As Verstappen makes his 100th start with Red Bull, Mercedes could overtake Williams in the all-time pole list and Hamilton could equal Schumacher for most Spanish Grand Prix wins. Here are the milestones and records which could be broken at the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix!
THE MILESTONES
This will be the 1,039th World Championship F1 race. It will be the 61st time the Spanish Grand Prix has taken place since it was first held in 1913. It will be the 51st time that the event has been held as a round of the World Championship, as well as the 58th time that a World Championship F1 race has been held in Spain. This will be the 31st F1 race held at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The 2021 Spanish Grand Prix will be the fifth F1 race to be held on 9th May. It’s the first race to be held on this date since the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix.
Lap 35 of the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix will be the 2,000th Grand Prix lap raced at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix will mark Max Verstappen’s 100th race start with Red Bull. It’s the 20th occasion on which a driver has started 100 races with a team. He equals Daniel Ricciardo’s tally of starts with Red Bull.
Kimi Raikkonen will equal Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello as the driver to have entered the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the most occasions. This will be his nineteenth appearance at the event. If he takes the start, he will equal Schumacher as the driver to have started a race here on the most occasions.
This weekend, Haas will equal the number of F1 appearances by the Shadow team. Shadow started 104 races, their last race start being at the 1980 South African Grand Prix.
THE RECORDS TO BREAK
Lewis Hamilton has won the last four Spanish Grands Prix and, should he win again this weekend, he will equal Michael Schumacher’s record of six Spanish Grand Prix wins.
If he wins this weekend, Lewis Hamilton would become the first driver to have scored 200 points at the Spanish Grand Prix in Formula 1’s history. Meanwhile, if Mercedes score 15 points, Red Bull score 17 points or McLaren score 23.5 points, they will become the second team, after Ferrari, to have scored 300 points at the event.
The polesitter is yet to win a race in 2021. Should the polesitter fail to win again this weekend, it would be the first time since 2010 that the driver starting from pole has not won any of the first four races of the season.
In 2020, Mercedes set a new record for most poles at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. They could extend the record further this weekend to nine, or Ferrari could equal their tally once again.
A pole position for Mercedes this weekend would see them surpass Williams as the team to have recorded the third most poles in F1 history. Mercedes equalled Williams with their 128th pole at last week’s Portuguese Grand Prix.
If Mercedes win having started from pole position, it will be the 100th time that they have done so. Ferrari are the only other team to achieve that feat.
Should Lewis Hamilton, or any other British driver, take pole position, Britain would set a new outright record for most pole positions at the track. They currently share the record of eight poles with German drivers – meaning that pole for Sebastian Vettel or Mick Schumacher would make Germany the outright record holders.
A top two qualification for Lewis Hamilton would see him set a new outright record for most front row starts at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He equalled Michael Schumacher’s record tally of front row starts at the event last year.
If a Mercedes-powered car wins the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes will equal Ferrari as the most successful engine manufacturer at the event. Ferrari have powered twelve Spanish Grand Prix wins compared to Mercedes’ eleven. A pole for a Mercedes-powered car would be their thirteenth at the track, equalling Ferrari’s record.
Max Verstappen will be hoping to maintain his 100% Q3 appearance record at Catalunya this weekend. He and Michael Schumacher are the only drivers who have never failed to reach Q3 here since the current qualifying system was introduced in 2006.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are currently tied for the most Q3 appearances at the Spanish Grand Prix, with twelve apiece. They have the opportunity to extend the record this weekend, while Sebastian Vettel could equal the existing record.
If Fernando Alonso completes 24 laps of the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix, he will become the driver to have completed the second-most racing laps at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. His tally of 1,020 laps raced here is currently 12 short of Jenson Button’s total and 23 short of Rubens Barrichello’s tally. Alonso cannot reach Michael Schumacher’s record of 1,165 laps completed at the track.
If Daniel Ricciardo scores points at the Spanish Grand Prix, it would be the fifteenth consecutive race in which he has picked up points. That would equal the second longest points streak of his career, which came between the 2014 Bahrain and United States Grands Prix.
Fernando Alonso currently holds the record for most second place finishes at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. His tally of four finishes as the runner-up could be equalled this weekend by Lewis Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel shares the record for most third place finishes at this circuit with Michael Schumacher. Vettel could record a fourth third place finish this weekend, while Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen may equal the existing record.
Antonio Giovinazzi, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, George Russell and Nicholas Latifi are five of the 51 drivers with a 100% finish rate at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. How many drivers will be in the group by the end of the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix weekend?
A retirement for Kimi Raikkonen at the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix would see him overtake Olivier Panis as the driver to have recorded the most retirements at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. If he were to retire on the first lap, he would set a new outright record of three first lap retirements at the track.
