Great Britain GP
The new sprint format was tested for the first time at the British Grand Prix. But that wasn't the only reason why some crazy statistics ended up being produced. As always, we have collected the most interesting numbers in our Crazy Stats.
Lewis Hamilton and Silverstone - that's a very special connection. The World Champion always seems particularly motivated on British soil. The local hero has won seven of the last nine races at the Home of British Motor Racing. In 2021 he had his name engraved on the traditional gold cup for the eighth time.
With eight wins on a single track, Hamilton has also broken an old record set by Michael Schumacher for a second time. The German also won eight times at Magny-Cours. The record could fall as early as next week. In Budapest Hamilton already has eight wins under his belt. Another triumph at the Hungaroring would put him alone at the top of these statistics.
Schumacher scandal 1998
The number of victories on a single race track is not the only thing in common with Michael Schumacher. At Silverstone, Hamilton won the race despite receiving a ten-second penalty. The Ferrari record winner from Kerpen managed the same feat at the same place in 1998.
At that time, Schumi overtook Alexander Wurz's Benetton in a safety car phase. However, the penalty was not imposed until two laps before the end. According to the regulations, the sinner had three laps to do it. The Ferrari command post did not bring Schumacher into the pits until the last lap. The car crossed the finish line in the pit lane before the stop in front of the garage was reached.
So Schumacher won the race before he had properly served his penalty. After the race, it is not surprising that there were long discussions about how to proceed. In the end, due to a formal error, the FIA decided that the penalty was invalid. So Schumacher was allowed to keep his victory.
List of winners despite penalties
Drivers winning despite penalties are not as rare as you might think. Besides Schumacher and Hamilton, we can also think of Ayrton Senna (GP Brazil 1993) and Alain Prost (GP Germany 1993), who had to stop for 10 seconds in the pits and still ended up on top of the podium. Victories after drive-through penalties were recently collected by Jenson Button (GP Canada 2011), Mark Webber (GP Germany 2009) and Michael Schumacher (GP France 2002).
The new sprint format also provided some interesting numbers and records, which we don't want to withhold from you in our Crazy Stats in the gallery. You'll also find out what record Kimi Raikkonen set at Silverstone, which driver is the biggest loser compared to last season and the last time two Ferrari drivers led a race.
