Sundaram Ramaswami
The Austrian Grand Prix saw yet another race victory for Max Verstappen and Red Bull, with the championship starting to slowly tilt in favour of the Milton Keynes team. Much to the dismay of his fans, Lewis Hamilton, once again failed to make it to the rostrum. While he still has a few records to break – such as a century of race wins – Red Bull’s recent streak is producing a unique set of stats and facts on its own.
Here are all the numbers from the 2021 Austrian GP –
GENERAL –
- Each of the four races held in Austria since 2020 has been won by the pole-sitter (Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen, Verstappen).
- The race saw a total of nine penalties being handed out by the stewards, some of which were announced post-race.
- The 2020 & 2021 Austrian Grands Prix had plenty of similarities between them –
RED BULL –
- This season has seen many firsts for Max Verstappen and on Sunday he registered his first-ever Grand Chelem – pole position, race victory, fastest lap, led every lap. All the drivers who’ve taken a Grand Chelem in the last decade, have eventually won the championship that year.
- It was the first Grand Chelem in F1 since the 2019 season (Quite surprising Mercedes didn’t take one in 2020).
- Verstappen, who also won the Styrian GP the previous weekend, secured his 50th podium on Sunday. He thus becomes the only F1 driver to take his 1st (2016 Spanish GP) and 50th podium appearance (2021 Austrian GP) with race victories.
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- The Dutchman has won three races on the trot. Of the 20 drivers who’ve won three or more consecutive races in F1, only two of them don’t have world championships to their name. Stirling Moss and now, Max Verstappen.
- Verstappen has spent 144 consecutive laps in the lead now (French GP – 2, Styrian GP – 71, Austrian GP – 71), and equalled Lewis Hamilton’s personal best which he achieved between Spain & Monaco in 2019.
- Red Bull have taken five consecutive race wins for the first time since 2013. Only once has a team failed to win the Constructors’ championship after winning five races in a row during the season – Mclaren in 2005.
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MERCEDES –
- Defending champion, Lewis Hamilton has now gone five races without a race victory, a first since 2017-2018.
- His teammate, Valtteri Bottas had a much better Austrian Grand Prix, taking his best result of 2021 with a P2 finish.
- The Finn loves the Red Bull Ring. In the last seven races in Austria, Bottas has stood on the podium six times, whereas Hamilton has managed just two.
McLAREN –
- Lando Norris’ podiums in 2021 have all been third-place finishes, with Verstappen winning each of those races.
- Norris has finished outside the top-5 only once this year.
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- Since Hamilton’s departure to Mercedes in 2013, McLaren have made it to the podium on eight occasions. However, none of those races was won by Hamilton. An interesting case of a McLaren podium ≠ a Lewis Hamilton victory.
- Amongst all teams, McLaren hold the longest points scoring streak currently – 16 races since the 2020 Eifel GP.
FERRARI –
- Carlos Sainz Jr. has outraced Charles Leclerc in each of the last three races.
ALPINE –
- This was Fernando Alonso’s fourth consecutive points finish. Meanwhile, Ocon hasn’t scored in any of the last four races.
WILLIAMS –
- George Russell once again flirted with the chance of scoring points but had to settle for 11th eventually. It was his third P11 finish in F1. So close to points, yet so far.
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