Eight years and 291 days since Jenson Button scored the final victory of his career, McLaren are race winners again in Formula 1.
It has been a long, barren spell for one of the most successful teams in F1 history. Only Ferrari have won more races than McLaren, which makes it hard to imagine almost nine years passed between their most recent triumphs.The team has had dry spells before, but nothing which compared to this. They went three seasons without a win from 1978 to 1980, following which Ron Dennis took charge of the team and John Watson delivered a long-awaited victory in the 1981 British Grand Prix.
Another barren period spanned 1994-1996 after they lost both the formidable talent of Ayrton Senna and Honda’s potent engines. David Coulthard returned them to winning ways at Melbourne in 1997, their first victory with Mercedes engines.
Similarly, the latest reincarnation of the team has broken its win-less streak having reunited with Mercedes this year, following unsuccessful tie-ups with Honda (as a works team) and Renault (as a customer).
Ligier’s win-less streak is also longer when measured in terms of races, though the difference isn’t as great, as calendars have grown over the years. They went 231 races between wins compared to McLaren’s 171. The team best-placed to beat either streak is Williams, whose last win prior to this season was, like McLaren, in 2012.
Other teams have gone longer between wins did so while spending periods out of the sport. They include Renault, Lotus, Honda and Mercedes – the latter sitting out every season from 1956 to 2009 as a full constructor, and ending a 56-year win drought when Nico Rosberg won the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo delivered McLaren’s 183rd triumph. Once F1’s most successful team in terms of total victories, they now lag 55 behind leaders Ferrari. They’ve had a relatively dry spell lately too, however: two years will have passed since their last win by the time F1 reconvenes in Sochi for its next round. They added 18 victories during McLaren’s wait for a win.
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This was Ricciardo’s first win for a team other than Red Bull and the eighth of his career. The now has as many wins as Jacky Ickx and Denny Hulme. Lando Norris reached the podium for the fifth time, but having led his team mate home at the majority of races it must rankle that Ricciardo grabbed a win first.
That plus third place for Ricciardo in the sprint qualifying race and the bonus point for fastest lap meant McLaren scored 45 points, the second-highest ever for a team in a single race weekend. The most team could score under the current rules, with one-twos in sprint qualifying and the race plus the fastest lap, is 49, but the only remaining race where that is possible is the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The windfall result moves McLaren back ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship. The two are now separated by 13.5 points in their fight over third place.
There was huge disappointment for AlphaTauri, however, 12 months on from their shock home win. Yuki Tsunoda failed to start and 2020 winner Pierre Gasly was out after three laps. Until last weekend, they were the only remaining team to have scored points in every race this year.
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Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Italian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
TomGP87
13th September 2021, 16:19
Does Toro Rosso / Alpha Tauri not count? That was 12 years, comfortably in second place. Same team, same owners, just a different name.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
14th September 2021, 19:57
By my calculations there were 4375 days between Sebastian Vettel’s win at the 2008 Italian GP (14/9/2008) and Pierre Gasly’s win at the 2020 Italian GP (6/9/2020), which is 11.978 years, or 11 years and 357 days. So yes, you are right, Scuderia Toro Rosso – AlphaTauri are the team (constantly competing) with the second longest gap between wins. Therefore McLaren’s win would be the third longest gap between wins for a team that has competed in every season.
f199player (@f199player)
13th September 2021, 16:28
Actually Williams got the most points in a single weekend at Abu Double 2014 with 66
Interestingly there is 100% record of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen colliding in a sprint weekend
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
13th September 2021, 16:54
Good point – I must’ve suppressed memories of double points! Have amended that.
oscar_nicero (@oscar_nicero)
13th September 2021, 17:07
Mercedes also scored more than 45 points (50 for Hamilton) in that infamous Abu Dhabi GP, so McLaren’s is the third highest.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
14th September 2021, 0:04
@oscar_nicero
And Rosberg scored none on that event as such only looking to the points tally in the final standings it didn’t seem like the title fight went down to the wire at all. This double points thing only worked to give a flattered impression of Bottas against Hamilton in aggregate points difference afterwards, what a fiasco!
Jere (@jerejj)
13th September 2021, 16:33
Additionally, Ricciardo’s 1st non-Renault powered win.
He led a race for the 1st time since his final RBR race + 1st front row since same season Mexican GP.
Overall, a 170-race victory drought among those 291 days. Furthermore, 1st 1-2 since 2010 Canadian GP
The 1st 1-2 for any team since last season’s Emilia-Romagna GP.
Norris’ 1st non-3rd podium finish.
The 1st time the present WDC contenders have DNFd in the same race.
Consequently, Hamilton’s record finishing streak ended.
Tsunoda’s 1st DNS in F1, while Mazepin’s 1st consecutive DNF.
Max’s 2nd successive DNF in Monza.
banana88x (@banana88x)
13th September 2021, 16:44
First 1-2 race result of a team this season!
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
13th September 2021, 17:47
@banana88x wow, that’s true!
Shawn C
13th September 2021, 16:45
Can’t recall when was the last time two Australians, Daniel Riccardo and Oscar Piastri, won the F1 and F2 races on the same day.
There’s a very very slight chance for an Aussie trifecta at the Sochi GP with F3 racing there as well, as Jack Doohan won a race in the previous Zandvroot GP.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
13th September 2021, 16:50
From a statistic point of view – who got awarded Pole position for Monza 2021?
* Bottas because he won the sprint qualifying race – engine change forced him to start from the back.
* Max because he actually started from Pole
In the past some folks not starting on pole still statistically got awarded pole position.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
13th September 2021, 17:03
It’s Verstappen on pole. Previously, for example, Kimi Räikkönen was fastest in the 2005 Italian GP qualifying, was dropped 10 places due to engine penalty, handing the pole to his teammate JPM.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
13th September 2021, 17:51
@kaiie I’m not sure that’s fair, though. I’d understand losing pole for a driving penalty but not for a part change. That just adds insult to injury.
Qeki (@qeki)
13th September 2021, 18:49
It’s just strange isn’t it. Fastest qualifyier doesn’t always get a pole but pole is for the driver who was fastest in qualifying.
TomGP87 (@tomparrf1)
13th September 2021, 17:55
Toro Rosso / Alpha Tauri was 12 years, does their renaming mean they don’t count? It was the same team, same ownership, just a new name. They’d be comfortably in second place.
Matthias[Wlkp] (@matthias-wlkp)
13th September 2021, 19:03
Shouldn’t this be third longest?
Between Vettel’s 2008 Monza win for Toro Rosso and Gasly’s win last year is 12 years.
I know Alpha Tauri and Toro Rosso is not exact same name, but the team is the same, just rebranded.
ykiki5
13th September 2021, 19:04
So is the time between wins for Toro Rosso/Alpha Tauri (2008 – 2020) not counted because they simply changed their name? Aren’t they the same team but with a different marketing focus (fashion instead of drinks), hence the name change? That’s a shorter time than Ligier, but longer than Mclaren.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
13th September 2021, 19:32
Or similarly, Fisichella won for Jordan in 2003 in Brazil, and then 17 years and four names later, Sergio Perez won in a Racing Point at Sakhir 2020. This even beats Ligier! Such a shame that teams insist on changing their names and thus ruining stats like these.
ykiki5
13th September 2021, 21:14
True, but at least in the Jordan to Racing Point scenario, there were a few ownership changes along the way, but with Alpha Tauri, nothing else changed but the name, sadly.
Jonathan Parkin
14th September 2021, 14:03
But Jordan and Racing Point aren’t the same team. Lawrence Stroll couldn’t buy Force India’s entry resulting in them losing their points and Racing Point coming into being. In the 2018 championship both Force India and Racing Point are listed in the classification because they are two separate teams. The team that was Jordan/Midland/Spyker/Force India has now sadly ceased to be
Sumedh
13th September 2021, 19:09
Lewis and Max collided at Britain and again 4 races later at Italy in 2021.
Michael and Damon also collided at Britain and again 4 races later at Italy in 1995.
Steve Rogers (@beeflin)
14th September 2021, 3:19
That’s almost spooky!
By the way, in my opinion, all four collisions were caused by challenger errors against a champion who probably had a right to expect more skill to be shown in such a high-level battle. I have nothing against Damon, who made it in the end, nor against Max, who also seems to be heading for greatness.
Bleu (@bleu)
14th September 2021, 7:23
1995 races between Britain and Italy were Germany, Hungary and Belgium.
2021 races between Britain and Italy were Hungary, Belgium and Netherlands.
So it was Hungary, Belgium and the home race of non-British driver each time.
Andrew Ball
13th September 2021, 19:14
First ‘orange’ McLaren F1 win since 1968 – also the last time an Antipodean driver won for the team.
Don’t know what the last in any discipline was. 1974 Indy 500?
Guess if one of the Arrow McLarens had won in Portland it would have been the first same day sweep of both sides of the Atlantic for a while?
Andrew Ball
13th September 2021, 19:15
Or 1971 even.
Mr. Pug (@mr-pug)
13th September 2021, 21:11
The last all orange Mclaren win I can confirm is the 1976 Indy 500. Johnny Rutherford would later win the second race at Texas World Speedway but I have not found a photo of his car at that race. The orange was used at Pocono so Rutherford may have been running that livery at Texas but I can not say for certain.
Andrew Ball
14th September 2021, 10:09
Not sure why I said 1971. Must have been reading CanAm results.
Forgot about 1976. Think it’s because there’s a Gatorade 1975 McLaren on my shelf.
sato113 (@sato113)
13th September 2021, 19:45
How many 1-2s did Hamilton and Button manage at McLaren?
Mr Dan
13th September 2021, 21:22
3.
China, Turkey and Canada all in 2010.
MAZeSPIN
13th September 2021, 21:16
Mazepin is 21st in the standings for a 20 car championship…
HS (@hsvdt15)
16th September 2021, 9:11
Like Glock, Yamamoto and Klien being 25 through 27 in a 24 car field in 2010?
Like Glock, Karthikeyan, Ricciardo and Chandhok being 25 through 28 in a 24 car field in 2011?
I could go on, but this happens to drivers in the backmarker teams every single year a reserve driver is asked to race. Not a slight against Mazepin at all.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
13th September 2021, 21:32
I’m going to say 3. China, Turkey and Canada 2010.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
13th September 2021, 22:49
Second time a Finnish driver has been fastest in the session that decides the grid at Monza but not started the race from pole after Raikkonen in 2005.
First time Verstappen has started in the top 4 at Monza.
First time both McLarens have started in the top 3 since Brazil 2012.
Giovinazzi has been classified 13th, 14th, or 15th in each of the last 8 races.
First time that Tsunoda has officially had a higher starting position than Gasly (although he did not actually end up starting).
First time that Latifi has started ahead of Russell this year.
Hamilton’s first no-score since Azerbaijan. Sainz has the longest unbroken run of points-scoring finishes (7, last no-score was France), although Verstappen has scored in the past 8 race weekends.
First race this year in which AlphaTauri have not scored points. Alpine have the longest unbroken run of points finishes (their only no-score was in Bahrain), although if Sprint Qualifying is included, then Red Bull’s last no-score was Emilia-Romagna 2020.
2nd time in 4 years that a Red Bull driver has lost a podium finish to a 5-second penalty applied post-race.
Thanks to the official F1 site for some of these.
I have an opinion
14th September 2021, 1:05
Ricciardo now equals Denny Hulme’s record of most Grands Prix without more than one victory at any circuit. This record had previously been shared by Fernando Alonso, who lost it on his ninth victory at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton managed one better, relinquishing his lead at ten victories at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher’s eleventh victory was his first repeat, at the 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Can any F1 fanatics find any other drivers that scored eight or higher, before handing the record back to Mr Hulme? Earlier record holders with fewer wins would also be of interest.
MVerstappen (@mverstappen)
14th September 2021, 18:02
Prost 13 victories
MVerstappen (@mverstappen)
14th September 2021, 18:03
Oh wait that’s incorrect
I have an opinion
15th September 2021, 4:38
Other drivers to have held or equalled this record include:
Giuseppe Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio & Alberto Ascari (Farina finally held it at 5 as the other two had repeat wins);
Tony Brooks at 6;
Jack Brabham until he lost it at his 10th win in 1966 at Zandvoort;
Jackie Stewart until he lost it at his 8th win in 1969 at Zandvoort;
Emerson Fittipaldi eqalled Hulme’s & Brooks’ 6 wins at the time at the 1972 Italian GP. He became the outright leader with 7 at the 1973 Argentinian GP. He lost the record at his 10th win at the 1974 Brazilian GP, when it reverted to Hulme with his 8th win coming just one race prior (1974 Argentinian GP);
Niki Lauda until he lost it at his 10th win in 1976 at Zolder;
Mario Andretti equalled the record of 8 for two weeks in 1978 between Zolder & Jarama;
Carlos Reutemann equalled the record of 8 for ten weeks in 1978 between Brands Hatch & Watkins Glen;
Nelson Piquet equalled the record of 8 in 1983 at Jacarepagua. He was matched & then overtaken by Alain Prost in 1983. Prost relinquished his lead back to Hulme with his 10th win in 1984 at Jacarepagua;
Mika Hakkinen until he lost it at this 10th win in 1999 at Interlagos.
Erivaldo
14th September 2021, 1:49
First time since the Las Vegas GP in 1981, both the anthems of Australia and England are played
Qeki (@qeki)
14th September 2021, 9:00
Alan Jones maybe?
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
14th September 2021, 7:37
Soooo happy for McLaren and DR & LN that car is really good on a low downforce track, let’s hope they can improve for the other tracks.
Verstappen against Hamilton is getting old already whenever they have to get by each other they crash and ruin the GP for all viewers. I am a TV watching armchair critic but it must be frustrating for the fans that are at the track hoping to see a good race and get their moneys worth.
Michael
14th September 2021, 16:57
That’s very true. For a while everyone was excited about Verstappen and Hamilton racing on track… Turns out that its not great.
Τασοσ
14th September 2021, 21:36
Danny Ric’s 27 points matches Hamilton’s same result at Silverstone.
Interviewer Coulthard was the man who take the first win for a Mercedes powered McLaren.
Third bigger gap between last win of same engine-same constructor. McLaren-Mercedes Brazil 2012-Italy 2021
Williams-Renault Nirburgring 1997-Spain 2012
Lotus Renault 1986-Abu Dhabi 2012.
Τασοσ
15th September 2021, 16:57
Second bigger gap between first and last win for same engine-same constructor.
Williams-Renault 1989-2012, 23 years.
McLaren-Mercedes 1997-2021, 24 years.
Lotus-Renault 1985-2013, 28 years.
I have an opinion
16th September 2021, 12:00
Tasos, this statistic surely excludes manufacturer teams such as Ferrari, Mercedes & Renault.