While Lewis Hamilton’s remorseless assault on F1’s records for achievement continued in Spain, Kimi Raikkonen marked another milestone for longevity.
Not for the first time this year, Hamilton came very close to achieving a ‘grand slam’. He took his 92nd pole position and 88th win, and led every lap in between.But he missed out on the fastest lap, which Valtteri Bottas bagged with a flying run on fresh tyres at the end of the race. That was the 14th fastest lap for Bottas so far in his career.
As well as moving within three wins of Michael Schumacher’s all-time victories record, Hamilton reached the podium for the 156th time in his career. That moves him ahead of Schumacher and is a new record.
Hamilton’s pole position was the 200th for a Mercedes engine. Only Renault (213, plus three as TAG Heuer) and Ferrari (229) have more.
Max Verstappen continues to be the most consistent threat to Hamilton’s hopes of taking a record-equalling seventh title this year. The pair finished on the podium for the fifth race in a row last weekend.
Kimi Raikkonen is on course to become the most experienced driver in terms of starts at the Eifel Grand Prix. But he’s already notched up other longevity milestones.
On Sunday he overtook Fernando Alonso’s record for total distance covered in F1 races, reaching 84,013 kilometres when the chequered flag fell. He’s already passed Schumacher’s record laps count earlier this year.
This came about partly because Racing Point scored fourth and fifth places which moved them up to third in the championship. That’s despite the (unprecedented) 15-point deduction they were handed earlier this year.
After six rounds, Racing Point have 63 points (reduced from 78), McLaren 62 and Ferrari 61. Renault, who posted their first non-score of the season last weekend, are sixth on 36. Renault has protested the Racing Point decision and argued for a tougher penalty. Tellingly, Ferrari has also submitted an appeal…
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Spanish Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2020 Spanish Grand Prix
- 2020 Spanish Grand Prix Star Performers
- Hamilton’s record podium, Raikkonen’s record mileage
- F1 teams welcome ban on testing at new tracks for 2020
- Perez felt fit enough to return earlier – Szafnauer
- Bottas describes his season as “pretty bad” since the first race
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
18th August 2020, 12:08
So my Screen did a little jump leaving me to Read ‘Kimi Raikkönen is on course to becoming // the most consistent threat to Hamilton’s hopes of taking a record-equalling seventh title this year.’ Had me scratching my head there for a second…
Jere (@jerejj)
18th August 2020, 12:15
– Alex Albon has now been the first driver to do a pit stop in a race for three consecutive races.
– This is the second Spanish GP in ten years in which the third-placed driver has been the last driver within the lead-lap at the chequered flag. In the 2011 race, the fourth-placed driver was the last to end the race on the same lap as the eventual winner. The most recent race before was the 2018 Austrian GP, in which also the third-placed driver was the last to remain on the lead-lap until the end.
– The Mercedes PU/engine has led for 29 consecutive races, the 2nd longest streak behind only Renault’s 44 in 1994-97.
– The first time this season Pierre Gasly has scored points and reached Q3 in the same event.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
18th August 2020, 13:12
@jerejj Last stat is quite interesting. I wonder if it’s an anomaly or a result of the stupid Q2 tyre rule which penalises midfield drivers for being too fast in qualifying. The rule is probably a contributing factor at least.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th August 2020, 14:20
@keithedin Could be. I wouldn’t be against removing this rule that hasn’t really had a place in F1 for a while anymore. It indeed effectively penalizes midfield-drivers in the lower half of the top-ten on occasions.
Ajaxn
18th August 2020, 13:33
I don’t get this, was this suppose to be a funny remark, eg stating the obvious?
“– Alex Albon has now been the first driver to do a pit stop in a race for three consecutive races.”
Samuel Hurst (@slhurst)
18th August 2020, 13:55
I haven’t double checked, but I think it’s supposed to read “For three consecutive races, Alex Albon has been the first driver to pit.”
Miguel Bento (@miguelbento)
18th August 2020, 13:55
I guess it means “a single pit stop” for 3 consecutive races.
melanos
18th August 2020, 14:49
Lotsa people musta done that before. Not that I remember any in particular. But in many races most drivers have made just a single pitstop.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
18th August 2020, 13:56
It means he has been the first driver in the field to come in for a pit stop, in three races in a row.
It is a little badly phrased.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th August 2020, 14:17
@phil-f1-21 How is my sentence a little badly phrased? I thought it was pretty clear what I meant.
Scalextric (@scalextric)
18th August 2020, 14:43
So did I!
pH
18th August 2020, 15:43
It was clear to you because you had it in your head. But as it si written, it also could be interpreted as “Albon was the first driver in history to have a pitstop in three consecutive races”, and in fact this could be the natural interpretation of that original English sentence. I had to read it a few times to understand the true meaning.
Everybody (who writes) has those moments once in a while, me included :-). It can get tricky when it happens while you are putting together questions for an exam and then you find half of the class are reading it differently.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
18th August 2020, 18:38
@jerejj see above and below. It was obviously misinterpreted by quite a few people. As as I said and @slhurst says above, it could have been phrased in a better way.
One reading of it is that Albon is the first person ever to make a pit stop in a race for three consecutive races. This would clearly be nonsense.
I did not mean to insult you though. I was just giving my opinion.
pastaman (@)
18th August 2020, 14:01
He means Albon was the first to come into the pits during the race i.e. before everyone else came in to pit.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
18th August 2020, 15:59
It’s a statistic i.e. ‘something of statistical merit that it warranted mentioning’.
DAllein (@)
18th August 2020, 12:43
There have been 100 articles claiming how Mercedes is doomed and will be overtaken by the whole field, but 0 of them turned out to be true
ColdFly (@)
18th August 2020, 16:25
There are also 100’s of articles about a moving flag on a grassy knoll in the pizzeria cellar of an otherwise flat earth.
Mr Dan
18th August 2020, 17:51
Where is a like button when you need one 😂
RP (@slotopen)
18th August 2020, 21:17
@dallein
1,423,476 people (likely including Jeremy Clarkson) bemoaned Hamilton just wins because of the car.
Meanwhile Bottas has allowed another car between himself and Hamilton 3 times, which is three times as often as Hamilton.
I acknowledge Silverstone 2 is debatable, but I ultimately credit Hamilton with finding a win where Bottas wouldn’t have beaten Verstappen.
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
18th August 2020, 12:48
It is true that Räikkönen has outdone Alonso in the most KM driven, but I have seen his reported distance vary between 83,295 to yours 84,013. The real number is 83,967 km.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
18th August 2020, 13:15
Well, unless we account for differing lengths of laps depending on the lines taken by the driver ;^)
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
18th August 2020, 13:56
Brilliant…why did I not think of this myself!?
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
18th August 2020, 18:12
I get the point of this record, but the actual number has to be such an arbitrary guess, so shouldn’t be taken seriously. At best, its messured lap distance x no of laps completed, but that’s presuming he completed laps to no decimal places. If he retired half way around a lap for example, then no one is accurately measuring that!
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
18th August 2020, 20:32
That would be pretty hard to measure…similar to laps including pitlane visits or off-track excursions. Generally, laps are measured rounded to 1 meter (technical inaccuracy already) and a driver is credited with distance of any completed lap. Does not matter as much today (relatively) but in the days of the good old Nordschleife, one can technically retire 20 km into a lap and not get any credit for that distance at all! In any case, inaccurate or not, it is applied to all drivers equally and Kimi has covered more distance than any F1 driver ever…Alonso could take that record back next year. But if you are looking for more accurate number, it is 83,967.452 km.
motorace_addict
20th August 2020, 12:29
@gpfacts – FYI, Formula 1 have Kimi at 83,978 km (difference of 10.5 km to your calculation of 83967.452 km)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfjmB1HXsAAy3Va.jpg
sumedh
18th August 2020, 13:11
Vettel has missed Q3 for 3 races in a row. In my memory, the last time this happened was the 2008 French Grand Prix (that was his 7th consecutive Q3 miss – from Malaysian GP 2008 to French GP 2008)
The last time a Ferrari driver missed 3 Q3s consecutively was 2014 British – 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix – Kimi Raikkonen. That at least was partially down to luck, 2014 British GP qualifying had a downpour resulting in Alonso and Kimi being last on the grid. On pure pace, we have to go back to 2009 where Luca Badoer and Fisichella conspired to miss Q3 for 3 consecutive races – Europe, Belgium, Italy.
Michael
19th August 2020, 10:51
Vettel was in Q3 at the British GP though, so it’s only 2 races in a row.
Rodber
18th August 2020, 14:47
Chapeau to Kimi a true legend of F1. Hope he’s around next year to make it two full decades.
17 years at the pinnacle: Ferrari, McLaren, Renault. Sandwiched, alas, by Sauber.
bob (@riptide)
18th August 2020, 15:09
Car number 44 beat his teammate by 44s to record his 88 win.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
18th August 2020, 16:08
Kimi at McLaren was really great, such speed… too bad the car failed him so many times.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
18th August 2020, 23:04
Unless I have forgotten something, Hamilton is level with Schumacher in terms of number of times they have actually stood on the podium on (Schumacher was stripped of podiums post-race in Britain 1994 and Belgium 1994, whereas Hamilton was stripped in Brazil 2019).
First time that the team now known as Racing Point have managed a top 5 start in Catalunya since Barrichello in 1994 (when the team was Jordan).
Hamilton has 5 poles, 5 fastest laps, and 5 wins in Barcelona.
3rd year in a row that the podium in Barcelona has comprised Hamilton, Bottas, and Verstappen in some order.
Stroll has already equalled his points total for the whole of the 2017 season (in which he managed a podium).
Albon, Ricciardo, and Ocon have all finished 8th twice this year.
Thanks to statsf1 and the official F1 site for some of these.
Samantha (@talcumpowder)
22nd August 2020, 7:05
I think Hamilton was also stripped in Belgium 2008 and Australia 2009.
JC
18th August 2020, 23:58
Remorseless assault? Why would he feel remorse for his ongoing success?
Relentless maybe…
David Bondo
19th August 2020, 4:53
The records set since 2014 are all rather hollow if you ask me.
Even Bottas has 50 podiums!
Kim Philby (@philby)
19th August 2020, 12:20
“Tellingly, Ferrari has also submitted an appeal…” Dude how much pain has Ferrari force-fed you for a decade (1999-2008).