Mercedes set another new record, a Thai driver retires for the first time since 1954 and Daniel Ricciardo reaches 1,000 career points. Here are all the facts and statistics from the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix weekend!
CANADA CONTROVERSY
For the first time since the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix, the driver who crossed the finish line first ended up not winning the race. It’s the second time that Sebastian Vettel has started the final lap of the Canadian Grand Prix in the lead but not won; the other time being in 2011, when he lost the lead to Jenson Button on the final lap.
Sebastian Vettel led the 100th race of his career on Sunday. Leading 63 of the 70 laps, it’s the most laps he’s led in a race since last year’s Canadian Grand Prix – though he led a higher percentage of the race distance in last year’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel’s second place finish marked his 115th podium finish in F1 and his sixth top three finish at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix as a result of Sebastian Vettel’s penalty, giving him his 78th career victory and a record-equalling seventh Canadian Grand Prix win. It’s the first time he’s won seven races at the same circuit, and is a record which is only bettered by Michael Schumacher, who took eight victories at the Magny Cours track during his career.
Lewis Hamilton’s victory means that British drivers equal German drivers for the most wins at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
2019 is the first time that the Canadian Grand Prix hasn’t been won from pole position since 2014, and the first time the event has been won by the driver starting from second on the grid since Lewis Hamilton took victory from the position in 2012.
MEGA MERCEDES
Mercedes continue their dominance of the 2019 season with their seventh win in seven races. It was the team’s 94th victory and the team’s fourth win at the Canadian Grand Prix.
With Lewis Hamilton leading two laps, this was the 600th Grand Prix to be led by a British driver.
Lewis Hamilton leads the Drivers’ Championship by 29 points after the Canadian Grand Prix – the largest margin a driver has led by after a race at the track since Sebastian Vettel led by 36 points in 2013. Meanwhile, Mercedes lead the Constructors’ Championship by 123 points – the largest lead ever held by a team in the championship after the Canadian Grand Prix, beating their own previous record of a 119 point margin in 2014.
For the first time this season, there was only one Mercedes driver on the podium. Valtteri Bottas finished fourth, marking his and the team’s worst finish so far in 2019. It’s the first time Bottas has failed to finish on the podium at the circuit since the 2014 season.
Valtteri Bottas becomes the 32nd driver to have set twelve or more fastest laps during their F1 career. Alberto Ascari, Jack Brabham, Rene Arnoux and Juan Pablo Montoya are the other four drivers who’ve taken twelve fastest laps in their careers. Bottas’ lap time was a new Lap Record – 0.544 seconds faster than Rubens Barrichello’s previous record set in the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix.
FRUSTRATED FERRARI
Sebastian Vettel recorded his 56th pole position this weekend. It was his fifth pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix and his first pole since the 2018 German Grand Prix. It’s the second time Vettel has taken consecutive pole positions at the circuit, having also done so in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
With Sebastian Vettel’s pole position, Ferrari equal McLaren and Williams as the most successful team in qualifying at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Charles Leclerc took the second podium finish of his career and became the 50th different driver to finish on the podium at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Monaco became the 21st different country to be represented on the podium at the track.
For the fifth time in the track’s history, and for the second consecutive season, all three drivers who qualified in the top three finished on the podium.
This was the first time both Ferrari drivers have finished on the podium since the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix, and the first time since 2005 that both Ferrari drivers have finished on the podium at the Canadian Grand Prix.
GOOD TIMES FOR RENAULT
Renault recorded their best qualifying result as a works team since Robert Kubica qualified in fourth at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix. Both of their drivers equalled their best qualifying results at the track. Daniel Ricciardo had previously qualified fourth in Montreal in 2016, while this weekend marked the third time that Nico Hulkenberg has qualified in seventh place at the circuit.
With his sixth place finish, Daniel Ricciardo became the eleventh driver in F1 history to surpass 1,000 career points.
A WEEKEND TO FORGET
Kimi Raikkonen recorded his first Q1 exit since the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix. It’s the fourth time he’s qualified seventeenth in his career; the first time he has done so since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.
2019 marks only the second time in his career that Kimi Raikkonen has failed to score at the Canadian Grand Prix. His DNF in 2008, a result of being hit by Lewis Hamilton in the pit-lane, was his only non points scoring finish from his fifteen appearances at the track prior to this weekend.
Sergio Perez, Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica all recorded their first Canadian Grand Prix Q1 eliminations.
On the same weekend on which he equalled Martin Brundle and Johnny Herbert’s record of entries without a pole position, Sergio Perez recorded Q1 exits at two consecutive races for the first time in his career. Perez had recorded ten previous Q1 exits, but the 2019 Monaco and Canadian Grands Prix mark the first time he’s been eliminated in Q1 at two consecutive rounds.
2019 marks the Racing Point team’s first double Q1 exit at the track since 2008, when they were in their Force India guise.
Kevin Magnussen and his Haas team made their first Q3 appearance at the Circuit Gilles Villeneueve, but were not able to compete in the top ten shootout following Magnussen’s Q2 cash.
Kevin Magnussen maintained his 100% finish record at the Canadian Grand Prix but, with seventeenth place, recorded his worst finishing position so far at the event. It’s also Haas’ worst finishing position so far at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
SATURDAY STATS
In Q1, the gap from Lance Stroll’s lap time for eighteenth on the grid to Sebastian Vettel’s session-topping time (1.066 seconds) was smaller than the gap between Stroll and George Russell (1.351 seconds), who qualified nineteenth.
Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen all recorded their worst qualifying performances of the year so far, while Lance Stroll, Robert Kubica and George Russell equalled their worst performances. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel and Renault drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg recorded their best qualifying positions of the season, while Pierre Gasly equalled his best grid position of 2019.
For the second time this season, both McLaren drivers reached the final part of qualifying. It’s the first time since 2012 that both McLaren cars have qualified in the top ten at the Canadian Grand Prix.
HOME SUCCESS FOR LANCE
With his eleventh consecutive Q1 exit, Lance Stroll equals Daniel Ricciardo as the driver on the 2019 grid to have the most consecutive Q1 exits. Ricciardo had eleven in a row in the first eleven races of his career.
Lance Stroll scored points for the third time this season with ninth place. All three of his points-scoring results so far this year have been ninth place finishes. It’s the second time he’s scored points at the Canadian Grand Prix. The Azerbaijan and Italian Grands Prix are the only other events at which he’s taken multiple points finishes so far in his career.
MAX’S MIXED WEEKEND
Max Verstappen recorded his first Q2 exit since the 2018 U.S. Grand Prix, also becoming the first Red Bull driver not to reach the final part of qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix since David Coulthard in 2008. As a result, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel are now the only three drivers to reach Q3 at every race in 2019.
With fifth place, Max Verstappen recorded his lowest finishing position since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix. He maintains his record of finishing in the top five in all of the last sixteen races – an active streak bettered only by the two Mercedes drivers, who’ve finished in the top five at every race since last year’s British Grand Prix.
A NEW FINISHING RECORD
There were two retirements from the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix – Lando Norris and Alexander Albon. Norris recorded his third retirement of the year, equalling Daniel Ricciardo as the driver with the most DNFs so far this season. Meanwhile, Albon recorded the first DNF of his career, making this the first F1 race from which a Thai driver has retired since Prince Bira failed to finish the 1954 German Grand Prix.
With just two retirements from twenty starters, this race saw a new record for the highest percentage of finishes in a Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. 90% of cars entered finished the race, beating the previous record of 86.36%, when 19 of the 22 drivers finished the race in 2013 and 2016.
