Lando Norris ended a 110-race wait for his first grand prix victory last weekend in Miami.
Only seven drivers had to wait longer than him to score their first wins, two of which are among his current rivals.
In terms of race starts, Norris had to wait as long as Giancarlo Fisichella, who also scored his first win at his 110th attempt. However as the calendar was much shorter 20 years ago, Fisichella’s breakthrough victory came in his eight season, while Norris took his in his sixth.
Fisichella’s first victory came in the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. However he was not credited with the victory until several days afterwards, when the FIA acknowledged it had interpreted its rules incorrectly when the race was stopped. The win was originally credited to, and later taken away from, one of Norris’ predecessors at McLaren: Kimi Raikkonen.
Norris avoided breaking into the top 10 drivers who started the most races without ever winning one. However after last weekend’s race his rival Nico Hulkenberg stands alone at the top of this table. Will his forthcoming return to Sauber, soon to become Audi, give him the chance to join Norris as a grand prix winner?
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Most starts before first grand prix win
Most starts without a grand prix win
Norris also relinquished his position as the driver who scored the most podium finishes without ever winning a grand prix. He’d had 15; Nick Heidfeld now heads that list again on 13.
He is the 114th driver to win a round of the world championship, and the 21st to come from Great Britain. The last British driver to win a race was George Russell at Interlagos in 2022, which was also his first grand prix victory.
Norris scored the 184th grand prix victory for McLaren. They have the second-highest wins total of any team, 60 less than Ferrari, but this was only their second in the last 13 seasons. Norris is therefore the fourth different driver in a row to win a race for McLaren, following Lewis Hamilton (USA 2012), Jenson Button (Brazil 2012) and Daniel Ricciardo (Italy 2021).
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The somewhere rare instance of Verstappen failing to win a grand prix meant he missed the opportunity to surpass Hamilton’s career win rate. But with Verstappen on 30.36% and Hamilton 30.47% this will change at Imola if the Red Bull driver wins there.
Verstappen did win the sprint race however, and by also finishing second on Sunday he achieved the rare feat of scoring…
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