As Verstappen seeks a fifth successive Suzuka win, Mercedes could make this only the third time a team finishes 1-2 in the first three races of the season and McLaren could surpass their longest double Q3 appearance streak. Here are the milestones and the records which could be broken at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix!
The 2026 Japanese Grand Prix Milestones
The 2026 Japanese Grand Prix will be the 1,152nd race in World Championship history.
The 2026 Japanese Grand Prix will be the 50th Japanese Grand Prix since the event was first held in 1963 and the 40th time that the event has been held as a round of the World Championship. It will be the 36th Japanese Grand Prix held at Suzuka in World Championship history.
This will be the 42nd time in total that a round of the Formula 1 World Championship has taken place in Japan. In addition to the 39 previous Japanese Grands Prix, the Pacific Grand Prix was also held in the country in 1994 and 1995.
This will be the fifth Formula 1 race held on March 27. The last race held on this date was the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Formula 1 Records Which Could Be Broken
Max Verstappen has won the Japanese Grand Prix in every season since 2022. A victory in the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix would be his fifth successive victory at Suzuka. He’d equal the record for most consecutive wins at a track, currently shared between Ayrton Senna – who won five times in a row at Monaco from 1989 to 1993, and Lewis Hamilton – who won five times in a row at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from 2017 to 2021.
If George Russell or Kimi Antonelli finish on the podium at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix, Mercedes will equal Williams for third place on the list of most podium finishes. If both drivers finish in the top three, Mercedes will surpass Williams’ tally of 315 podium results.
McLaren have reached Q3 with both cars at all of the last 30 races, since the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Another double Q3 appearance at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix will see the team surpass their personal best of most successive double Q3 appearances. They last reached Q3 with both cars at 30 consecutive events between the 2007 Australian Grand Prix and the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix. They’d also equal Ferrari for the second longest run of double Q3 appearances. The Scuderia achieved the feat at 31 races in a row from the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix to the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix.
If the polesitter wins this weekend, it would be the 500th round of the World Championship to be won by a driver starting from pole position.
If Mercedes record a 1-2 result at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix, it would be only the third time that a team has taken 1-2 finishes at each of the first three Grands Prix in a season. The only other times it has happened were in 1992, when Williams took 1-2 finishes in the first three races, and in 2019, when Mercedes themselves finished 1-2 in all of the first five races of the year.
Victory for Norris would see him equal David Coulthard for sixth on the list of most Grand Prix wins with McLaren.
A victory for McLaren would make 2026 the 40th season in which they’ve taken a win.
If Oscar Piastri wins, he will join a list of eight other drivers who have won as many as ten Grands Prix without ever winning the title.
A sixth place finish for Carlos Sainz or Fernando Alonso will see them equal Felipe Massa for the most sixth place finishes in F1 history. Massa recorded 27 sixth place finishes during his career, while Sainz and Alonso have had 26 to date.
If British drivers lead 38 laps of the race between them, Britain will become the first nation to reach the milestone of 20,000 Grand Prix laps led by a country.
With Kimi Antonelli having taken his maiden win at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix, there are now 13 previous Grand Prix winners on the grid. If another driver takes a maiden victory this year, the next race will be the first time since the 1980 British Grand Prix that as many as 14 previous winners have lined up on the grid.
VERSTAPPEN AND RED BULL CHASING RECORDS
A podium finish for Max Verstappen would make him the eighth driver to record podium results in as many as 11 consecutive seasons.
Max Verstappen has won 71 races to date with Red Bull. Another victory would see him equal Michael Schumacher for the second-most victories with a single constructor. Schumacher won 72 races with Ferrari during his career. The record for most wins with a team is 84, for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.
A fastest lap for Max Verstappen would be his 38th, equalling Sebastian Vettel for fifth on the list of most fastest laps.
A victory for Max Verstappen in 2026 would make him only the fourth driver – after Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – to have won in as many as 11 different Formula 1 seasons.
If Max Verstappen wins a race in 2026, it would be the 11th consecutive season in which he has won a Grand Prix. Verstappen would be only the third driver to win in as many as 11 successive years. Michael Schumacher reached the milestone in 2002, while Lewis Hamilton achieved the feat in 2017. Both drivers went on to win in 15 consecutive years.
A pole position in 2026 for Max Verstappen would make him the fifth driver – after Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – to record pole positions in as many as eight consecutive Formula 1 seasons.
If Max Verstappen leads from start to finish, this would be the 19th Grand Prix which he has led from lights to flag. That would see him equal Ayrton Senna for second on the list of most races led from start to end.
If Max Verstappen leads the Drivers’ Championship after any race in 2026, it will be the 79th race after which he has led the standings. He will overtake Alain Prost for the most rounds after which a driver has led the title race.
Max Verstappen holds the record for wins from the most different grid positions in Formula 1. He’ll become the first driver to win from 11 different grid slots this weekend should he win from 5th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th or 20th on the grid.
A victory for Red Bull would be their 131st win, equalling Mercedes for third on the list of all-time Grand Prix victories.
A victory for Red Bull in 2026 would make this the 11th consecutive season in which they have won a Grand Prix. They would be the fifth team to have won in as many as 11 successive seasons, after Lotus, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.
If a Red Bull driver leads a Grand Prix in 2026, it will be the 20th consecutive season in which the team has led races in as many as 20 successive years. Red Bull will be the third team to reach the milestone. McLaren hold the record for most consecutive years in which a team has led laps, having led in all 34 years from 1981 to 2014. Ferrari are the only other team to lead laps in as many as 20 years in a row, having done so twice – from 1950 to 1972 and from 1993 to 2019.
Ferrari to the Fore?
A win for Ferrari would make 2026 the 60th season in which they’ve won a Grand Prix.
A pole position for Charles Leclerc would see him equal Nigel Mansell for eighth on the list of most poles with a single team. Mansell took 28 poles with Williams during his career, while Leclerc has taken 27 poles with Ferrari to date.
A win for Lewis Hamilton would make him the 16th driver to have won Grands Prix with as many as three different teams.
A victory for Lewis Hamilton in 2026 would see him extend his record for the most different seasons in which a driver has won a Grand Prix to 17.
A fastest lap for Lewis Hamilton in 2026 would see him extend the record for most consecutive seasons in which a driver has recorded a fastest lap. His streak is currently 16 years, having started in 2010.
A Grand Slam for Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton – winning from pole position having led every lap and set the fastest lap – would be their seventh Grand Slam. It would see them take outright second place on the list of most Grand Slams in F1, behind only Jim Clark.
A victory for a Ferrari-powered car at any race in 2026 would be the engine manufacturer’s 250th Grand Prix win. The works team have taken all but one of the previous 249 wins for Ferrari power – the exception being Sebastian Vettel’s victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
The Japanese Grand Prix Records On Offer
A victory for Lewis Hamilton at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix would see him equal Michael Schumacher’s record for the most wins at the event. Schumacher won the Japanese Grand Prix six times in his career, compared to Hamilton’s five wins to date. While Schumacher took all of his Japanese Grand Prix wins at Suzuka, Hamilton took one of his at Fuji Speedway.
A win for Max Verstappen would see him equal Lewis Hamilton for second place on the list of most Japanese Grand Prix victories, as well as overtake Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel for second place on the list of most wins at Suzuka.
While McLaren can become the first team to record ten Japanese Grand Prix victories this weekend, Red Bull could equal McLaren for the most victories at the event, having taken eight previous Japanese Grand Prix wins.
Red Bull lead the way for most victories at Suzuka, with eight. Their record could be equalled this weekend by Ferrari or McLaren.
A podium finish for Lewis Hamilton would see him equal Michael Schumacher’s record of nine top three finishes at the Japanese Grand Prix.
If a McLaren driver finishes on the podium at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix, McLaren will become the first team to record as many as 30 top three finishes in the event’s history.
Lewis Hamilton is currently tied with Michael Schumacher for the most fastest laps at the Japanese Grand Prix. A fifth this weekend would see him set a new outright record.
McLaren and Williams are currently tied as the teams with the most fastest laps at the Japanese Grand Prix, with eight apiece. Either team could set a new record this weekend, while Ferrari could equal the existing record tally. Meanwhile, McLaren could equal Williams’ record of eight fastest laps at Suzuka.
If Lewis Hamilton leads eight laps of the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix, he will overtake Sebastian Vettel for second on the list of most laps led at Suzuka. Max Verstappen could overtake both Vettel and Hamilton on the list, if he leads 20 laps and Hamilton leads none.
McLaren currently lead the way for most laps led at Suzuka, with 387 laps led. Ferrari (385) or Red Bull (362) could lead the list by the end of the weekend.
Fernando Alonso will overtake Michael Schumacher at the top of the list of most laps raced at Suzuka if he completes the first 26 laps of the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix. Alonso has raced 837 laps here to date, compared to Schumacher’s 862.
2026 Japanese Grand Prix: Qualifying Records
A pole position for Red Bull would see them equal Ferrari’s record of ten Japanese Grand Prix pole positions.
A pole position for a Ferrari-powered car at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix would see Ferrari overtake Renault as the engine manufacturer with the most poles at Suzuka.
A Q1 exit for Lance Stroll would be his sixth at Suzuka, overtaking Marcus Ericsson for the most Q1 eliminations at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Longevity Records on Offer for Alonso
Fernando Alonso’s last win came at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix. A victory at any race in 2026 would see him set a new record for the longest gap between wins in F1 history, by quite a margin. Riccardo Patrese holds the current record, having waited 6 years, 6 months and 28 days between wins at the 1983 South African Grand Prix and the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix.
A podium finish for Fernando Alonso at any race in 2026 would see him overtake Alain Prost for fifth on the list of most podium finishes in Formula 1. Both drivers have recorded 106 top three finishes.
If Fernando Alonso leads a race, he would become only the third driver – after Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – to have led a lap of a Grand Prix in as many as 16 different seasons.
A victory for Fernando Alonso in 2026 would make him only the fourth driver – after Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart and Alain Prost to have won with as many as four different constructors during his Formula 1 career.