Sundaram Ramaswami
Lewis Hamilton stitched together another error-free performance at the Portuguese Grand Prix to take his 97th race win in F1. The defending champion slipped to third after the race restart but soon enough got the better of championship rival Max Verstappen and pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas en route to his second victory of the season. As they say, the more you win, the more records you break and Hamilton did just that on Sunday.
Here are all the numbers from the 2021 Portuguese GP –
GENERAL –
- Mercedes made their 500th Grand Prix appearance as an engine supplier in F1.
- Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas have stood together on the rostrum on 15 occasions (in any order), becoming the most common podium trio in F1 history.
MERCEDES –
- This was Hamilton’s fourth consecutive race win after starting from second on the grid. In fact, 20 of his 75 race wins in the hybrid era have come when starting from that position.
- The seven-time champion has won successive Portuguese GPs, both of which had a winning margin of over 25 seconds.
- Hamilton broke another Michael Schumacher record on Sunday, as he led the world championship for the 122nd time in his career.
- Bottas has 17 pole positions against his name but has converted only five of those to a race win.
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RED BULL –
- Sergio Perez finished P4 at the Portuguese Grand Prix, his best race result for Red Bull so far.
- Verstappen, the winner of the last race at Imola, has registered a podium finish in 17 of his last 18 race finishes, starting from USA 2019.
- Red Bull have taken podiums in the first three races of this season, all going to Verstappen. The previous time they did that (Sebastian Vettel – 2011), they won both championships.
- Both Red Bull drivers have led a race for a minimum of two laps this season, a first for the team since 2018.
McLAREN –
- Lando Norris has finished in the top-5 in five of his last six races.
- Daniel Ricciardo is the only driver to finish every F1 race since the 2020 Styrian GP, a 19-race streak.
- Both McLaren drivers have scored points in the opening three races of the 2021 season, a feat they previously achieved in 2011.
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FERRARI –
- Charles Leclerc took his third consecutive top-6 finish for Ferrari.
ASTON MARTIN –
- Sebastian Vettel has failed to score a point in the opening three rounds of the season, which last occurred in 2008 during his stint with Toro Rosso.
- Despite both cars finishing the race, they failed to score points, a first since the 2019 Hungarian GP.
- Racing Point after the first three races last year – 40 points. Aston Martin after the first three races this year – 5 points.
ALFA ROMEO –
- Kimi Raikkonen crashed out of the Portuguese Grand Prix within the first two laps, something that last happened at the 2017 Singapore GP (remember when Vettel, Verstappen and Raikkonen came together right after the lights went off?)
- Sunday’s retirement brought an end to the Finn’s 18-race finishing streak. His last DNF was at the 2020 Austrian GP.
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