Pierre Gasly entered the British Grand Prix on Sunday uncertain if he would be able to earn points at all this season.
However, the Alpine driver delivered an impressive performance over the weekend, achieving the team’s best result of the season. This brought their total points to 19, yet they still found themselves at the bottom of the championship standings.
With the season only halfway completed, Alpine has already recorded the highest points total for any team finishing last in a season, surpassing the previous record of 12 points set by Haas two years ago. Historical context shows that teams in earlier years might have scored more points under the current scoring system. For instance, Toro Rosso finished last with only eight points in 2009, but would have accumulated 29 points today.
On the other end of the championship, McLaren achieved their fifth one-two finish of the season, the most they’ve had in a single year since 1998. This marked McLaren’s first victory at Silverstone since 2008.
Lando Norris led the McLaren team, making him the 16th British driver to win on home soil. The British Grand Prix has now hosted 30 championship rounds featuring home winners, with all but one being British Grands Prix except for Nigel Mansell’s win in 1985.
Norris secured his eighth career win, overtaking teammate Oscar Piastri and leveling with notable drivers like Charles Leclerc and Denny Hulme. Piastri’s seventh fastest lap ties him with Jacques Laffite for the same achievement.
Max Verstappen earned his 44th pole position, marking the 107th for Red Bull, which places them equal with Lotus on the all-time list.
A key highlight of the British Grand Prix weekend was Nico Hulkenberg finally achieving a podium finish after 239 races, the longest wait for any driver in history. Hulkenberg’s success now shifts the record for most starts without a podium back to Adrian Sutil, whom he replaced at Force India in 2012.
Hulkenberg’s podium marked the 11th for Sauber in their current form. Their previous podium finish was in 2012 with Kamui Kobayashi. If it wasn’t for Hulkenberg, Lewis Hamilton would have continued his streak of 12 consecutive podium finishes at home, instead finishing just shy for the second race in a row.
Over to You
Did you notice any other noteworthy stats from the British Grand Prix? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
