Entering the 2019 Formula 1 season finale in Abu Dhabi, the top 10 drivers in the standings hail from 10 different nations. Never before has a season finished this way.
After controversial remarks about a lack of diversity in Formula 1 were made by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton ahead of the 2018 season, it seems as though there has been an increased focused on just how diverse the sport is.
Such diversity is not limited to the drivers on the grid, but they play a big part in it; there are 15 nations represented by the 20 drivers competing in the sport, and only one country is represented by more than two drivers.
In fact, the diversity of Formula 1 has put the sport in a position to potentially set quite a remarkable all-time record in the 2019 season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, at Yas Marina Circuit this Sunday, December 1.
Entering this 55-lap race around the 21-turn, 3.451-mile (5.554-kilometer) Yas Marina Circuit road course on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the top 10 drivers in the standings all hail from different countries.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
Never before in Formula 1 history, and this is the 70th season of the world championship, has this been the case upon the conclusion of a season.
Hamilton sits atop the standings with the championship locked up; he hails from the United Kingdom. His teammate, Valtteri Bottas, hails from Finland and has locked up the runner-up position.
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel round out the top five. Verstappen hails from the Netherlands and will finish either third or fourth, Leclerc hails from Monaco and will finish either third, fourth or fifth and Vettel hails from Germany and will finish either fourth or fifth.
Then there is the battle for sixth between Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr., who are currently tied for sixth, and Red Bull Racing rookie Alexander Albon. None of these drivers will finish outside of the top eight. Gasly hails from France, Sainz hails from Spain and Albon hails from Thailand.
Rounding out the top 10 are Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, who hails from Australia, and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who hails from Mexico.
There is still a chance that this trend will change, however. Ricciardo has 54 points while Perez has 46, and there are four drivers who sit right behind them outside of the top 10, including three who hail from countries already represented in the top eight.
McLaren rookie Lando Norris hails from the United Kingdom and sits in 11th place in the driver standings with 45 points, just ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen, who hails from Finland and sits in 12th with 43. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg sits in 13th with 37 points and hails from Germany.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat sits in 14th place with 35 points, but he hails from Russia and thus cannot hinder this trend regardless.
The closest a top 10 sweep by drivers from different countries has ever come to happening was when nine drivers from nine different countries finished in the top nine in the standings in the 1974 and 1977 seasons.
Regardless of what happens in this year’s season finale, there will definitely be eight drivers from eight different countries in the top eight in the final standings, and this hasn’t happened since 2004, which is the only year in which it has happened since 1977.
If you go all the way back to the first Formula 1 season in 1950 and take the average number of drivers in the standings each year before a nation is represented twice, you get 3.90, which is still pretty impressive. Interestingly, Formula 1 hasn’t seen a 1-2 sweep in the driver standings with drivers from the same country since 1968.
The fact that that number could be 10 in 2019, possibly 11 if Kvyat has an amazing season finale and the drivers who currently sit between 11th to 13th place struggle, speaks to just how much diversity exists in Formula 1 not just as it relates to competing in the sport but competing at such a high level in it.
Will the 2019 Formula 1 driver standings end up featuring 10 drivers from 10 different countries in the top 10? What a remarkable occurrence that would be. ESPN2 is set to broadcast the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix live from Yas Marina Circuit beginning at 8:05 a.m. ET on Sunday, December 1.