Formula 1: Only one driver has scored in every race this year
By Asher Fair
After the chaos in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, there is only one driver remaining who has scored points in all six races so far in the 2021 Formula 1 season.
For a while, it looked as though the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit would end up like four of the 2021 Formula 1 season’s first five races: with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton on the podium.
Entering this 51-lap race around the 20-turn, 3.73-mile (6.003-kilometer) temporary street circuit in Azadliq Square, Baku, Azerbaijan, Verstappen had not finished a race outside of the top two yet this year, winning twice. Hamilton had won the other three races and finished in second place in one of the other two.
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Verstappen led Sunday’s race late ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in second place and Hamilton in third, and he appeared to have the win in hand.
But a tire issue on lap 46 sent Verstappen into the wall on the front straightaway.
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The red flag was flown to clean up the debris from the incident, and the remaining drivers were brought into the pits, with Perez now leading ahead of Hamilton in second place. It was decided that the race would be restarted with two laps remaining and that it would be a standing restart, resembling a typical race start.
On the restart, Hamilton got the better of Perez, but only briefly. He took the lead, but he locked up his brakes, which sent him sailing into the turn one runoff area and ended his chances at a solid result. He rejoined the race, but he finished in 15th place, ahead of only one other driver on the track. As a result, neither Verstappen nor Hamilton scored any points in the 2021 season’s sixth race.
But there is still one driver who has scored in every event this season, and that is McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Norris, who actually dropped from third to fourth place behind Perez in the driver standings with his fifth place finish in the race, has recorded five top five finishes, including two podium finishes, and an eighth place finish this season. His average finish is 4.67.
His series-high streak of point-scoring finishes actually goes back to last season, and it is now up to 11 races. The next highest active streak is only five, and it belongs to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who finished the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in third place, marking his third career podium finish.
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The next race on the schedule is the French Grand Prix, which is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Circuit Paul Ricard beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET this morning.