F1 Crazy Stats Canadian GP: Verstappen chasing Ascari

Until the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the drivers’ classification was still exciting. Sergio Perez managed to keep up with the team’s duel. Baku’s win put him six points in the world championship. But then Max Verstappen lit the afterburner. Since Miami, the world champion has been showcasing his tailpipe exhaust to competition.

To be more precise, extreme dominance began in the 48th round of the Grand Prix in Miami. Since then, Verstappen has not given up the lead. Celebration in South Florida was only the first coup. Three relatively safe first wins followed. By crossing the line in Montreal, the world champion has already completed 224 consecutive laps in the lead.

Find Mansell, Senna and Ascari

At this value, Verstappen is slowly approaching record levels. There are only four longest series in the history of Formula 1. In 1992, Nigel Mansell completed 235 laps from Sao Paulo to Monaco. Ayrton Senna has surpassed this mark twice in his career. From Imola to Phoenix in 1989, it was a 237 lap drive. From Silverstone to Monza a year later, the Brazilian was leading even on 264 consecutive laps.

With 71 laps to go in the race in Spielberg, Verstappen could easily outpace these three brands. In order to take Alberto Ascari’s absolute record from the 1952 season (Belgian Grand Prix to Dutch Grand Prix), the Red Bull must have been on pole all the way to Silverstone. At the tenth round of the GP of England, the record will be equaled.

However, the values ​​are not fully comparable. Distances then were, on average, much longer than they are today. The charts in Monaco and Montreal, where Verstappen completed 148 out of 224 laps, are still among the shortest on the calendar today – just like the next track in Spielberg.

Verstappen is on his way to a record season

So the distance is more representative than the number of laps. And here Verstappen’s current 927km straight is only eighth on the list of best. Among others, Sebastian Vettel, who was 1,112 kilometers ahead from Singapore to India in 2012, was better. Alberto Ascari is also the undisputed leader here with a distance of 2075 kilometres.

But we don’t want to underestimate Verstappen’s current stage of dominance. If you calculate lead times relative to the total number of paid spins, the double champion will get 73.5 percent. No other pilot has maintained such a high percentage over the course of an entire season. By the way, the second place in this ranking is occupied by Jim Clark. In 1963, the Briton had led 71.5 percent of all laps.

In the gallery we have more interesting numbers and comparisons. We will tell you, for example, why Verstappen’s winning streak could continue for another six races, the feat of which Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz were the only pilots in the field who made a completely non-serious list Bernd Maylander set a new record.

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