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Several interesting statistical picks after the Belgian Grand Prix …
Qualification
After qualifying for Spa, Lewis Hamilton claimed fifth pole of the season, sixth on the Belgian track and 93rd in his career.
Valtteri Bottas finished second, qualifying for the front row at Spa for the first time in his career. For the first time since 2015, the Mercedes team has occupied the entire front row of the starting field at Spa.
Max Verstappen’s third-place finish allowed Red Bull to start at Spa in the top four for the first time since 2016. Max was just 0.015 seconds from the front row.
In fourth place, Daniel Riccardo achieved the best result of the season, and the best for himself at Spa, where he has already held ten Grands Prix.
Verstappen’s teammate Alex Albon qualified fifth for his best result of the season.
Esteban Ocon’s sixth place allowed the Renault team to break into the top six for the first time since Italy’19 with two cars.
In the seventh classification, Carlos Sainz achieved his best result in Spa. He had never started above 10th before in Belgium.
His McLaren teammate Lando Norris extended his record; he remains the only one, apart from Mercedes and Verstappen, to start in the top ten in all races of the season.
Daniil Kvyat, who qualified 11th, achieved the best result of the season and the best result for himself at Spa: he finished 19th in all three previous classifications at this track. Just 0.008 seconds was not enough for the Russian to reach the final. For the first time in the last ten Grands Prix, Kvyat overtook his teammate Pierre Gasly in qualifying.
By qualifying 15th, George Russell reached the second half of the standings for the fifth time in seven previous Grands Prix.
Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi was the only one to give up the fight in all races this season in the first part of qualifying.
Race
Having won the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton achieved the 89th victory of his career, narrowing the gap with Michael Schumacher in the rankings to two victories.
At Spa, Lewis Hamilton beat Michael Schumacher’s record for leading distance in the Grand Prix. Michael was 24,148 kilometers ahead, while Lewis now has 24,297 kilometers.
At Spa, Lewis Hamilton scored points in his 40th consecutive race, a new all-time record.
Mercedes established the second longest racing series (30 Grand Prix, Brazil’18 – Belgium’20), in which the team’s drivers led at least one lap. Williams’ best achievement (31st Grand Prix, France’95 – San Marino’97).
Valtteri Bottas, who finished second, achieved his best result at Spa. Valtteri took the podium for the 51st time in his career, matching Mika Hakkinen on this indicator.
Mercedes’ winning double is only the third in Spa racing history. The first was won by Moss and Fangio in 1955, the second – by Hamilton and Rosberg in 2015.
The podium at Spa is the 37th in the career of Max Verstappen, according to this indicator, he reached Riccardo Patrese. A series of six podiums in a row is the best of Max’s career.
Daniel Riccardo has finished fourth twice in the last four Grands Prix. Riccardo’s best race lap is the first for Renault since 2010, when Robert Kubica left him in Canada.
Esteban Ocon finished fifth, with the result and fastest lap by Riccardo, Renault scored 23 points in a Grand Prix, a record achievement in team history.
It is surprising that Racing Point’s ninth and tenth place on the finish line this year, when the car seriously added, is worse than the team’s results at Spa in 2019 (sixth and tenth place) and 2018 (fifth and sixth place ).
The Belgian Grand Prix was number 1000 for Ferrari engines in Formula 1, and Kimi Raikkonen was the best at the finish line with such an engine, finishing in 12th place.
For the first time since 1998, the Ferrari team scored no points at Spa.
