Max Verstappen may have some way to go to top the all-time tables in Formula 1 success, but with each weekend he’s often reaching statistical landmarks.
Last weekend’s win in the Monaco Grand Prix was the 39th of his F1 career, all of which have come with Red Bull. It was his 146th race for the team, and means he now surpasses Sebastian Vettel as Red Bull’s most successful driver in terms of wins.Vettel’s 38 wins came over a run of 94 races, in which he won the world championship four times. Verstappen is currently a two-times champion and could have twice as many wins as Vettel if he ever goes on to win two more titles.
Monaco was the 18th time he has won a grand prix from pole, putting him joint fifth in the all-time list with Alain Prost. The other drivers to have achieved that feat have done it far quicker than Verstappen, as the majority of his victories have come from lower starting positions.
The pole itself was claimed by just 0.084 seconds, the smallest margin since last year’s Japanese Grand Prix. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who set the fastest lap of the race.
This was the 62nd time Hamilton has taken fastest lap in his career. It is one of few record totals he hasn’t yet reached – Michael Schumacher still holds the record, with 15 more than Hamilton.
Starting and finishing in second behind Verstappen was Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who matched former team mate Kimi Raikkonen by making the F1 podium for the 103rd time. However he’s now dropped from third in the all-time list for points scored, as Verstappen has surpassed him by 1.5 points.
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It has taken 169 races for Verstappen to score 2,155.5 points, while Vettel took 181 races to score as many and record-holder Hamilton surpassed that value after 185 races. There have, of course, been changes in the points system during that time.
Alonso scored his fifth podium finish of the season in Monaco. He has one more than Perez, and could leapfrog him for second in the championship standings this weekend.
Haas celebrated 150 races in F1 while in Monaco. The last new team to achieve that was Stewart but only after it evolved into Jaguar and later became Red Bull. Alpine more quietly celebrated their 50th race in F1, until Esteban Ocon made the podium and then there was lots to cheer about.
The race itself went badly for Haas, with Nico Hulkenberg being lapped twice and getting penalised while his team mate was even further back after unsuccessfully gambling on full wet weather tyres. Magnussen matched Derek Warwick in going 147 races without a win, putting him joint sixth in the all-time list.
Curiously, Magnussen recorded one of the longest opening stints for a 21st-century F1 race. He went 56 laps before pitting – there have only been eight instances of drivers taking their starting set of tyres longer than that since 2000.
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Timo Glock went 57 laps before pitting in the 2009 Monaco GP, as did Williams’ Alex Albon in the 2022 Australian Grand Prix, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon did the entirety of the 58-lap Turkish Grand Prix in 2021 without pitting, and earlier in the year Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda waited 58 and 64 laps respectively in the Monaco GP before changing tyres.
The 2001 Monaco GP featured three drivers stretching their first stints as long as possible. Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello and Jaguar’s Eddie Irvine both managed to do 60 laps without pit stops and they were rewarded by finishing second and third respectively, while McLaren’s Coulthard went five laps longer but could only finish a lapped fifth.
Despite the challenge of mid-race rainfall, there were no Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car periods, or red flags. Single yellow flags were waved 16 times during the race, with double waved yellows needing to be used ten times, and the black-and-white flag was shown to seven drivers. Five of those instances were for track limits violation, while Carlos Sainz Jnr and Lance Stroll both got warned for being involved in incidents. Eight cars this year completed all 78 laps of the Monaco GP, with 10 finishers who were either one or two laps down by the end.
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Monaco Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2023 Monaco Grand Prix
- Mercedes ready to “grind” their way to competitiveness after major W14 update
- Verstappen surpasses Vettel as winner of most races for Red Bull
- How the first team to fit intermediate tyres in Monaco got the call right
- Verstappen’s Monaco pole run was the completion of his 2021 Jeddah lap – Horner
- Haas thrilled as upgrade performance exceeds wind tunnel predictions
JB22
31st May 2023, 18:59
GOATstappen owns that Newey merchant
Jere (@jerejj)
31st May 2023, 19:10
ALO’s first front-row starting position in Monaco since 2007.
He also became the most experienced driver on the Monaco podium.
OCO became the first French driver to finish in the top three in Monaco since his birthyear, i.e., PAN’s sole victory.
The second consecutive Monaco GP DNF for MAG & the second successive race with SAR being the last finisher.
Only the fourth entirely SC-free Monaco GP from 2003 onwards – SC didn’t appear in Monaco until 2003 & since then, besides this year’s edition, only 2007, ’09, & ’21 races were SC-free.
This year’s Monaco GP edition became the second race where PER got lapped since joining Red Bull Racing & also the second time by a teammate in this same period.
However, in the last Austrian GP, he had an early pit stop for a front wing change, which on a short lap, magnified matters.
Therefore, the last race where the Red Bull Racing #2 driver got lapped by VER without extraordinary circumstances magnifying matters was the 2020 Portuguese GP.
The first time DEV out-raced TSU, although only because of that brake issue, so finishing a race higher on merit still awaits.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st June 2023, 6:54
Alonso’s monaco front row start one is impressive, 16 years later!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st June 2023, 6:57
In fact I dare say the fact 27 years went by since the last time a french driver was on the podium in monaco and that we only had 4 SC free races in monaco in 20 years are also pretty damn impressive, I was surprised they didn’t use a SC at all with the rain.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st June 2023, 9:09
@esploratore1 No SC in the rain was indeed surprising, but this demonstrates driving in wet conditions without making an SC-warranting error is doable, even with limited runoff space, so all props to drivers that their errors were small enough to avoid neutralizations during the rainy phase.
Jimmy Cliff
31st May 2023, 20:02
With his point lead now extended to 39 points Max is very likely to break a Schumacher record later this year.
Most races as championship leader, Schumacher record is 37 and Max can reach 39 if he stays ahead till end of season. In 2022 he was leader from after race 6 in Spain (17 races) and has been leader after each race this season.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
31st May 2023, 22:56
Stroll is still yet to reach Q3 in Monaco.
Alonso’s best finish since Hungary 2014, and the first weekend in 2023 in which he hasn’t scored exactly 15 points. Also, 2023 is already his highest-scoring season since 2014.
First time De Vries has finished higher than Tsunoda this year – Stroll is now the only driver not to have beaten his team-mate so far in 2023.
5 different teams have managed podiums in the first 6 races of 2023 – more than in the whole of 2022.
16th different season in which Hamilton has managed at least 1 fastest lap – equals M Schumacher’s record.
14th consecutive season in which Hamilton has managed at least 1 fastest lap – 1 short of M Schumacher’s record (1992-2006 inclusive).
100th consecutive GP in which at least 1 British driver has scored points (last failure was Austria 2018). Only other 100+ streaks are Britain (Italy 2009 – Italy 2015, 113 races) and Germany (Britain 2008 – Italy 2017, 176 races).
Both Alpine drivers have managed 3 podiums – a 2nd, a win and a 3rd in that order, in three different seasons, all for the same team albeit with the team having a different name for the first podium.
Thanks to statsf1 and the officail F1 site for some of these.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st June 2023, 6:59
I was surprised the article didn’t mention this stat about alonso’s 2nd place, because even the commentators did and ofc he got several podiums in recent times but they were all 3rd places, 9 years is really a lot without a 2nd place, proves he finally got a decent car again.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
1st June 2023, 9:45
Interesting that streak happened post-Schumi (ish). I guess with only the top 6 scoring, Frentzen, Ralf, Heidfeld back in the late 90s, early 2000s didn’t help Michael…
MichaelN
1st June 2023, 9:50
Indeed, extra point scoring positions, better reliability, longer seasons, and there were a lot of Germans on the grid then, with guys like Schumacher, Rosberg, Vettel, Sutil, Heidfeld, Glock and Hülkenberg.
SteveP
1st June 2023, 11:16
In most seasons, the consistency factor is what has won the championship. No doubt with a better car he’d be celebrating
James Bond (@jamesbond)
1st June 2023, 10:02
I love all these statistics.