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Canada stats - more Montreal magic for Hamilton

12 Jun 2016

Lewis Hamilton came into the weekend as the only current driver to have won more than once in Canada - and his run continued as he picked up a sublime fifth victory at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, making it his most prolific circuit. We look at all the stand-out stats from the weekend...
  • Before Sunday, there were only three circuits where Hamilton had won on four separate occasions - the Hungaroring, Shanghai, and Montreal. Hamilton's fifth win therefore moves the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve ahead, but it also sets Hamilton apart from the rest of the field - no other current driver has won five times on a single circuit.

  • In fact, only four other drivers in history have won at the same circuit on five or more occasions - Michael Schumacher (at 10 different venues!), Ayrton Senna (Monaco and Spa), Graham Hill (Monaco) and Alain Prost (Silverstone).  The all-time record is held by Schumacher, who won at Magny-Cours a staggering eight times.

  • That wasn't the only record Hamilton picked up: he also passed 2,500 laps led in Formula One Grands Prix, taking him to fifth all-time. Vettel is next up on 2,672 laps led. Senna and Prost are second and third respectively, both within Hamilton and Vettel's sights - but Schumacher is well clear of the rest, having led a total of 5,111 laps over his career.
  • Victory also moved Hamilton onto 1,974 career points. No other driver can beat that, but one other man matches it - Sebastian Vettel's 18-point haul in Canada also moved him onto 1,974 points in total. Fernando Alonso is next up in the lists, with 1,796.

  • It wasn't all smooth sailing for Hamilton however - his unwanted record of not converting pole into a lead through the first corner continued in Canada, with Vettel - who started third - jumping the Briton away from the line.

  • That is something of a rarity at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve - in fact there are only two other occasions since 2000 when the polesitter has not led after the first lap. The first was in 2002, when Juan Pablo Montoya fell behind Rubens Barrichello on the opening lap; the second in 2005, when Jenson Button slipped from pole to third.

  • Another rarity was the fact the polesitter actually went on to win - something that has only happened seven times since the turn of the millenium. Four of that seven have now come via Hamilton.
  • On the other side of the Mercedes garage, Nico Rosberg ended up missing the podium for the third race in a row - his worst run since 2013. After four straight wins to start the season, the German's best finish in the last three races is fifth.

  • This was a bad race too for Williams' Felipe Massa. The Brazilian's record as the only man to score points in every race of 2016 was stopped early on as a water system issue forced him to retire at half-distance.

  • It wasn't all bad news for Williams however - Valtteri Bottas secured them a first podium of the season by finishing third. It was the ninth podium of the Finn's career, and his second straight rostrum in Montreal. Bottas now sits level on podium appearances with Jean Behra, Peter Collins, Elio de Angelis, Eddie Cheever, Alessandro Nannini and Martin Brundle.

  • The final word goes to Carlos Sainz, who managed to salvage points from 20th on the grid. The Spaniard has become something of a specialist at charging through the field. In fact he's started 20th four times, and scored points on all but one occasion - and even then he was running ninth before brake issues forced him to retire (in Russia last year).