Lewis Hamilton’s 2021 F1 season in statistics

For the first time since 2016, Lewis Hamilton failed to win the World Championship. Nevertheless, 2021 was still a record-breaking year for the Mercedes driver. Here’s his season in statistics!

A STATISTIC FROM EVERY GRAND PRIX

2021 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

Recording the 300th win for a British driver, Lewis Hamilton won the season-opening Grand Prix for the first time since 2015. Hamilton became the second driver – after Michael Schumacher – to have won a race in fifteen consecutive seasons. He also broke two of Schumacher’s records, becoming the driver to have led the most laps in F1 history (his tally after this race stood at 5,126 – fifteen more than Schumacher) and the driver to have taken the most podium finishes with a single team (117 with Mercedes).

2021 EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX

Hamilton secured pole position for the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. This was his 99th pole position and, with this being his first pole at Imola, he became the first driver to start from pole at 30 different circuits during his F1 career. Hamilton also became the first driver to have taken pole position in fifteen different F1 seasons. He went on to finish second and secure the Fastest Lap in the race, which ensured he would lead the Drivers’ Championship for a record-equalling 121st time. Hamilton led the title race by a single point after Imla – the first time he had done so since the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix.

2021 PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX

Hamilton recorded his 97th Formula 1 victory at the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix, extending his championship lead to eight points. As a result of extending his championship lead, Hamilton overtook Michael Schumacher as the driver to have led the Drivers’ Championship on the most occasions. Hamilton became only the fourth driver to have taken multiple wins at the Portuguese Grand Prix. The other drivers to have done so are Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Stirling Moss. Hamilton is also the third driver to take back-to-back wins in Portugal. The other drivers to do so are Moss (in 1958 & 1959) and Prost (in 1987 & 1988). Hamilton’s win came from second on the grid. It was the 250th time that the driver who started second won a World Championship Formula 1 race.

2021 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

It was an historic Saturday at the Spanish Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton became the first driver in Formula 1 history to record 100 pole positions. This was Hamilton’s sixth pole at the Spanish Grand Prix, as well as his ninth consecutive front row start at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. On Sunday, Hamilton recorded the 98th win of his career. With his sixth Spanish Grand Prix victory, he equalled Michael Schumacher as the driver with the most wins at the event. 2021 is the fifth season in a row that Hamilton has won the Spanish Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna – who won the Monaco Grand Prix in every season between 1989 and 1993 – is the only other driver to take five successive wins at a single circuit.

2021 MONACO GRAND PRIX

After qualifying in seventh place, recording his worst qualifying result since the 2018 German Grand Prix, Hamilton finished where he started at the Monaco Grand Prix. 2021 is only the second time in the last seven Monaco Grands Prix that he has finished off the podium. Both times, he finished seventh. Despite the disappointing result, Hamilton equalled Rubens Barrichello’s record of most top ten finishes in Monte Carlo. Both drivers have finished in the top ten at the circuit on thirteen occasions.

2021 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX

After qualifying on the front row for a fourth consecutive appearance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton failed to score in Baku. This was the first time in 55 race starts that Hamilton failed to score. It marked the first time that Hamilton failed to score in a race which he has started since his retirement at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, as well as the first time he has finished a race but in a position outside of the points since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix. This was Hamilton’s first fifteenth place finish in Formula 1.

2021 FRENCH GRAND PRIX

Finishing as runner-up, Hamilton failed to win the French Grand Prix for the first time since the event’s return to the calendar. He became the first driver to reach 170 podium finishes. Only six teams have recorded that many top three results in Formula 1’s 71-year history. Hamilton has finished where he started in all of the last three French Grands Prix. He’s the fifth driver, after Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, James Hunt and Nigel Mansell, to record as many as three podium finishes at Circuit Paul Ricard.

2021 STYRIAN GRAND PRIX

Already the driver with the most wins in Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton recorded his 43rd second place finish at the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix, equalling Michael Schumacher as the driver with the most second places. After failing to win at the Styrian Grand Prix, Hamilton recorded his longest losing streak since failing to win the six races between the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix and the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix. This was the first time that Hamilton finished as runner-up at two consecutive races since the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the 2018 Australian Grand Prix.

2021 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX

Hamilton recorded his first fourth place finish since the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix. This was Hamilton’s third fourth place result in Austria – setting a new record for most fourth place results in the country.

2021 BRITISH GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton secured the fastest time in Friday’s qualifying session at Silverstone. It was the eighth time that he has set the fastest lap time in qualifying at Silverstone – which would have tied the record for most pole positions at a single circuit, if not for Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying session. Hamilton extended the record of most Q3 appearances at Silverstone to fifteen and, with second place in Sprint Qualifying, became the first driver to qualify on the front row at Silverstone on ten occasions.

In the race, Hamilton recorded his 99th career victory with his eighth win at the British Grand Prix. Hamilton ended a streak of five win-less races. He scored 27 points over the British Grand Prix weekend, the second largest points total scored over a single F1 weekend. The record is held by Hamilton himself, who scored 50 points with his win at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hamilton led only three laps on his way to victory at the 2021 British Grand Prix. He also led only three laps on his way to winning the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The only race which he has won and led fewer laps was the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix, where he led only two tours of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Hamilton’s win was his eighth at Silverstone, equalling the record for most wins at a single track. It’s a feat which he has achieved before, having already won eight times at the Hungaroring. Michael Schumacher is the other driver to have eight wins at a single circuit: he took eight victories at Magny Cours. Hamilton also equaled the record for most podium finishes at a single circuit. This was his twelfth at Silverstone – Schumacher took twelve podiums at Imola, Catalunya and Montreal.

The 2021 British Grand Prix marked the passing of over fourteen years since Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 victory at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. His British Grand Prix win made him only the third driver, after Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, to have a gap of more than fourteen years between their first and last Grand Prix wins. He also moved ahead of Schumacher in the list of drivers who have had the longest winning period in F1.

2021 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX

For the first time since 2017, Lewis Hamilton failed to win the Hungarian Grand Prix. Nevertheless, Hamilton became the first driver to record ten podiums at the Hungaroring, as well as the third driver to have reached the chequered flag on 250 occasions.

2021 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

Finishing in third place, Lewis Hamilton set a new outright record for most podium finishes at the Belgian Grand Prix. He previously shared the record with Michael Schumacher.

2021 DUTCH GRAND PRIX

Finishing as runner-up at the Dutch Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton recorded his 175th podium finish. Hamilton extended his record for most different circuits at which a driver has recorded a podium to 33. Hamilton set the fastest lap of the race, putting him 20 away from equalling Michael Schumacher’s record for most fastest laps. Zandvoort is the 25th different circuit at which Hamilton has taken the fastest lap of a Grand Prix, breaking Schumacher’s former record of 24 different circuits.

2021 ITALIAN GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton retired from the Italian Grand Prix following a collision with Max Verstappen. This was Hamilton’s first retirement in over three years, his last having been at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix. Hamilton last failed to score at Monza in 2010, when he retired from the race. Hamilton recorded Mercedes’ first retirement from the Italian Grand Prix since Nico Rosberg was out with an engine failure in 2015.

2021 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX

At the 2021 Russian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton became the first driver to reach a century of Formula 1 victories. He won the Russian Grand Prix for a fifth time, extending his record for most Sochi Autodrom victories. As well as recording his 100th win, Hamilton became the first driver to have scored 4,000 points in his Formula 1 career. Hamilton won the Russian Grand Prix with a win margin of 53.271 seconds – the largest win margin since his victory at the 2008 British Grand Prix, over thirteen years ago. He remains the only driver to have completed every racing lap held at Sochi Autodrom since the circuit joined the calendar in 2014 – as well as one of only two drivers to score at every running of the event so far.

2021 TURKISH GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in qualifying for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix, making Istanbul Park the 31st different circuit at which he has set the fastest lap time in qualifying. However, Hamilton’s wait for a maiden Turkish Grand Prix pole goes on due to a ten-place grid penalty for a change of power unit element. Hamilton started from 11th – a grid position from which victory has been taken only five times previously. The last two wins from eleventh on the grid came at the 2003 Australian Grand Prix and the 2012 European Grand Prix. Strangely, race day in Turkey marked the exact same number of days since the last win from 11th as there was between the two previous wins from the grid slot! But it wasn’t to be for Hamilton, and he finished fifth for the 20th time in his F1 career. It was the first time he had finished fifth since the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix.

2021 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX

Though Lewis Hamilton was unable to add to his impressive COTA win and pole tally in 2021, he recorded his eighth podium finish in Texas. He has appeared on the podium every time that the United States Grand Prix has been held so far in the V6 hybrid era. The 52nd lap of the race was the 500th Grand Prix racing lap to take place at the venue – and Hamilton is the only driver to have completed every lap at the track.

2021 MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton qualified on the front row at the Mexican Grand Prix for the first time since 2016, but was out-qualified by his team-mate in the country for the first time since 2015. Hamilton finished as runner-up to Max Verstappen in the race, with both drivers setting a new record for most points-scoring appearances in Mexico. This was Hamilton’s fourth podium at the Mexican Grand Prix, equalling the record for most podiums at the event.

2021 SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Friday qualifying at the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix and would have started Sprint Qualifying from the front of the grid. However, he was disqualified from the session due to a DRS infringement. Nevertheless, he made up 15 places in the sprint race to finish fifth. A further five place penalty saw him start the Grand Prix from tenth – and he went on to win. It’s the furthest back grid slot from which a race at Interlagos has been won and the first time a driver has won from tenth on the grid since Pierre Gasly’s win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.

2021 QATAR GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix, making Losail International Circuit the 31st venue at which he has taken pole. This was the 102nd pole position of Hamilton’s career and the first time he started from pole since the Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton took his 102nd Grand Prix victory on Sunday and became the first driver to have won at 30 different circuits.

2021 SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton took pole position at a 32nd different circuit and won at a 35th different circuit. This was the fifth time that Hamilton has taken pole from the last six new venues to join the F1 calendar, as well as the first time that Hamilton took pole positions at consecutive races since taking five poles in a row between the 2020 Spanish and Russian Grands Prix. Hamilton’s pole lap was taken at an average speed of 253.984km/h, making it the 20th fastest pole lap in Formula 1 history. Hamilton became the first driver to have finished on the podium at 35 different tracks and the first to set the fastest lap at 26 different circuits.

2021 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton suffered his first title defeat since 2016 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. After qualifying on the front row, Hamilton led the majority of the race until Max Verstappen overtook him on the final lap. It was the first time that the leading driver has been overtaken on the last lap of the race since Hamilton himself overtook Nico Rosberg on the last lap of the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix.