Gasly and Vandoorne do something which no other drivers have done, Hamilton equals Fangio and Ricciardo does two things which haven’t been done since the sixties. Here are all the best facts and statistics from the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix weekend!
HAMILTON EQUALS FANGIO
Lewis Hamilton equals Juan Manuel Fangio with five World Championship titles. Hamilton is the first driver to have won the title in Mexico twice; which in turn is the only place in which Hamilton has won the title twice.
Though Hamilton has just equaled Juan Manuel Fangio’s title total, he actually equaled the Argentine’s number of wins at the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix and equaled his number of starts all the way back at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix.
For the third time in his career, Hamilton failed to finish on the podium in the Grand Prix in which he won the title. This also happened at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix and the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix, both of which saw Hamilton emerge as champion. Lewis Hamilton was the only driver who finished the race to lose a position from his starting place during this year’s Mexican Grand Prix.
MAXICO!
There were a number of striking similarities between the last two Mexican Grands Prix. Max Verstappen won both from second on the grid, Lewis Hamilton claimed the title at both having started from third on the grid and Daniel Ricciardo retired in both 2017 and 2018.
For Verstappen, it was his fifth Formula 1 victory as Mexico becomes the first track at which he has won twice. It was his second victory of the 2018 season. He’s the first driver to win back-to-back races in Mexico, not counting Jim Clark who won the non-championship event in 1962 after a shared drive with Trevor Taylor and then won the 1963 championship event.
Verstappen joins Jim Clark, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell with two victories in Mexico City.
Red Bull became the fifth team to take back-to-back wins at the Mexican Grand Prix. It was their 59th victory in the sport. They equal Mercedes and Ferrari with two victories at the track. It was the third time the team have finished on the podium in Mexico.
Verstappen joins Giuseppe Farina, Clay Regazzoni, John Watson, Michele Alboreto and Keke Rosberg on five F1 victories. He also equals Farina and Watson with twenty podium finishes.
Verstappen’s win marked the fourth victory for a Renault-powered car at the track. Renault now move to equal with Honda as the most successful engine manufacturer at the Mexican Grand Prix.
RICCIARDO ON POLE
On Saturday, Daniel Ricciardo took pole position in Mexico, joining Jose-Froilan Gonzalez, Tony Brooks, Dan Gurney, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Jody Scheckter, Elio De Angelis and Teo Fabi on three career poles. It was his second pole of the 2018 season.
Red Bull became only the sixth team in Formula 1’s history to reach sixty pole positions. It was their 24th front-row lockout; their first since the 2013 US Grand Prix. They’re the eighth different team to have take pole in Mexico.
Daniel Ricciardo is the first Australian to take pole in Mexico since Jack Brabham did so in 1969.
With pole, Ricciardo set the new track record at the Mexico Grand Prix. It’s the second circuit on the current calendar where he holds the track record.
Ricciardo became the thirteenth different driver to take pole position in Mexico City. He joins John Surtees, Jo Siffert, Jack Brabham, Clay Regazzoni, Gerhard Berger, Riccardo Patrese, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel on one pole at the circuit. There’s still yet to be a repeat polesitter in Mexico since the sport’s return to the track in 2015.
Daniel Ricciardo has only taken pole position in places which begin with the letter M and end in ‘co’.
Daniel Ricciardo beat a team-mate on a Saturday in Mexico for the first time as Max Verstappen was beaten by a team-mate in qualifying for the first time here.
Pole was decided by less than a tenth of a second for the sixth time at the circuit.
DOUBLE PODIUM FOR FERRARI
A fifth title will have to wait for another year for Sebastian Vettel, but he took his 110th podium finish in F1 on Sunday. Though it’s the second time he’s stood on the podium in Mexico, it’s the first time he’s walked away with a top three finish in the final result. He’s the 28th different driver to finish on the podium in Mexico and 2018 marks the fourth time a German driver has finished in the top three at the track.
Kimi Raikkonen took his 102nd podium finish at the Mexican Grand Prix, putting him four away from Alain Prost’s podium tally. It was the fourth podium finish for a Finnish driver at the track.
Ferrari scored their first double podium in Mexico since 1990. They join Brabham as the most successful team at the track by way of podiums, with ten top three finishes.
Ferrari are still in contention for the Constructors’ Championship in 2018. Mercedes’ current lead of 55 points is the smallest advantage they’ve had after the Mexican Grand Prix in all four years since Mexico returned to the calendar.
UNHAPPY RETIREES
Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo all retired from the Mexican Grand Prix. Alonso, Sainz and Ricciardo became the first drivers on the current grid to record two DNFs at the circuit, while Sainz and Ricciardo have recorded non-finishes for the past two seasons here. Sainz is yet to score a point in Mexico.
Sergio Perez’s first retirement at his home Grand Prix also marked the first time a Force India has failed to finish the Mexican Grand Prix. With Esteban Ocon finishing in eleventh, it was the first time the team have left the event having not scored any points.
Daniel Ricciardo recorded his eighth retirement of the season on Sunday in Mexico. It marked the first time the polesitter has retired from the Mexican Grand Prix since Jim Clark in 1965. Ricciardo is the only polesitter other than Clark to retire at this track when starting from pole. Clark also failed to finish in 1964, having started from pole, but still scored two points as he was classified fifth.
SATURDAY STATS
Kimi Raikkonen and Sergey Sirotkin recorded their equal-worst qualifying performances of the season as Max Verstappen, Nico Hulkenberg and Marcus Ericsson all recorded their equal-best. For Ericsson, it was his equal-best ever qualifying result and the first time he’s reached Q3 in Mexico. He’s yet to qualify higher than tenth on all five occasions where he’s reached Q3. 2018 is also the first time the Swede has been beaten by a team-mate in qualifying at the circuit.
Romain Grosjean failed to reach Q3 for the first time since the Canadian Grand Prix in June.
Esteban Ocon was eliminated in Q2 for the first time in Mexico, having previously been eliminated in Q1 at the track in 2016 and having reached Q3 in 2017.
Lance Stroll and Stoffel Vandoorne, who both reached Q2 here in 2017, were both eliminated in Q1 in Mexico for the first time. Stroll beat a team-mate in qualifying for the first time in Mexico City.
Kevin Magnussen was out-qualified by a team-mate at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the first time.
Both Force India drivers were eliminated in Q2 for the first time since the French Grand Prix. It’s the first time either of the cars have been eliminated in that session since Sergio Perez at Silverstone. Esteban Ocon’s last Q2 exit was at Austria. Both Perez and Ocon have been eliminated in Q1 since then, however. It was the first time Force India have failed to get at least one car into Q3 in Mexico.
Haas saw both of their cars eliminated in Q1 for the first time this season, and for the first time since last year’s Mexican Grand Prix. The team have never reached Q2 at this circuit.
Williams had never recorded a Q1 exit in Mexico before this weekend. Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin were the two slowest drivers in qualifying.
Fernando Alonso reached Q2 for the first time since the Singapore Grand Prix weekend.
Sauber reached Q3 for the first time in Mexico. Both Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc were in the top ten shootout.
Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and Nico Hulkenberg all maintained their 100% Q3 appearance record at the Mexican Grand Prix, while Bottas, Vettel and Raikkonen remain the only drivers to have reached Q3 at every race weekend in 2018.
SUNDAY STATS
With eighth place, Stoffel Vandoorne scored points for the first time since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Along with Bahrain, it was the Belgian driver’s best finishing position of the season. It marked the first time a driver starting from fifteenth on the grid has scored points at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Pierre Gasly scored a point at the Mexican Grand Prix, the first time he has done so at this circuit. He gained ten places from his starting place, which is the most positions he’s gained during a race so far in his career. It’s also the first time a driver starting from twentieth on the grid has scored points in Mexico.
With a sixth place finish, Nico Hulkenberg recorded his best performance so far in Mexico.
Valtteri Bottas set a new Lap Record on Sunday in Mexico. His lap time was 0.044 seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel’s previous record from 2017. He joins Denny Hulme, Ronnie Peterson and Jacques Villeneuve with nine fastest laps in his Formula 1 career.
Mercedes failed to finish on the podium for the first time at the Mexican Grand Prix. After the Austrian Grand Prix, it’s only the second race in 2018 in which neither Mercedes driver has finished in the top three.
Sunday marked the first time Renault and Sauber have scored points in the Mexican Grand Prix. Sauber scored with both cars.
Williams failed to score in Mexico City for the first time since 1988. In that year, they recorded a double DNF, which is the only time other than 2018 where they’ve failed to score at the track.