Bottas becomes 35th Formula 1 driver to reach 10 race wins

2021 Turkish Grand Prix stats and facts

Posted on

| Written by

The group of drivers who have won 10 or more Formula 1 races numbers almost as few as those who have won world championships.

While there are 33 world champions, in Turkey Valtteri Bottas became the 35th driver to win 10 races with a classy drive in tricky conditions from pole position.

The 10th win for Bottas occured in the race after Lewis Hamilton reached 100 wins, meaning he now has exactly 10 times as many victories as his team mate.

Bottas joins four other drivers on 10 wins, two of which were world champions, James Hunt and Jody Scheckter. Fellow 10-time winners Ronnie Peterson and Gerhard Berger never claimed a title.

Fuel shortage cost Hamilton a pole in 2012
Among the 35 drivers to have won 10 races Bottas is one of eight who hasn’t won a world championship. They are led by Max Verstappen on 17 wins, though he took the points lead last weekend. The others are Stirling Moss (16), David Coulthard (13), Carlos Reutemann (12), Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello (11 each) plus Peterson and Berger.

An honourable mention should also go to Mark Webber, the only driver to have won exactly nine races, who lost a tenth in controversial circumstances in the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Bottas also scored the 18th pole position of his career, putting him level with Kimi Raikkonen, Mario Andretti and Rene Arnoux. However he only qualified in second place.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Not for the first time in his career, Hamilton was quickest in qualifying but didn’t start from pole position. On this occasion it was due to a penalty for exceeding his maximum allocation of power unit parts. He also lost pole position for the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix when the stewards found there was too little fuel left in his career to supply a sample for testing.

Red Bull duo reached the podium for the first time since France
That penalty handed pole position and, ultimately, victory to Pastor Maldonado. He was one of eight different drivers to win a race that year. Victory for Bottas on Sunday made him the sixth different winner of the season so far, the most since 2012.

Bottas set the fastest lap as well, the 18th of his career, equalling Coulthard’s tally. He therefore took a clean sweep of win, pole and fastest lap, something he’s only done once before, at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Despite Hamilton’s late fall to fifth, Mercedes out-scored Red Bull for the fourth race in a row, giving them a 36-point lead in the constructors championship. This was also the 250th consecutive points score for a Mercedes-powered car, extending a record which began at the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix.

However Verstappen retook the lead in the drivers’ title fight. With six races to go, that raises the possibility this could be the first year since 2008 that the drivers champion did not drive for the team which won the constructors title.

Sergio Perez returned to the podium for the first time in nine races, and exceeded his 2020 points score by doing so. Pierre Gasly, who came in sixth, is now one point shy of his score from last year. For comparison, there have been 16 out of 22 races so far this season, while last year’s championship had just 17 rounds.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Review the year so far in statistics here:

Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Turkish Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

Go ad-free for just £1 per month

>> Find out more and sign up

2021 Turkish Grand Prix

Browse all 2021 Turkish Grand Prix articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

51 comments on “Bottas becomes 35th Formula 1 driver to reach 10 race wins”

  1. Alonso’s 1st top-five starting position since 2014 Japanese GP.

    The 1st time a driver didn’t pit in a race since Mika Salo in the 1997 Monaco GP.

    2nd race this season (Belgian GP excluded) in which every driver reached chequer. Earlier hybrid era examples are 2016 Chinese, Japanese, & 2019 Austrian GP.

    Only the 3rd entirely DRS-free race (again bar Belgian GP) since 2011 introduction. The previous ones were 2014 Japanese & 2016 Brazilian GP.

    Had Seb not gone for medium, both Turkish GPs since Istanbul Park’s temporary return would’ve gone entirely slick-free.

    Stroll has been the last driver finishing on the lead lap for two consecutive races.

    1. nice ones. I’m impressed by the 1997 Mika Salo. I would have guessed it happened again more recently than that

    2. @jerejj There was DRS at the 2014 Japanese GP, not entirely sure for how many laps but DRS on inters isn’t unheard of (2020 Turkish GP also had DRS enabled on inters iirc), at the 2014 Japanese GP the decisive overtake for the lead of the race was done with DRS and intermediate tires on

      1. @xenn1 I double-checked & yes, Hamilton’s pass on Rosberg had DRS use. I thought hard through all wet races since 2011 & recalled last season’s Turkish GP having DRS enabled later in the race, etc., but I was sure the 2014 Japanese GP didn’t have any usage, given how heavy the rain was, but oh well. At least, I remembered the 2016 Brazilian GP correctly.

    3. @jerejj technically no one pitted at Spa this year. And although Salo did it in a more normal race, he only did 60-odd laps (out of 78) because they reached the 2-hour limit.

      1. @frood19 Indeed. I should’ve added my Belgian GP exclusion note also for that paragraph.

      2. Michael Counsell
        13th October 2021, 7:19

        And even if Salo had done 78 laps Monaco is a shorter than standard Grand Prix. On the other hand Ocon didn’t complete the full race distance as he was a lap down (maybe he was exaggerating but he didn’t think he could do another lap). He may have avoided being lapped if he had pitted at the optimal time.

    4. Heinz-Harald Frentzen didn’t make pit stop in 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. The race was of course stopped early. Frentzen had changed to spare car (which was filled up while other drivers had there qualifying fuel on board) just before the race.

      Then there were Romain Grosjean in Australia 2016 and Lance Stroll in Italy 2020 who swapped tyres during the red flag. Of course as now cars line up to the pits during red flag, everyone is credited with a pit stop even if they don’t change anything.

  2. Bottas won his 10th race on the 10th day of the 10th month of the year. 10th October is also World Porridge Day! :)

    1. You are champion of the internet for the day! That’s a great stat.

    2. That’s got to mean something.. ;)

    3. That information is oat-standing!

    4. and some could say he drove 10/10

    5. Only 10 wins that was suprising my feeling thought it was more but that was his polepostions. with 5 seasons in a merc that is rather low.

  3. “… when stewards found there was too little fuel left in his career to supply a sample for testing.” That has to be the best typo of the week!

  4. Valtteri Bottas’ 18th pole equals the record with Rene Arnoux as the driver with the most poles without a championship.

  5. Remember that 2012 Barcelona race and fuel shortage didn’t cause Hamilton pole.
    The team asked him to stop on track that there was a fault.
    The team lied that there was a fault when there wasn’t. They assumed they didn’t have enough fuel when as a matter of fact, they had more than enough fuel in the car to lap back and give a sample.
    The era when Mclaren would make simple things go wrong. They only thing that didn’t happen that season was that the car didn’t do a flip while parked in the garage.

    1. Sorry, but your recollection is dead wrong. There wasn’t enough fuel for a sample – that’s all.

      1. Well Withmarsh himself said the car had enough fuel to get back to the garage and give a liter sample.

  6. Bottas also scored the 18th pole position of his career, putting him level with Kimi Raikkonen, Mario Andretti and Rene Arnoux. However he only qualified in second place.

    I know a lot was made of this over the weekend but I see no issue with that given he lost a pole in Monza after having qualified first and won the sprint race. You lose one and you gain one. :)

  7. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    12th October 2021, 14:20

    With his 2nd place Max achieved his 54th podium same as F1 legend Niki Lauda, together tied in 14th place, in 13th place is Nico Rosberg with 57 podiums.
    Max achieved his 54th podium in his 135th race start giving him a 40% podium ratio same as Jim Rathmann (4 out of 10) and Mike Hawthorn (18 out of 45).

  8. This might be the shortest full-distance wet race. I searched, but no one seems to have compiled race times for full-distance wet races — shortest race searches are either about shortened races like Spa or fastest dry races like Monza.

    The completely dry 2011 Turkey GP completed in 90m17s… yesterday’s race was only 47s longer at 91m04s.

    1. @x1znet Only 47s longer than a fully dry race on the same circuit speaks volumes about tarmac grip.

    2. Italy 2008, Vettels first win. 86m47s
      Italy 2004, won by Barrichello in 75m18s – slightly damp track at the start.

  9. It seems a crazy statistic that Verstappen has more race wins than Bottas, tbh.

    1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      12th October 2021, 15:31

      Yes indeed – Bottas does have more podiums (65 vs 54), more poles (18 vs 11), more FLAP (18 vs 14) and more points (1,687 vs 1,423.5), 2 more seasons (9 vs 7) and thus more races (173 vs 135).

      1. My goodness, and with the car VB has had? Wow.

        1. Well, to play devil’s advocate, bottas has always had a stronger driver on the other seat, so when he had the car to win he was likely to come 2nd, while verstappen since ricciardo, when red bull is good he has no competition inside the team, not talking about number 2 drivers but simply not good enough drivers to challenge him.

  10. …too little fuel left in his career…
    Ha Ha

  11. Actually, on merit, he has 11 wins, while HAM has 99 wins.

    1. @mg1982 2018 Russian GP, I see what you mean.

    2. Exactly what I had in mind, especially because Webber is mentioned as having “lost” a win.

    3. Same can be said about Vettel. Mark should have 10 wins and Vettel “only” 52

      1. But then there’s Canada 2019, @qeki, which puts Vettel back up to 53. Really, we could do this all day.

        1. Yes, and then you have reliability, baku 2018 should be bottas’ because of the puncture, but before that there was a SC which stopped vettel from getting an easy win.

      2. @qeki Vettel lost 3 race wins in 2010 due to reliability, and 1 in 2012.

  12. The 10th win for Bottas occured in the race after Lewis Hamilton reached 100 wins, meaning he now has exactly 10 times as many victories as his team mate.

    And the 9th win for Bottas occurred in the race after HAM reached 90 wins, just over a year ago in Russia, meaning he also then had exactly 10 times as many wins as his team mate. Quite a depressing stat for Valtteri, much as I like the chap.

  13. Unrelated to this race but as it was mentioned. Here are the champions who have less wins than 10.
    Denny Hulme 9 wins (1967 champion) Has only 1 pole position in his name 1973 South African GP

    John Surtees 6 (1964) Took his 3 last wins within just over a year driving for 3 different constructions (Ferrari,Cooper,Honda)

    Jochen Rindt 6 (1970) Took 7 poles before winning in his first one. 1969 USA GP

    Giuseppe Farina 5 (1950) After Ascari and Patrese is 3rd succesfull winner from Italy. Ties the 3rd place with Alboreto

    Keke Rosberg 5 (1982) Before 1983 had only 1 win

    Mike Hawthorn 3 (1958) Had all his 3 wins at Ferrari

    Phill Hill 3 (1961) Same as Hawthorn 3/3 wins for Ferrari

  14. What a load of…
    Webber didn’t lose a race in a controversial way. Vettel was faster and won. Webber had also defied team orders before, so he was not a saint.
    Now Austria 2001 or Singapore 2008, THOSE are controversial.

    1. @omarr-pepper You mean Austria 2002? In 2001 the swap was for 2nd, DC won the race.

      1. Yes, that one.

  15. 5th time Gasly has started 4th – he has yet to start higher.

    First time since Eifel 2020 (exactly a year ago) that Haas have competed in Q2.

    Bottas’ two pole positions this year have come at the two races where Ricciardo has been knocked out in Q1.

    Hamilton’s grid penalty means he still has not had a pole at Istanbul – the only other such circuits where has raced are Magny-Cours, New Delhi, and Zandvoort.

    Verstappen’s 12th podium of the season – the most he’s managed.

    No British driver on the podium for the first time since Azerbaijan.

    Thanks to statsf1 and the official F1 site for some of these.

    1. Ahah, I like the ricciardo stat, so bottas is gonna go have a talk with him for the other races!

    2. Sebastian Vettel, the King of Buddh International Circuit, Greater NOIDA, New Delhi NCR, and the beloved of INDIA.
      3×3 wins and his 4th and (till date) last championship.

  16. 10 dull race wins that would never been achieved without that car. Nothing to see here. Let’s move on.

  17. “stewards found there was too little fuel left in his career to supply a sample for testing.“

    Giggle

    1. Last drop of fuel was squandered at the Hungaroring 2007, running on fumes since then

  18. 10 wins, poor guy. Russell wont let that happen

  19. Mark Webber didn’t lose the Malaysia 2013 win. It’s a misleading way of saying it. Losing a win is when you actually cross the line first and then are stripped of the win.

  20. The 2012 season had 8 different drivers winning from 6 different nationalities: (GBR,GER,ESP,AUS,FIN,VEN).
    The 2021 season has had 6 different drivers winning from 6 different nationalities: (GBR,NED,FRA,AUS,FIN,MEX) so far.

    In terms of no. of drivers it could be easily 9-10 if Norris, Lecrec, Sainz, Gasly or Alonso snap good opportunities.
    In terms of nationalities it could optimistically be 8 by the season end ( MON,ESP).

    P.S. : does anyone know of a season with more than 6 nationalities of drivers winning?

Comments are closed.