Robert Kubica broke a records which has stood for over five decades in yesterday’s German Grand Prix.
The 30-second time penalties for the two Alfa Romeo drivers promoted Kubica to the final place in the points. It was his first points score since his return to F1.Kubica’s last appearance in the points came at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, eight years and 258 days earlier. That breaks the previous record for the longest gap between consecutive points scores which was set by Lucien Bianchi in 1968. Bianchi went seven years and 342 days between points scores in the 1960 Belgian and 1968 Monaco Grands Prix.
That third place finish was the only podium appearance of Bianchi’s career. Sadly, he was killed in a crash the following year; his great-nephew Jules Bianchi also died following an F1 crash, in 2015.
Kubica gave Williams their first point of the season, meaning that for the fourth year in a row every team in the championship will score a point. The last team which failed to score was Jules Bianchi’s former team Marussia in 2015.
Max Verstappen extended an unusual record with his latest victory. He now has seven wins to his name, the same number as Rene Arnox, Juan Pablo Montoya and Daniel Ricciardo. However unlike all of them – and every other driver who won more than four races – he has never started from pole position.
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Verstappen was joined on the podium by Sebastian Vettel, who climbed 18 places during the race, one short of the maximum possible with today’s 20-car grid. Third place went to Daniil Kvyat, who took the third podium of his career.
Kvyat last stood on the podium at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix, one race before he was dropped by Red Bull. He had waited three years and 102 days to stand on the rostrum again. This is well why of the record held by Alexander Wurz, who went seven years and 285 days between his podium finishes at Silverstone in 1997 and Imola in 2005 (note Wurz did not actually stand on the podium at that race, he was promoted after Jenson Button was disqualified).
This was only the second podium finish in Toro Rosso’s 258-race history. The other was, of course, Vettel’s stunning win for them at Monza in 2008.
Racing Point took their best finish yet with fourth place thanks to Lance Stroll. Although he led the race at one stage, he was never officially scored as a lap leader as Verstappen passed him before he reached the start/finish line at the head of the field.
Finally, Mercedes marked their 200th F1 race start. They have won almost half of those: 96 victories so far. However despite Lewis Hamilton setting his 87th career pole position, they came away with just two points for Hamilton’s ninth place.
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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 German Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2019 German Grand Prix
- 2019 German Grand Prix Star Performers
- Top ten pictures from the 2019 German Grand Prix
- Verstappen spins and wins Mercedes’ race
- Paddock Diary: German Grand Prix day four
- Kubica sets new record by ending eight-year wait for points
Islander
29th July 2019, 11:34
Oh very well done my hero Robert, I never doubted you!
Warheart (@warheart)
29th July 2019, 11:56
There’s another nice fact in this comment:
All three steps of the podium were occupied by drivers that, at one point were promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull, and not only that, they replace each other: Kvyat replaced Vettel, Verstappen replaced Kvyat.
All credit goes to @selbbin, @esploratore and Vasily
Warheart (@warheart)
29th July 2019, 11:57
*they replaced each other
Phylyp (@phylyp)
29th July 2019, 12:01
Nice one @selbbin and thanks for pointing it out @warheart
Not just Marko’s boys, but from the same musical chair.
Gabriel (@rethla)
29th July 2019, 12:02
@warheart
Well Kvyat didnt really replace Vettel in that sense but nevertheless a happy reunion.
Warheart (@warheart)
29th July 2019, 12:04
@rethal not exactly like Verstappen replaced him indeed, but one could argue that Kvyat took Vettel’s spot :)
Warheart (@warheart)
29th July 2019, 12:04
That should be for @rethla if I only had an edit button…
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
29th July 2019, 11:57
What was the last ‘wet’ race at the start that didn’t start behind the safety car?
isaac (@invincibleisaac)
29th July 2019, 12:00
@hahostolze Was it Singapore 2017?
Chaitanya
29th July 2019, 12:11
It indeed was Singapore 2017 as after that we didn’t have a wet weather race from start. Last year’s German GP it started raining(light) somewhere in middle of race. Hungarian GP and Japanese GP only had rain affected qualifying but race was dry.
Found this on Reddit: Since Japan 2014 Hamilton has won all rain affected races.
That winning streak of wet weather races was broken yesterday.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
29th July 2019, 12:42
@invincibleisaac I would say that wasn’t ‘wet’ in the sense I mean, but yes that counts. Anyone know the one before that? I am curious, because I think it definitely is a trend from the past few years.
isaac (@invincibleisaac)
29th July 2019, 13:14
@hahostolze it’s been a shame that we’ve had so little wet races of late, and the ones that are wet are spent behind the Safety Car for too long. Excluding Singapore the last “properly wet” start I can think of is Silverstone 2008, but even then most drivers started on the inters rather than the extreme wets, so I’m not sure on the last standing start when all drivers were on the full wet tyres. Would be good to know though.
KRB (@krbeatz)
30th July 2019, 3:02
The rule for standing starts after a bunch of formation laps behind the SC, is new as of 2017. Singapore had a normal start, though I’m not sure if it was declared wet beforehand, meaning all drivers had to put on wet tires.
peteroliver (@peteroli34)
29th July 2019, 12:12
Didnt the Alfa Romeo recieve a time penalty rather then actually being disqualified
Enigma (@enigma)
29th July 2019, 12:20
The podium finishers have all driven for the same two teams in their careers (Toro Rosso and Red Bull). Has that ever happened before?
KaIIe (@kaiie)
29th July 2019, 13:13
Pretty sure it has. If you count future teams as well, for example the 1990 Mexican GP had Prost, Mansell and Berger on the podium. Each had driven or would drive for McLaren and Ferrari (Prost and Mansell would even both drive for Williams as well; now I’m thinking if there’s a podium where all the drivers have driven for the same three teams…)
Feuerdrache (@xenomorph91)
29th July 2019, 17:58
Hungary 2015 too.
Enigma (@enigma)
30th July 2019, 6:40
@xenomorph91 Ah, of course!
Enigma (@enigma)
29th July 2019, 12:22
Also, 5 of the top 6 finishers are or were members of the Red Bull family, all driving for Toro Rosso.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
29th July 2019, 12:43
What’s the longest gap between two podiums for a team?
Lenny (@leonardodicappucino)
29th July 2019, 12:56
I would say probably Mercedes’ 55-year-205-day wait between the 1955 Italian Grand Prix and 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
31st July 2019, 11:52
Ah yes that will do it!
Madi Murphy (@ladym)
31st July 2019, 13:20
What about the gap between two podium appearances for a team that has remained in F1 throughout that period? I would think 11 years must be up there!
MattDS (@mattds)
1st August 2019, 12:28
@ladym this is definitely a record and by some seasons even.
The amount of teams that are or have been in F1 for a period of 12 straight seasons (as you need at least 12 straight seasons to have 11 years between first and last podium) is already pretty limited at 17. They are Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Tyrrell, Sauber, Brabham, Arrows, BRM, Minardi, Ligier, Cooper, Benetton, Red Bull, Jordan and Toro Rosso.
Most of these teams regularly scored podiums.
MVerstappen (@mverstappen)
29th July 2019, 12:45
Last time 2 Honda powered cars were on the podium: Portugal 1992 (Berger 2nd, Senna 3rd)
Last 1st and 3rd place: Hungary 1992 (Senna, Berger)
Last podium by 3 Honda powered cars: Australia 1988 (Prost, Senna, Piquet)
Jamie B
29th July 2019, 14:58
Since returning to F1, Honda have scored podiums with all of their teams, except McLaren
Matthijs (@matthijs)
29th July 2019, 15:06
Ouch
Jamie B
29th July 2019, 15:15
Second consecutive German Grand Prix where the race leader has crashed into the wall on their own.
Second consecutive German Grand Prix where Perez was one of the first to spin in the rain.
Τάσος
29th July 2019, 20:55
Last time 2 Honda powered cars were on the podium was Belgium 1998 with Jordan-Honda of Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
29th July 2019, 13:05
Random bits:
– As stated, the first podium for Toro Rosso since Vettel’s win at 2008 Italian GP. If you count the team’s Minardi days, that makes it 2 podium appearances in 34 years.
– The first podium for “Formula 1.5” cars since the 2018 Azerbaijan GP (with Perez finishing third for Force India). Lotus (current Renault) have also scored one podium in the current turbo hybrid era, with McLaren, Williams and Force India the other “privateers” getting on the rostrum. That leaves only Haas and Alfa Romeo/Sauber yet to score a podium in the current formula.
– First Honda-powered win at Hockenheim since Ayrton Senna won the 1990 German GP.
– Valtteri Bottas ended his run of finishing in the points in the last 22 races. This wasn’t a huge surprise, as races held in Germany have traditionally been rather bad for Finnish drivers.
– Worst result for Mercedes since the double retirement at last year’s Austrian GP. Last time a Mercedes finished as low as P9 while stile running at the end was the 2017 Mexican GP with Levis coming home ninth.
Oh, and still only Ferrari, Mercedes, or Red Bull have managed to win a race since 2013 Australian Grand Prix.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
29th July 2019, 13:33
When was the last time a driver climbed 18 places from their grid position to the final result? Barrichello in 2000?
French Steve (@french-steve)
29th July 2019, 13:56
You can find it there
Bleu (@bleu)
29th July 2019, 14:45
Toro Rosso’s streak between two podiums was the longest when counting participated races only. Previously the record belonged to Lotus who had 137 starts between podiums. That included Lotus in three incarnations: six years of original Team Lotus, two years of Tony Fernandes’s Lotus and four races of Enstone Lotus.
From a team that had consistently been in F1, Ligier was without podium between US GP 1986 and South African GP 1993. The team missed five Grands prix in the timespan – 1987 season opener at Brazil after engine manufacturer Alfa Romeo pulled out. Additionally team suffered double DNQs in 1988 San Marino 1988 France, 1989 USA and 1989 Hungary.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
29th July 2019, 14:58
That’s 20 top-five finishes for Max Verstappen in a row.
3 wins, 3x 2nd, 5x 3rd, 5x 4th and 4x 5th in 3rd best car of the field, in same period his teammates only achieved 5 top 5 finishes (4x 4th and 1x 5th)
Alonso (@alonshow)
29th July 2019, 18:41
Interestingly enough, Bottas crash means Williams is the only team that hasn’t had a DNF in 2019, the only team that has had both of its drivers finish every single race so far this year. This suggests that, since they’re so far off the mark in the performance battle, they’re at least trying to win the reliance battle, which of course did pay off eventually with the point they got yesterday.
JMDan (@danmar)
30th July 2019, 13:45
“That third place finish was the only podium appearance of Bianchi’s career. Sadly, he was killed in a crash the following year; his great-nephew Jules Bianchi also died following an F1 crash, in 2015.”
That is a sad statistic.
David (@davidjwest)
31st July 2019, 22:49
Just noticed Kubica was 100/1 to score points in Germany. Same for Budapest, if it rains again…………..