Formula One statistics for the Chinese Grand Prix
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FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China - April 21, 2024 Red Bull's Max Verstappen in action during the race Pool via REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares/File Photo
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Statistics for Sunday's Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit, round two of the 24-race season and the first of six sprint weekends:
Lap distance: 5.451km. Total distance: 305.066km (56 laps)
2024 pole position: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull one minute 33.660 seconds.
2024 winner: Verstappen
Race lap record: Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari, one minute and 32.238 seconds. (2004)
Start time: 0700GMT/1500 local
CHINA
The race made its debut in 2004 and returned in 2024 after a five-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten of the 17 Chinese Grands Prix have been won from pole but the first seven were all won by different drivers.
There is no Chinese driver on the starting grid after Zhou Guanyu, who raced last year, lost his seat at Sauber. He will still be in attendance as Ferrari reserve.
Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver with six wins (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019).
Two other current drivers have won in China -- Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2013, and Max Verstappen in 2024.
Mercedes have won six times, Ferrari four, McLaren and Red Bull three each. Red Bull's first Formula One win was at the circuit in 2009.
The lowest winning grid slot in China is sixth for Daniel Ricciardo in 2018 and Schumacher in 2006 -- when the seven-times world champion took his 91st and final victory in Formula One.
The track has two long straights and 16 turns and puts stress on the front tyres. It has been fully resurfaced for this year, with only one practice session due to the sprint format.
Hamilton has been on pole a record six times in China. Alonso and Verstappen have also been on pole in Shanghai.
CHAMPIONSHIP
McLaren's Lando Norris leads the drivers' championship for the first time after winning in Australia.
Four-times world champion Verstappen had previously led since the Spanish Grand Prix of May 2022, a span of 1,029 days, and had also won the 2023 and 2024 season-openers.
RACE WINS
Hamilton has a record 105 career victories from 357 starts. Verstappen has won 63 grands prix and is third on the all-time list after Schumacher on 91.
Norris has now won two races in a row -- the last of 2024 and first of 2025 -- for the first time.
POLE POSITION
Hamilton has a record 104 career poles, his most recent in Hungary in 2023.
SPRINTS
Verstappen has won 11 of 18 sprints held to date and scored more points in them than any driver.
ROOKIES
Only two of the six drivers starting a season for the first time finished in Australia: Andrea Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes and Oliver Bearman for Haas.
Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), Mick Doohan (Alpine) and Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) have yet to score while Liam Lawson is waiting to open his account at Red Bull after moving up from Racing Bulls.
MILESTONE
Antonelli -- at 18 years, six months and 18 days -- became the youngest F1 debutant to score points with fourth place in Australia.
He is also the second youngest driver ever to score after Verstappen and the third youngest to start a race.
Antonelli is the first driver since Brazilian Felipe Nasr in 2015 to finish in the top five on his debut. REUTERS
