— 16 —
Number of positions gained by Verstappen and Charles Leclerc on their respective recovery drives in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. With it being heralded by many as one of the standout performances of the year – and of his career – Verstappen’s Sao Paulo masterclass perhaps needs little introduction, the Dutchman having climbed his way up from P16 to P1 amid treacherous weather conditions. But Leclerc also caught the eye by carving his way through the field in Abu Dhabi, ending the race on the podium in an impressive P3 after starting down in P19.
— 26 —
How many years McLaren waited to win the constructors’ championship again. Given the strong form of Verstappen and Red Bull at the start of the campaign, this achievement would most likely not have been predicted when the season got under way – but the Woking outfit built on their progression in 2023 to go even further this time around, claiming a total of six wins and 666 points to clinch the constructors’ title for the first time since 1998. To put that into perspective, both Norris and Piastri had not even been born then…
— 9723 —
The number of days since F1’s last identical pole position lap time was set. This very rare feat happened again during a super-close qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix, with George Russell and Verstappen incredibly both setting a fastest time of 1m 12.000s in Q3.
Given that Russell had put his effort in first, the Mercedes man started from pole. So unusual is this occurrence that it last happened back in October 1997, when Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen all posted identical times in qualifying at Jerez.
