Verstappen wins for a seventh consecutive season, British drivers reach 10,000 points scored and only 18 drivers start for the first time in over seven years. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix!
VICTORIOUS VERSTAPPEN
Max Verstappen recorded the 21st win of his F1 career, taking victory at the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. It sees him equal Kimi Raikkonen for 15th in the all-time list of most Formula 1 wins.
Verstappen’s victory was the first for car number 1 since Sebastian Vettel’s win at the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix. It’s the longest gap between wins for the car number in F1’s history.
Verstappen took victory by only 0.549 seconds, making the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix the 44th closest F1 race in history. It was the closest finish since Pierre Gasly’s win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.
Verstappen becomes the ninth driver to have taken victory in seven consecutive F1 seasons.
Recording his 61st podium finish, Verstappen overtakes Nelson Piquet in the all-time F1 podium list. Verstappen now sits 11th in the list and is one away from equalling David Coulthard for tenth.
Scoring 25 points with his victory, Verstappen overtakes Michael Schumacher for seventh in the all-time list of F1’s most prolific points scorers.
With Sergio Perez taking pole and Max Verstappen taking victory, this was the 50th time that Red Bull have taken pole position and won on the same weekend. They are the fifth team to achieve the feat.
Max Verstappen is the only driver to have gained positions from where he started in both the 2021 and 2022 Saudi Arabian Grands Prix.
The 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the first race not to be won from pole position since Lewis Hamilton’s victory from tenth on the grid at the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
TWO FERRARIS ON THE PODIUM AGAIN
For only the second time since the start of the 2009 season, both Ferrari drivers have finished on the podium at two consecutive races. The only other time that the team have achieved the feat in the past 13 years was at the 2018 Austrian and British Grands Prix.
Finishing as runner-up, Charles Leclerc recorded podium finishes at consecutive races for the first time since his run of four top three results between the 2019 Belgian and Russian Grands Prix.
Leclerc set the fastest lap for the second race in a row. He’s done that once before in his career, at the 2019 Mexican and United States Grands Prix.
With third place, Carlos Sainz finished on the podium for the third race in succession. It’s the first time in his career that he has recorded three podium finishes in a row.
This was Sainz’s 31st consecutive finish, putting him fifth in the all time list of consecutive Grand Prix finishes. Sainz also scored for the 17th race in a row, making him only the 11th driver to have such a long points-scoring streak in F1.
Ferrari are the only team to score points with both cars in both the 2021 and 2022 Saudi Arabian Grands Prix.
There has been only one other race in which the driver starting 4th won, with 2nd and 3rd finishing where they started. It was the 1991 French Grand Prix, which featured Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna on the podium.
Ferrari now lead the Constructors’ Championship by 40 points. It’s their largest championship lead since leading by 103 points at the end of their last title-winning season in 2007.
This was the first Red Bull-Ferrari-Ferrari podium since the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix and the first time that a Red Bull driver has been joined by two Ferrari drivers in the top three since the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix.
PEREZ FAILS TO CONVERT POLE TO WIN
After starting from pole position for the first time in his career, Sergio Perez finished only fourth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. He’s the seventh successive new polesitter to fail to win on their first attempt from pole. Pastor Maldonado remains the last driver to convert their maiden pole into a win, doing so almost ten years ago at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.
On the 11th anniversary of his Formula 1 debut, Perez became the 20th driver to have scored in twelve consecutive F1 seasons.
Perez’s twelve points for fourth place mean that Mexico becomes the tenth nation to score 1,000 points in Formula 1, overtaking both the United States and Austria in the process. Perez has scored the majority of those points.
ALL THREE BRITS SCORE
All three British drivers scored in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with George Russell fifth, Lando Norris seventh and Lewis Hamilton tenth. Scoring 17 points between them, Britain became the first nation to reach 10,000 points scored in Formula 1.
Lewis Hamilton finished tenth for only the third time in his career. He also finished tenth at the 2008 French Grand Prix and the 2012 South Korean Grand Prix.
TWO DRIVERS FAIL TO START
For the first time since the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, only 18 drivers started the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Mick Schumacher was ruled out of the race following his crash in qualifying, while Yuki Tsunoda came to a stop on his way to the grid.
Tsunoda recorded the second DNS of his career, having also failed to start at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
With a further five drivers failing to finish, only 13 drivers reached the chequered flag. It’s the fewest number of finishers since 12 drivers crossed the line at the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix.
Both Williams drivers failed to finish the race. It’s the second time in the last three races that the team has recorded a double DNF. The last time the team recorded double retirements with such a short interval between them was at the opening two rounds of the 2011 season.
