Hamilton wins on his 250th appearance, Stroll is the latest victim of a Yas Marina curse and Grosjean and Hulkenberg secure unwanted records. Here are all the facts and statistics from the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend!
SIGNING OFF IN STYLE
Lewis Hamilton ended the 2019 season in style with his 84th Formula 1 victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was his fifth win at the Yas Marina Circuit and his eleventh win of the 2019 season. He also recorded his 88th pole position on Saturday, his first since the German Grand Prix – ending his longest pole drought since joining Mercedes. It was Hamilton’s fifth pole at the circuit and his fifth pole of the season.
With his victory, Hamilton also recorded his 151st podium finish. He also set the fastest lap of the race for the 47th time in his career and overtook Kimi Raikkonen for second in the list of most Fastest Laps. As a result of picking up the extra point for the Fastest Lap, Hamilton becomes the first driver to have scored more than 25 points at a circuit twice, having previously picked up 50 points for winning the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
As a result of finishing the race, Lewis Hamilton became the first driver to have completed every lap of a season on two occasions, having previously done so in 2017. He also became the first driver to finish 33 consecutive races twice. In doing so, he equalled a record which he already shares with Nick Heidfeld for most consecutive finishes. He previously finished 33 consecutive races between the 2016 Japanese and 2018 French Grands Prix, while Heidfeld finished 33 consecutive races between the 2007 Chinese and 2009 Italian Grands Prix.
2019 is the fifth consecutive year that the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has been won from pole position. Lewis Hamilton won the race by 16.772 seconds – the largest win margin at the circuit since 2013, and the third largest win margin here overall.
Mercedes recorded their sixth consecutive victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. They have now won every race here in the hybrid era. Qualifying also saw Mercedes’ drivers set the two fastest qualifying times, which would have made it an unprecedented sixth front row lock-out at a circuit, if not for Valtteri Bottas’ engine penalty.
With Lewis Hamilton’s victory, Mercedes become the first team to record ten podium finishes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton’s weekend means that British drivers now have more wins, poles and podiums at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix than any other nation. Britain and Germany had been tied for all of those records ahead of the 2019 event.
Lewis Hamilton became the ninth driver to reach 250 Grand Prix appearances. He’s the first driver who has won on their 250th start, beating the previous best finish of fifth for Riccardo Patrese, who made his 250th appearance at the 1993 German Grand Prix.
Having previously shared the record with Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton is now the outright record holder for most podium finishes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He recorded his eighth podium from the eleven races at the track. Hamilton also becomes only the second driver, after Vettel, to record back-to-back wins at the Yas Marina Circuit. Vettel previously recorded consecutive victories in 2009 and 2010.
THE PODIUM FINISHERS
Max Verstappen recorded the 31st podium finish of his career. With that, he equals Jack Brabham’s tally of career podiums and ties the Australian for 32nd in the all-time list.
With third place, Charles Leclerc became the 76th driver to record ten podium finishes. Three other drivers have exactly ten career podiums: Maurice Trintignant, Tony Brooks and Romain Grosjean. Leclerc became the eleventh different driver to have finished on the podium at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The top three drivers finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the order that they started for only the second time. The only other time it has happened was in the 2017 race.
QUALIFYING STATS
Alfa Romeo recorded their second double Q1 elimination of the 2019 season. It’s the team’s third double Q1 exit at the track in the last four seasons.
Both McLaren drivers reached the final part of qualifying for the first time at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since 2012.
Renault saw both of their cars reach Q3 for the first time at the circuit. The Enstone team last got two cars into the final part of qualifying under their Lotus guise in 2013.
THE OTHER STATS
Nico Hulkenberg signed off from Formula 1 with a twelfth place finish. It was his 177th start without a podium – a record which is likely to stand until at least 2025. He has had almost 50 more starts than any other driver who has failed to score a podium finish (next on the list is Adrian Sutil, with 128 starts). Of the 2020 grid, Alex Albon, Antonio Giovinazzi, Lando Norris, George Russell and Nicholas Latifi will be the only drivers who are yet to finish in the top three. Giovinazzi has the most starts from that quintet, with 23, meaning that he’d need to start 154 more races without finishing on the podium to equal Hulkenberg’s record.
On the weekend where Romain Grosjean overtook Martin Brundle and Johnny Herbert as the driver to have had the second-most appearances without a pole position, the Frenchman also became the driver to have had the most point-less finishes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He has now finished outside of the points five times at the track, overtaking Heikki Kovalainen’s tally of four point-less finishes.
Lance Stroll was the only retirement from the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, making this the first race at the circuit which has had only one non-finisher since the 2015 event. It’s the fourth consecutive season that the driver starting from twelfth on the grid at the Yas Marina Circuit has failed to finish the race!
Only six drivers finished on the lead lap of the race, with the other thirteen finishers all being lapped at least once. It’s the fewest number of drivers to complete every lap of the race in Abu Dhabi’s history.
The 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the second shortest running of the event. Lewis Hamilton won in a time of 94 minutes and 5.715 seconds, while Sebastian Vettel won the inaugural race at the track in a time of 94 minutes and 3.414 seconds – a difference of just 2.301 seconds between the two!
McLaren finished with both cars in the top ten at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for the first time since they scored a 1-3 result in 2011.
Valtteri Bottas set a new record for the furthest back grid slot to have scored at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Finn finished fourth having started twentieth due to a grid penalty. While it’s the first time a driver starting from further back on the grid than eighteenth has scored a point, drivers starting from the pit-lane have scored on three occasions.
Sergio Perez finished seventh for Racing Point. It’s the fifth time in the last six years that one of the team’s cars has finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in seventh place.
Daniil Kvyat finished in ninth position for Toro Rosso. It’s the first time the team have scored a point at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since Daniel Ricciardo finished tenth in 2012.
Want more Formula 1 stats? Check out our statistical review of F1 in the 2010s!
I am trying to locate the number of overtakes that occurred during the 2019 F-1 season. I have seen the numbers posted by Lights Out for the season but I am seeking information by driver and track but, at a minimum, just by track will work. Any guidance where I should be looking please? Thanks!