(Reuters) – Formula One statistics for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, round 12 of the 22 race season:
Lap distance: 7.004km. Total distance: 308.052km (44 laps)
2022 pole position: Carlos Sainz (Spain) Ferrari one minute 45.050 seconds
2022 race winner: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull
Race lap record: 1:46.286, Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Mercedes 2018)
Start time: 1300GMT (1500 local)
BELGIUM
There is no Belgian driver on the starting grid but McLaren’s Lando Norris and Verstappen both have Belgian mothers.
Verstappen, who is chasing a third successive Belgian GP victory, was born in Belgium.
The 2021 race was Formula One’s shortest, lasting three laps due to heavy rain after starting from the pitlane behind the safety car. Half-points were awarded.
This year’s will be the 56th Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. Eleven of the last 21 have been won from pole position.
Spa is the longest lap in F1 and one of the fastest, with an average speed of around 230kph. Cars can hit 315kph at Blanchimont.
Four current drivers have won at Spa: Lewis Hamilton (2010, 2015, 2017, 2020), Daniel Ricciardo (2014), Charles Leclerc (2019), Verstappen (2021, 2022).
Michael Schumacher won a record six times at Spa, including from 16th on the grid in a wet 1995 race.
Safety cars have featured in the last seven Belgian GPs.
WINS
Verstappen has won seven races in a row, only the fifth driver to do that after Alberto Ascari, Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg.
The Dutch driver has 44 wins from 174 starts and is fifth on the all-time list. Alain Prost, with 51, is fourth.
Red Bull have won every race this season (nine for Verstappen, two for Perez).
Hamilton has a record 103 career victories from 321 starts but has not won since Saudi Arabia in December 2021.
Aston Martin’s Alonso has 32 wins, most recently in his home Spanish Grand Prix in 2013 with Ferrari, from a record 366 starts.
POLE POSITION
Hamilton’s pole in Hungary last weekend was the record-extending 104th of his career and ended Verstappen’s run of five in a row.
Red Bull have been on pole in nine of the season’s 11 races, with Leclerc taking the top slot in Azerbaijan and Hamilton in Hungary. Verstappen has seven poles for 2023.
PODIUM
Six teams and eight drivers have made a podium appearance this season: Red Bull, Alpine, Aston Martin, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari. Verstappen has yet to finish outside the top two.
Hungary saw Red Bull take their 250th and 251st podium finishes.
POINTS
Verstappen leads Perez by 110 points.
FASTEST LAPS
Five different drivers have taken fastest laps this season – Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou, Verstappen (6), Perez (2) and Mercedes’ George Russell and Hamilton.
MILESTONES
Red Bull are chasing a record-extending 13th consecutive win and 12th of 2023. No team have ever won the first 12 races of a season before, with McLaren winning the opening 11 in 1988.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
