Mexican GP Stats

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor

The most obvious stat from the Mexican Grand Prix is that Lewis Hamilton is now a four time World Champion. In doing so he has equaled his rival Sebastian Vettel, and Alain Prost. The only drivers with more titles remain Juan Manuel Fangio with five and Michael Schumacher with seven.

The way Hamilton clinched the title was somewhat anticlimactic and his ninth place finish is the lowest finishing position any driver has ever held to clinch a championship, though Schumacher came close with an eighth place finish in the 2003 Japanese Grand Prix.

Though Vettel couldn’t hold off the inevitable any longer, he did score his 50th pole position. Only Ayrton Senna, Schumacher, and Hamilton have more.

With ninth place Hamilton was able to salvage his impressive point scoring streak and extend it to 23 races which ties Fernando Alonso’s best point scoring streak. It falls just four races shy of Kimi Raikkonen’s all time record of 27 consecutive races in the points, something Hamilton can equal next April in Bahrain if his luck holds out.

Esteban Ocon extended his record of consecutive races finished from the beginning of a drivers career to an impressive 27. He also tied his best result of the year with a very strong fifth place finish, despite the fact that he and the team felt the podium may have been in reach.

Not to be overshadowed completely, Max Verstappen won the third race of his short but so far spectacular career. Interestingly enough he joins his team mate Daniel Ricciardo in the fact that neither driver has won a race from pole position. Max never having scored a pole, and Daniel cruelly robbed of victory from pole last year in Monaco.

Verstappen has now won as many races as Phil Hill, Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, Didier Pironi, Giancarlo Fisichella, Theirry Boutsen, Johnny Herbert, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

This places Verstappen seventh of the eight active drivers who have won a Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas has two, Ricciardo five, Felipe Massa 11, Kimi Raikkonen 20, Fernando Alonso 32, Vettel 46, and Hamilton 62.

All three of Verstappen’s wins have come after Daniil Kvyat has been demoted. With news that Kvyat has now been dropped entirely, Max might find himself a bit nervous to see his good luck charm out of F1.