McLaren and the ‘case’ of the 1000 GPs which are 999: here’s why the statistics don’t agree

The mystery of a thousand GPs A small and curious ‘case’ is being created around the milestone of the 1000 Grands Prix contested in Formula 1 which McLaren intends to celebrate this weekend in Monaco with a splendid special livery. Many authoritative statistics sites, including the famous Statsf1.com, in fact attest to the Woking team having contested 998 Grands Prix so far in their history, with the event on the streets of the Principality becoming number 999. But what is the reason for this particular statistical discrepancy? A dancing count The ‘fault’ seemed to be what happened this year on Sunday 15 March, when the Chinese GP took place. In fact, McLaren, which was obviously present that weekend and had also taken part in the Sprint race on Saturday, did not take part in the Sunday GP with any of its cars. Both the car of reigning world champion Lando Norris and that of his teammate Oscar Piastri were in fact forced to retire before the start of the race due to technical problems. Not having fielded any single-seater at the start of the GP, statistically McLaren was “not started” in Shanghai and therefore that race is not counted. In reality, however, as the team has clarified, the ‘disputed’ race would not be the one – which even McLaren and F1 do not count as having been held – but rather the infamous 2005 Indianapolis GP, the one run by only six single-seaters due to the problems experienced by the Michelin tyres. On that occasion, McLaren completed the reconnaissance lap but did not take part in the race, retiring before the start. Here lies the discrepancy: for F1 the reconnaissance lap is valid and therefore McLaren regularly contested that GP. Therefore the 1000th Grand Prix is ​​actually that of Monaco 2026. The statistical sites instead consider the actual start of the race and therefore do not count that United States GP among those in which the papaya team took part. Mystery revealed. According to the official F1 counts, therefore, in Monaco McLaren will become in effect the second team ever to have raced 1000 GPs in F1, after Ferrari who celebrated this milestone at Mugello in 2020, also in that case bringing a special celebratory livery to the track.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-06-02 17:03:00