearances
- Hamilton broke Schumacher’s record of front row starts with his 117th
- Ocon set a new record for most classified starts from the beginning of an F1 career with his 26th, surpassing Max Chilton. He extended it at the next race
- Kvyat left Toro Rosso after 51 starts for the team
- Verstappen’s post-race time penalty dropped him to fourth place which meant no one had to skirt the issue of him not being legally old enough to drink the podium champagne in Texas
Mexico

- Hamilton won his fourth world championship
- Nico Rosberg has the third-shortest reign as champion
- Verstappen took his third grand prix win despite still never having started from pole position (as of the end of the season)
Brazil
- Mercedes failed to win for the eighth time in 2017, the same number of races they lost in 2014, 2015 and 2016 combined
- Raikkonen finished on the podium for the 21st time since his last win, increasing his record
Abu Dhabi
- Hamilton became the second driver in the history of the championship to score points in every round of a season
- Hamilton’s 25th consecutive points finish leaves him two shy of Raikkonen’s all-time record
- Bottas scored the first ‘hat-trick’ of his career with pole, win and fastest lap
- Red Bull’s RB13 scored 13 podium and posted 13 retirements during the season
- Massa made his 269th and final start – unless he cancels his retirement plans again
Over to you
What are your favourite statistics from the 2017 season? Share them in the comments.
2017 F1 season review
- The complete F1 Fanatic 2017 Formula One season review
- 2017 F1 season in stats: The 68th season in context
- Essential reads 2017: The best articles and your favourite features
- Take the F1 Fanatic 2017 end-of-season quiz
- F1 Fanatic’s top Tweets of 2017
Dan_the_McLaren_fan (@dan_the_mclaren_fan)
21st December 2017, 12:01
Didn’t Rosberg win his 200th grand prix as well?
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
21st December 2017, 12:10
Yes, last year in Singapore.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st December 2017, 12:12
@dan_the_mclaren_fan @hunocsi Good point, thanks, have revised that line.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st December 2017, 13:30
Hulkenberg has DNF’d in Singapore and COTA three and four seasons in a row respectively while Sainz is still yet to reach the chequered flag in Bahrain after three attempts, and he’s also DNF’d in Abu Dhabi for two seasons in a row. Also, Wehrlein is still yet to reach the chequered flag in Spa, and he might have to wait a bit to get another chance to do so. Two consecutive Monaco GPs have seen a double-DNF for Sauber.
Bleu (@bleu)
21st December 2017, 13:37
Marcus Ericsson is the first driver since Aguri Suzuki (1992-93) to compete two successive full seasons without scoring point while his team-mate having scored in both years.
Had Ukyo Katayama contested 1995 European Grand Prix (while not scoring point) he would have been the most recent one.
KnGS (@)
21st December 2017, 14:21
Ericsson, I like the guy and he is comparable to Wehrlein. But, it’s pointless to have a point-less driver in the car, excuse the pun.
KnGS (@)
21st December 2017, 14:22
He’s actually had 48 consecutive pointless point-less races.
Egonovi
21st December 2017, 19:08
This is a pointless statistic ;)
‘
Ju88sy (@)
21st December 2017, 21:06
What’s the point!
RP (@slotopen)
21st December 2017, 16:02
What a great season. Sorry it’s over already.
Egonovi
21st December 2017, 19:05
Never would’ve expected Verstappen to lose a ‘youngest’ record ;)
erikje
22nd December 2017, 20:50
never expected to loose it to Stroll
Ashwin (@redbullf1)
21st December 2017, 22:18
I noticed this while reading Hamilton’s wiki page-
Hamilton won the hybrid era’s 3rd title with lowest amount of championship points compared to the previous 3 years,
2014 – 384 – 19 races
2015 – 381 – 19 races
2016 – 380 – 21 races
2017 – 363 – 20 races
Esploratore (@esploratore)
22nd December 2017, 2:49
Makes sense to me, car wasn’t dominant.
Baron
24th December 2017, 14:01
Car wasn’t as dominant.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
22nd December 2017, 2:09
Didn’t US-GP marked the first time that only one UK driver on the grid?
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
22nd December 2017, 6:11
Ericsson continued his streak of always outqualifying his team mate at Suzuka. Throughout his F1 career, it’s the only track where he has done so.