F1 2021 in numbers - Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton raise the bar

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 2021

F1 2021 in numbers - Verstappen and Hamilton raise the bar

All the headline stats and facts from an enthralling season

GPFans Staff

Monday 27 December 2021 11:00

World champion Max Verstappen will no doubt turn to the stats and facts of the 2021 F1 season if anyone ever tells him his title wasn't deserved, given the multitude of benchmarks he set across the campaign.

There are plenty of other fascinating numbers to dive into, so let GPFans take you through a numerical rundown of one of the greatest F1 seasons.

10 Verstappen victories

Article continues under video

Verstappen won on 10 occasions across the season, two more than Lewis Hamilton. With Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas winning a race each, Red Bull ended the year with more wins than Mercedes.

10 poles for the champion

Verstappen also notched double the amount of poles Hamilton amassed, scoring 10 poles to five.

Bottas had a good year on Saturdays, taking four poles to ensure the gap between Red Bull and Mercedes was just one.

652 laps led

Astonishingly, with 652 laps led across the entire campaign, Verstappen led 50.3 per cent of all racing laps.

Hamilton was next closest, with 297 laps led.

18 podiums to break the record

The record before the start of the season for most podiums in a season was 17. Not anymore, with Verstappen finishing first or second on 18 occasions.

Hamilton reached 17 podiums in a year for the fifth time in his career.

Six fastest laps

Both championship protagonists took six fastest laps across the year, with Bottas earning two more than Perez to ensure Mercedes ended the season with more than Red Bull.

12 fastest pit stops

The undisputed king of the pit stop, Red Bull took a fourth consecutive pit stop award for the fastest stop of the season, timed at 1.88 seconds.

The team amassed 12 fastest stops of the race in 22 races, despite a technical directive changing the systems in place midway through the season.

132 overtakes

Was the amount of passes Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel needed to clinch the inaugural overtake award ahead of Alpine's Fernando Alonso.

1,294 laps raced

Carlos Sainz completed every race, although by being lapped didn't complete every single racing lap in the season.

The Ferrari driver completed 99.77 per cent of all laps across the 22 races, with Hamilton second in the list with 1,269 laps completed.

Three rookies

F1 welcomed three youngsters to the grid in 2021: Haas duo Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda.

Only one rookie will grace the field next year in the shape of Guanyu Zhou at Alfa Romeo.

One first time winner

Esteban Ocon became a grand prix winner for the first time after emerging victorious in Hungary.

Perez took his first win for Red Bull in Azerbaijan whilst Daniel Ricciardo ended his and McLaren's drought in Monza.

Four world champions

Entering the year, four world champions [Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen] all lined up on the grid.

The number will stay the same for next season as Verstappen adds his name whilst Raikkonen retires.

Two [and a half] new tracks

In Qatar and Saudi Arabia, F1 had another two new venues to host grands prix.

But including Zandvoort, which has been heavily reprofiled since F1 had last visited in 1985, it means the sport visited three new circuits to make up the 2021 calendar.