The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
DIDYOUKNOW?ALLTHEFACTSANDFIGURESAHEADOFTHEFIRSTFORMULAONERACEOFTHENEWSEASON
Formula One is back this weekend as Melbourne’s Albert Park plays host to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Here, we take a look at the key statistics and trivia ahead of the first round of the new campaign.
■ Lewis Hamilton is this year bidding to win his fifth world championship. Only Michael Schumacher (seven) and Juan Manuel Fangio (five) have won the F1 title on more occasions than the British driver.
■ Sebastian Vettel has also won the championship four times (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013). This is the first time in the sport’s history that two quadruple world champions have contested for the title.
■ Hamilton is the odds-on favourite to win this year’s title, and he has good form here in Melbourne. The 33-year-old Briton is quick over one lap at Albert Park having taken pole position on six occasions.
■ There may also be some encouragement for the chasing pack, however, with Hamilton only converting two of those six poles into victories (2008 and 2015). Indeed only two of the eight previous polesitters have gone on to win in Melbourne.
■ Hamilton heads into the race having finished in the points at the past 25 races in a row, two shy of Kimi Raikkonen’s record.
■ Vettel will join only Schumacher, Hamilton and Alain Prost to have finished on the podium 100 times if he finishes in the top three on Sunday.
■ Since the Australian GP was added to the calendar more than three decades ago, no Australian driver has finished on the podium. Home favourite Daniel Ricciardo has his work cut out after a three-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement during practice.
■ Williams driver Sergey Sirotkin and reigning Formula Two champion Charles Leclerc, who has signed for Sauber, are the new faces on the grid in 2018. They will both make their debuts in Australia.
■ McLaren has won the most races in the history of the Australian GP (11) but they are in the midst of their worst winless streak in the sport. They have failed to taste victory since Jenson Button won the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix – a run of 96 races.