Max Verstappen claimed the 24th win of his career in Spain, matching the tally of five-times world champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
Between 1955 and 1968, Fangio held the record for the most world championship race victories. Reaching it today puts Verstappen on the verge of joining the top 10 winners in F1 history.This was his second win at Circuit de Catalunya, six years on from his breakthrough victory at the track in his first race for Red Bull.
It puts Verstappen back in the lead of the championship for the first time since he won it last year. He sustained his run of winning every grand prix he’s finished this year, and hasn’t finished a race lower than second since last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
This was the third consecutive victory for Verstappen. If he wins the next race it will be the first time in his career he’s won four races in a row.
Red Bull’s success ended a near-decade of Mercedes dominance. They had taken pole position for the previous nine races at this track. They won seven of those, the others falling to Verstappen and, in 2013, Fernando Alonso, in what remains his most recent victory to date.
Sergio Perez backed him up in second place to deliver a one-two for the team, and added the bonus point for fastest lap to ensure they scored the maximum available points haul of 44.
That propelled Red Bull into a 26-point lead in the constructors’ championship – an impressive turnaround, given that three races ago they were third, 49 points off the lead.
They were aided by Charles Leclerc’s retirement, which meant he failed to score for the first time this year; indeed, it was his first no-score since last year’s Russian Grand Prix, 12 race ago, where he paid the price for staying out too long when rain hit in the final laps.
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Leclerc did take pole position, the 13th of his career, putting him level with Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jacky Ickx, Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Webber. Like Montoya, Leclerc is the only representative of his nation to have set a pole position in F1, so Monaco and Colombia are also tied on 13 poles.
Perez’s fastest lap was the seventh of his career, which gives him as many as Leclerc, as well as Jacques Laffite.
Leclerc’s retirement leaves George Russell as the only driver to have scored points in every race this year. Indeed, he’s finished every race in the top five, and lies 36 points off the lead with up to 432 still available. Food for thought as Mercedes made a noticeable step forward with their car last weekend.
There were a couple of big climbs through the field last weekend. After first-corner contact, Lewis Hamilton rose 14 places from 19th to finish fifth, and would have been fourth had his car not suffered a water leak. Alonso started last and gained 11 places to take ninth.
But the unlucky Zhou Guanyu retired for the second race in a row. Only Carlos Sainz Jnr has covered fewer laps out of the drivers who entered all six rounds.
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Spanish Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2022 Spanish Grand Prix
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- How heat and traffic trouble left F1 fans fuming after the Spanish Grand Prix
- Mercedes not yet certain their porpoising problem has “disappeared”
- Sticking to budget cap “pretty much impossible” due to rising costs – McLaren
- Ricciardo hoping to find an explanation for Spanish GP pace deficit to Norris
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
24th May 2022, 18:10
It’s odd to think Max has now won more races (24) than his somewhat father-in-law Piquet with 23. Yet, Nelson has 3 world championships. This whole having almost twice as many races does skew figures, Fangio won five world titles, more than Senna, Prost…….. well everyone….. apart from Lewis and Michael. But isn’t in the top GP winners list.
I don’t think it’s a problem, Fangio’s achievements aren’t going to be forgotten. But someone new to the sport might assume Nelson Piquet must have been quite good at coming second a lot.
GeeMac (@geemac)
25th May 2022, 6:41
@bernasaurus It’s a symptom of ever lengthening calendars and the longer careers drivers are having these days. By way of comparison, the 1955 season only had 7 races, 1956 and 1957 only had 8 each, meaning the 2022 season will be around 3 times longer than any of those. Verstappen now has started and won more races, and raced in more full F1 seasons, than fellow world champion Damon Hill.
Like the total points statistic, the total wins record is being skewed if looked at in isolation. As with so many things in life…the devil is in the detail and things need to be looked at in context for correct conclusions to be reached.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
25th May 2022, 11:09
Fangio might not be in top # of wins but he is leading all % of races stats, in his 51 races Fangio got:
* 24 race wins = 47.1%
* 35 podiums = 68.6%
* 29 pole positions = 56.9%
Next to winning 5 driver championships in 6 years with 4 different constructors which certainly seems to indicate that Fangio was a very important factor in those wins/championships.
Much more than like Schumacher getting 5 championships with a dominant Ferrari or Lewis getting 6 with a dominant Mercedes.
Andre
25th May 2022, 18:03
These eras are incomparable. Be it car or driver, it’s not possible to compare vintage F1 with modern F1 and extract any meaningful information out of it. The level of skill required in all fronts to win a F1 title today is something like 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than what was required back then. So you can only compare cars and drivers in relative terms within the same era and say that Fangio was the greatest of that era. But you cannot say, despite those stats, that he is the best driver of all time, or better than Schumacher or Hamilton.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th May 2022, 10:00
@jelle-van-der-meer
If you take Hamilton’s 51 consecutive races anytime from 2017 to 2019 or up until the end of 2021. He’ll probably trump Fangio in those stats.
MattDS (@mattds)
24th May 2022, 21:00
Russell scored in every weekend, but not in every race – he remained pointless in the Imola sprint race.
And yeah I know it’s officially called a “sprint session”. It’s just a race though, with 8 points paying positions.
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
24th May 2022, 22:36
If you discount Hungary last year (where he drove around with a severely damaged car), Verstappen hasn’t finished a race lower than second since the Turkish GP in 2020. That’s quite remarkable.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
24th May 2022, 23:09
@aussierod Wow, that’s cray cray. I’m not sure what you call that streak, but it’s very impressive.
Andre
25th May 2022, 18:14
That speaks for his skill, but also for Redbull’s performance, as well as Hamilton’s. Why? Because if the car is not able to, a driver cannot be that consistent. In theory, if Mercedes were that dominant, Hamilton and Bottas should have finished 1-2 in virtually every race, with Verstappen consistently 3rd.
So what you can derive from those numbers is the following:
– Yes, Max is an exceptional driver, one of a kind in a generation
– Redbull wasn’t that far behind Mercedes as they like people to think
– Mercedes wasn’t the dominant car as people like to think
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
24th May 2022, 22:42
First time since Brazil 2019 that both Haas cars have reached Q3.
So far in 2022, whenever Verstappen has led at least 1 lap he has won the race.
All of Verstappen’s podiums so far in 2022 have been wins, and all of Perez’s have been P2.
Alonso is the only driver this year not to have finished ahead of his team-mate (including races where one driver didn’t finish).
Leclerc’s first non-finish since Hungary 2021. Hamilton now has the longest unbroken streak (14, last non-finish was Italy 2021).
28th consecutive season in which Mercedes engines have led at least 1 lap – moves them ahead of Ferrari (1993 to 2019 inclusive).
34th consecutive season in which at least 1 British driver has led a lap at some point – extends their record streak.
Thanks to statsf1 and the official F1 site for some of these.
MattDS (@mattds)
25th May 2022, 10:07
@paulgilb not sure on Perez’s P2 stat. Sprint races do feature a podium, and Perez was P3 there.
some racing fan
25th May 2022, 5:53
I doubt however that Verstappen will win nearly half the championship GP’s he was ever in, as Fangio did.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th May 2022, 8:01
The first time since possibly the T-car days that a non-regular drives for RBR in a practice session.
Team Hinwill’s first top-10 QLF appearance in Montmelo since 2012 (Perez-Kobayashi P5/P9) & Mick’s first overall Q3 appearance.
However, he’s still the only point-less regular driver in this season.
Max’s full win record whenever he’s finished continued.
The first time someone other than Leclerc has led the WDC this season & the first time someone outside the LEC-VER duo achieved a FLAP bonus point.
The first 2022 race ran entirely without SC & VSC (finally).
Ricciardo became the Aussie driver with the most starts at 216, surpassing Webber’s 215.
Sainz got his best home race result despite his early-ish off.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
25th May 2022, 10:58
* First time in Spain that Alonso was out at end of Q1 qualifying since the current qualifying format was introduced in 2006.
* Alonso has finished so far in 2022 all races behind Ocon – didn’t find a previous streak where Alonso finished 6 races in a row behind his teammate.
* Russell continued his streak of top 5 finishes in 2022 adding a 3rd place. Initial signs of a pattern emerged with Russell finishing 4th, 5th, 3rd, 4th, 5th and now 3rd meaning Russell will finish 4th in Monaco.
* Sainz achieved his best result in Spain despite his spin into the gravel, he also continues his perfect streak of F1 point finishes in all Spanish races.
* With his 64th podium in 147 races (43.5%) Max now reached the top 10 of highest % podium appearances for drivers with more than 10 races, overtaking Jackie Stewart.