The halfway point of the 2019 season, a chance for Lewis Hamilton a record number of German Grand Prix victories and a chance for Charles Leclerc to take an unwanted record. Here are the records which are up for grabs over the 2019 German Grand Prix weekend!
The Numbers and Milestones:
This will be the 1008th Formula 1 Grand Prix. It’ll be the 78th German Grand Prix since the event was first held in 1926, the 64th time the German Grand Prix has been held as a round of the F1 World Championship and the 37th F1 race at the Hockenheim circuit.
This weekend marks the first time that Hockenheim will host Grands Prix in consecutive years since 2005 and 2006.
The 34th lap of the 2019 Grand Prix will be the 1900th racing lap of the Hockenheim circuit in F1’s history.
Mercedes will celebrate their 200th Grand Prix start this weekend. They will also run a special commemorative livery to mark 125 years of motorsport. Meanwhile, Haas will equal Marussia’s tally of Grand Prix appearances this weekend.
The 21st lap of the Grand Prix will mark the half-way point of the 2019 season in terms of laps. It’ll be the 633rd of this season’s 1266 laps. Meanwhile, the 38th lap will mark the passing of the half-way point of the season in terms of kilometres covered.
The Records to Beat:
If Lewis Hamilton wins this weekend, he’ll set a new outright record for the most wins at the German Grand Prix during its history as a Formula 1 event. He’s currently tied with Michael Schumacher on four wins at the event. He’d also equal Schumacher’s record tally of Hockenheim wins. Hamilton won’t beat the overall record of six German Grand Prix wins though, held by Rudolf Caracciola who won the event six times in the pre-F1 era.
If Lewis Hamilton leads 41 laps of the race, he’ll become the fourth driver to have led 1000km of the German Grand Prix. The other drivers to have done that are Juan Manuel Fangio, Jackie Stewart and Michael Schumacher. If he leads 64 laps of the race, he’ll become only the second driver, after Schumacher, to have led 200 laps of the German Grand Prix.
If Lewis Hamilton wins, he’ll become only the second driver to have won at Hockenheim on three consecutive visits to the Hockenheim track. Ayrton Senna is the only driver to have completed that feat so far in F1’s history, having won three years in a row between 1988 and 1990.
If Sebastian Vettel scores seven points this weekend, he’ll become the third driver to have scored 100 points at the German Grand Prix, after Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
If Kimi Raikkonen takes pole, he’ll equal the record tally of three poles at Hockenheim. The record is currently shared between Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost.
At the British Grand Prix, Mercedes equalled Lotus as the team with the fourth-most podiums in Formula 1 history. If one of their drivers finishes on the podium this weekend, Mercedes will become the outright fourth-most successful Formula 1 team by way of podium finishes.
If a Mercedes or Ferrari-powered car takes pole position this weekend, they’ll equal Renault as the most successful engine manufacturer in qualifying at the circuit.
If Sebastian Vettel takes pole this weekend, he’ll become the seventh driver to have taken back-to-back pole positions at the Hockenheim track.
If Charles Leclerc leads 59 laps and fails to the win the race, he’ll become the driver to have led the most laps without a win, taking the 47 year old record from Chris Amon.
If Sebastian Vettel finishes on the podium, it will mark his 50th podium appearance as a Ferrari driver.
