As Ricciardo becomes the most experienced Australian F1 driver, Mercedes could be the first team to record 10 consecutive poles at a single track and Hamilton could set a new outright record of Spanish Grand Prix victories. Here are the milestones and records which could be broken at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix!
THE MILESTONES
The 2022 Spanish Grand Prix will be the 1,063rd World Championship race. It will be the 62nd Spanish Grand Prix since the event was first held in 1913 and the 52nd time that the event has been held as a round of the World Championship. This will be the 32nd Formula 1 race held at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Daniel Ricciardo will start his 216th Grand Prix this weekend. It will see him overtake Mark Webber as the Australian to have started the most races in Formula 1. Webber started 215 races between the 2002 Australian Grand Prix and the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix. Read more: Australians who have started the most F1 races.
The 2022 Spanish Grand Prix will be the eighth race held on May 22nd. It becomes only the thirteenth date on which eight or more World Championship races have been held. The last race held on this day was the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix.
This weekend marks Fernando Alonso’s nineteenth appearance at the Spanish Grand Prix. If he starts the race, he’ll equal Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen as the driver to have made the most starts at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Two drivers will make their F1 weekend debuts at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix. Nyck de Vries will will take Alex Albon’s Williams seat for the first practice session, while Juri Vips will take Sergio Perez’s seat at Red Bull.
THE F1 RECORDS TO BREAK
If the polesitter takes victory at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix, it would be the 450th time that the polesitter has won the race in World Championship history.
Mercedes have taken pole position at all of the last ten Spanish Grands Prix. If they take pole position this weekend, it would be the first time that a team have taken pole position at ten consecutive races at a single circuit. Mercedes also set the fastest lap time in qualifying for ten consecutive races at Silverstone – but they did not take pole last year due to the introduction of the Sprint Qualifying format.
If a Mercedes driver wins this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, it will be only the sixth time that a team have taken six consecutive wins at a single circuit. Only Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes themselves have achieved the feat before.
If Lewis Hamilton wins, with Max Verstappen second and Valtteri Bottas third, it would be the first time in Formula 1 that three consecutive races at a circuit have had identical podium results.
A podium result for Bottas would see him equal Rubens Barrichello as the non-champion with the most podiums in F1.
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. Should he score 18 points this weekend, 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.
If French drivers score 33 points between them, the nation will overtake Brazil as the country to have scored the fourth most points in Formula 1.
If Sebastian Vettel wins the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix, it will be the 22nd occasion on which a driver has won the same Grand Prix twice on the same date. Vettel won the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix on the same date as the 2022 race takes place. Read more: F1’s Groundhog Days.
Sebastian Vettel will become the third driver to record podium finishes in fifteen different seasons if he finishes in the top three.
THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX RECORDS TO BREAK
Having tied with Michael Schumacher last year, Lewis Hamilton could set a new outright record for most Spanish Grand Prix victories in 2022.
Lewis Hamilton can equal Michael Schumacher’s record of Spanish Grand Prix poles this weekend. Schumacher took pole here on seven occasions in his career.
Should he qualify in the top two, Lewis Hamilton will become the first driver to have started from the front row at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on ten occasions.
Ferrari hold the record for most victories at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with eight. They could extend their record this weekend, or their record could be equalled by Mercedes.
If a Mercedes driver wins this weekend, Mercedes would extend their record of most consecutive wins at the track to six.
Ferrari and Mercedes power are currently tied for most victories at the Spanish Grand Prix. Their engines have each powered twelve victories at the event. A win for either engine manufacturer this weekend would extend the record to thirteen. Meanwhile, Renault power could equal the existing record.
If Valtteri Bottas scores a point, he’ll become the fifth driver to have scored 100 points at the Spanish Grand Prix. Max Verstappen can achieve the same feat, if he scores eight points.
If Ferrari score fifteen points, they will become the first team to have scored 500 points at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen have finished on the Spanish Grand Prix podium together in all of the last four seasons. If one of those drivers does not finish on the podium this weekend, it would be the first time since 2017 that someone else has stood on the podium in Barcelona.
Lewis Hamilton can equal Fernando Alonso as the driver to have finished as runner-up on the most occasions at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Alonso himself could extend the record to five.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso currently share the record for most Q3 appearances at the Spanish Grand Prix, with thirteen apiece. Either driver could extend the record this weekend.
Max Verstappen will be looking to maintain his 100% Q3 appearance rate at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Michael Schumacher is the only other driver to have never missed out on Q3 at the track since the qualifying system was introduced in 2006.
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.