While Verstappen and Hamilton are on the brink of a new 1-2 record, Magnussen could move up the list of most starts without leading and Gasly could equal the longest non-scoring streak of his career on his 100th race start. Here are the milestones and records which could be broken at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix!
THE MILESTONES
The 2022 Belgian Grand Prix will be the 1,071st World Championship race. It will be the 76th Belgian Grand Prix since the event was first held in 1925 and the 67th time that the event has been held as a round of the World Championship. This will be the 55th Formula 1 race held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
The 2022 Belgian Grand Prix will be the seventh F1 race held on August 28th. The last race to take place on this day was the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix.
This weekend marks Pierre Gasly’s 100th Grand Prix start.
Lando Norris makes his 74th start with McLaren this weekend. It sees him overtake John Watson as the driver to have made the tenth most starts with the McLaren team. After this weekend, David Coulthard will be the only non-champion to have made more starts with the team.
Fernando Alonso will equal Kimi Raikkonen and Rubens Barrichello as the driver to have made the most entries at the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend. This will be Alonso’s seventeenth appearance at the track. If he starts the race, he will equal Michael Schumacher, Raikkonen and Barrichello as the driver to have made the most starts here.
Valtteri Bottas celebrates his 33rd birthday on the day of the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix. This will be the 73rd occasion on which a driver has raced on their birthday. Bottas has raced on his birthday once previously, at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix where he finished eighth. He becomes the seventh driver to race on his birthday on multiple occasions and the fifth to race at the same circuit on his birthday twice.
THE F1 RECORDS TO BREAK
If Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton finish first and second, they will set a new record as the driver pairing to have recorded the most 1-2 results. The current shared record is 31, for Hamilton & Verstappen and Hamilton & Nico Rosberg.
If Max Verstappen leads a lap this weekend, it will be the first time he has led at seven consecutive races. He would be the 18th driver to have led at seven or more consecutive races.
Unless Kevin Magnussen leads a lap of the Belgian Grand Prix, he will overtake Eddie Cheever for second in the list of most Grand Prix appearances without leading a lap. Only Martin Brundle has appeared at more races without ever leading a lap.
If Magnussen is eliminated in Q1, he will become the sixth driver to record 50 Q1 exits in Formula 1. Read more: Who has the most Q1 exits in F1?
If Lando Norris scores ten or more points without winning the race, he will move ahead of Romain Grosjean to second in the list of most points scored without taking a victory.
George Russell has led 87 laps in his career without winning a race. Should he lead another 21 laps this weekend and not win the race, he will overtake Jean Behra as the driver to have led the second-most laps without taking a victory.
If Fernando Alonso finishes in the top ten at the Belgian Grand Prix, it will be the first time that he has scored at nine races in a row since scoring at all fifteen races between the 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix. It will be the eighth time in his career that he has scored at nine or more consecutive races.
Rubens Barrichello currently sits ninth in the all-time list of most races in which a driver has scored. He scored in 140 races during his career. That number could be equalled by Valtteri Bottas this weekend.
A non-score for Pierre Gasly would see him equal the longest non-scoring streak of his F1 career. The Frenchman has not scored a point at any of the last five races. Gasly last failed to score at six consecutive entries in his first six appearances in F1, between the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix and the 2018 Australian Grand Prix.
If the race is won by less than a second, 2022 will be the first season since 2017 to have had at least three races in which the win margin was under a second. The record for most races won by under a second in a single season is seven, in 2002.
A podium result for Bottas would see him equal Rubens Barrichello as the non-champion with the most podiums in F1.
Sebastian Vettel will become the third driver to record podium finishes in fifteen different seasons if he finishes in the top three.
If Vettel wins the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix, it would be the 22nd occasion on which a driver has won the same Grand Prix on the same date twice. Vettel was the last driver to achieve the feat, at the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix. Read more: F1’s Groundhog Days.
If three Mercedes-powered cars finish on the podium, Mercedes will equal Renault’s record tally of seventeen podium lockouts for an engine manufacturer.
THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX RECORDS TO BREAK
Ferrari will equal McLaren’s record tally of eleven pole positions at Circuit de Spa Francorchamps if they take pole for the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix.
If a Ferrari driver finishes on the podium, the team will be the first to record 40 podium results at Spa. If both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finish on the podium, the team will become the first to reach 50 podium results at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel can equal Michael Schumacher as the driver to have scored points on the most occasions at Spa Francorchamps. The pair can also equal him as the drivers to have taken the most top ten finishes at the track.
If Lewis Hamilton scores sixteen or more points, he will become the first driver to score 200 points at Spa.
Lewis Hamilton can become the third driver to have led 200 laps at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. He needs to lead 20 laps of the race to do so. Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna are the only other drivers to have led 200 laps here. Hamilton will overtake Senna’s tally if he leads 32 laps of the race.
If he qualifies in the top two, Lewis Hamilton will become the first driver to record ten front row starts at the Belgian Grand Prix. Meanwhile, should he qualify in the top ten, Hamilton will overtake Kimi Raikkonen as the driver to have recorded the most top ten qualifications at Spa. Sebastian Vettel can equal their existing record.
Sebastian Vettel will become the driver to have raced the most laps at Circuit de Spa Francorchamps if he completes 25 laps of Sunday’s race. The current record for most laps raced here is 602, by Michael Schumacher. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton will become the sixth driver to race 500 laps at the track if he reaches Lap 10 of the race.
Ferrari are currently tied with Mercedes as the engine manufacturer with the most poles at the Belgian Grand Prix. Either manufacturer could set a new record this weekend.
Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc can equal the record for most Q2 exits at the Belgian Grand Prix. The current record of four Q2 eliminations at Spa is shared between Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Adrian Sutil.
Fernando Alonso can set a new outright record of most Q1 exits at the Belgian Grand Prix. If he’s out in Q1 this weekend, it would be his fourth Q1 elimination at the track.
Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon both hold a 100% points scoring appearance rate at the Belgian Grand Prix. If Gasly scores, he’ll set a new record for most appearances without failing to score at the track. He currently shares that record with Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi.
If they’re out on the first lap, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton would set a new record for most first lap retirements at the track. Both drivers have recorded three first lap retirements so far at Spa.
HAMILTON SEARCHES FOR FIRST WIN OF 2022
Victory for Lewis Hamilton in any race in 2022 will see him become the first driver in F1 history to have won a race in 16 different seasons, as well as the first to win in 16 consecutive seasons.
June 10th marked 15 years since Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 win at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. If Hamilton wins any race from now on, he’ll become only the second driver – after Kimi Raikkonen – with a gap of longer than 15 years between his first and last F1 wins.
If he takes pole position, sets the fastest lap and wins the race, Lewis Hamilton would become the second driver – after Michael Schumacher – to record 20 hat tricks in his F1 career.
