Grand Prix of Sao Paulo: Interesting statistics

Various interesting statistical calculations based on the results of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix…

Qualification

After winning qualifying at Interlagos, Lando Norris won the eighth pole of his career and the seventh of the season. He is equal in number of pole positions with Jenson Button, Riccardo Patrese, John Surtees and Jochen Rindt.

For the 14th time in his career and for the first time in Sao Paulo, Norris started from the front row. Previously, his best starting position in Brazil was fifth in 2021.

George Russell qualified second, his third fastest time of the season and 12th of his career. He started from the front row – starting first in four races and second in eight.

Third place in qualifying is the best result in Yuki Tsunoda’s career. His teammate Liam Lawson also achieved a better result and qualified fifth. Two cars in the top five is the best result for the Faenza team since Italy ’08, where Sebastian Vettel drove for the first time and Sebastien Bourdais finished fourth.

Esteban Ocon’s fourth place is his best result since last year’s Monaco Grand Prix, where he also qualified fourth. This is the best result of the season for the Alpine team.

Alex Albon qualified seventh and achieved his best result of the season.

Race

After winning the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Max Verstappen achieved the 62nd victory of his career and the eighth of the season. This is the 111th podium finish of his career.

Max became the fifth driver in history to win from 17th place or lower. Before him, from 17th place, Kimi Raikkonen won in Japan’05, and John Watson in Detroit’82. From even further away positions, Rubens Barrichello (from 18th place in Germany ’00) and again John Watson (from 22nd place in USA-West ’83) won.

Verstappen ended a 10-race winless streak, the longest of his career, after running 11 races without a win in 2020.

Verstappen broke Michael Schumacher’s record for most consecutive days in the lead in the individual championship: 916 days (Spain’22 – Sao Paulo’24) against Schumacher’s 896 consecutive days (USA’00 – Japan’02).

Red Bull Racing earned points for the 64th consecutive race weekend, equaling McLaren’s second longest record (Bahrain ’10 – Monaco ’13). Ferrari has an absolute record of 81 race weekends (Germany’10 – Singapore’14).

Esteban Ocon’s second place is his best result since his victory in Hungary’21.

Pierre Gasly’s third place is his best result since last year’s Dutch Grand Prix. At Interlagos, Pierre started the 150th Grand Prix of his career, of which he scored 69 points.

The last time two French riders were on the podium was in Spain ’97 – Olivier Panis finished second and Jean Alesi third. For the first time in history, two Alpine team drivers stood on the podium in Formula 1.

As for the teams from Enstone, the last double podium took place in Korea ’13 – the team was called Lotus, Kimi Raikkonen finished second and Roman Grosjean finished third.

Neither Ferrari car made the podium in Sao Paulo after double podium finishes in the US and Mexico.

Sixth place is Lando Norris’s worst result since he started from pole this season. Now Lando is 62 points behind Verstappen in the individual championship, and there are still 86 to play for. Max can win the title in the next stage in Las Vegas.

Seventh place is Yuki Tsunoda’s best result this season.

Tenth place is Lewis Hamilton’s worst result at Interlagos since joining Mercedes in 2013.

At Interlagos, Nico Hulkenberg was disqualified for outside assistance, becoming the first driver to see a black flag since Canada ’07, where Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa left the pit lane under a red light.