Leclerc can set a new fastest lap record, Hamilton can move up the order of most laps raced in F1 and Alonso, Verstappen or Hamilton could become Imola’s seventh multiple winner. Here are the milestones and records which could be broken at the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix!
THE MILESTONES
The 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will be the 1,061st World Championship race. It will be the third Emilia Romagna Grand Prix since the event was first held in 2020.
This will be the 30th Formula 1 race held at Imola. Imola will become the fourteenth venue to have hosted 30 World Championship races.
This is the first time since 2004 that Ferrari and a Ferrari driver lead the championships heading into the Imola race.
This will be the second F1 race held on April 24th. The only other race held on this date also took place at Imola. The San Marino Grand Prix took place on this day in 2005.
For the first time this year, the Sprint Format will be used at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. It’s the fourth time the format has been used in total. 8 points will be on offer for the sprint event win, the most points ever available for taking pole position. A maximum of 34 points are available for the race weekend – the second most in F1 history, behind only the double points 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 30th lap of the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will be the 1,800th Grand Prix racing lap to take place at Imola.
THE F1 RECORDS TO BREAK
Charles Leclerc has set the fastest lap at all of the last three races. Another fastest lap this weekend would make it only the eighth time in F1 history that a driver has set the fastest race lap at four consecutive Grands Prix. The last driver to do so was Kimi Raikkonen, in 2008. It would also be the first time that a driver has set the fastest lap at all of the first four races of a season, breaking a record set by Emerson Fittipaldi in 1973.
If he’s voted Driver of the Day on Sunday, Charles Leclerc would become the first driver to win the vote at four consecutive races.
At the Australian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc became only the 26th driver to record a Grand Slam in F1. Should he do so again this weekend, he’d become only the fourth driver to record Grand Slams at consecutive races. Alberto Ascari, Jim Clark and Sebastian Vettel are the only other drivers to have achieved the feat.
Lewis Hamilton will move up to fourth in the list of most laps raced in Formula 1 if he completes 32 laps of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. It would see him move ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the all-time list.
If a Ferrari-powered car scores in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, it would be the 800th World Championship race in which a Ferrari engine has scored a point.
If Fernando Alonso wins the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, it would be the second time that he has won at Imola on April 24th. He previously won here in 2005. If Alonso does win, it would be the 22nd time in F1 that a driver has won at the same circuit on the same date on multiple occasions. It would be the first time Alonso has achieved the feat. Read more: F1’s Groundhog Days.
A top ten result for Fernando Alonso would see him equal Kimi Raikkonen as the driver to have scored in the third-most Formula 1 races.
A podium finish for Max Verstappen would see him equal David Coulthard for tenth in the all-time list of most Formula 1 podium finishes. A podium for Verstappen this weekend would also be the 350th podium finish recorded by car number 1.
If Alex Albon scores two points, he will become the seventh driver to score 200 points without recording a victory.
If French drivers score 37 points between them, the nation will overtake Brazil as the country to have scored the fourth most points in Formula 1.
If Max Verstappen scores more than 12 points, he’ll overtake Nico Rosberg as the driver to have scored the sixth most points in Formula 1.
A podium result for Bottas would see him equal Rubens Barrichello as the non-champion with the most podiums in F1.
Should he score 18 points this weekend, Fernando Alonso would become the third driver to have scored 2,000 points during his F1 career. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are the only other drivers to have done so. Alonso is 20 points away from achieving the feat.
This weekend, Sebastian Vettel can become the fifth driver to have scored in 16 consecutive Formula 1 seasons. Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are the only other drivers to have done so. Vettel can become the third driver to record podium finishes in fifteen different seasons if he finishes in the top three.
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.
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.
If Lewis Hamilton sets the Fastest Lap of the race, he will become the first driver to set 60 Fastest Laps with a single engine manufacturer.
Pole for a British driver would see the nation equal their own record for most consecutive seasons in which a nation has taken pole. The current record held by British drivers is 19 consecutive seasons with a pole position, between 1955 and 1973.
At the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton recorded his 32nd third place finish in F1. Another third place this weekend would see him equal Sebastian Vettel as the driver to have recorded the second-most third places in F1 history. Only Kimi Raikkonen sits ahead of Vettel and Hamilton in this list, with 45 third place results.
MERCEDES SEEK SUCCESS
Pole for Mercedes would make them the first engine manufacturer to have poles in 26 consecutive seasons. Ferrari are the only other engine manufacturer to have poles in 25 successive years. Their record streak ended in 2020. Meanwhile, if a Mercedes-powered car leads the race, the manufacturer would be first to lead races in 28 consecutive seasons.
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 IMOLA RECORDS TO BREAK
If Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen win the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, they would become the seventh driver to have taken multiple wins at Imola. If anyone else wins, they would become the seventeenth different driver to win a Grand Prix at the venue.
Williams and Ferrari are tied for most team wins at Imola. Either team could set a new outright record of nine wins at the circuit this weekend.
Four different constructors have won the last four races at Imola. Should a team other than Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull win this weekend, it would extend the record of most consecutive different winning teams at the track to five.
If Valtteri Bottas or Lewis Hamilton take pole position, they would become the sixth driver to have taken multiple poles at Imola. A pole for anyone else would see them become Imola’s fifteenth different polesitter.
A different driver has taken pole in all of the last five races at Imola. Should anyone other than Valtteri Bottas or Lewis Hamilton take pole, it would extend the record for most consecutive different polesitters at the track to six.
Lewis Hamilton has set the fastest lap at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in each of the last two seasons. Should he do so again this weekend, he would become the third driver, after Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost, to set the fastest lap at Imola on three occasions.
If Max Verstappen leads 39 laps of the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, he would become the sixth driver to have led 100 racing laps at Imola. Fernando Alonso would achieve the same feat if he leads 49 laps of the race, while Lewis Hamilton would need to lead from start to finish in order to do so.
McLaren can become the first team to have led 500 laps at Imola this weekend, if Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris lead 22 laps of the race between them.
Ferrari will be the first team to have raced 3,000 laps at Imola if Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz tour the circuit 107 times between them.
