Mercedes’ new star driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli delivered a milestone moment for the manufacturer with his victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.
Antonelli’s latest triumph was the 251st victory for a Mercedes-powered car in the history of the world championship. It puts them level with the most famous and historic name in the series, Ferrari.Mercedes have achieved this despite contesting far fewer grands prix than their rivals. Both were active in the fifties, but Mercedes disappeared for four decades after the horrific deaths of the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Since their return with McLaren in the nineties, Mercedes have consistently been a force to be reckoned with. Ferrari dominated the early noughts but after Mercedes returned with their own factory team they enjoyed an unprecedented run of success the following decade.
Although the factory team had a difficult few seasons prior to this year, McLaren’s return to form helped to sustain the winning rate of their engine division. With Mercedes back on form this year, it has long seemed inevitable they would catch and eventually equal Ferrari’s tally:
However Mercedes’ works team still lags far behind Ferrari’s in terms of total wins. McLaren scored more than 100 of the victories powered by Mercedes engines, while Brawn GP (2009) and Racing Point (2020) also contributed to Mercedes’ tally.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
In contrast, only a single race has ever been won by a Ferrari customer team: Sebastian Vettel’s 2008 Italian Grand Prix victory for Toro Rosso:
Mercedes’ record-equalling win came courtesy of Antonelli’s eighth career victory. That gives him as many as 1967 world champion Denny Hulme, plus Jacky Ickx and Daniel Ricciardo. It’s also one more than his team mate George Russell has scored.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Russell netted the 12th fastest lap of his career. That puts him level with rival Sergio Perez, as well as multiple world champions Alberto Ascari and Jack Brabham, plus Rene Arnoux and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Lewis Hamilton failed to score for the first time this year. He was the last remaining driver to have taken points at every weekend and hadn’t finished outside the top six until his brake failure on Sunday.
For the first time since 2012, Spain held two rounds of the world championship. That year saw the final appearance of Valencia’s street track, an unloved venue which the Madring drew immediate comparisons with.
The Madring is the seventh different Spanish circuit to host F1. It joins Pedralbes, Jarama, Montjuich Park, Jerez, the Circuit de Catalunya and Valencia. France has also hosted F1 at seven different tracks but the only country with more grand prix venues is the USA, with 12.
There was little for the home crowd to celebrate in Madrid, however: Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jnr collided with each other and neither spent a single lap inside the top 10.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Spanish Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.