F1 Driver Form: Spanish Grand Prix

Max Verstappen became Formula 1’s youngest race winner at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. He won at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for a second time in 2022, having finished on the podium in all of the four previous seasons.

Verstappen has failed to score at the track only twice, with an 11^th place finish on his first visit in 2015 and a retirement on the opening lap of the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen has never failed to qualify in the top six at the circuit. He’s yet to take pole position at the track but has qualified on the front row in each of the last two seasons. He has not been out-qualified by a team-mate at the circuit since 2016.

From his 12 appearances at the Spanish Grand Prix, Sergio Perez has scored nine times. Perez recorded his best result at Catalunya to date in 2022, finishing as runner-up to his team-mate. It was his first podium appearance at the circuit, having had a previous best finish of fourth with Force India in 2017. He also finished in the top five in both 2020 and 2021.

2012 is the only season that Perez has failed to reach the end of the race at Catalunya, while 2015 and 2019 are the only other years in which he has failed to score.

Perez recorded his best Spanish Grand Prix qualifying result in 2020 with fourth place. He qualfiied in the top five for the third time at the circuit last year, having also done so with Sauber in 2012.

2013 and 2020 are the only years in which Perez has lost a position from where he has started at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc has scored points on three of his five Spanish Grand Prix appearances. He recorded his best result to date here in 2021, with fourth place. He finished tenth with Sauber in 2018 and fifth with Ferrari in 2019.

Leclerc has also recorded two retirements at the Spanish Grand Prix. Mechanical issues sidelined him in 2020 and turbo issues put him out of the race, while he was leading, in 2022.

Leclerc’s maiden season is the only one in which he has not reached Q3 at the track. He recorded his first pole position at the track last year, qualifying on the front row here for the first time. 2019 remains the only time that Leclerc has been out-qualified by a team-mate at the Catalunya track.

Carlos Sainz has never failed to score in all eight of his appearances at his home event. His best result so far is fourth place, recorded in 2022.

Sainz has reached Q3 at the track six times, and his best qualifying result at the track is third place last year. Until 2022, his best qualifying result at the circuit was recorded on his first appearance, in 2015, when he qualified an impressive fifth with Toro Rosso.

Sainz has been out-qualified by a team-mate at the Spanish Grand Prix in three of the last four seasons.

For the first time since 2016, Lewis Hamilton did not win the Spanish Grand Prix in 2022. Hamilton took five consecutive wins at the track between 2017 and 2021 and has won here six times in total, having also been victorious in 2014. He has taken a further four podium finishes here.

Hamilton finished fifth last year – his worst result at the circuit since his 2016 retirement, when he collided with team-mate Nico Rosberg on the opening lap. That was his second retirement at the venue, having also retired in the closing stages of the 2010 race. 2009 and 2013 are the other occasions that Hamilton has failed to score at the venue.

Hamilton has qualified in the top ten at this circuit in every year except 2009. He took pole in 2012, but was later disqualified. That was the last time he did not start on the front row at the track until 2022, when he qualified sixth.

In the last nine seasons, Hamilton has started from pole at the Spanish Grand Prix on six occasions. 2013 is the only season that Hamilton has finished the Spanish Grand Prix in a worse position than where he started from.

Before 2022, George Russell had never previously scored at the Spanish Grand Prix with a best result of 14^th place. He picked up his first points at the track in 2022 with a podium result, finishing in third place.

Last year was also the first time Russell reached Q3 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. After two Q1 exits in 2019 and 2020, plus a Q2 elimination in 2021, Russell qualified in fourth place in 2022. He is yet to be out-qualified by a team-mate at the track.

Prior to F1, Russell raced at this track in two categories. In GP3 in 2017, he finished fourth and fifth in the two races, while in 2018 in F2, Russell won the Feature Race and finished fourth in the Sprint Race.

From his six previous appearances at the Spanish Grand Prix, Esteban Ocon has scored three times. He recorded what was then a career-best result of fifth at the event in 2017. He has scored here in each of the last two years, with ninth place in 2021 and seventh in 2022. Ocon does not have a 100% finish rate at the circuit, having retired with an oil leak in 2018.

Ocon recorded his best qualifying result at the circuit so far in 2021, with fifth. It was the first time he reached Q3 here since 2017. He exited in Q2 in 2018, 2020 and 2022.

Pierre Gasly has scored on his three of his five appearances at the Spanish Grand Prix, with a best result of sixth in 2019. He failed to finish the race on his first appearance in 2018 and finished outside of the points, in 13^th, last year.

Gasly reached Q3 in 2019 and 2020, with a best qualifying result of sixth – but he has failed to reach the top ten at the track in the last two seasons. He recorded his worst qualifying result to date at the track in 2022, qualifying 14^th.

Gasly is yet to gain more than two positions from where he has started at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Lando Norris scored his first point at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2020 with a tenth place finish. He bettered that in 2021 with eighth place and finished eighth again last year. Norris failed to finish the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix following a collision with Lance Stroll.

Norris reached Q3 at the circuit in both 2020 and 2021, with a best qualifying result of eighth place in 2020. He was eliminated in Q2 by qualifying 11^th in both 2019 and 2022.

In F2 in 2018, Norris secured two podium finishes at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, finishing third in both the Feature and Sprint races.

Oscar Piastri has previously raced at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019 and, most recently, in Formula 3 in 2020. He has previously won at the track, having taken victory from fifth on the grid in the 2020 F3 Sprint Race.

Valtteri Bottas is yet to win the Spanish Grand Prix, but finished on the podium in all four seasons between 2018 and 2021. From his ten appearances, 2013 and 2017 are the only seasons in which Bottas has not scored at Catalunya. He finished 16^th in 2013 and recorded his only retirement at the track in 2017 due to an engine failure. Other than that, last year’s sixth place is his only other non-top five finish at the venue.

After qualifying third in 2017 and second in 2018, Bottas took his first pole position at the circuit in 2019. He qualified on the front row for a third consecutive season in 2020. 2013 is the only year that the Finn has failed to reach Q3 at the circuit.

Bottas has only ever led three laps at the track. He led for three laps in 2017 before he retired from the race. The Finn has never gained more than two positions from where he has started at the track.

Zhou Guanyu failed to finish on his Spanish Grand Prix debut in 2022. He reached Q2 in qualifying, qualifying in 15^th place – eight positions behind his team-mate.

Zhou made four appearances in Formula 2 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He finished in the top four on three of those four appearances, recording podiums in both the 2019 and 2020 Feature Races.

Fernando Alonso has won the Spanish Grand Prix twice, in 2006 and 2013. The 2013 Spanish Grand Prix remains Alonso’s most recent victory in Formula 1.

Alonso has taken a further five podium finishes in front of his home crowd. The Spaniard has scored only twice in his last six home race appearances. He has recorded three retirements in total – his most recent being in 2015 and 2016.

2006 is the only season in which Alonso has taken pole here, though he has qualified on the front row on a further three occasions. In his last 18 appearances, since 2003, 2015 and 2022 are the only times that Alonso has failed to qualify in the top ten. He recorded his first Q1 exit at the track in 2022, with 17^th place. It was his worst qualifying appearance at his home event since qualifying 18^th on his first appearance in 2001.

Alonso has been out-qualified by his team-mate only four times at Catalunya – including in each of the last two seasons.

Lance Stroll scored at the Spanish Grand Prix for the first time in 2020 with a fourth place finish. He finished outside of the points on four of his other five appearances, and retired from the race in 2019 after a collision with Lando Norris.

His fifth place in qualifying in 2020 was the first time that Stroll has made it out of Q1 at the circuit. He reached Q2 in 2021 but recorded his fourth Q1 exit at the track last year. 2021 was the first – and so far only – time the Canadian has out-qualified a team-mate at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

From seven previous appearances at the Spanish Grand Prix, Kevin Magnussen has scored twice. Both of his points-scoring appearances here came with Haas, with a best result of sixth in 2018. He finished seventh in the following season.

Magnussen has a 100% finish rate at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and recorded his worst result to date at the track in 2022, finishing 17^th.

Magnussen has three Q3 appearances in Spain, in 2018, 2019 and 2022. He has out-qualified his team-mate on five of his seven appearances. The Dane has never gained more than two positions from where he has started in races at this track. He lost nine positions in last year’s race.

Nico Hulkenberg has made nine previous appearances at the Spanish Grand Prix. From those nine appearances, Hulkenberg has picked up points three times, with a best result of sixth. His other two points-scoring races here were both tenth places in 2012 and 2014. Hulkenberg has failed to reach the chequered flag twice – in 2016 and 2018.

Hulkenberg has never reached Q3 at the Spanish Grand Prix. He has qualified 11^th here twice, in 2014 and 2016. He has been eliminated in Q1 on each of his last two appearances at the circuit. Of the races he has finished here, 2010 is the only time that the German has finished in a worse position than where he started.

Yuki Tsunoda retired on his first appearance at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2021. He failed to make it out of Q1, qualifying in sixteenth place. In 2022, Tsunoda picked up a point at the track with a tenth place finish. He out-qualified team-mate Pierre Gasly, reaching Q2 and qualifying in 13^th place.

Tsunoda previously competed at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Formula 3 and Formula 2. In F2 in 2020, Tsunoda finished fourth in both the Feature Race and the Sprint Race.

Nyck de Vries appeared in Free Practice 1 at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix with Williams. He last raced at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Formula 2. He finished on the podium in the 2018 Feature Race and won the 2019 Sprint Race.

Alex Albon has made three appearances at the Spanish Grand Prix and has scored once, with an eighth place finish for Red Bull in 2020. On his other two appearances, he finished 11^th with Toro Rosso in 2019 and 18^th with Williams last year.

2020 is also the only time that Albon has reached Q3 here, having been out in Q2 in 2019 and recording a Q1 exit with a back row qualification in 2022. Despite qualifying on the back row, it was the first time Albon has out-qualified his team-mate at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Logan Sargeant has plenty of racing experience at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Last year, he finished in the top four in both Formula 2 races at the circuit, including a podium in the Sprint Race.