Everyone crosses the finish line
In addition to the records achieved by Red Bull and Max Verstappen, which are difficult to keep up with, last Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix set another particularly notable record that deserves to be remembered.
The race held at the Florida circuit, the first of three American events scheduled for the 2023 Formula 1 season, ended without any retirements. This confirms the incredible level of reliability that contemporary Formula 1 cars have reached, especially considering the impressive regulatory overhaul implemented by the FIA and Formula 1 just a year and a half ago.
Miami was only the 13th time in the ultra-seventy-year history of the sport when all the cars that started the race crossed the finish line. To demonstrate how the solidity of the single-seaters has improved over the decades, it is enough to remember that the only race without retirements before 2005 was the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix. Moreover, of these 13 races without any DNFs, nine took place in the last ten years.
“False” statistic
However, it must also be acknowledged that the statistical data is “false” due to two of the most peculiar Grand Prix ever run in the history of Formula 1: the first is the 2005 Indianapolis GP, in which only six cars participated. That day in America, there were also no retirements, but only because 14 cars – all shod with Michelin tires – did not even participate in the race. The unfortunate Belgian GP 2021, the one with only two laps behind the Safety Car in the pouring rain, was also included in the count to allow the FIA to award championship points to the event.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
Apart from the Spa race, the last two “real” races without retirements in the history of F1 refer precisely to the memorable 2021 season: the French GP and the Turkish GP, the last race without retirements before the Grand Prix that was experienced in Miami last weekend. It is worth noting that, compared to the past, the starting grid is now composed of “only” 20 single-seaters, compared to the 22, 24, or even 26 that raced in previous seasons.
Leave a Reply