The race for the 2026 Spanish GP brought many interesting facts and statistics regarding drivers, teams, engines, lap times, and attendance in the stands. Details in the summary of the F1 race from the “A handful of statistics Circus F1” series after the 2026 Spanish GP.
Read more Antonelli won the boring 2026 Spanish GP at the new Madring circuit
The Circuito de Madring debuted in the Formula 1 calendar. It is the 78th different venue to have hosted F1 races. In this regard, statistics vary; you might see a higher number somewhere because some tracks used significantly different configurations. 78 is the official number from the FIA. This track hosts the Spanish GP races, which were previously organized by five other tracks.
Achievements and records of drivers who finished on the podium
Kimi Antonelli won his eighth F1 race in his career.
Antonelli now has more F1 wins than Russell: 8 to 7.
Antonelli recorded his 15th podium in his career.
Antonelli has stood on the podium 12 times this year. In the other two races, he had serious technical problems and scored no points at all.
Antonelli led for at least one lap in 13 consecutive F1 races. Only five times in F1 history has someone achieved a better streak. The record is 18 consecutive races led by Hamilton.
Antonelli has an 81-point lead over the second driver in the overall standings. Since the introduction of the current points system in 2010, no one has lost the championship title with such a lead.
Max Verstappen recorded his 133rd podium in his career.
Verstappen has secured at least one podium place at every track on this year’s calendar.
Verstappen has earned at least one podium place during races at 32 different race tracks. Only Hamilton is better, boasting podiums at 36 venues.
Since Red Bull introduced a major upgrade package at the Austrian GP, Max Verstappen either finishes on the podium (5 times) or does not finish the race (2 times).
Lando Norris recorded his 49th podium in his career.
Norris has earned as many podium places with McLaren as Hamilton.
Norris secured Pole Position for the third time this season and the 19th time in his career.
Norris won Pole Position with a 0.011-second advantage over the second driver – the smallest margin this season.
Achievements of other drivers
Charles Leclerc has led exactly 1,000 laps in F1 races throughout his career.
George Russell recorded the fastest lap in a race for the first time this season and the 12th time in his career.
Liam Lawson achieved the best race result for Red Bull – sixth place.
Franco Colapinto finished in the TOP7 in an F1 race for the third time this season.
Arvid Lindblad advanced to Q3 in qualifying for the seventh consecutive time.
Nico Hulkenberg finished 11th in qualifying five times this season.
Esteban Ocon recorded his best qualifying result (13th place) and race result (11th place) since the start of the season.
Pierre Gasly completed 55 of 57 laps in the Spanish GP on the same set of hard tires.
Carlos Sainz, in his truly home race (he is from Madrid), was eliminated in Q1 during qualifying and did not finish the race.
Sainz has not scored points in nine consecutive races, which is his worst streak in his career.
Lance Stroll did not finish an F1 race for the tenth time this year. The reason for withdrawal was always mechanical failures (once he did not start at all).
Lewis Hamilton did not finish a race for the first time this season.
Statistics regarding teams and engines
Mercedes recorded their 141st victory in Formula 1, including their eighth at the Spanish GP.
Mercedes won a race at the Madring circuit for the first time, having victories at 37 different venues.
In every race this year, the Mercedes team has secured at least one podium place.
Read more Analysis of qualifications before the 2026 Spanish GP
McLaren recorded their 180th Pole Position in Formula 1, including their 11th at the Spanish GP.
McLaren secured Pole Position at the Madring circuit for the first time, having similar successes at 45 different venues.
Red Bull has not won any of the last 14 races. Since Verstappen has been driving for them, they have not had such a bad streak.
In every second qualifying session this season, an Audi driver finishes 11th.
Williams and Haas teams last scored points in F1 three months ago during the Monaco GP.
Aston Martin drivers all dropped out in Q1 in qualifying for the 13th time this year. The only better result was provided by Alonso, who advanced to Q2 in Hungary.
Cadillac is the only team whose drivers have not advanced to Q2 in qualifying this year.
A car with a Mercedes engine won the 251st F1 race. This matched Ferrari’s achievement, which was previously the record holder.
Drivers using Mercedes engines have recorded a total of 250 fastest laps in F1 races. Only drivers using Ferrari engines are better – 277 fastest laps.
Other statistical curiosities after the 2026 Spanish GP
Circuito de Madring is the seventh track in Spain to host an F1 race and the sixth to host the Spanish GP. The exception is the street circuit in Valencia, which hosted the European GP five times.
A total of 56 Spanish GP races have been held in Formula 1.
Colapinto is the only driver who finished every race this season.
There is no longer a driver who has completed every lap or scored points in every race this F1 season.
This year, all F1 qualifying sessions were won by drivers using Mercedes engines driving for three teams: Mercedes (10), McLaren (3), and Alpine (1).
Out of 42 possible podiums this year: Mercedes team earned 19, Ferrari nine, McLaren and Red Bull seven each.
Lap times, top speed, and pit stops at the 2026 Spanish GP
Lando Norris won qualifying with a time of 1:31.824. This is the fastest qualifying lap in the history of the Circuito de Madring.
George Russell set the best lap time during the race. The Briton clocked 1:35.587 on lap 49. This is the official track record at Circuito de Madring.
The highest top speed during the race was achieved by George Russell. The Briton recorded 314.2 km/h at the top speed measurement point in turn number 4. The actual top speed was much higher. Telemetry data shows that Lando Norris reached 350 km/h.
The fastest pit stop during the 2026 Spanish GP was performed by the Mercedes team mechanics. On lap 28, they changed all four wheels on George Russell’s car in 2.14 seconds. The season record remains the Racing Bulls’ time at the Hungarian GP, when they completed a pit stop in 1.99 seconds.
Attendance at the 2026 Spanish GP
Organizers reported that during the inaugural F1 weekend at the Madring circuit, there were 353,000 fans at the track throughout the weekend (Source). All prepared tickets were sold. Unfortunately, no information was provided about attendance broken down by individual days. The Madring circuit currently has a capacity of 120,000 fans (110,000 in the stands and 10,000 in hospitality areas). In the future, they may increase the number of stands. On Sunday during the F1 race, the stands were indeed full, but earlier in the weekend they were not. I suspect some fans bought three-day tickets but did not fully use them. The weekend attendance was the highest in history for Formula 1 at Spanish tracks. At the venue near Barcelona, the record is 301,273 fans this year.
Madring must improve facilities for fans before the next season, especially those in the General Admission category, as some seats were literally on sand. It was evident that the track construction was completed at the last moment and not everything was fully prepared.
Statistical summaries of previous Formula 1 races and more can be found under the Statistics tag.
Read more Mega promotion! 300 PLN for a Mercedes double in the Spanish GP!
