At the 50th United States Grand Prix, Verstappen equals Vettel’s Red Bull start tally and Sainz could set a new personal best scoring streak. Here are the milestones and records which could be broken at the 2021 United States Grand Prix!
THE MILESTONES
This will be the 1,052nd World Championship Formula 1 race. It will be the 50th United States Grand Prix since the event was first held in 1908 and the 42nd time that the event has been held as a round of the F1 World Championship. In total, this will be the 71st round of the World Championship to take place in the United States. It will also be the ninth F1 race to be held at Circuit of the Americas.
The 2021 United States Grand Prix will be Max Verstappen’s 113th race start with Red Bull. That’s the same number of races as Sebastian Vettel started with the team. Only Mark Webber has made more appearances with Red Bull.
This will be the seventh race to be held on 24th October. It’s the first race to be held on this date since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix.
The 52nd lap of the 2021 United States Grand Prix will be the 500th racing lap to take place at Circuit of the Americas.
At the team’s home race weekend, Haas will equal the number of F1 appearances by the BAR team. BAR started 117 races between 1999 and 2005.
THE F1 RECORDS TO BREAK
If both Red Bull drivers finish on the podium, the team will become the fifth to have recorded 200 podium finishes in Formula 1.
If both Mercedes drivers reach Q3 this weekend, it will be the 65th consecutive Grand Prix at which both drivers have reached the final part of qualifying. They would be the first team to reach the milestone.
Carlos Sainz has scored at all of the last nine races. If he scores again at the United States Grand Prix, he will set a new personal best for his longest points-scoring streak in F1. He previously scored at nine races in a row between the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix and the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The title race has been led by eight or fewer points at all of the last seven races – the first time that the championship battle has been led by such a small margin for such a long time since the opening seven races of the 2012 season. Should the championship be led by eight points or fewer after the United States Grand Prix, it will be the first time that the title race has been led by eight points or fewer at eight consecutive races during a single season since 2003 – before the current points scoring system was introduced. Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen’s close title battle was decided by less than eight points at ten consecutive races between the Spanish and Italian Grands Prix.
THE UNITED STATES GP RECORDS TO BREAK
Ford Cosworth, Ferrari and Mercedes are all currently tied as the engine manufacturer to have provided the most United States Grand Prix wins. A win for either Ferrari or Mercedes power this weekend would be a record-breaking ninth win.
A win for Valtteri Bottas will make him the second driver to have taken back-to-back wins at the Circuit of the Americas.
Strangely, if Valtteri Bottas fails to take pole this weekend, he will be the first driver to have not taken pole in consecutive races at the Circuit of the Americas. All three other polesitters at the track – Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton – followed up their first pole at the track with another pole in the following year.
If he takes pole position this weekend, Lewis Hamilton will equal Ayrton Senna’s record of United States Grand Prix poles. Senna took pole at the event five times in his career.
A win for Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen or Valtteri Bottas would make them the second driver to have won multiple races at the Circuit of the Americas.
A win for McLaren, Red Bull or Ferrari would make them the second team to have won multiple races at the Austin track.
Sebastian Vettel will equal Lewis Hamilton’s record tally of pole positions at the Circuit of the Americas should he take pole this weekend. Hamilton himself could extend the record to four poles.
If Mercedes lead 21 laps of the race, they will become the first team to have led 300 laps at the Circuit of the Americas.
If Sebastian Vettel finishes second, he will equal Nico Rosberg’s record tally of three runner-up finishes at the Circuit of the Americas. Meanwhile, if he or Max Verstappen finishes fourth, they will set a new record for most fourth place finishes at the track. Both are currently tied on two with Felipe Massa.
Daniel Ricciardo is the only driver to have finished third at the Circuit of the Americas on multiple occasions. His record of two third place finishes at the track could be equalled this weekend by Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen.
Sebastian Vettel could equal Lewis Hamilton’s tally of top ten finishes at the track this weekend, but only if he scores and Hamilton does not. Hamilton has scored in all but one of the races held here.
Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris will all be looking to maintain their 100% Q3 appearance rate at the Circuit of the Americas. Also in that club are Alex Albon, Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher.
Daniil Kvyat currently holds the record for most Q2 exits at the track, with four, but his tally could be equalled this weekend by Sergio Perez.
Marcus Ericsson’s record tally of three Q1 exits could be equalled this weekend by Lance Stroll.
If he completes 52 laps of the race, Lewis Hamilton will become the first driver to have raced 500 laps at the Circuit of the Americas. Elsewhere, if Sebastian Vettel makes it to the end of the first lap, he’ll become the second driver to have raced 400 laps at the track.
If anyone other than Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez is voted Driver of the Day, it would be the first time that a non-Red Bull driver has been awarded the accolade at Circuit of The Americas.
