In Monaco, Lewis Hamilton was amused to share the rostrum with two drivers, Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar, whose mixed age was decrease than his personal. Every week later, he can boast of being on the record of the oldest winners in Formulation 1 historical past – whereas nonetheless remaining on that of the youngest.
To understand the size of the British driver’s efficiency, it’s best to return to his first season. On 10 June 2007, on the Canadian GP, Hamilton aged 22 years and 154 days grew to become the fourth-youngest winner in F1 historical past.
He has since dropped to eighth place on this rating (Max Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc have crushed him in that statistic) however he now has the excellence of additionally being within the high seven oldest winners.
By successful at 41 years and 158 days on Sunday, Hamilton grew to become the seventh-oldest driver within the winners’ circle, and solely the tenth to have executed so after his fortieth birthday.
Luigi Fagioli, winner of the 1951 French GP at 53 years and 22 days, stays the one driver in his fifties to have gained in F1. However it was a special period and amongst these forward of Hamilton on this rating, the bulk are drivers who raced within the Nineteen Fifties, except for Jack Brabham, winner of his final grand prix at almost 44 in 1970.
Hamilton is the oldest driver to win since Brabham’s 1970 South African Grand Prix triumph and there has solely been one race with a driver in his forties on the highest step of the rostrum: Adelaide 1994, the place Nigel Mansell gained at 41 years and 97 days.
Unprecedented longevity
Photograph by: Darren Heath – Getty Photos
A complete of 19 years and 4 days elapsed between Hamilton’s first victory and the one in Barcelona. That’s by far a report, forward of the 15 years and 212 days separating Kimi Raikkonen’s first and final wins (Sepang 2003 and Austin 2018) and the 14 years and 32 days between Michael Schumacher’s first and final success (Spa 1992 and Shanghai 2006).
Hamilton additionally improves his report for wins in several seasons, taking it to 17. He’s forward of Schumacher (15) and Alain Prost (11) on this rating.
Because the occasion has formally taken the identify “Barcelona-Catalunya GP”, that is the thirty second totally different grand prix gained by Hamilton, which is one other report, forward of Verstappen’s 30, however Hamilton stretched his stats by successful a number of occasions with new names in 2020: Styrian GP (Purple Bull Ring), Tuscan GP (Mugello), Eifel GP (Nurburgring) and Emilia-Romagna GP (Imola).
A primary win in pink in Barcelona, like Schumacher
Michael Schumacher, the opposite seven-time F1 world champion, additionally gained his first race for the Scuderia in Barcelona, precisely 30 years in the past.
As an additional wink from historical past, Schumacher’s victory on the 1996 Spanish GP was then Ferrari’s 106th. The one secured by Hamilton is the 249th for Ferrari – however his 106th personally.
The primary all-British podium in 58 years
Along with being a major second for Hamilton and Ferrari, the Barcelona race will even stand out within the historical past guide for the UK. Due to second place for George Russell and third place for Lando Norris, the nation swept the rostrum, for the twelfth time in its historical past and the primary time since Watkins Glen in 1968, with Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and John Surtees.
Photograph by: Simon Galloway / LAT Photos through Getty Photos
It’s only the thirty second time in historical past that one nation has locked out the rostrum, and the statistic is skewed by the presence of the Indianapolis 500 on the calendar within the Nineteen Fifties. The USA thus achieved a clear sweep 11 instances, every time at Indianapolis.
The one different nations to have positioned three drivers on the rostrum are Italy (six instances) and France (thrice). The final podium completely dominated by one nation earlier than this Sunday was an all-French rostrum, made up of Patrick Tambay, Alain Prost and Rene Arnoux on the 1983 San Marino GP.
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