Jere commented on the post, Red Bull could become first team to score 1,000 points in a season

Not every win is a landmark one for Red Bull, but the numbers keeping adding up with each instance that they are victorious.

The team’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory was their 25th one-two result, with Sergio Perez leading home Max Verstappen.

With their fourth win from four grands prix in their first season with engines now badged as “RBPT Honda”, those units now have as many victories as Mugen-Honda, another F1 engine builder that used Honda designs.

As for Red Bull’s drivers, they also had some statistical landmarks to celebrate beyond extending their advantage at the top of the 2023 standings.

Perez became the first driver to win twice in Azerbaijan Perez’s sixth grand prix win put him level with world champions John Surtees and Jochen Rindt, as well as Tony Brooks, Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Laffite, Riccardo Patrese and Ralf Schumacher. It was also his 29th podium finish.

His team mate Verstappen may not have been most pleased to be runner-up for the 28th time in his F1 career, but his 81st podium finish means he has now achieved the feat more times than Ayrton Senna did in his career. With a 23rd consecutive points-scoring finish there are now only three drivers who have gone on longer scoring runs than Verstappen. He has now also drawn level with Rubens Barrichello, the third most experienced driver in F1 history, for consecutive starts as he has started the last 167 grands prix.

Red Bull scored 57 from a possible 59 points last weekend. That means they are still capable of becoming the first team ever to score more than 1,000 points in a season over the course of the year.

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That would be a significant increase over the 759 points they amassed last season. However there are several factors in their favour.

Red Bull already have 180 points compared to 113 after four races last year. There is an extra round on the calendar this year plus three more sprint events, adding up to an further 88 points available. And they have a much greater performance advantage over their rivals than they did 12 months ago.

There are 911 points available over the remaining races so Red Bull could even afford a no-score in one of the remaining rounds and still break the 1,000 barrier. It’s still a tall order, though:

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Finishing behind the Red Bull pair in Baku was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who drew level with Jacky Ickx with his 25th podium finish and also claimed his 19th F1 pole last weekend.

Two qualifying sessions in one weekend last happened in 2005 It was neither the qualifying pacesetter or the race dominators who set the fastest lap on Sunday. It changed hands several times over the closing minutes of the race. With three laps to go, Verstappen set a 1’44.566, only for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to cross the line 0.025 seconds faster.

Verstappen responded by improving to 1’44.474 on the next lap, but Alonso bettered that by 0.233s too. There was even more pace in the bag for Verstappen, and he met the chequered flag having completed the final tour in 1’44.232. That was 0.009s faster than Alonso, who did not improve on the final tour.

But then Mercedes’ eighth-placed George Russell, who had pitted for a fresh set of soft tyres, finished the race by setting a 1’43.370, securing the sixth fastest lap of his career by a massive 0.862s.

That achievement puts him level with seven drivers, including world champions Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill and Emerson Fittipaldi. It was Mercedes’ 101st fastest lap in F1.

Alonso ended up finishing Sunday’s race in fourth, with team mate Lance Stroll in seventh. With the pair having finished sixth and eighth respectively in Saturday’s sprint race, it meant Aston Martin ended the weekend having surpassed 200 points since their return to F1 in 2021.

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The sprint race was the seventh in F1 history, and Baku was the sixth track to hold one. Perez became the fourth driver to be a sprint winner, and it marked the second occasion he has made the top three in a sprint race. Verstappen has now done that six times out of seven by finishing third, while Leclerc’s second place was his third sprint race podium.

The late changes to the race weekend format meant this was F1’s first round since the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix to feature two qualifying sessions. On that occasion the drivers’ best times from each were combined to determine the grid, and Kimi Raikkonen triumphed with a combined time of 2’30.323.

Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

• Russell won’t change how he races Verstappen after move which “upset” rival
• Aston Martin radio messages reveal how “older brother” Alonso helps Stroll
• How slashing practice to a single hour in Baku tripped up F1 teams
• Red Bull could become first team to score 1,000 points in a season
• Aston Martin hoping DRS fix works in Miami after Stroll manages fault in race

Browse all 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix articles