Sundaram Ramaswami
The 2021 Belgian Grand Prix was not the one fans wished for. After three long hours, it only resulted in four slow laps around the track with half-points eventually handed out. Although there wasn’t any racing, the race classification was sufficient to bring out some peculiar stats and facts from the race.
Here are all the numbers from the 2021 Belgian GP –
GENERAL –
- With a classified time of 3 minutes 27 seconds and a race distance of 6.88 km, this is the shortest F1 race ever. The race that held the record before this was the 1991 Australian GP, which lasted 14 laps and 52.92 km.
- This was just the sixth time when half-points have been awarded in a race. The previous five races were – Spain & Austria (1975), Monaco (1984), Australia (1991) and Malaysia (2009).
- With just a handful of laps completed, there were no regular pitstops. The only other race to not witness any pitstops was the 1961 Dutch GP.
- Thanks to Red Bull’s super-fast pit crew who fixed up Sergio Perez’s car before the restart, there were no retirements from the Belgian Grand Prix, a feat that has happened just 11 times in history.
- The safety car made an appearance for the sixth consecutive Belgian Grand Prix.
- Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and George Russell have all finished in the top-3 this year, making it the first time three British drivers have stood on the podium in a season since 1999 (Eddie Irvine, Johnny Herbert and David Coulthard).
- The starting grid saw a total of 11 race winners, the most since 2012.
- The top-8 at Belgium consisted of eight different teams. Alfa Romeo and Haas were the only ones missing out.
- Sunday’s race was the 150th Grand Prix in the hybrid era. Mercedes have won 106 of those races (70.66%).
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RED BULL –
- Max Verstappen took the 16th race win of his career, putting him equal with Stirling Moss for the most race wins without a championship.
- Sergio Perez has been on a downward slide since he triumphed at the Azerbaijan GP. He’s failed to score points in the last three races.
- Red Bull brought an end to a lengthy winless streak at Spa Francorchamps, by taking their first win here since Daniel Ricciardo’s heroics in 2014.
- Whenever Honda have won the Belgian Grand Prix as an engine supplier, their customer team has won the constructors’ title later that year.
WILLIAMS –
- George Russell became the 215th driver to take an F1 podium finish.
- Russell now has the same amount of P2 finishes as Valtteri Bottas in 2021.
- Nicholas Latifi also earned a point, making it the first time the team have scored double points in consecutive races since Belgium-Italy 2016.
- It was Williams’ first rostrum appearance since the 2017 Azerbaijan GP.
- P2 was their best race finish since the 2014 Abu Dhabi GP, the infamous ‘double points race.
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MERCEDES –
- Lewis Hamilton took his 10th podium at Spa Francorchamps, the most by any driver at this circuit.
- It was Hamilton’s first P3-finish in 2021.
- Valtteri Bottas failed to score points in Belgium for the first time since his debut season in 2013.
- For the last 20 years, the constructor leading the championship after the Belgian Grand Prix has eventually won the title that year. Mercedes currently have a 7-point lead over Red Bull in the points table.
- All of Mercedes’ customer teams have now taken a podium in 2021 (McLaren in Monaco, Aston Martin in Azerbaijan and Williams in Belgium). Coincidentally, all of those races were won by a Red Bull driver with the works Mercedes finishing behind their customer cars.
McLAREN –
- It was Daniel Ricciardo’s 200th consecutive race start in F1. He’s only the third driver to do so after Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
- P4 is McLaren’s best race result at Belgium since 2012.
- This was also Ricciardo’s best race result since joining McLaren.
ALPINE –
- In Belgium, Fernando Alonso became the second-most experienced driver in F1 history surpassing Rubens Barrichello. At 323 race starts, he’s only behind Kimi Raikkonen (341).
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ALPHATAURI –
- Pierre Gasly’s 100% scoring rate at Belgium continued on Sunday when he finished P6.
FERRARI –
- Carlos Sainz, the podium finisher at the last race, has a woeful record at Spa Francorchamps filled with ill luck. In seven races here, he’s managed to score just 1.5 points.
ALFA ROMEO –
- Although Giovinazzi was classified at the Belgium Grand Prix, he still hasn’t driven past the chequered flag at this venue. His last two outings resulted in crashes, while on Sunday the event was sadly brought to an end with red flags.
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