Lewis Hamilton ends his points streak, three drivers ruin their Austrian records and Mercedes do something they haven’t done since 1955. Here are all the best facts and statistics from the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix weekend!
Max Verstappen took the fourth victory of his F1 career. It was his first win of the season and he became the 23rd different driver to win a Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. It was Red Bull’s 58th victory and their first at their home event. It was Max Verstappen’s fifteenth podium finish in F1. Since he entered F1, Verstappen has won every race which both Mercedes drivers have retired from.
Verstappen’s win from fourth on the grid is the furthest back win at this track since 2000.
Kimi Raikkonen recorded his best Austrian Grand Prix grid slot since 2003. He took the fastest lap of the race for the 46th time in his career on his way to scoring his 96th podium finish. The result leaves him just four top three finishes away from joining the 100 Podiums Club. His team-mate Sebastian Vettel took his 104th podium finish as he retook the championship lead.
The three drivers who finished on the podium were the only three who completed all 71 laps of the Grand Prix. Everyone else who finished had been lapped.
The Austrian Grand Prix was the first time Sebastian Vettel has started outside of the top three so far this season.
Valtteri Bottas took his fifth pole in Formula One as the Red Bull Ring became the first track where he’s taken more than one pole. It was his first pole of the season and his third front row start in Austria. Mercedes recorded their 92nd start from pole and joined Lotus and McLaren with four poles at the track.
Valtteri Bottas secured pole by just 0.019 seconds, which is the closest ever pole margin at the Austrian Grand Prix. He joins Emerson Fittipaldi, Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton with two poles at the Red Bull Ring.
The 2018 Austrian Grand Prix pole time was 1.121 seconds faster than the 2017 pole time at the track.
Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo all ended their 100% finish and 100% points record in Austria.
Valtteri Bottas recorded his third DNF during his tenure at Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton finally ended his race finishing streak. He’d finished 33 consecutive races in the points before this weekend, which was a new record. Sebastian Vettel is now the driver with the longest current finish streak on the grid, having finished every race since the 2017 U.S. Grand Prix.
Mercedes recorded their first double DNF since the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. It was only their third double DNF since their return to F1 in 2010. It’s the first Austrian Grand Prix which Mercedes have entered and failed to win and their first double DNF due to mechanical issues since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez made a Q1 exit for the first time since the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix as he recorded his worst ever Austrian Grand Prix qualifying performance.
For the first time in his F1 career, Esteban Ocon has been eliminated in Q2 for two consecutive races. The same fact is true of Pierre Gasly.
Daniel Ricciardo recorded his worst qualifying of the season so far. Seventh on pace is his joint-worst qualifying performance from his last nineteen Grands Prix.
Stoffel Vandoorne has been out-qualified by Fernando Alonso in all of the last fourteen races.
The 2018 Austrian Grand Prix is only the second Grand Prix in the country which Fernando Alonso has reached the end of.
This weekend was the first time both Renault drivers have failed to score a point in the Grand Prix since the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix. It was Nico Hulkenberg’s third DNF of the season. The German hasn’t scored in Austria since 2015. It was also the first time he’s been out-qualified by a team-mate at the Red Bull Ring.
Carlos Sainz has maintained his record of qualifying in ninth place at every odd numbered round so far in 2018.
Romain Grosjean recorded Haas’ joint-best ever grid slot with fifth. That’s Grosjean’s best position on the grid since the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix. He ended a twelve race points drought by scoring twelve points. It was the Haas team’s best ever result and ensured Grosjean has scored in every Austrian Grand Prix which he has raced in with the American team.
Marcus Ericsson scored a point in Austria for the first time in his F1 career. He has now scored less points in his 85 race career than Charles Leclerc has in his nine race career. Unusually, the Swede’s fastest time in Qualifying was slower than his fastest lap in the final practice session.
Aside from Lance Stroll who received a post-race penalty, Carlos Sainz was the only driver who finished the race and lost positions on his starting place. Stroll reached Q2 for the first time since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. So far this season he’s only reached Q2 in countries beginning with the letter A. He’ll have to wait until the last round of the year for his next non-Q1 exit…
Sergey Sirotkin moved up to thirteenth in the classification as a result of his team-mate’s ten second post-race penalty. It’s Sirotkin’s best finishing position so far in his Formula One career.
