Still at the top, five years later
The silver arrows they are back. The opening weekend of the season in Melbourne was dominated by Mercedes who achieved a double in the race after also managing to monopolize the front row of the starting grid. The Brackley stable is like that returned to lead both championships for the first time since the 2021 Russian GPwhen Lewis Hamilton, by winning the Sochi race, moved ahead of Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings by two points.
In the 99 GPs that followed, Max Verstappen led the championship on 70 occasions, Oscar Piastri on 15, Lando Norris on nine and Charles Leclerc on five. However, there has never been a Mercedes driver ahead of everyone. On the 100th try, George Russell appears which thanks to the victory in Melbourne brought Mercedes back to the top of Formula 1. In the team classification, however, Toto Wolff’s team has not led its rivals since the 2021 Abu Dhabi GPwhen he had won his eighth consecutive Constructors’ title.
Russell’s first time
Russell himself, who is now world championship leader for the first time in his career, has become the 65th different driver in F1 history to lead the World Championship. However, only 35 were able to become world champions. In nine months, in Abu Dhabi, the Englishman hopes to have managed to update this other statistic too, which in the end is the only one that really matters.
