Formula One returns with the Australian Grand Prix this weekend. With four months of the off-season, we’ve had plenty of time to crunch the numbers ahead of the 23rd running of the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park. Here are all the stats you need!
Note: You can find updated Track Stats for the 2019 race weekend here.
?? ALBERT PARK RACE WINNERS
Since it moved to Albert Park in 1996, twelve different drivers have stood on the top step of the Australian Grand Prix podium.
Michael Schumacher has the most number of wins at this track, with four.
Ferrari have the most wins of any team at this track. Michael Schumacher took all four of his victories with the Scuderia, while Eddie Irvine, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel have each taken one win with the team here. Irvine and Raikkonen’s victories were their first for Ferrari.
There have only been two occasions where a driver has taken more than one win in a row at Albert Park. Schumacher scored a hat-trick of wins in the first three years of the new millennium, while Jenson Button took back-to-back Australian Grand Prix victories in 2009 and 2010.
From 2018’s drivers, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel all have two wins, while Fernando Alonso has a solitary Australian win to his name.
The longest run of victories for a team at this track came between 1999 and 2003 for Ferrari.
The longest streak of different winners at this track came between 2003 and 2009, where seven different drivers won the race in as many years.
The smallest win margin at Albert Park was in the controversial 1998 running of the Grand Prix, where Mika Hakkinen beat David Coulthard by 0.702 seconds, after the Scotsman let his team-mate by just laps before the end. Despite the finish being so close, the two McLaren drivers had lapped every other car which finished.
The largest win margin here was in 2014, at the start of the hybrid era, when Nico Rosberg beat Kevin Magnussen to the win by 26.777 seconds. Before his exclusion from the result, Daniel Ricciardo had finished 24.525 seconds behind the German, which still would have classified at the largest win margin.
The average win margin at this track is 10.447 seconds.
Click for all the information you need for the 2018 Australian Grand Prix weekend!
?? ON THE PODIUM AT ALBERT PARK
24 different drivers have stood on the podium at Albert Park. Lewis Hamilton has the most podiums, having finished on the rostrum seven times. Sebastian Vettel is just one behind him, with six top three finishes here.
Of the current grid, the other podium finishers here are Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso, who each have five podiums, and Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas, who have each taken one podium here. Magnussen’s podium in the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, which was his maiden F1 appearance, remains the only podium finish of his career. Daniel Ricciardo also finished on the podium in that race, but was later disqualified. No Australian driver has ever finished in the top three here.
?? ALBERT PARK POLESITTERS
Nine drivers have taken a pole position at Albert Park since 1996. The driver with the most poles at this track is Lewis Hamilton. He’s set the fastest Saturday time on six occasions.
Ferrari and McLaren are tied with the most number of poles here, on five. Mercedes could join them this weekend, as they currently have four. Including all its former guises, the Brackley-based team has been the most successful, scoring six poles in total, when Jenson Button’s 2006 pole with Honda and 2009 pole with Brawn GP are added to the tally.
Lewis Hamilton has the record for the most consecutive poles here, with his current streak of four being the longest ever at the Albert Park track. Mercedes, therefore, have the most consecutive poles record for a team at this track.
On the current grid, other than Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen are the only other drivers to have taken an Australian Grand Prix pole. Vettel has taken three, while Raikkonen has taken one.
The smallest pole margin at this track came in 2002, when Rubens Barrichello out-qualified his team-mate by just 0.005 seconds.
The largest pole margin is a whopping 2.969 seconds for Giancarlo Fisichella in 2005, thanks to aggregate qualifying.
The average pole margin at Albert Park is 0.488 seconds.
The longest run of different polesitters at this track came between 2004 and 2008, when five different drivers took pole in as many seasons.
?? SATURDAY TO SUNDAY
The Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park has been won from pole on nine occasions. In 22 runnings, the race has been won from the top two grid slots on fourteen occasions.
That means nine of the races here have been won from third or further back. The furthest back win came from 11th place on the grid in 2003, when David Coulthard recorded the final Grand Prix victory of his F1 career.
Click for the Ultimate Guide to the Albert Park circuit!
?? SUNDAY STATS
There has been a Safety Car at twelve of the 22 races held at Albert Park, meaning the likelihood of a Safety Car is 55%.
The most number of Safety Car appearances in one race here was in 2006, when the Safety Car was called out four times.
Rain has affected this race on only two occasions – in 2003 and 2010. In both instances, the track started wet and gradually dried throughout the race.
The longest race here came in 2016, clocking in at 1:48:15.57. The length of the race was due to a Red Flag period following Fernando Alonso’s accident.
The shortest race here came last year, when Sebastian Vettel drove to victory in 1:24:11.67.
The attrition rate is usually high here. On average, just twelve cars make it to the end of the race at Albert Park. The highest number of finishers came in 2013, when eighteen cars saw the chequered flag. While in 2008, just six cars made it to the end of the Grand Prix.
The Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park has been red-flagged on three occasions – in 1996, 1999 and 2016. On all three occasions, the race was restarted.
?? CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
Given its place on the F1 calendar, it’s unsurprising that no champions have been crowned here. However, on twelve occasions in its 22 year history, the winner of this Grand Prix has gone on to be crowned that year’s World Champion.
?? MISCELLANEOUS STATS
In his five-year F1 career, Pastor Maldonado never finished a Grand Prix at this track.
The Albert Park race has been held in March every year except 2006, when it was pushed back to the third round of the season on 2nd April, to avoid a clash with the Commonwealth Games.
Got any more Albert Park stats? Let us know in the comments, or tell us on Twitter: @LightsOutF1Blog!
