Formula 1: George Russell’s historic streak ends in Sakhir

George Russell’s historic Formula 1 qualifying streak has come to an end against Valtteri Bottas at Bahrain International Circuit.

Last weekend, George Russell beat out rookie Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi by six positions to qualify in 14th place for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, marking his 15th qualifying win over Latifi through the first 15 races of the 2020 Formula 1 season.

This streak came on the heels of a rookie season that saw Russell outqualify teammate Robert Kubica in each of the 21 races on the schedule and therefore extended his streak to 36 races.

This 36-race streak tied Nelson Piquet’s streak, which lasted from 1989 to 1992, for third place on the all-time list.

Only Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna had ever gone on longer qualifying win streaks.

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Schumacher beat his teammates in 56 consecutive qualifying sessions from 1992 to 1995, and Senna beat his teammates in 44 consecutive qualifying sessions from 1985 to 1988.

But for this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix at the outer layout of Bahrain International Circuit, Russell is filling in for Lewis Hamilton, who tested positive for COVID-19, at Mercedes, and he went up against Valtteri Bottas in qualifying. Bottas entered the race weekend with 15 career pole positions, including four so far this season.

This proved to be by far the biggest challenge of Russell’s career through 37 qualifying attempts, as expected.

Just 0.026 seconds (0.072 miles per hour) separated the two Silver Arrows over the course of one lap around the 11-turn, 2.202-mile (3.544-kilometer) road course in Sakhir, Bahrain in the third and final round of the qualifying session, and both qualified on the front row.

But it was Bottas who prevailed, ending Russell’s historic 36-race streak of outqualifying his teammates.

The chances of winning 36 consecutive qualifying battles, assuming all other factors remain equal, are just 1 in 68,719,476,736 (0.0000000014551915%).

It is well worth noting that in terms of starting a Formula 1 career, Russell’s 36-race qualifying streak is by far an all-time record, and for all intents and purposes, it is a record that likely won’t ever be broken.

How will Russell fare in his first race for Mercedes? Tune in to ESPN at 12:10 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon for the live broadcast of the Sakhir Grand Prix from Bahrain International Circuit.