Sebastian Vettel beats Alain Prost, Max Verstappen equals Phil Hill and McLaren and Sauber do something they haven’t done so far in 2018. Here are all the best statistics and facts from the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix weekend!
On Sunday, Sebastian Vettel celebrated his 52nd F1 victory. It was his third win at Spa, equalling Juan Manuel Fangio, Damon Hill and Lewis Hamilton. It was his first Belgian Grand Prix victory since 2013.
With his 52nd win, Vettel surpasses Alain Prost’s tally of 51 wins and also beats Prost’s total of 106 podiums with his 107th rostrum appearance.
Ferrari took their 232nd F1 victory. After being tied on twelve Spa wins with McLaren since 2012, Ferrari finally took back the honour of having the most wins at the track. It was the first time Ferrari have won at the track since Kimi Raikkonen’s 2009 victory.
The 2018 Belgian Grand Prix marks the first time the race hasn’t been won from pole since 2014. Just four of the last eighteen races at Spa haven’t been won from the front row.
On Saturday, Lewis Hamilton took his 78th pole position. It was his fifth pole at the Spa Francorchamps circuit – making him the most successful qualifier at the track. It was his sixth pole of the 2018 season and marked the first time Hamilton has taken back-to-back poles this year. His last consecutive pole streak came in Sepang, Suzuka and Texas last year.
For Mercedes, it was their 95th pole position for Mercedes in Formula One. There hasn’t been a non-Mercedes pole since 2012 at Spa.
Lewis Hamilton took back-to-back poles at Spa for the first time, becoming the first driver to do so since Mika Hakkinen took consecutive poles here between 1998 and 2000.
Lewis Hamilton took pole by the largest margin seen at the track since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2001.
2018 marks the first time in his F1 career where Lewis Hamilton has finished as runner-up at the Spa circuit. It was his 127th F1 podium.
Max Verstappen took his sixteenth podium finish, equalling Phil Hill’s tally of rostrum appearances.
With his seventh podium appearance at Spa, Lewis Hamilton equalled Alain Prost’s total of podiums at the track. Meanwhile, with his sixth top three appearance at the track, Sebastian Vettel equalled Ayrton Senna’s number of Spa podiums. Max Verstappen became the 71st different driver to finish on the podium at Spa. Both he and his father Jos have both finished on the podium at Spa – though Jos was only handed the podium finish as a result of penalties after the podium ceremony.
Valtteri Bottas beat the race lap record at the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix. It was his fourth fastest race lap of the season, and the seventh Fastest Lap of his F1 career.
Sebastian Vettel takes home the honour of the fastest ever lap of Spa, having set the fastest time in Q2.
Charles Leclerc was out of the Belgian Grand Prix on the first lap. It’s the first time in his F1 career where the Monegasque driver has suffered back-to-back DNFs.
Sergio Perez equalled his best Belgian Grand Prix finish with fifth place. He’s now achieved fifth in all of the last three Belgian Grands Prix which he has reached the end of.
With an eighth place finish, 2018 is the first time in his career where Kevin Magnussen has scored points at Spa.
Sergio Perez recorded his best qualifying since he qualified second in Baku 2016 though he’d later receive a grid drop at that event. Fourth is his best ever starting slot on the grid, having started from there five times. It’s the first time he’s started from fourth since the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Esteban Ocon recorded his best ever qualifying. His previous best was fifth at the 2017 Italian Grand Prix.
Romain Grosjean recorded his best qualifying of the season so far, and his best Saturday since the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix.
Both Haas drivers have reached Q3 in all of the last six races. Ferrari are the only team with a longer active streak of double Q3 appearances, with neither of their drivers failing to reach Q3 in all of the last eighteen races.
Fernando Alonso recorded his worst qualifying result since the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix.
This weekend marks the first time Carlos Sainz has been beaten in Qualifying by a team-mate at Spa.
The Belgian Grand Prix was the first time this season where both McLaren drivers were eliminated in Q1. It’s also the first time in 2018 where both Sauber drivers have been eliminated in Q2.
Lewis Hamilton has now started more races for the Mercedes team than he did for McLaren. He competed in 110 Grands Prix with McLaren, and has now had 111 starts with Mercedes.
There are now just eleven drivers in contention for this year’s title. Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Romain Grosjean, Charles Leclerc, Stoffel Vandoorne, Marcus Ericsson, Lance Stroll, Brendon Hartley and Sergey Sirotkin are all now mathematically unable to win the 2018 Drivers’ Championship.
