Formula One statistics for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - March 19, 2023 General view during the race REUTERS/Rula Rouhana/File Photo
Follow topic:
Formula One statistics for Saturday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Jeddah's Corniche Circuit, the second round of the 24-race season:
Lap distance: 6.174km. Total distance: 308.450km (50 laps)
2023 winner: Sergio Perez (Mexico), Red Bull
2023 pole: Perez, one minute 28.265 seconds.
2023 fastest race lap: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull 1:31.906
Lap record: 1:30.734 seconds (Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2021)
Start time: 1700 GMT (2000 local)
SAUDI ARABIA
The night race in Jeddah made its debut on the calendar in December 2021, with seven-times world champion Hamilton winning for Mercedes from pole.
Verstappen won from fourth on the grid in 2022, Perez from pole in 2023. Red Bull are now going for their third Saudi win in a row.
Verstappen is the only driver to have been on the podium in every race in Jeddah, finishing second last year after starting 15th due to a driveshaft failure in qualifying.
Perez has been on pole twice in Jeddah, including his first ever in Formula One in 2022, and is chasing a hat-trick this year. He has led more laps at the circuit than anyone else.
The 27-turn Corniche layout is the second longest on the calendar, some 800 metres shorter than Belgium's Spa, and the fastest street circuit. It runs along the shores of the Red Sea.
The safety car was deployed in all three previous races.
CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD
Verstappen has led the championship for a record 40 successive races dating back to Spain in May 2022.
He is eight points clear of Perez after one race.
RACE WINS
Seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton has a record 103 career victories from 333 starts but is chasing his first since 2021 -- a run of 46 races without a win.
Red Bull won 21 of 22 races last year, with Verstappen victorious in a record 19, and have won 32 of the last 34.
Verstappen has won 55 grands prix and is third on the all-time list. Michael Schumacher is second on 91.
Verstappen has won the last eight races. He won a record 10 in a row during the course of last season.
POLE POSITION
Hamilton has a record 104 career poles, his most recent in Hungary last year.
PODIUMS
Verstappen can take his 100th career podium on Saturday.
The champion set a record of 21 podiums in a season last year but Michael Schumacher remains the only driver to have stood on the podium in every race of a season (2002).
MILESTONE
Red Bull can go ahead of Williams in solo fourth place in the all-time list of winners with 115.
Hamilton's seventh place in Bahrain meant he had scored points in 18 successive seasons, a record for the sport. REUTERS
