Pierre Gasly went into Sunday’s British Grand Prix wondering if he would score a point again all year.
However the Alpine driver pulled off a superb performance on Saturday and Sunday to score the team’s best result of the season so far. It lifted them onto a total of 19 points – but despite that tally they remain rooted to the bottom of the championship table.
Just halfway into the season, Alpine already have the highest points score of any team which ended a season in last place, so this record is certain to be beaten by someone this year. The previous best score for a last-placed team was Haas’s 12 points two years ago.
It is possible other teams would have scored more points under the current scoring system in earlier campaigns. For example, Toro Rosso placed last with eight points in 2009, but under today’s system would have had 29. The constructors’ championship was introduced in 1958 and only awarded points to a single car from each team until 1979.
At the opposite end of the championship table, McLaren claimed their fifth one-two finish of the season, which is the most they have scored in a single year since 1998. It was McLaren’s first win at Silverstone since 2008.
Lando Norris led the orange cars home and became the 16th British driver to win on home ground. It was the 30th world championship round held in Britain to feature a home winner, all of which were British grands prix except for Nigel Mansell’s victory in the 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
Norris scored the eighth win of his career, moving him back ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri, and level with Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Denny Hulme and Jacky Ickx. Piastri’s seventh fastest lap means he now has the same number as Jacques Laffite.
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Max Verstappen scored his 44th pole position and the 107th for Red Bull. The team has therefore drawn level with Lotus in fifth place on the all-time list.
The undoubted feel-good story of the British Grand Prix weekend was Nico Hulkenberg finally ending his career-long wait for a podium finish. He did so in his 239th start, more than double the previous longest wait, set by Carlos Sainz Jnr. Hulkenberg made his F1 debut in 2010.
Having finally stood on the rostrum, the unwanted record for ‘most starts without a podium’ returns to the driver whom Hulkenberg replaced at Force India in 2012: Adrian Sutil.
Most starts before first podium
| Driver | Starts |
|---|---|
| Nico Hulkenberg | 239 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 101 |
| Martin Brundle | 91 |
| Mika Salo | 73 |
| Jenson Button | 68 |
| Pedro de la Rosa | 67 |
| Johnny Herbert | 67 |
| Esteban Ocon | 66 |
| Gianni Morbidelli | 60 |
| Felipe Massa | 57 |
Most starts without a podium
| Driver | Starts |
|---|---|
| Adrian Sutil | 128 |
| Pierluigi Martini | 118 |
| Philippe Alliot | 109 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 99 |
| Pedro Diniz | 98 |
| Marcus Ericsson | 97 |
| Ukyo Katayama | 95 |
| Jonathan Palmer | 83 |
| Marc Surer | 82 |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi | 80 |
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Hulkenberg delivered the 11th podium finish for Sauber in their current identity. They also scored 17 as BMW Sauber between 2006 and 2010. The team’s most recent podium finish before last weekend was Kamui Kobayashi’s third place at Suzuka in 2012 – also his first rostrum appearance.
This was the first time car number 27 has reached the podium in 30 years, the last coming in the 1995 European Grand Prix on Jean Alesi’s Ferrari. The number is most famously associated with Gilles Villeneuve’s Ferrari: he finished on the podium at Imola in the final race before he died in 1982.
Had it not been for Hulkenberg, Lewis Hamilton would have extended his run of consecutive podium finishes at home to 13. Instead he finished one place off the podium for the second race in a row. Further back Oliver Bearman finished 11th – one place outside the points – for the third race running.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli has also had a frustrating run of races. Having scored points at all bar one of his first six grands prix he has only done so once in the next six. At least that was his podium finish in Canada.
Yuki Tsunoda’s points drought also continued. For the second race in a row he was not only last but lapped once more than any other driver. He also moved up the table of most starts without a podium, from which Hulkenberg’s name is now struck.
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the British Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2025 British Grand Prix
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