IN STATS: F1’s Milestone Races

Ahead of the 1000th Formula 1 World Championship race, we take a look back at the links between each milestone race, with an abundance of facts and statistics. Here’s everything you need to know about F1’s milestone events!

The Milestone Races

The 1000th Formula 1 race takes place in Shanghai, China. This is the sixth time that the third race of the season has hosted a milestone race, as well as being the fourth time that a milestone race has been held in April.

MILESTONE APPEARANCES

In total, 173 drivers have appeared at a milestone F1 race, a number which will grow to 181 at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix. 47 drivers have appeared at more than one milestone race, with that figure set to rise to 55 this weekend.

Only nine drivers have been present at three of the milestone races, with both Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton joining that club in China. With his appearance at the 1990 Australian Grand Prix, Riccardo Patrese became the first driver to appear in three of the milestone Grands Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen will become the first driver to have been present at four of the milestone races this weekend, having previously been present in the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix and the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix.

At the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix, Robert Kubica will become the first driver to have been present at two non-consecutive milestone events. He was present for the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, but not the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix. He’ll be in action in Shanghai, though, which makes him the first to skip a milestone race and then be present at the next one!

Twelve drivers, including World Champions Graham Hill, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, have recorded two DNFs at the nine milestone races so far, while Rubens Barrichello retired from all three of his milestone appearances. In better fortunes, Lewis Hamilton could become the first driver to have won two milestone races this weekend, if he follows up his victory from the 900th race, the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix.

MILESTONE RACES IN STATS

All of the last five milestone races have been won by under four seconds, but the smallest win margin in a milestone race came at the 1978 South African Grand Prix, which Ronnie Peterson won by just 0.466 seconds following a last lap scrap with Patrick Depailler.

Ronnie Peterson, Nelson Piquet, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are the only drivers to record two podiums at milestone races. Rosberg finished as runner-up in both the 800th and 900th Grands Prix.

Brabham and Ferrari are the only teams to have taken pole position at more than one milestone event. Brabham started from pole in both the 300th and 400th races, while Ferrari have started from the front in races 100, 700 and 800. Lotus are the only team to have won more than one of the milestone events, with Stirling Moss winning the 1961 German Grand Prix and Ronnie Peterson being victorious in the 1978 South African Grand Prix.

While Ferrari have taken the most poles of any team in the milestone races, they’ve failed to finish on the podium in the 700th, 800th and 900th races.

Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa are the only non-champion drivers to take pole position for a milestone race – though Phil Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Nico Rosberg had not yet been crowned champions when they took pole for the 100th, 600th and 900th races respectively. The tenth milestone race will certainly see a tenth different polesitter, as none of the previous polesitters are on the 2019 grid.

LUCKY AND UNLUCKY GRID SLOTS

The polesitter has only won two of the nine milestone F1 races held so far. With the polesitter winning in both the 1971 Monaco Grand Prix and the 1997 Argentine Grand Prix, pole is the only grid slot which has recorded more than one win in a milestone race. The furthest back a win has come from in a milestone race was Fernando Alonso’s controversial victory from fifteenth on the grid at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. It’s the only time a driver starting from that position has scored in the nine milestone races held so far.

Other unlucky grid slots in milestone races include fifth – which has scored only twice, sixteenth – which has scored only once, and ninth which has finished only three times (though all three of those finishes were in points-scoring positions).

Milestones within Milestones

The nine milestone races so far have provided some milestones of their own. The 100th World Championship race, the 1961 German Grand Prix, saw Stirling Moss take the final win, the final podium, the final points and the final race finish of his World Championship career, which lasted just a further two Grands Prix, and was cut short following a heavy crash in a non-F1 race at Goodwood. The 1978 South African Grand Prix saw the first race appearance for future champion Keke Rosberg, while Gerhard Berger made his first appearance at the 1984 Austrian Grand Prix – which also happened to be the only time an Austrian driver has won his home event, thanks to Niki Lauda. The 1997 Argentine Grand Prix provided Williams with their 100th pole position, as Ralf Schumacher became the sport’s youngest podium finisher – a record which has since been bettered by eight other drivers, seven of whom are on the 2019 grid. The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix saw Jordan win a race for the final time in their history, while the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix saw both David Coulthard and Kazuki Nakajima score the final points of their careers.

The 1000th World Championship race takes place at the Shanghai International Circuit this weekend. Follow @LightsOutF1Blog on Twitter for live updates.