At the first F1 race without a geographic name, Hamilton could equal Schumacher’s all-time podium record and Raikkonen could set a new record for most Grand Prix laps completed. Here are all of the milestones and records which could be broken over the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix weekend!
THE MILESTONES
This will be the first Formula 1 race that does not have a geographical name. It will be the 1,023rd World Championship Formula 1 Grand Prix, the 75th round to be held in Great Britain and the 55th F1 race held at Silverstone.
This will be the first time that Formula 1 has held two races in the United Kingdom in a single season since 1993, when Silverstone played host to the British Grand Prix and Donington Park hosted the European Grand Prix. It will be only the seventh time in F1 history that a country has hosted two consecutive races and the second time that the same track has hosted two consecutive races.
At the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, Red Bull will equal the Arrows team’s number of Grand Prix starts. The Arrows team raced in F1 between 1978 and 2002, making their 291st and final start at the 2002 German Grand Prix.
Haas will equal the number of races started by the Honda works team this weekend. Honda started 88 races, with their last appearance being at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen will make his 107th Grand Prix start this weekend, equalling the number of starts that his father Jos Verstappen made during his Formula 1 career.
THE RECORDS TO BREAK
A top three finish for Lewis Hamilton would see him equal Michael Schumacher as the driver to have finished on the podium on the most occasions in Formula 1 history. Schumacher scored 155 podium finishes during his career, taking his last at the 2012 European Grand Prix.
If the polesitter wins the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, this will be the eighth consecutive race which the polesitter has won. It will be only the second time in F1 history that this has happened – the other time being between the United States Grand Prix West and the German Grand Prix in 1976.
A victory for a British driver this weekend would make this only the seventh time in Formula 1 history that two consecutive rounds of the championship have been won by home drivers. The last time it happened was in 2014, when Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix and Nico Rosberg won the German Grand Prix.
Should Valtteri Bottas reach Q3 this weekend, he will set a new record of most consecutive Q3 appearances. He equalled the existing record of 66 consecutive Q3 appearances last weekend. The previous record was set by Lewis Hamilton, between the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix and the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix.
If Mercedes take pole position this weekend, they will become only the third team to have had ten pole positions at Silverstone. Williams and Ferrari currently share the record for most team poles at the track, with eleven apiece.
Should Lewis Hamilton extend his title lead by twelve points, he would set a new record for the largest points lead after the fifth round of the championship. The current record is 41 points – the margin by which Sebastian Vettel led after the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix.
A second place finish for Valtteri Bottas would make him the first driver to have finished as runner-up at Silverstone four times.
A fourth place finish for Lewis Hamilton would see him equal Felipe Massa and Jenson Button’s current record of three fourth place finishes at Silverstone.
If Valtteri Bottas wins the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, he’ll become the fifth driver to have scored 100 points at Silverstone.
This weekend, Kimi Raikkonen will equal Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello for most Silverstone race entries. This will be his nineteenth appearance at the circuit.
A first lap retirement for Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen or Carlos Sainz would see them equal Jackie Oliver’s record of two first lap retirements at Silverstone. If Magnussen is the first retiree of the race, he will be the first driver to be the first retirement at Silverstone in three consecutive races at the track.