Verstappen is hoping to become the second driver in history to take eight consecutive wins, Hulkenberg could reach 100 Q3 appearances and Mercedes could score points for a 50th consecutive race. Here are the milestones and the records which could be broken at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix!
THE 2023 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX MILESTONES
The 2023 Belgian Grand Prix will be the 1,091st World Championship event in Formula 1 history.
This will be the 68th time that Formula 1 has raced in Belgium. It will be the 56th Belgian Grand Prix held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in World Championship history, as well as the 77th Belgian Grand Prix since the event was first held in 1925.
In a change from recent tradition, the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix takes place before the summer break. July 30 is the earliest date on which the Spa race will take place since 1987, when the event took place in May.
The 2023 Belgian Grand Prix will be Max Verstappen’s 152nd start with Red Bull. He overtakes Kimi Raikkonen for third in the list of most starts with a single team.
Lewis Hamilton will equal Rubens Barrichello as the driver to have started the third-most Formula 1 races at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix. This will be Hamilton’s 322nd start.
This weekend, Max Verstappen makes his 175th consecutive Grand Prix start, equalling David Coulthard for the seventh longest streak of consecutive starts in Formula 1.
This weekend, Zhou Guanyu will overtake Gianni Morbidelli as the driver to have made the second most starts in car number 24. Only Timo Glock has made more starts in car 24, with 58.
This weekend, Fernando Alonso becomes the first driver to make 18 appearances at Spa Francorchamps in his Formula 1 career. He’ll also become the first driver to start the race on 17 occasions.
The grid for the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix will be determined by qualifying on Friday afternoon. There will be a separate Sprint Shootout and Sprint race on Saturday. This will be the ninth race to use the F1 Sprint format since it was first introduced at the 2021 British Grand Prix.
The Belgian Grand Prix will be the eighth round of the World Championship to be held on July 30. The last race held on this day was the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix.
The first lap of the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix will be the 2,150th Grand Prix racing lap to take place at Spa Francorchamps.
THE FORMULA 1 RECORDS TO BREAK
Having taken a record-breaking 12th consecutive win at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull are in search of a 13th consecutive win at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix. Their winning streak dates back to the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. If they win this weekend, Red Bull would break McLaren’s record of most wins at the start of a season. McLaren won all of the first 11 races of the 1988 season, while Red Bull have won all of the first 11 races of the 2023 season so far.
If he’s victorious at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen would become only the second driver – after Sebastian Vettel – to win eight consecutive rounds of the World Championship.
A top three finish for Max Verstappen would see him extend the fourth longest podium streak in Formula 1 history. He has finished on the podium at the last 12 races – the longest such streak since Lewis Hamilton’s run of 16 consecutive podiums between the 2014 Italian Grand Prix and the 2015 British Grand Prix.
If he leads every lap of the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen would become only the fifth driver – after Lewis Hamilton, Ayrton Senna, Sebastian Vettel and Jim Clark – to have led 12 races from start to finish during their Formula 1 career.
Max Verstappen has set the fastest lap of the race at all of the last three races. Another fastest lap this weekend would make this only the eighth time in F1 history that a driver has set the fastest lap at four consecutive races. The last driver to do so was Kimi Raikkonen, who took a streak of six fastest laps in a row between the 2008 Spanish and British Grands Prix.
At the 2023 Miami Grand Prix, Max Verstappen joined a small group of drivers who’ve won a race from eight different grid positions. Verstappen is one grid position away from equalling Fernando Alonso as the driver to have won from the most different grid slots in F1. Verstappen will equal the record should he win from 5th, 6th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th or any grid position further back than 14th.
Max Verstappen could overtake Sebastian Vettel as the driver to have taken the fourth-most wins without starting from pole position. Verstappen has won 22 races so far in his career without having taken pole position for the Grand Prix.
Points for Sergio Perez would make this the 163rd race weekend in which the Mexican driver has picked up points. That would see him overtake Jenson Button for seventh in the list of most races in which a driver has scored.
Having already won the Saudi Arabian and Singapore Grands Prix, one more victory for Sergio Perez in 2023 would make this the first season in which he has won three Grands Prix in a single year.
Should Lewis Hamilton or George Russell score points this weekend, it would be the 50th consecutive points-scoring race for Mercedes. It would be only the sixth time that a team have scored points in 50 consecutive races.
If Fernando Alonso wins any race this season, he will become the oldest driver to win a Grand Prix since Jack Brabham at the 1970 South African Grand Prix. Brabham won that race at the age of 43 years, 11 months and 5 days.
If Fernando Alonso lines up fifth on the grid, he will equal Kimi Raikkonen as the driver to have lined up fifth on the grid on the most occasions in Formula 1. Raikkonen started fifth on 39 occasions during his career.
A fifth place finish for Fernando Alonso in the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix would see him equal Jenson Button for the most fifth place finishes in Formula 1. Button finished fifth on 27 occasions during his career.
If Logan Sargeant picks up two points this weekend, the United States would become the tenth nation to have scored 1,000 points in Formula 1. American drivers have been stuck on 998 points since the 1993 Italian Grand Prix, when Michael Andretti scored the last points of his career with a podium finish for McLaren.
A top ten finish for Nico Hulkenberg (or a top eight finish in Saturday’s Sprint) would make this the 100th race weekend at which he has scored points. That includes the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix, at which he only scored points in the Sprint.
An eighth place finish for Nico Hulkenberg would see him equal Jenson Button and Carlos Sainz as the driver with the most eighth place finishes in Formula 1. Button recorded his 20th and final eighth place finish at the 2016 German Grand Prix, while Sainz equalled Button’s record at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix.
A Q3 appearance for Nico Hulkenberg on Friday would see him become the 14th driver to record 100 Q3 appearances since the knockout qualifying system was introduced in 2006.
A points finish for Lance Stroll would see him become the 51st driver to have scored points in 50 Grands Prix.
2023 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX: RECORDS TO BREAK
Victory for Lewis Hamilton at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix would see him become the third driver, after Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, to have won five races at Spa Francorchamps.
If Max Verstappen wins the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, he would become the fourth driver to take three successive wins at Spa Francorchamps, after Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
A top three finish for either Ferrari driver at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix would see the Scuderia become the first team to record 50 top three finishes at the Belgian Grand Prix.
If he finishes in the top ten at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton will equal Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher as the drivers to have scored on the most occasions at Spa. Vettel and Schumacher scored here 12 times during their careers, compared to Hamilton’s 11 points-scoring appearances to date.
If Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz score eight points between them at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari will become the first team to have scored 400 points in total at Spa Francorchamps.
If Lewis Hamilton leads 20 laps of the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, he will become the third driver, after Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna to have led 200 laps at Spa Francorchamps.
Only five drivers have completed 500 or more racing laps at Spa. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton could join that club this weekend. Alonso needs to complete six laps of the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix to do so, while Hamilton needs to reach Lap 10.
Should he fail to finish the race, Fernando Alonso will become the sixth driver – after Graham Hill, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Gerhard Berger and Andrea de Cesaris – to record seven retirements at Circuit de Spa Francorchamps.
A first lap retirement would see Fernando Alonso equal Lewis Hamilton’s record of three first lap DNFs at Spa. Hamilton can extend the existing record, if he’s out on the opening lap.
2023 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX: QUALIFYING RECORDS
McLaren and Ferrari are currently tied for most pole positions at Spa Francorchamps. Either team could set a new outright record of 12 poles at the venue this weekend. Meanwhile, Mercedes could equal Ferrari’s record of most pole positions for an engine manufacturer at the Belgian Grand Prix. Across races at Spa-Francorchamps, Zolder and Nivelles, Ferrari engines have secured 15 poles compared to Mercedes’ 14.
If Lewis Hamilton qualifies on the front row, he will become the first driver to record ten front row starts at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Nico Hulkenberg currently shares the record for most Q2 exits at the Belgian Grand Prix with Adrian Sutil and Romain Grosjean, having been out in Q2 on four occasions at Spa. Hulkenberg could set a new outright record this weekend, while the existing tally could be equalled by Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso or Lance Stroll.
If he’s out in Q1 at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso will become the first driver to record four Q1 eliminations at Spa. He’s currently tied for the record of most Q1 exits at the track with Daniil Kvyat and Marcus Ericsson. The existing record could be equalled this weekend by Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda.
HAMILTON SEARCHES FOR FIRST VICTORY SINCE 2021
Victory for Lewis Hamilton would see car number 44 equal car number 2 as the car number to have taken the third most wins in Formula 1.
A victory for Lewis Hamilton at any race in 2023 would see him move into the top 20 of the oldest drivers to win a Grand Prix in Formula 1. He would overtake Damon Hill as the third-oldest British driver to have won a Grand Prix.
If Lewis Hamilton wins any race this year, he’ll overtake Kimi Raikkonen as the driver to have had the longest gap between his first and last Grand Prix victories. He’d also be the first driver to have won after the 300th race of his career. Fernando Alonso would break the record if he were to take victory.
A victory for Lewis Hamilton would make him the first driver to have won in 16 different Formula 1 seasons. 2022 is the only season during his career in which Hamilton has not taken a victory.
WILL MERCEDES BE BACK IN THE FIGHT?
A victory for Mercedes would make 2023 the 12th consecutive season in which the team has won a race. They would be only the third team to win in 12 consecutive seasons, after Ferrari (1994-2013) and McLaren (1981-1993).
Victory for a Mercedes-powered car would see them become only the third engine manufacturer to have won in 17 consecutive Formula 1 seasons. The only other manufacturers to have done so are Ferrari (20 seasons, between 1994-2013) and Ford Cosworth (17 seasons, between 1967-1983).
If three Mercedes-powered cars finish on the podium, Mercedes will equal Renault’s record tally of seventeen podium lockouts for an engine manufacturer.