The first race to feature two Canadian drivers in over fifty years, the 800th race to feature a German driver and a chance for Vettel to set a new record of Albert Park wins. Here are the milestones and the records which could be broken at the 2020 Australian Grand Prix!
THE MILESTONES:
This will be the 1019th Formula 1 Grand Prix, the 85th Australian Grand Prix and the 36th Australian Grand Prix which has counted toward the F1 championship.
This will be the 25th F1 race held at Albert Park since the circuit joined the calendar in 1996.
The 14th lap of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix will be the 1400th racing lap of the circuit since 1996.
The 2020 Australian Grand Prix will be the first race for the AlphaTauri name. It will make them the 163rd different constructor to have started a round of the Drivers’ Championship. This race will also be the first since the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix to not feature the Toro Rosso name on the grid.
This weekend, Kimi Raikkonen will become the driver to have raced at the Albert Park circuit on the most occasions. He will overtake Jenson Button at the top of the list. Like Button, Raikkonen has entered seventeen races at Albert Park so far in his career. Should Raikkonen complete five laps of the race on Sunday, he’ll become the driver to have raced the most laps at the circuit, overtaking Fernando Alonso who raced 873 laps at the track during his career.
Nicholas Latifi will become the 765th driver to have started a round of the Drivers’ Championship. If Latifi scores, he’ll become the 76th driver to have scored points on their maiden F1 appearance, and the first to do so since Stoffel Vandoorne at the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix. Latifi will become the thirteenth Canadian driver to have started an F1 race, meaning that Canada will have had as many Grand Prix drivers as both Spain and Australia.
With Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi now both racing in F1, the 2020 Australian Grand Prix will be the first F1 race to feature two Canadian drivers since Bill Brack, Al Pease and John Cordts lined up on the grid for the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix. The 1967 Canadian Grand Prix, which featured Al Pease and Eppie Wietzes is the only other F1 race which featured multiple Canadians on the grid.
At the 2020 Australian Grand Prix, the Alfa Romeo name will equal the number of races started by the Osella team. Osella started 132 races, with their last appearance being at the 1990 Australian Grand Prix.
THE RECORDS TO BREAK:
If Lewis Hamilton scores in the 2020 Australian Grand Prix, it will be the 34th consecutive race in which he has scored. That would be a new record for most successive races in which a driver has scored points, surpassing his own previous record of 33 consecutive points-scoring races which he had between the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix and the 2018 French Grand Prix. It will also be a new record for most consecutive race finishes. He already shares this record with Nick Heidfeld, who finished 33 consecutive races between the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix and the 2009 Italian Grand Prix.
If he wins this weekend, Valtteri Bottas will become only the fourth driver to have taken consecutive wins at the Albert Park circuit. The other drivers to have won consecutive races at the track are Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button.
Ferrari could become the team to have finished on the podium most frequently at the Australian Grand Prix. They are currently on 25 podiums at the event, one behind McLaren’s tally of 26 podiums in Australia.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen could set a new record for most third place finishes at Albert Park this weekend. Along with Ralf Schumacher, both Vettel and Raikkonen have finished third in Melbourne on three previous occasions. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton would join that trio should he finish third on Sunday.
British and German drivers are currently tied for most wins at the Albert Park circuit. A win for either nation would extend their record to nine victories.
If he retires from the Australian Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean will join Felipe Massa and Jarno Trulli as the drivers to have had the most DNFs at the Albert Park circuit. Both Massa and Trulli retired at the circuit seven times.
Lando Norris will be hoping to reach Q3 at the Australian Grand Prix for a second consecutive year. If he does so, he’ll remain in a group of four drivers who have reached Q3 on every appearance at the Australian Grand Prix. The other drivers in the group are Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher. Nicholas Latifi will also join that list should he reach Q3 on Saturday.
Ferrari could equal Mercedes’ record of most poles at the Albert Park circuit, while Mercedes themselves could extend their existing record to seven.
Michael Schumacher could be usurped as the driver to have led the most laps at the Albert Park circuit this weekend. Schumacher led 198 laps here in his career. Sebastian Vettel would need to lead five laps to surpass that record, while Lewis Hamilton would need to lead 47 laps to take the crown.
If Ferrari score 13.5 points this weekend, they will become the first team to have scored 400 points at the Australian Grand Prix.
If Lewis Hamilton wins, this will be the fourteenth consecutive year in which he has won a Grand Prix. Only Michael Schumacher has scored in more consecutive seasons, doing so for fifteen successive years between 1992 and 2006.
A pole position for Lewis Hamilton at the 2020 Australian Grand Prix would be his ninth pole position at Albert Park. It would be a new record for most poles taken at a single circuit. In addition to Hamilton’s eight poles in Australia, Ayrton Senna took eight poles at Imola and Michael Schumacher took eight at Suzuka.
If Lewis Hamilton takes pole position, this will be the fourteenth year in which he has taken a pole position. That would be a new record, surpassing Michael Schumacher, who took at least one pole in every season between 1994 and 2006.
If Alex Albon scores eight points, he’ll become the 82nd driver to have surpassed 100 career points.
If Sergio Perez scores nineteen points without winning the race, he would become the first driver to have scored 600 career points without winning a Grand Prix.
Should Ferrari finish in the top three, 2020 will become the 40th consecutive season in which the team have stood on the podium, extending their current record.
If Kimi Raikkonen reaches the chequered flag in the 2020 Australian Grand Prix, he’ll tie with Fernando Alonso as the driver to have finished the most races in F1 history. Alonso’s record is 245 races completed.
If a Mercedes-powered car takes pole position, this will be the eighteenth consecutive year in which a Mercedes-powered car has started from the front of the grid. That would be a new record for poles in the most consecutive seasons, surpassing Ford Cosworth’s tally of poles in seventeen consecutive years between 1967 and 1983.
If Lewis Hamilton leads the Australian Grand Prix from start to finish, this would be the twentieth race which he has led every lap of. It would surpass Ayrton Senna’s record of nineteen races led from start to finish. Senna has held the record since the 1990 Italian Grand Prix.
If Sebastian Vettel leads eleven laps, German drivers will have led 11,000 laps of races in F1 history. Their tally is second only to British drivers.