The 2023 Formula 1 season has concluded, with Red Bull and Max Verstappen occasionally making light of the sport.
Here are five odd facts from the 2023 Formula one season that might come up at a trivia night.
Red Bull has been the talk of the town this year, setting new records and dominating the competition.
However,that doesn’t mean there aren’t any odd facts worth of notes.
There was no British anthem on the podium
We have all witnessed the podium celebrations following a Grand Prix, where the top three drivers and a member of the winning team ascend onto the platform to receive trophies and be showered in bubbles.
Two National Anthems are played:
One for the winning driver and one for his team.
This year,no British driver or team won a race, meaning that God save the Queen or King was not blast from the speaker system at the conclusion of a Grand Prix weekend for the first time since 2952. The British anthem streak was almost broken the year before when George Russell,a native of kings Lynn, drove his Mercedes to victory in the penultimate race of 2022.
Max Verstappen sets record for wins, winning percentage
It is impossible to talk about the 2023 season without bringing up Verstappen’s dominance.
Verstappen’s 19 grand prix wins this season are a record, surpassing his previous record of 15. It is also the greatest winning percentage of all time with Verstappen winning 86.4 percent of the 22 races. The next best results on the all-time list are Alberto Ascari’s 75 percent (Six out of eight) in 1952 and Michael Schumacher’s 72.22 percent (13 out of 18)in 2004, When the German won his final world title.
The Dutchman was in a league of his own,with race victories feeling like a devine right for the now three-tome world Champion
Charles Leclerc cannot win from pole
Being in pole position, with nothing separating you from the first corner, is the best place to start a motor race
Unless you are Charles Leclerc.
The Ferrari driver has achieved 23 pole positions in his F1 career, but has only been able to convert four of those into wins.
Verstappen has won 11 times when Leclerc has been on pole.
The last time Charles Leclerc won from pole was in Melbourne in 2022.
Since then the Monégasque has secured pole 12 times without converting it into a grand prix win.
In 2023, Leclerc was on pole five times and achieved third three times (Azerbaijan, Belgium, Mexico) second once (Las Vegas) and a disqualification at the United States Grand Prix in Austi
F1 hosts three races in one country
Three proved to be the lucky number for the united state,as the country of the free will host three grand prix in 2023.
Weekend events were held in Miami,Las Vegas and Austin.
This marks the first time since 1982 that Formula one has scheduled and visited a nation three times(not counting the 2020 season that was impacted by COVID-19).
That season races were held in Long Beach in California, Detroit and Las Vegas (in the car park of a casino).
In the Covid-affected season, the revised calendar had three races in Italy.
While three races in one country may seem excessive, the US is big enough in size and population to accommodate.
If you drove from the Circuit Paul Ricard – home of the French Grand Prix, to Monaco, then Imola and then Monza, it would be approximately an 800km trip.
Las Vegas to Austin is around 2000km, while Austin to Miami is more than 2100km.
The distance between any of the three US grands prix is significantly greater than most of the distances between the European circuits.
Haas becomes the most accomplished last-place team in F1
Haas scored 12 points this season,which isn’t enough to get them off the bottom of the table,but 12 points would have been good to be at least second last in every season since 2010.
Full disclosure: This one comes with some caveats,but go with it,No team who finished last cellar-dwellers of 2023 since the current points system-25 points for a win and the top 10 scoring points-was introduced in 2010
Now, this year is tied for the most races in a season(22 races,same as the previous two years)
And we also had six sprint races with points up for grabs.
The fastest lap of the grand prix also earns a bonus point(if the driver finished in the to 10)
A feature added on 2019.
However if your quiz master asks you which team finished last in F1 season since 2010,
Put Haas on your team score sheet.
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