Alonso took another surprising record from Michael Schumacher

It was circumstantial, but it left a mark that could be very hard to beat. Fernando Alonso led again in a race F1 last Sunday, at Japanese F1 GP. He did this as soon as all the pilots took the opportunity to put on the intermediate wheels. The Asturian was unable to enter that lap as his teammate Ocon entered the pits at that moment and would have wasted time waiting behind the Frenchman’s car. For this reason, he extended that first stint one more lap, assuming the lead and crossing the finish line in first position on lap 8 of the race. It is not representative, because when it stops, it loses positions. But it served for the Asturian to break another record this season, in this case, it was taken from his first great rival, Michael Schumacher.

The Spaniard conquered the record of longest time elapsed between the first time he led an F1 GP (Malaysia 2003) and his last time in the first position of a GP so far (Japan 2022). Between those two dates passed 19 years, 6 months and 16 days. In this way, he took the record from ‘Kaiser‘, which managed to land an F1 appointment 19 years, 1 month and 9 days after his first leadership (Belgium 1992-Japan 2011).

Fernando Alonso has already broken other historical records for longevity this year. We review them below:

Pilot with the longest trajectory

At the last Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2022, he became the driver with the longest career (21 years and 7 months since his debut). On that occasion he also surpassed the record held by Michael Schumacher, aged 21 years and three months.

The driver with the most kilometers and laps in F1

At Silverstone, he managed to become the driver with the most kilometers traveled in F1 history (then 92,684), beating Kimi Raikkonen. And in France he reached another milestone as a driver with the most laps completed in Formula 1 (in France he reached 18,672 laps and that number will continue to grow) surpassing the record also held by the Finn in his possession.

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The driver with the most Grand Prix in F1

The Spaniard equaled Raikkonen’s 350 at the last Italian GP in Monza and is now left alone at the top of said list with the number of GPs set to continue to rise in the “two or three” seasons that Alonso himself said will continue he in the F1. Without walking further, in Italy he already said “I will reach 400”, and highlighted how much this record means: “I know the number because every weekend you repeat it to me , but I don’t look at the statistics. how much. I’m happy to be in F1 for few more years, in the next two or as long as F1 I will reach 400 for sure. It’s a big number. It shows my passion for the sport, my discipline to perform at the highest level. If you don’t perform, you won’t reach 400 races, for sure”.

Another record was obtained for 2023

Following next year in F1, he is sure to surpass the record of 19 F1 campaigns held by Barrichello, Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher, as he marks his 20th campaign.