Mercedes achieved a first by scoring their fourth consecutive one-two finish of the 2019 F1 season so far in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
No team had ever previously finished first and second the first four races of a world championship season.Ferrari can lay claim to a comparable achievement, though not with F1 equipment, as it occured in the 1952 season which was run to F2 rules. In the first seven races of that season they scored seven one-twos. The only exception was round two, the Indianapolis 500. They only sent a single car to this race, which was run to a different set of rules to the rest of the season.
With his fifth career victory, Valtteri Bottas now has as many wins as Max Verstappen, as well as Giuseppe Farina, Clay Regazzoni, John Watson, Michele Alboreto and Keke Rosberg. He sustained Baku’s record of producing different winners: He, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo have won the four races held at this track so far. Despite being one-two in all three practice sessions (including first practice, where theirs were the only cars to set times), Ferrari remain win-less in Baku.
This is the first time the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been won from pole position. When Rosberg won Baku’s inaugural race from pole in 2016, the race was called the European Grand Prix.
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It’s been 26 years since F1 had a run of eight races with no repeat winners. The longest run of consecutive different winners ever seen in F1 is nine, which happened in 1982 and from 1961-62.
This was the 177th win for a Mercedes-powered car. The three-pointed star now has powered more wins than Ford-Cosworth, and is the second most successful F1 engine behind Ferrari, with 236 wins.
Mercedes has taken 91 of those wins with its own cars, the rest with McLaren (78) and Brawn (eight). All bar one of Ferrari’s wins were scored by the factory: The only exception is Sebastian Vettel’s 2008 Italian Grand Prix victory for Toro Rosso.
Bottas also scored his eighth pole position, drawing level with John Surtees, Riccardo Patrese and Jenson Button. Sergio Perez gave Racing Point its highest starting position so far with fifth.
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Curiously, both Alfa Romeo drivers reached Q3 despite getting slower in each phase of qualifying:
| Kimi Raikkonen | Antonio Giovinazzi | |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 1’42.059 | 1’42.140 |
| Q2 | 1’42.082 | 1’42.381 |
| Q3 | 1’43.086 | 1’42.424 |
Every other driver which reached Q3 – apart from Charles Leclerc, who crashed in Q2 – got faster in each round.
McLaren scored their first two-car points finish of 2019, putting them on a total of 18. They hold fourth in the championship, which is the same as they had at this stage last year, albeit with half as many points.
Racing Point also got both cars home in the top 10, the first time the rebranded team has done so. While Lance Stroll dropped out in Q1 for the fourth time in as many races this year, he also sustained his 100% record of scoring points in Baku.
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Review the year so far in statistics here:
- 2019 F1 championship points
- 2019 F1 season records
- 2019 F1 race data
- 2019 F1 qualifying data
- 2019 F1 retirements and penalties
- 2019 F1 strategy and pit stops
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- Leclerc impressed by Binotto’s handling of Baku crash
- Hamilton: Leclerc was two-tenths quicker than Vettel and would have dominated in Baku
- Haas overheated Grosjean’s brakes trying to warm his tyres
- Top ten pictures from the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- Ferrari are “struggling more with tyres than in previous years”, admits Vettel
Theoddkiwi (@theoddkiwi)
29th April 2019, 0:38
Is it possible that Riccardo is the first driver to reverse into another car during a race?
I can’t recall ever seeing it before.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
29th April 2019, 10:33
4 races in, and Mercedes already have the same number of 1-2 finishes as the entirety of the 2018 season.
Joao (@johnmilk)
29th April 2019, 10:41
who would have thought this would be possible from a team that has all odds against them? Unbelievable, this has been the best underdog story in the history of the sport
Phylyp (@phylyp)
29th April 2019, 10:42
Makes Brawn in 2009 look boring, by comparison.
Eddie
29th April 2019, 14:12
Hence this site, its authors and its readers always looking for reasons to diminish a certain driver and all of his accomplishments, it makes them silver cars look even more like underdogs
CarWars (@maxv)
29th April 2019, 19:05
You mean the rapper who lost a wdc to Rosberg? And needs to watch out to not lose one to another “meh nr.2 driver”.. yeah great driver without competition..
mystic one (@mysticus)
30th April 2019, 14:38
@johnmilk miracles do happen mate, love conquers all.. cough cough… :)
Big Joe
29th April 2019, 10:45
Dissapointing they don’t sing and dance the German National anthem like the Italians do.
d0senbrot (@d0senbrot)
29th April 2019, 0:34
At least Vettel did… …move his lips a bit.
Franton (@franton)
29th April 2019, 10:56
ALL of it?
We don’t have that amount of time!
paulipedia (@paulipedia)
29th April 2019, 11:07
Who the British team?
Martin
29th April 2019, 13:18
Really scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to complain about eh Big Joke?
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
29th April 2019, 10:56
Baku was the first race won from pole this year
ColdFly (@)
29th April 2019, 11:02
9th consecutive race Verstappen has outscored at least one Ferrari.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
29th April 2019, 11:47
Ouch!
RP (@slotopen)
29th April 2019, 16:25
@coldfly
Brutal
sbewers (@sbewers)
29th April 2019, 11:18
I know the headline stat is from the start of a season, but Mercedes will have to finish 1-2 again at the next race to equal their record of consecutive 1-2s in the turbo hybrid era. They’ve twice scored 5 consecutive 1-2s in this time:
Malaysia – Monaco 2014
USA 2015 – Australia 2016
And there have been two other occasions in the turbo hybrid era where they have also scored 4 consecutive 1-2s, the others being:
Japan – Brazil 2014
USA – Abu Dhabi 2016
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
29th April 2019, 11:29
Small detail on 1952: Ferrari have achieved that feat as constructor, but not as a team as Rudolf Fischer drove for Ecurie Espadon.
Luke S (@joeypropane)
29th April 2019, 11:33
I know it’s a lot of “what-if”‘s, but I can’t help but think what Fernando would be doing in that Ferrari… As talented as Vettel is, ‘Nando just has that unbreakable will and determination when the chance of victory is there. Yeah, it could have been 2007 all over again if he was paired with Leclerc, but it would have provided a hell of a lot more of a challenge to Mercedes over the past couple of seasons!
F1oSaurus (@f1osaurus)
29th April 2019, 16:40
@joeypropane Exactly. If not Alonso, Ricciardo in that Ferrari could have made the competition a lot more interesting since 2017 too. Or just any driver who is decently fast and doesn’t have that many blunders and suddenly “off weekends”.
In 2018 even Raikkonen was as competitive as Vettel was and he was hampered by being a #2 driver a lot too.
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
29th April 2019, 21:44
@joeypropane the unbreakable will that made him retire a healthy McLaren (in the McHonda years).
Many people have believed Alonso-speak. There was a great article about it in Motorsport when he retired.
f199player (@f199player)
29th April 2019, 12:24
Top six in the race are top six in championship order. Unusual outside of the first race of the year to have that happen
Kyorin
29th April 2019, 12:25
If Bottas keeps this up all year, Mercedes can’t really drop Bottas for Ocon at the end of the year as planned. Feel a bit sorry for Ocon, but Bottas is on fire at the moment.
GeeMac (@geemac)
29th April 2019, 14:36
Was it ever planned? Speculated about at great length by fans and pundits, yes, but planned by the team, no.
Xcm
29th April 2019, 22:19
Oh come on @geemac,
Your better than this… Watch the garage footage during the race, where Ocon is standing next to wolf…
In the same way we are OBVIOUSLY speculating that ocon may be given that seat, you are definately speculating that he HASNT been given that seat.
Or are you secretly Susie Wolfe and magically know every plan before it’s even acted on? I don’t believe Mercedes themselves know at this point…
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
30th April 2019, 8:41
He’s there because he’s the reserve driver. In that case it is clear Ericsson will be in Sauber next year as he is their reserve driver. Nothing has been confirmed yet and when Bottas signed his deal, there were options for him to extend in 2020 which is looking pretty likely. I seriously doubt Ocon is going to be driving here next year if Bottas is driving like this throughut most of the season. Even if he drops off a bit and Mercedes are still comfortably leaving and they are 1 – 2 in the standings, there is no point messing up the driver line up when it is working so well. Unfortunate for Ocon, but I think it is very unlikely to happen next season.
GeeMac (@geemac)
30th April 2019, 9:21
@Xcm Ocon is there because he is the reserve driver as @thegianthogweed said, he’s in the position George Russell was last season with the only difference being that Russell had other racing commitments from time to time so wasn’t able to spend every race whispering sweet nothings into Toto’s ear.
If Bottas keeps performing like this they will not repolace him with Ocon just for the sake of it. Bottas is quick, well liked and hasn’t rocked the boat with Hamilton. Why replace him if he is performing?
macradar (@macradar)
30th April 2019, 13:33
maybe Hamilton will retire and Ocon gets his seat
Pelle
29th April 2019, 12:53
How many more 1-2 does Mercedes need to secure the construction title?
Jelle van der Meer (@)
29th April 2019, 14:01
12 more 1-2 finishes they need to 100% ensure constructor title – it will be sooner if Ferrari keeps dropping points to Red Bull.
Postreader
29th April 2019, 14:04
It depends. If Ferrari follow up with 3 – 4s in every race, it would take until race 15 of 21 for the constructors championship to mathematically end. That’s without taking into account fastest lap points.
Martin
29th April 2019, 13:21
No longer true.
RetardedF1sh (@retardedf1sh)
29th April 2019, 16:04
It is still true, he just no longer holds the record alone
Martin
29th April 2019, 18:05
Like I said not true.
RetardedF1sh (@retardedf1sh)
30th April 2019, 10:48
Like I said, Perez does have the most podiums of anyone in Baku with two, a record he shares with Hamilton, Bottas and Vettel.
Minardi (@gitanes)
29th April 2019, 14:25
And when exactly was that?’ Certainly not that I recall in that timeframe.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th April 2019, 16:31
@gitanes Germany ’82 to France ’83. Patrick Tambay, Elio de Angelis, Keke Rosberg, Rene Arnoux, Michele Alboreto, Nelson Piquet, John Watson and Alain Prost.
Edward Russell
29th April 2019, 19:40
So 36 years?
isaac (@invincibleisaac)
29th April 2019, 14:39
Does anyone know the all-time record for most consecutive 1-2 finishes for a team?
Minardi (@gitanes)
29th April 2019, 15:24
Seems to be 5:
Ferrari in 1952 and 2002
Merc in 2014 and 2016
Chaitanya
30th April 2019, 10:09
1952 season was run under Formula 2 and 1 race under Indy 500.
GeeMac (@geemac)
29th April 2019, 14:43
That stat really puts Mercedes recent dominance into context.
Wasn’t Baghetti’s win in France 1961 accredited to FISA (Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche) rather than the Scuderia?
If that happened these days, people would say F1 had become “too random” as they did when we had 7 winners in 7 races at the start of 2012.
Minardi (@gitanes)
29th April 2019, 15:46
Yeah FE qualifying is a bit like success ballast because of the way the tracks rubber in, so it’s definitely artificial – but it’s quite entertaining I have to say.
Compared to WEC balance of performance, I can live with it.
Xcm
29th April 2019, 22:22
@geemac
Except, nobody complained about the randomness of 7 winners in 7 races. It was universally applauded and used to promote the sport.
If you get into the nascar numbers sure… but not 7 in 7.
GeeMac (@geemac)
30th April 2019, 16:09
It wasn’t universally applauded @Xcm, fans said that f1 had become too random and far too dependant on getting the high-deg Pirelli’s into the right window.
Ludwig_M
29th April 2019, 16:22
Of the 1001 championship races so far, 91 have been won by Michael Schumacher, which equals exactly 1 out of 11.
Feuerdrache (@xenomorph91)
29th April 2019, 16:25
He finished 2nd in 2016.
NeverElectric
29th April 2019, 20:33
Looking at the pace Leclerc showed over the weekend, one has to agree that Ferrari are underperforming. Their top driver – Charles – is being let down by team strategy (Melbourne), reliability (Bahrain), driver error (Baku), etc.
The problem with this is twofold – one, the other Ferrari driver, Vettel, just hasn’t got the pace that Leclerc has shown so consistently; and two, Ferrari have rather paradoxically chosen to prioritise the slower of their two drivers at the expense of the faster one. One could say Leclerc’s crash in Baku during quali probably was down to the team as well: putting him on the harder tyre in cooling temperatures, and Leclerc looking to show that he could still go faster than Vettel, despite already being far and away the much faster driver.
The more Ferrari prioritise Vettel, the more they will make Mercedes look good – because Vettel just does not have it in him to challenge Hamilton and, increasingly this year, Bottas.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
29th April 2019, 22:42
Ferrari have finished 5th at every race so far this year.
Leclerc has already scored more points this season than in the whole of last season.
200th consecutive race in which at least 1 Mercedes-powered car has scored points (last race without was Japan 2008).
48th 1-2 for Mercedes, overtaking McLaren (47) – they now only trail Ferrari (83).
Mercedes have scored more points in the first 4 races in 2019 (173) than they managed in the whole of either 2011 (165) or 2012 (142).
Thanks to statsf1.com and channel4.com for some of these.