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
| Rank | Driver | First win | Start no. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergio Perez | 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix | 190 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 2022 British Grand Prix | 150 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | 2009 German Grand Prix | 130 |
| 4 | Rubens Barrichello | 2000 German Grand Prix | 124 |
| 5 | Jarno Trulli | 2004 Monaco Grand Prix | 117 |
| 6 | Jenson Button | 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix | 113 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | 2012 Chinese Grand Prix | 111 |
| =8 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix | 110 |
| =8 | Lando Norris | 2024 Miami Grand Prix | 110 |
| 10 | Mika Hakkinen | 1997 European Grand Prix | 96 |
Most starts without a grand prix win
| Rank | Driver | Starts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Hulkenberg | 209 |
| 2 | Andrea de Cesaris | 208 |
| 3 | Nick Heidfeld | 183 |
| 4 | Romain Grosjean | 179 |
| 5 | Kevin Magnussen | 169 |
| 6 | Martin Brundle | 158 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | 149 |
| 8 | Derek Warwick | 146 |
| 9 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | 134 |
| 10 | Eddie Cheever | 132 |
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).
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
- McLaren had superior pace before Verstappen’s damage in Miami – Norris
- Sainz ‘struggles to understand’ why he got penalty when Perez didn’t
- Alonso’s unusual brake problem and more unheard Miami team radio
- McLaren’s Miami upgrade success points to even stronger form in coming races
- Norris expects more wins this year and believes “100%” in 2025 title bid
Ilanin
8th May 2024, 12:36
I think other than Verstappen and Musso the only other driver to score the most points without winning the race was Jean Behra, who was second to the combination of Juan Manuel Fangio and Musso at the 1956 Argentine Grand Prix. The only other shared victory was at the 1951 French Grand Prix (by Fangio and Luigi Fagoli), but on that occasion second place was also shared (by Ascari and Gonzalez) so the most points from the weekend would have been Fangio’s five (four for half the race win plus one for fastest lap).
Tom Baker
11th May 2024, 22:02
I suppose technically all the drivers who scored second place finishes behind Michael Schumacher in 1997, when he was stripped of all his points but allowed to keep his race wins, ultimately came to score the most points on the relevant weekends, although we didn’t know that until after the season was over!
notagrumpyfan
8th May 2024, 12:51
First GP winner congratulated by an ex head of state face-painted in the corporate colours of the winning team.
MarcusAurelius (@marcusaurelius)
8th May 2024, 13:25
Nice one!
Jere (@jerejj)
8th May 2024, 13:08
Lance Stroll out-qualified Fernando Alonso for the first time since the 2023 Sao Paulo GP qualifying, & while normal service may have resumed for Williams drivers in standard qualifying, Logan Sargeant was only a little over a tenth slower.
Additionally, his first DNF since the 2023 Mexico City GP.
Daniel Ricciardo’s fourth place in the sprint is his highest finishing (& starting, iirc) position, either a race or sprint, since the 2021 Russian GP.
For the first time this season, no one bettered the 2023 equivalent pole lap in qualifying, which was probably bound to happen at some point anyway.
Lando Norris has done as many races at McLaren as Lewis Hamilton & his previous victory in motorsport came in the 2018 Bahrain GP F2 feature race.
The second consecutive lapping-free race, which is something that hasn’t happened for a while, at least.
Last season had three entirely lapping-free races, but all separately rather than consecutively.
Btw, I never knew tyre changing was mandatory during SC neutralizations.
Jonathan Parkin
8th May 2024, 14:17
Neither did I actually. It’s for this reason fans like me, who knew the regulations back in the day as it where wish the rule book wasn’t so thick
MichaelN
8th May 2024, 15:51
I think this was added when certain circuits, notably Silverstone, offered a shorter route and would allow a car to “overtake” under the SC.
Jonathan Parkin
8th May 2024, 17:31
Okay but that doesn’t apply to F1 surely as all the races at Silverstone use the longer layout
frood19 (@frood19)
8th May 2024, 22:48
No, he means that at Silverstone, when the safety car is out, it’s quicker to drive through the pit lane without stopping than to stay out on track.
MichaelN
9th May 2024, 9:42
Right, that could have been worded better.
The obligatory stop seems to be there to prevent the “pitlane shortcut”.
Nick T.
8th May 2024, 19:30
Love this stat trivia.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
9th May 2024, 9:56
I didn’t know this rule either, and initially what it was for. But yeah, ‘quicker through the pitlane’, makes sense. For all the grief the rule book and it’s creators get, this actually looks like someone thinking ahead of the teams. They probably deserve a pat on the back for that.
I doubt it would work at Silverstone though, the pit limiter line is very early. I think its one of the bigger pit stop time losses on the calendar.
Stephen Taylor
8th May 2024, 13:16
Also I’m sure this race is also the first race in nearly 12 years that a driver in the number 4 car won the GP since Hamiltons’ win at COTA in 2012 ( which was of course back in the days when race numbers were generally dictated by the WCC finishing order of the previous season) .
Jere (@jerejj)
8th May 2024, 13:39
Probably, yes. I can’t think of any other race win for #4 within this interval either.
notagrumpyfan
8th May 2024, 15:10
Especially knowing that Chilton owned it from 2014, and subsequently Norris (first win this weekend).
The challenge for the real racefans is to find the lowest car/driver number which never won a GP.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
8th May 2024, 15:28
At a guess, probably 13, which was only used on one or two occasions prior to 2014, when Maldonado adopted it as his race number.
PlosslF1
8th May 2024, 15:58
After a lot of digging I would say number 13…
PlosslF1
8th May 2024, 16:15
And I think the lowest number not to win a WDC is 9…
Maimai (@maimai)
8th May 2024, 20:16
Lowest number not to win a WDC should be 0, no ?
PlosslF1
8th May 2024, 22:28
Doh, after all that searching I forgot about Hill and Schecter being zero..
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
8th May 2024, 14:47
“ 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).”
It is the 11th time in 110 races since FLAP point was introduced in 2019 that FLAP point was ‘t awarded, exactly 10% of races.
2019 2x, 2021 4x, 2022 2x, 2023 2x and now 1x in 2024.
Max scored his 103rd podium and is now tied with Raikonnen in 6th. Joined 4th with 106 podiums are Prost and Alonso.
AllTheCoolNamesWereTaken
8th May 2024, 15:38
Coincidentally, this means that Lando now holds another record instead: that of most podium finishes before the first win.
He’s not the sole record-holder, as he shares this feat with (in alphabetical order) Jean Alesi, Patrick Depailler, Mika Häkkinen, and Eddie Irvine – all of whom scored exactly 15 podiums before taking their first win.
I’m sure Norris will hope to emulate Häkkinen over the coming seasons.
(Yes, I already posted about this stat once before, but that was before Norris took his maiden win.)
Stephen Taylor
8th May 2024, 18:04
Yes I saw that one two
Stephen Taylor
8th May 2024, 18:07
*too. Five drivers jointly sharing the same record is extraordinary
Nick T.
8th May 2024, 19:52
+1
The odds must be astronomical.
PlosslF1
8th May 2024, 16:25
A stat I found pre race which I thought was really nice of F1
The Miami Grand Prix will also help Make-A-Wish grant six wishes across the weekend. The wish children will have a behind the scenes Paddock tour and watch the F1 race unfold from the Grandstands.
Nick T.
8th May 2024, 19:52
Why do you think DJT was there?
PlosslF1
8th May 2024, 22:31
Lol..
Sumedh
8th May 2024, 17:54
Car#2 finally out qualified it’s teammate for the 1st time after 2017 Malaysian Grand prix. In between, it was out qualified 59 times in a row.
First, Vandoorne (car #2) went 26 races without out-qualifying Alonso and after that Sargeant went 27 race weekends (33 qualifyings, Counting sprints and not counting Australia) without out-qualifying Albon.
dot_com (@dot_com)
8th May 2024, 18:01
I didn’t realize that Mika Hakkinen took so long to win his first race. When I started watching, he was already winning races for McLaren. And his 96 winless races took a few more years to accumulate than it would these days, with just 12 or so races per season.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th May 2024, 18:16
12 races is way off, there were already 16 races back when schumacher and hakkinen were new to f1, 12 is closer to the amount of races you had in the 70s!
dot_com (@dot_com)
8th May 2024, 19:21
You’re right, that was quite an exaggeration on my part! 16 races in the 1998 season when I started watching.
Nick T.
8th May 2024, 19:50
Paradoxically, you have to be a pretty good driver to make either list.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
8th May 2024, 22:26
No driver has won a Miami GP starting from the front row.
Norris is the first driver to score his maiden win in the USA since Michele Alboreto at Caesars Palace 1982.
First time the British national anthem has been heard on the podium since Sao Paulo 2022.
First time a team with a customer engine has won a race prior to the manufacturer team winning in that season since AlphaTauri-Ferrari in 2020 (Ferrari themselves did not win a race that year).
McLaren’s 13th win in the USA – equals Ferrari.
Hamilton has finished 6th in all 3 Miami GPs. Miami, Las Vegas, and New Delhi are the only tracks he has raced at but never finished on the podium.
3 of this season’s 6 race weekends have Verstappen score exactly 26 points (Bahrain, Japan, Miami).
Leclerc has still only started from even-numbered positions in GPs this year.
The McLaren team-mates can both (in a way) claim that they were the first of the pair to win an F1 race.
Thanks to statsf1 and the official F1 site for some of these.
Nick T.
9th May 2024, 11:19
Alpha Tauri were not using Ferrari engines that year.
MichaelN
9th May 2024, 13:50
AT was using the Honda engines back then.
That previously happened in 2012, when McLaren-Mercedes won race 1 (Australia) and Mercedes itself won race 3 (China.)
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
9th May 2024, 22:12
Oops… you’re both right!