Lando Norris ended a 110-race wait for his first grand prix victory last weekend in Miami.
Only seven drivers had to wait longer than him to score their first wins, two of which are among his current rivals.
In terms of race starts, Norris had to wait as long as Giancarlo Fisichella, who also scored his first win at his 110th attempt. However as the calendar was much shorter 20 years ago, Fisichella’s breakthrough victory came in his eight season, while Norris took his in his sixth.
Fisichella’s first victory came in the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. However he was not credited with the victory until several days afterwards, when the FIA acknowledged it had interpreted its rules incorrectly when the race was stopped. The win was originally credited to, and later taken away from, one of Norris’ predecessors at McLaren: Kimi Raikkonen.
Norris avoided breaking into the top 10 drivers who started the most races without ever winning one. However after last weekend’s race his rival Nico Hulkenberg stands alone at the top of this table. Will his forthcoming return to Sauber, soon to become Audi, give him the chance to join Norris as a grand prix winner?
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Most starts before first grand prix win
Most starts without a grand prix win
Norris also relinquished his position as the driver who scored the most podium finishes without ever winning a grand prix. He’d had 15; Nick Heidfeld now heads that list again on 13.
He is the 114th driver to win a round of the world championship, and the 21st to come from Great Britain. The last British driver to win a race was George Russell at Interlagos in 2022, which was also his first grand prix victory.
Norris scored the 184th grand prix victory for McLaren. They have the second-highest wins total of any team, 60 less than Ferrari, but this was only their second in the last 13 seasons. Norris is therefore the fourth different driver in a row to win a race for McLaren, following Lewis Hamilton (USA 2012), Jenson Button (Brazil 2012) and Daniel Ricciardo (Italy 2021).
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The somewhere rare instance of Verstappen failing to win a grand prix meant he missed the opportunity to surpass Hamilton’s career win rate. But with Verstappen on 30.36% and Hamilton 30.47% this will change at Imola if the Red Bull driver wins there.
Verstappen did win the sprint race however, and by also finishing second on Sunday he achieved the rare feat of scoring the most points of any driver in a race weekend without winning the grand prix. This last happened in 1957, when drivers were allowed to share cars and points scores. Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks shared victory in the British Grand Prix, meaning they scored four points each, while Luigi Musso took six points for his solo drive to second (thanks to Ilanin for the tip on this stat).
Verstappen also extended his run of grand prix pole positions. This was his seventh in a row and sixth since the season began. That means he can equal two records at the next grand prix: Most consecutive pole positions (held by Ayrton Senna) and most consecutive pole positions from the start of a season (held by Alain Prost).
Both McLaren drivers took turns in the lead. Oscar Piastri became the fifth different driver to head the field this year. This was the second time in his career he’s led a grand prix after Monza last year.
Piastri did take the fastest lap, the third of his young career, but as when he did so at Monza last year he failed to score the bonus point as he didn’t finish in the top 10 (he did on the other occasion, at Las Vegas, where he came 10th).
Although Verstappen has led by far the most Racing laps in grands prix – 224 of the 331 so far – his team mate Sergio Perez is yet to lead a single one. Perez has now gone a full year without winning a grand prix, during which time Verstappen racked up 21 victories.
Hamilton scored his best result in a grand prix this year – a lowly sixth place. Daniel Ricciardo scored his first points of the season with fourth place in the sprint race, and seventh for Yuki Tsunoda in the grand prix meant RB came away with 12 points. That’s their best haul at a race since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when they were AlphaTauri.
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On the 28th race weekend of his career, amid much speculation over his future, Logan Sargeant finally out-qualified his team mate for the first time. However he only managed to beat Alexander Albon in qualifying for the sprint race, and normal service was resumed in qualifying for the grand prix.
Albon was taken out of the race by Kevin Magnussen who achieved the unusual distinction of copping no fewer than six penalties during a single race weekend. Four of these were track limits infringements in the sprint race, then he was penalised for the collision with Albon and later for failing to change tyres during a pit stop under Safety Car conditions.
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Miami Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2024 Miami Grand Prix
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