Mercedes have a record-breaking start to the season, Russian drivers’ Azerbaijan curse continues and Nico Rosberg maintains a Baku record. Here are all of the facts and statistics from the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend!
UNSTOPPABLE MERCEDES
On Saturday, Valtteri Bottas took his eighth pole position in Formula 1, becoming the first driver to take two pole positions in the 2019 season. With it being his first pole position at the track, there is still yet to be a repeat polesitter from the four races at the Baku City Circuit – but Mercedes have now taken pole three times with three different drivers. Bottas has now had the same number of career poles as John Surtees, Riccardo Patrese and Jenson Button. 2019 marks the first time Valtteri Bottas has beaten a team-mate in qualifying in Baku.
Mercedes took pole position for the 104th time in F1, and locked-out the front row for the 62nd time – equalling Williams’ tally.
With his pole lap, Valtteri Bottas set a new track record in Baku, with a lap time 0.098 seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton’s previous record from 2017.
On Sunday, Bottas recorded his fifth Grand Prix victory and his first win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. With his fifth win, he equals the number of victories of Giuseppe Farina, Clay Regazzoni, John Watson, Michele Alboreto, Keke Rosberg and Max Verstappen. He joins Hamilton on two race wins in 2019. It was Bottas’ 34th podium finish.
Valtteri Bottas won by 1.524 seconds – the smallest win margin seen so far in Azerbaijan. Bottas also won the race in the shortest time so far at the circuit, with his drive to victory lasting 59.424 seconds less than the 2016 race.
Mercedes claimed their 91st Grand Prix victory. With Lewis Hamilton finishing second, Mercedes record their fourth consecutive 1-2 finish of the season. This is the first time in F1 history that a team have opened their Constructors’ Championship charge with four consecutive 1-2 finishes, as well as being the first time a team have taken a 1-2 finish at the Baku City Circuit.
Valtteri Bottas becomes the first driver to win from pole in 2019, and only the second driver to win from pole at the Baku track.
The 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix marks the 200th consecutive race in which a Mercedes-powered car has scored a point.
With his second place, Lewis Hamilton took the 138th top three finish of his career. Michael Schumacher is the only driver to have taken more podium finishes than Hamilton. He took his 138th podium finish with a second place at the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix. Hamilton led a single lap of the race – the first time he has led a solitary lap of a Grand Prix since the 2016 Singapore Grand Prix. He’s the only driver to have led a lap in three races so far this season, as well as only driver to have led laps in three Baku races.
FERRARI FALL SHORT
Ferrari topped all three practice sessions for the second time this year, and only the second time in the hybrid era.
With third place, Sebastian Vettel finished in the top three for the 113th time. All three of the 2019 podium finishers claimed their second podium finish in Baku, equalling Sergio Perez’s record tally. Vettel has equalled Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton with podium finishes at 25 different Grands Prix (he took a podium in Baku in 2016, but that was when it was titled the European Grand Prix). He has the opportunity of equalling Kimi Raikkonen’s record tally of different Grand Prix podiums in France.
Charles Leclerc set the fastest lap of the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It marks the 250th fastest lap for Ferrari in Formula 1. He becomes the 83rd driver to set multiple fastest laps in F1. For the first time in 2019, the Lap Record was broken over the weekend. Leclerc’s fastest lap was 0.432 seconds faster than the Baku record set by Sebastian Vettel in 2017.
SATURDAY STATS
Antonio Giovinazzi and Daniil Kvyat reached Q3 for the first time this season. It marked the first time Giovinazzi has reached the top ten on Saturday in his career, as well as the first time he’s beaten a team-mate in qualifying. For Kvyat, this was the first time he’s reached Q3 since the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix and, with sixth on the grid, marked his best qualifying position since the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix.
Both Haas drivers failed to reach Q3 for the first time in 2019, and for the first time since last year’s Mexican Grand Prix. For Grosjean, this is only the second time in the last eighteen races where he has failed to qualify in the top ten.
Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat all recorded their best Baku qualifying positions, while Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen all recorded their worst. For Ricciardo, it was the first time he’s failed to qualify in the top ten at the track, while Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen all maintain their 100% Q3 appearance rates at the track.
Lance Stroll’s eighth consecutive Q1 exit marks the first time a Racing Point/Force India car has been eliminated in Q1 in Baku. With their double Q1 exit, this is also the first time Williams have seen their cars eliminated in Q1 in Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo reached the final part of qualifying for the first time, with both of their drivers reaching the top ten. Similarly, Lando Norris gave McLaren their first Q3 appearance at the track. Pierre Gasly was eliminated in Q2, marking the first time a Red Bull driver has not reached the final part of qualifying at the circuit.
Both Red Bull drivers topped the timesheets in qualifying, with Pierre Gasly fastest in Q1 and Max Verstappen fastest in Q2. It’s the first time a team other than Mercedes or Ferrari have led a qualifying session at the track.
SUNDAY STATS
2019 marks the first time Kevin Magnussen has finished in a position lower than where he started in Azerbaijan. Magnussen has finished thirteenth in all of the last three races, while Max Verstappen has finished fourth in all of the last three events.
Kimi Raikkonen gained the most places in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, moving up nine positions from his pit-lane start to finish tenth. The last time Raikkonen gained nine positions in a Grand Prix was at the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix
There were four retirements from Sunday’s race. Daniel Ricciardo retired for the third time in four races, and for a second consecutive time in Azerbaijan. Romain Grosjean also recorded his second consecutive DNF in Baku. Grosjean is now one of four drivers yet to score this year, with Antonio Givoinazzi, Robert Kubica and George Russell being the other three. Pierre Gasly also retired from the race, recording Red Bull’s first non-finish of the season.
The other retirement was Daniil Kvyat. He’s never finished a race here, and every Russian driver to start an F1 race at the Baku City Circuit has failed to finish. Kvyat now has the outright record of most DNFs at the track, while this also marks the third DNF in four races at the circuit for the driver starting from sixth.
Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen all recorded their best Baku finishes, while Lance Stroll recorded his worst. With ninth place, the Canadian maintains his 100% points record at the track.
A Haas driver has finished in thirteenth in all four Azerbaijan races so far. The team recorded the exact same result at the circuit in 2019 as they did in 2018, with Romain Grosjean retiring and Kevin Magnussen finishing thirteenth.
The fourth F1 race at the Baku City Circuit is the first time the top three on the grid have finished in the order in which they started.
After finishing sixth, Sergio Perez moves to fourth in the all-time list of most races without a win, surpassing Martin Brundle’s tally.
ROSBERG’S RECORD REMAINS
Despite appearing in just one race at the Baku City Circuit, Nico Rosberg remains the driver to have led the most laps at the track, having led all 51 laps in 2016. Valtteri Bottas is now just behind, having led 49 laps in total at the circuit.
