Verstappen records his first Grand Slam, Norris records his first front row start and the last 144 racing laps have had the same leader. Here’s a statistic from each driver’s 2021 Austrian Grand Prix weekend!
Lewis Hamilton recorded his first fourth place finish since the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix. This was Hamilton’s third fourth place result in Austria – setting a new record for most fourth place results in the country.
Valtteri Bottas recorded his 61st podium finish, moving ahead of Nelson Piquet to tenth in the all time list of most podium finishes in Formula 1. Bottas has finished on the podium at all of the last five Red Bull Ring races. His latest podium here sees Finland overtake Brazil as the nation with the second-most podium finishes at the Spielberg venue.
For the second week in a row, Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position at their home event. He went on to win and become the 21st driver to record three successive wins. More impressively, Verstappen is the first driver to win three F1 races in the space of only 15 days. Having won last week’s Styrian Grand Prix, Verstappen becomes the first driver to win consecutive Formula 1 races held in the same country since Damon Hill won the 1995 and 1996 Australian Grands Prix. Verstappen is one of only five drivers to achieve this feat, the others being Stirling Moss, Alan Jones and Michael Schumacher. Verstappen became the first driver to win four Formula 1 races in Austria. Alain Prost previously held the record for most wins in Austria, having taken a third Austrian Grand Prix victory in 1986. Verstappen recorded the 50th podium finish of his career, becoming the seventeenth driver to reach that milestone. As well as being the youngest driver to reach 50 podium finishes in Formula 1, Verstappen also becomes the youngest driver to record a Grand Slam in the sport. Verstappen is the 25th driver to take pole, win, set the fastest lap and lead every lap. The Dutchman has led the last 144 laps of Formula 1 racing – the equal-15th longest streak of laps led in Formula 1 history. It ties him with Hamilton’s longest streak of consecutive laps led in F1. Verstappen is less than half way to equalling Alberto Ascari’s record, set in 1952.
For the third time in the last four Red Bull Ring races, Sergio Perez finished in sixth place. Perez became the first driver to not win on their 200th race start since Felipe Massa at the 2014 British Grand Prix. The last three drivers to reach 200 starts – Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel – all won on their milestone appearance. Nelson Piquet was the last driver to finish sixth on his 200th start, doing so at the 1991 Italian Grand Prix. Along with Raikkonen, Perez set a new record for the most finishes in Austria, surpassing John Watson’s former record of nine finishes in the country.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified in thirteenth place for the third time in the last four races. This was the first time that Ricciardo has been out-qualified by his team-mate at five successive races since the 2018 season. Ricciardo finished the race in seventh place, recording his best result in Austria since his podium finish at the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix.
Missing out on pole by just 0.048 seconds, Lando Norris recorded the first front row qualification of his Formula 1 career. Kimi Raikkonen was the last McLaren driver to qualify on the front row in Austria, doing so in 2003. Norris has never failed to qualify inside the top six in Austria. It was McLaren’s first front row start since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. On Sunday, Norris recorded his fourth podium finish in Formula 1, becoming the 105th driver to record four or more podiums. Norris has now scored more points in the first nine races in 2021 than he did in the entirety of the 2020 season. Norris is the 25th driver to record multiple podium finishes in Austria.
Sebastian Vettel failed to score at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Having also failed to score at the Styrian Grand Prix, 2021 is the first year that Vettel has not scored at the Red Bull Ring since 2016, when he retired from the Austrian Grand Prix.
Lance Stroll reached Q3 for the fourth time this year. He has qualified in tenth on every occasion that he has reached the top ten in 2021. In the race, Stroll became the fourteenth F1 driver to record eight 13th place finishes in his career.
Fernando Alonso set a new record for most Q2 exits at the Red Bull Ring, after being eliminated in Q2 for a fifth time. The Spaniard went on to finish tenth, scoring for a fourth race in a row.
Esteban Ocon, who qualified seventeenth, made the 2021 Styrian and Austrian Grands Prix the first time since the 2019 Spanish and Azerbaijan Grands Prix that Team Enstone have recorded Q1 exits at consecutive races. Ocon was the only driver to retire from the race. He was out on the first lap. This was Ocon’s second retirement of the year. It makes the Austrian Grand Prix the fourth race in a row at which the Frenchman has failed to score. Ocon was the first driver to retire on the first lap at the Red Bull Ring since Max Verstappen in 2017.
Charles Leclerc finished behind his team-mate for the third race in a row. Leclerc has not finished behind his team-mate for three consecutive rounds at which both he and his team-mate have finished since the three races between the 2019 Chinese and Spanish Grands Prix.
Along with fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz set a new record for most Q2 exits at the Red Bull Ring. After starting tenth on the grid, Sainz finished the race in fifth place, equalling his best Red Bull Ring result. He also finished fifth at the circuit in the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.
Finishing in ninth place, Pierre Gasly scored for the seventh time this year. He maintained his record of scoring at every race which he has finished so far this season. Only Max Verstappen and Lando Norris can boast the same record.
With Pierre Gasly ninth and Yuki Tsunoda twelfth, this was the first race at the Red Bull Ring in which both of the Red Bull junior team’s drivers finished in the top twelve.
On Lap 8 of the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen became the first driver to have raced 700 laps in Austria. Despite crashing with Sebastian Vettel at the end of the race, Raikkonen crossed the line and – along with Sergio Perez – broke John Watson’s record of most finishes in Austria. On Saturday, Raikkonen became the first driver to record five Q1 exits at the Red Bull Ring.
Antonio Giovinazzi out-qualified his team for the third race in a row; the fifth time that he has out-qualified his team-mate at three successive races in his career. The Italian finished the race in fourteenth place, finishing ahead of his team-mate in a race for the fourth time this year.
For the third time this year, Mick Schumacher finished in eighteenth place. It was the worst race result for a Schumacher in Austria since Ralf Schumacher’s retirement from the 2001 Austrian Grand Prix.
Nikita Mazepin finished the Austrian Grand Prix 51 seconds behind his team-mate – but a 30-second time penalty extended that gap to 81 seconds.
George Russell reached Q3 for the first time in a Williams car. It was the second Q3 appearance of his career, having reached Q3 with Mercedes at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. This was the first time a Williams driver qualified in the top ten since Lance Stroll qualified in tenth at the 2018 Italian Grand Prix. It was Williams’ first Q3 appearance in Austria since 2016. Russell’s presence in Q3 made this the first that three British drivers qualified in the top ten since the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Paul di Resta all reached Q3 on that occasion. After a late-race battle with Fernando Alonso, Russell narrowly missed out on scoring points. Instead, he finished eleventh, equalling his best result in a Williams car. Russell also finished eleventh for Williams at the 2019 German Grand Prix and the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix.
Finishing in sixteenth place at the Austrian Grand Prix, sixteenth became Nicholas Latifi’s most common race result. This was the fifth time that Latifi has finished in sixteenth place. He was demoted to this position having had 30 seconds added to his race time for not respecting double yellow flags.
Read more statistics from the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix in our Post Race Statistics article!