The 73rd season was a record-setting race in the Formula 1 World Championship, setting new all-time records in several ways and achieving some of the longest runs to the finish.
A 15-year streak has ended for Lewis Hamilton, the unique record held by Daniel Ricciardo. And in the year In 2022 something has happened in Formula 1 since the 1979 season.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are some of the best records set, broken or ended in the 2022 season…
record makers
Max Verstappen 13. Despite his impressive success, Verstappen’s season winning percentage (68.18%) was lower than both Vettel’s in 2013 (68.42%) and Schumacher’s 2004 (72.22%).
Verstappen finished the year with a total of 35 wins, sixth on the all-time points table. Over the course of the season, he passed Mika Haki, Kimi Raikkonen, Damon Hill, Nico Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Juan Manuel Fangio, Niki Lauda, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and Fernando Alonso. His 454 points is also the highest ever.
Interestingly, Verstappen led fewer laps in 2022 (616) than in 2021 (652) – despite winning five more races this season. Most impressively, Verstappen has driven more kilometers (3,164) in 2022 than in 2021 (2,988).
Outside of the world championship, a new all-time mark for most career grand prix was set by Fernando Alonso. He set the record of 349 laps at the Italian Grand Prix ahead of former Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and broke the next round in Singapore. With 355 starts at the end of the season, Alonso has completed almost a third of all World Championship races so far and will surpass that mark when he starts the second round in Jeddah.
Sergio Perez took pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, setting a new F1 record for most starts by any driver before pole at 214. Kevin Magnussen earned the respect of many drivers on the grid without a pole until the start. Pole In Interlagos, Perez’s former Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon will be the active driver starting without a pole (111).
Nico Hulkenberg has joined Aston Martin for two season openers to replace Sebastian Vettel, who has been struck down by Covid. By going scoreless, he extended his own record for most races started without a podium (181).
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First timers
The 2022 season has seen no fewer than four drivers enjoy the first pole position of their career. Perez took the first pole of his career in Jeddah before Carlos Sainz Jnr secured his first pole for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
George Russell was next to take a stunning first career pole in Hungary, before Kevin Magnussen claimed his fourth and final first-time pole in qualifying at Interlagos on Friday. That will make 2022 the first season since 1979 with four pole winners Gilles Villeneuve, Alan Jones, Jean-Pierre Jabuel and René Arnoux taking their first pole position.
In his second season with Ferrari, Sainz eventually won his 112th race, converting pole position at Silverstone to join the ranks of grand prix winners. After taking pole position for the Grand Prix in Brazil, Russell switched and took the checkered flag for the first time in an official 113 win.
Zhou Guanyu became the first driver from China to race in Formula 1 this season. Before Bahrain, Ma Qinghua was the second Chinese driver to compete in a major race after running five practice sessions for HRT. and Caterham in 2012 and 2013.
China became the 41st recognized country in history (including former countries such as East Germany and Rhodesia) to participate in at least one major tournament. After taking a point for the first time, Zhou became the 78th driver to finish in the points in his first F1 race – a feat later matched by Nick de Vries at Monza. Zhou became the first Chinese driver to set the fastest lap in Formula 1 when he set the fastest single lap at the shortened Japanese Grand Prix.
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Series ends
The end of the 2022 season means the streak ends with him. The most famous streak is Lewis Hamilton’s record of at least one win and one pole position in each of his first 15 Formula 1 seasons. He is tied with Michael Schumacher for at least one win and at least one pole, plus 15.
Sebastian Vettel’s final season in Formula 1 was also his only full season in Formula 1 without a podium. His four world championships puts him tied with Alain Prost for the fourth most successful driver in Formula 1 history, and his 53 wins are two ahead of Prost and third only to Schumacher and Hamilton.
Vettel is fourth with 57 pole positions, eight fewer than Ayrton Senna, but third in history for most podiums with 122. When it comes to the race for the lead, Vettel is third behind Schumacher and Hamilton. At least one lap (107) and total laps led (3,501).
Daniel Ricciardo’s unique record off the grid will be broken at the start of next season. Ricciardo has held the record for the number three starts with a single driver number for 188 starts since drivers were first allowed to choose their own driver number in 2014. Number 44 since 2014, next year he will equal Ricciardo’s record in Bahrain and break it in Jeddah.
odds and ends
In total, there were 34 drivers who took part in at least one official grand prix session in 2022 – one more than in 2014 (36).
Only four teams have achieved podium finishes in the season – Red Bull (28), Ferrari (20), Mercedes (17) and McLaren (1) – the fewest from 2018 and half the teams that have taken a podium in 2021.
In the year Six drivers are officially recognized for pole position in 2022 – the most since 2012 (7).
Nick de Vries drove for three different teams in the same season: Mercedes, Williams and Aston Martin. He also tested in the fourth – AlphaTauri – and drove two different cars on the same weekend at Monza (Aston Martin and Williams) starting with Harald Ertl at the Italian Grand Prix in 2015.
With a total race distance of 6,510 km, 2022 was the longest Formula 1 season by far. However, the season’s total number of laps (1,294) was three laps short of the all-time high: 2021 (1,297).
Every driver who has competed in at least 20 Grands Prix has retired at least once in 2022, making 2022 the first season since 2018 without at least one driver completing the entire season without retiring.
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