So with the 2021 season starting in just under 8 weeks, it is a good time to look at the records which could be broken this year.
First of all the most obvious one would be Lewis Hamiltons 8th World Championship title. He equaled Michael Schumacher’s seven world championships last year and will more than likely go on to doing one better this year. Theres no real regulation changes this year, so there should be no reason why Hamilton and Mercedes will not dominate the season once again.
There are also two more records which have never been seen before for Lewis Hamilton this year. He is just two poles away from becoming the first man in history to record 100 Poles, as well as he is five wins away will ensure Hamilton becomes the first driver to take a century of Grand Prix wins. You would not want to bet against Hamilton not achieving these both in 2021. 2010 and 2011 are the only seasons in which he has failed to take at least two pole positions so far in his career, but since then he has won at least nine races in every season since 2014!
2020 was also the year Mercedes went on to win seven consecutive Constructors championship, that was a new record for most successive title wins for a team. If they win an eighth which is looking very likely there will be a new record for the most successive seasons in which an engine manufacturer has won. The current record for most successive wins for an engine manufacturer in Constructors championship is almost fifty years old, Ford Cosworth powered seven consecutive title wins between 1968 to 1974- the teams were Lotus, Tyrell and also McLaren during them years.
Fernando Alonso returning to F1 for 2021 with Alpine was a pretty big announcement last year, his long awaited return comes almost seven years since he took his last Grand Prix win in 2013 at the Spanish Grand Prix. If he wins during the 2021 season there will be a new record for the longest gap between two race victories, the current record is six years, six months and twenty eight days which is held by Riccardo Patrese. 2020 we had a few surprise wins, so anything can be possible in 2021, and if Alonso is right place at the right time I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him claim a 33rd Victory this season.
Lewis’ coronavirus infection led him to be unable to eclipse Michael Schumacher’s record of most laps led by the smallest of margins. Hamilton has led 5,099 laps in his career so far which is just twelve short of Michael Schumacher’s record of 5’111. Schumacher has held the record since overtaking Aryton Senna’s tally of 2,931 laps led. Between Schumacher and Hamilton they have led over 15% if all racing laps in F1 history.
And finally, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen could set a new record for being the trio to have finished on the podium the most times together. The record currently belongs to 7 time champion Lewis Hamilton, one time champion Nico Rosberg and four time champion Sebastian Vettel, they shared the podium on fourteen occasions. Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen only need one more time to equal that tally, in 2020 the trio finished in top three together on eight occasions alone in 2020.
Jordan's Track Talk 