Australian Grand Prix: Curious Statistics

A few interesting statistical compilations from the Australian Grand Prix…

Qualification

After qualifying in Melbourne, Max Verstappen took his 22nd career pole, his second of the season and the first for Red Bull Racing at Albert Park since 2013. He overtook Fernando Alonso on the number of poles.

George Russell qualified second and won the right to start from the front row for the seventh time in his career. Bruce McLaren, Eugenio Castelotti, Carlos Pace, Patrick Depallier and Carlos Sainz had an equal number of front row starts. George Lewis Hamilton was ahead for the third time in three qualifying sessions.

Hamilton’s third place allowed him to start in the top six for the first time this season. During the entire last season, Mercedes only managed to get both cars into the top three at the start – in Mexico and Brazil.

Fernando Alonso qualified fourth, his best starting position in Melbourne since 2010.

Carlos Sainz’s fifth place is his best starting position in Melbourne. For the first time this season he qualified above his teammate Charles Leclerc.

Lance Stroll qualified sixth, the first time in his career he had fought in the qualifying final at Albert Park.

Charles Leclerc’s seventh-place finish is his worst qualifying result in Melbourne since his debut in 2018.

Alex Albon’s eighth-place finish is Williams’ best result since 2021.

Pierre Gasly’s ninth place is his best starting position in Melbourne.

In the third race in a row, Nico Hulkenberg started 10th, ahead of his teammate Kevin Magnussen for the third time in a row.

For the first time in the season, Nick de Vries left the first part of qualifying.

Race

Max Verstappen won the Australian Grand Prix for his 37th career victory, his second of the season and his first in Melbourne.

For Red Bull Racing, this is only the second victory at Albert Park – the first was won by Sebastian Vettel in 2011. For the first time in history, this team won the first three races of the season. The Australian Grand Prix is ​​the 350th in the team’s history.

Verstappen reached the podium for the 80th time in his career, equaling Ayrton Senna.

Lewis Hamilton finished second, earning his 192nd career podium and his first of the season.

Fernando Alonso finished third in the third race in a row.

Three world champions climbed the podium in Melbourne. The last time this happened was in Hungary’18, when Hamilton, Vettel and Raikkonen finished in the top three.

Lance Stroll finished fourth, marking the first time in Aston Martin history that two of the team’s cars have finished in the top four.

Lando Norris’ sixth and Oscar Piastri’s eighth gave McLaren their first points of the season. For Piastri these are the first points of his Formula 1 career. Piastri became the third Australian to earn points in his first home race – after Mark Webber in 2002 and Daniel Ricciardo in 2012.

The McLaren team has passed the 6,000 point mark in history.

Nico Hulkenberg’s seventh place is the best Haas F1 result since Austria’22.

Ninth place brought Guanyu Zhou the first points of last year’s race at Monza.

Tenth place brought Yuki Tsunode its first point of the season.