The latest ever start to a Formula 1 season, the first race behind closed doors and the 800th race to feature a German driver. Here are the milestones and the records which could be broken at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix!
THE MILESTONES
This will be the 1,019th F1 Grand Prix. It will be the 34th running of the Austrian Grand Prix, the 33rd time it has been held as a round of the F1 championship and the 32nd F1 race at the Spielberg track.
The 2020 Austrian Grand Prix will be the first ever Formula 1 race to take place behind closed doors and will be the latest ever season-opening Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Nicholas Latifi will become the 765th driver to have started a round of the Drivers’ Championship. If Latifi scores, he’ll become the 76th driver to have scored points on their maiden F1 appearance, and the first to do so since Stoffel Vandoorne at the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix. Latifi will become the thirteenth Canadian driver to have started an F1 race, meaning that Canada will have had as many Grand Prix drivers as both Spain and Australia.
With Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi now both racing in F1, the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix will be the first F1 race to feature two Canadian drivers since Bill Brack, Al Pease and John Cordts lined up on the grid for the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix. The 1967 Canadian Grand Prix, which featured Al Pease and Eppie Wietzes is the only other F1 race which featured multiple Canadians on the grid.
The 2020 Austrian Grand Prix will be the first race for the AlphaTauri name. It will make them the 163rd different constructor to have started a round of the Drivers’ Championship. This race will also be the first since the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix to not feature the Toro Rosso name on the grid.
This will be the 800th F1 race to feature a German driver. It will also be the first race since the 1994 Portuguese Grand Prix that only one German driver has entered.
At the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, the Alfa Romeo name will equal the number of races started by the Osella team. Osella started 132 races, with their last appearance being at the 1990 Australian Grand Prix.
THE RECORDS TO BREAK
If Max Verstappen wins this weekend, he will become the first driver to have taken three consecutive wins at the Austrian Grand Prix. Furthermore, a win for Verstappen would see him equal Alain Prost’s record tally of Austrian Grand Prix wins. Prost won the event three times during his career.
If Lewis Hamilton leads the Austrian Grand Prix from start to finish, this would be the twentieth race which he has led every lap of. It would surpass Ayrton Senna’s record of nineteen races led from start to finish. Senna has held the record since the 1990 Italian Grand Prix.
Ferrari can equal McLaren’s record of six Austrian Grand Prix wins this weekend. Ferrari have won the event five times so far.
Pole position for Charles Leclerc would see him become the sixth driver to have taken consecutive pole positions at the Austrian Grand Prix.
A pole for Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas would make them the fourth driver to have reached three poles at the Austrian Grand Prix. Niki Lauda, Rene Arnoux and Nelson Piquet currently share the record for most poles at the track.
If Lewis Hamilton scores in the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, it will be the 34th consecutive race in which he has scored. That would be a new record for most successive races in which a driver has scored points, surpassing his own previous record of 33 consecutive points-scoring races which he had between the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix and the 2018 French Grand Prix. It will also be a new record for most consecutive race finishes. He already shares this record with Nick Heidfeld, who finished 33 consecutive races between the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix and the 2009 Italian Grand Prix.
A fastest lap for Lewis Hamilton would see him tie with David Coulthard as the driver to have the most fastest laps at the Austrian Grand Prix.
A third place finish for Valtteri Bottas would see him equal Rubens Barrichello as the driver to have finished in third place the most times at the Red Bull Ring. Barrichello finished third three times at the Austrian Grand Prix.
If Kimi Raikkonen finishes in the top ten, he would surpass David Coulthard as the driver to have scored on the most occasions at the track. He’d need to finish in the top ten again next weekend to equal John Watson’s record tally of nine top ten finishes at the circuit.
Britain and France are currently tied for the most wins at this circuit with five apiece. While either nation could extend the record to six, it seems Britain is the nation with the best chance of doing so. A win for Sebastian Vettel would see Germany equal the existing record of wins for a nation at the track.
A Q3 appearance for Kimi Raikkonen would see him equal Nelson Piquet as the driver to have qualified in the top ten most frequently at the Austrian Grand Prix.
If Lewis Hamilton and/or Valtteri Bottas start on the front row, they will equal Rene Arnoux as the driver to have started on the front row the most times at the Red Bull Ring. Arnoux started from the front row four times at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Both Romain Grosjean and Carlos Sainz could equal Fernando Alonso’s record of four Q2 exits in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
If he finishes the first lap of the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen will become the first driver to have completed 500 racing laps at this track.
If Lewis Hamilton wins, this will be the fourteenth consecutive year in which he has won a Grand Prix. Only Michael Schumacher has scored in more consecutive seasons, doing so for fifteen successive years between 1992 and 2006. Similarly, if Hamilton takes pole position, this will be the fourteenth year in which he has taken a pole position. That would be a new record, surpassing Michael Schumacher, who took at least one pole in every season between 1994 and 2006.
If Alex Albon scores eight points, he’ll become the 82nd driver to have surpassed 100 career points.
If Sergio Perez scores nineteen points without winning the race, he would become the first driver to have scored 600 career points without winning a Grand Prix. Meanwhile, if Perez is eliminated in Q1, he will equal Marcus Ericsson as the driver to have had the most Q1 exits at the Red Bull Ring. Ericsson was eliminated in Q1 on four occasions at this circuit.
