Seven drivers hold a 100% finish rate at the Spanish Grand Prix, two drivers have scored on every appearance at Catalunya and two drivers have a 100% Q3 appearance rate at the track. Here’s everything you need to know about each driver’s form at the Spanish Grand Prix!
?? Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton has won both of the last two Spanish Grands Prix and has finished in the top two in four of the last five Catalunya races. The only race here where he hasn’t appeared on the podium in the hybrid era was the 2016 event, in which he and team-mate Nico Rosberg eliminated each other from the race on the opening lap. Hamilton has scored a further three podium finishes here, in 2007, 2008 and 2011. In addition to his 2016 retirement, he also failed to finish the Spanish Grand Prix in 2010. There have been only ten instances in Hamilton’s career where he has finished the race without scoring a point, and that has happened twice at this circuit – in 2009 and 2013. Following his disqualification from pole in 2012, 2013 marked the first time the British driver qualified on the front row here – and he hasn’t qualified below second since. He’s taken pole in all of the last three seasons for the Spanish Grand Prix. 2009 is the only season where Hamilton has missed out on Q3 at the track. The 2013 Catalunya race is the only race at the circuit where Hamilton has lost positions from where he started – finishing in twelfth, ten places down on his starting position.
?? Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas scored his first Spanish Grand Prix podium last season, with a second place finish. Before that, he’d finished in the top five on three previous occasions, in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He failed to score for Williams in 2013 and, on his first appearance at the track with Mercedes, retired with an engine failure in 2017. Bottas has qualified in the top ten on all but one appearance at the Spanish Grand Prix, with his only Q1 elimination here coming on his first appearance in 2013. The Finn qualified on the front row at the track for the first time last year. Bottas had beaten his team-mate in qualifying in every season until he joined Mercedes. He’s yet to beat Lewis Hamilton on a Saturday here. The 2016 Spanish Grand Prix is the only race at Catalunya where Bottas has finished in a position higher than where he started from.
?? Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is yet to take a pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix, though he has qualified on the front row at the Catalunya circuit on four occasions. Vettel has won the Spanish Grand Prix once, for Red Bull in 2011. He’s had a further four podium finishes here, with third places in 2010, 2015 and 2016 and, most recently, finished as runner-up in 2017. Vettel recorded his only retirement so far at Catalunya on his first appearance in 2008, and has scored points on every occasion since. Similarly, 2008 is the only time that the German has failed to progress to the final part of qualifying at the circuit.
?? Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc scored a point with a tenth place finish on his first visit to the Catalunya track with the Sauber team last season. He reached Q2, qualifying in fourteenth place and beating his team-mate.
?? Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen recorded his maiden F1 victory on his debut Red Bull appearance at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. It’s one of only two times the Dutch driver has scored at the track from his four appearances, the other being last season when he finished in third. In 2015, Verstappen finished eleventh for Toro Rosso, while he was out on the first lap in 2017. Verstappen is one of only two drivers on the 2019 grid to have never failed to reach Q3 at the track. He’s never failed to qualify in the top six at the Spanish Grand Prix, recording a best grid position of fourth in 2016. He’s qualified in fifth in each of the last two seasons. Verstappen has beaten his team-mate on each of the last two Spanish Grand Prix weekends. In addition to leading 30 laps on his way to victory in 2016, Verstappen also led eight laps of the 2018 race.
?? Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly was out on the first lap of last year’s Spanish Grand Prix after being caught up in the carnage of Romain Grosjean’s spin. The Frenchman reached the second part of qualifying, lining up twelfth on the grid.
?? Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo has a 100% finish rate at the Spanish Grand Prix, and has only failed to score here once. The only time he hasn’t scored at Catalunya was on his first appearance in 2012, where finished thirteenth for Toro Rosso. The Australian has taken two podium finishes at the track, scoring third places in both 2014 and 2017. Ricciardo has reached Q3 in every season since 2014 and his best qualifying position here is third, which he scored in both 2014 and 2016. From his seven appearances at the track, Ricciardo has out-qualified a team-mate three times and has been out-qualified four times. The 2016 Spanish Grand Prix is the only race at Catalunya where Ricciardo has finished in a position lower than where he started it from.
?? Nico Hulkenberg
Nico Hulkenberg has scored points only three times from his eight visits to the Spanish Grand Prix. He’s finished above tenth only once in the race, finishing sixth in the 2017 event. That’s the only race at the Catalunya track which he has finished in the last three seasons, notably being eliminated by a spinning Romain Grosjean on the first lap last season. Hulkenberg has never reached the final part of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, having been eliminated in Q1 twice (including last season) and reaching Q2 six times. Despite this statistic, he has beaten his team-mate in qualifying for the event on more occasions than not.
?? Romain Grosjean
Romain Grosjean has scored points four times at the Spanish Grand Prix and has retired from the race three times. Suspension damage and brake issues brought an early end to his afternoon in 2013 and 2016 respectively, while an ill-advised spin on the opening lap saw his car being crashed into by multiple competitors last year. The Frenchman’s best result here is fourth place, scored on his maiden appearance at the track in 2012. Likewise, his best qualifying result here also came in 2012, when he lined up third on the grid. He also set the fastest lap of the Grand Prix in 2012. Grosjean is yet to beat Magnussen in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix during their time as team-mates.
?? Kevin Magnussen
While Kevin Magnussen has a 100% finish rate at the Spanish Grand Prix, last season marked the first time he has scored at the event from his four appearances. Qualifying in seventh, last season was also the first time he reached Q3 at the Catalunya track. His debut appearance here is the only time he’s failed to beat a team-mate in qualifying, while the 2017 race is the only time the Dane has finished in a position lower than where he started.
?? Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz has been impressive at his home race, and has never failed to score points in front of his home crowd. His best finish so far at the track is sixth, which he scored in 2016, with his worst being ninth in his debut season. Sainz has finished seventh in each of the last two Spanish Grands Prix. The Spaniard has never been beaten by a team-mate in qualifying for the event, and 2017 is the only time that he has failed to reach Q3. Sainz has gained places from his starting position in all of the last three Spanish Grands Prix. In every race which they contested together at Catalunya, Sainz never failed to finish ahead of childhood hero Fernando Alonso.
?? Lando Norris
In F2 last year, Lando Norris secured two podium finishes at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, finishing third in both the Feature and Sprint races.
?? Sergio Perez
From his eight Spanish Grand Prix appearances, Sergio Perez has finished in ninth place four times. There have been only two occasions where the Mexican has failed to score at the Spanish Grand Prix. That happened when he retired from the race in 2012 and finished thirteenth in 2015. His best finishing place at this track is fourth, which he scored in 2017. Perez has reached the final part of qualifying here four times, has been eliminated in Q2 three times and exited in Q1 in 2015. His best Catalunya qualifying position is fifth, which he recorded in 2012 for Sauber. From the seven times he’s reached the chequered flag at the track, the 2013 race is the only time Perez has finished in a position lower than where he started from.
?? Lance Stroll
Lance Stroll is yet to score a point at the Spanish Grand Prix, finishing a best of eleventh last year. He holds a 100% finish rate at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and has gained places from his starting spot in each of his visits to the track. Stroll is yet to beat a team-mate in qualifying at the track and has been eliminated in the first part of qualifying in both 2017 and 2018. He’s lined up eighteenth on the grid in each of the last two years.
?? Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen has failed to finish both of the last two Spanish Grands Prix, retiring on the first lap with suspension damage in 2017 and suffering turbo issues in 2018. Raikkonen is no stranger to DNFs at the track, having four other retirements here in 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2009. The first time Raikkonen scored points in Spain was at the 2005 Spanish Grand Prix – a race which he won. He also won the 2008 race here, and has finished on the podium a further three times since his 2012 comeback. Raikkonen has taken pole for the Spanish Grand Prix twice, in 2005 and 2008, and has qualified in the top seven on all of his last seven appearances at the track. There have been just three occasions where the Finn has failed to qualify in the top ten here – in 2003, 2004 and 2009.
?? Antonio Giovinazzi
Antonio Giovinazzi had a disappointing weekend at the track in GP2 in 2016. He finished only eighteenth in the Feature Race, before a collision with Sean Gelael resulted in a hefty impact with the tyre barrier in the Sprint Race.
?? Daniil Kvyat
Daniil Kvyat has scored on all of his last three Spanish Grand Prix appearances, but is yet to finish above ninth at the circuit. 2015 marks the only time that the Russian has reached the final part of qualifying here, qualifying eighth for Red Bull. It’s also the only time he has beaten his team-mate on a Saturday here on pace alone. Kvyat has a 100% finish rate at the circuit, with 2014 being the only time he has finished a race outside of the points at Catalunya. The 2016 Spanish Grand Prix – the race after he was demoted back to Toro Rosso – is the only time so far in his career that Daniil Kvyat has set the Fastest Lap in a Grand Prix.
?? Alexander Albon
After finishing in the points in both F2 races at the Catalunya circuit in 2017, Alexander Albon finished fifth in last year’s Feature Race, before picking up a podium finish with second place in the Sprint Race.
?? Robert Kubica
Robert Kubica has a 100% finish rate at the Spanish Grand Prix and scored points on all but one of his four appearances at the track. His best result here is fourth place, which he recorded in both 2007 and 2008. 2009 is the only year where he didn’t score a point, finishing in eleventh. The Pole is one of only two drivers on the 2019 grid to have never failed to reach Q3 at the circuit during his career, qualifying a best of fourth in 2008. He’s never been beaten by a team-mate in qualifying at Catalunya. Kubica made his first appearance at an F1 weekend in over seven years here in 2018, when he participated in Free Practice 1 with Williams.
?? George Russell
George Russell has raced at this track in two categories. In GP3 in 2017, he finished fourth and fifth in the two races, while last year in F2, Russell won the Feature Race and finished fourth in the Sprint Race.
