A record-breaking race for Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo equals two champions with six wins, Kimi Raikkonen edges closer to 100 podiums and Nico Hulkenberg really likes starting seventh. Here are all the stats you need to know from the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix weekend!
QUALIFYING STATS
On Saturday, Sebastian Vettel took the 52nd pole position of his Formula One career. It was his fourth pole position in China, meaning he’s now the second most successful qualifier at Shanghai, one pole behind Lewis Hamilton.
It was the 215th pole position for Ferrari.
Sebastian Vettel’s back-to-back poles in Bahrain and China mark the first time he’s had back-to-back poles during his time at Ferrari. It’s also the first time Ferrari have locked out the front row at two consecutive races since the U.S. and French Grands Prix in 2006.
Charles Leclerc out-qualified his team for the first time. Meanwhile, at Haas, Romain Grosjean out-qualified Kevin Magnussen for the first time in 2018.
Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso are the only drivers yet to be beaten by their team-mate in Qualifying this season.
Saturday saw the third time in three races where both McLaren cars have been knocked out in Q2.
The 2018 Chinese Grand Prix pole time was 0.583 seconds faster than last year’s pole time at the Shanghai track. Sebastian Vettel’s pole lap was the fastest ever lap of the track.
The track record has been beaten at all three of the circuits visited so far in 2018.
Sebastian Vettel took pole by 0.087 seconds – the smallest ever pole margin at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Since 2007, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel are the only drivers to have taken pole position in China.
Sebastian Vettel’s pole for Ferrari meant that this weekend was the first time a non-Mercedes driver has taken pole in China since 2011, when Vettel took pole for Red Bull.
RACE STATS
Daniel Ricciardo scored the sixth win of his F1 career, and his first in China. It was his 28th podium appearance. All six of the Australian’s victories have come from fourth or lower on the grid. Denny Hulme is the only driver to have taken more wins from further back than third on the grid.
Red Bull celebrated their 56th win, and their first in China since their maiden victory. Impressively, the first time Red Bull have led a race this year was when Ricciardo overtook Valtteri Bottas.
Ricciardo joins Tony Brooks, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Gilles Villeneuve, Riccardo Patrese and Ralf Schumacher as a winner of six Formula One Grands Prix.
Lewis Hamilton has set a new record for the most consecutive races in the points. He has scored in every race since the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix. His new streak of 28 races in the top ten beats Kimi Raikkonen’s previous record of 27 between the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix and the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo is the ninth different driver to win the Chinese Grand Prix. It’s only the fifth time the race has been won away from the front row of the grid. Ricciardo won from sixth, equalling Michael Schumacher’s record of the furthest back win at this track in 2006.
The 2018 Chinese Grand Prix marks the first time both Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas have finished on the podium in Shanghai.
Ricciardo recorded the fastest lap of a race for the eleventh time in his career. For a third Grand Prix in a row, the fastest lap time failed to beat Michael Schumacher’s 2004 lap record.
Kimi Raikkonen recorded the 93rd podium of his F1 career. He now sits just seven away from joining the elite 100 Club. It was also his sixth podium in China, putting him second in the all-time list, behind only Lewis Hamilton who has eight podium finishes at this track.
Until this weekend, Mercedes had never been beaten three races in a row during the hybrid era. They have only won one of the last six Grands Prix.
Nico Hulkenberg has started in seventh every race since last year’s Mexico Grand Prix. If he does so again at the next round in Azerbaijan, it’ll be his seventh race in a row starting from seventh on the grid.
