The 70th edition of the Formula One World Championship is kicking off on the 15th of March in Australia. With a total of 22 appointments in the calendar, there are no less than 8 Formula 1 records to smash in 2020 …. as long as the coronavirus allows it, of course. 

At an individual level, Lewis Hamilton could join Michael Schumacher and his seventh titles and become one of the two most successful F1 drivers in history. At a team level, Mercedes is hoping to beat Ferrari and the six world titles they achieved when they had the Kaiser amongst their ranks. 

Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, for their part, will have the opportunity to become the youngest ever F1 World Champions. 

Number of victories

The British six-time champion, Lewis Hamilton, is only seven victories away from the 91 achieved by Michael Schumacher over 248 Grands Prix. That shouldn’t be too difficult for the champion from Tewin considering he has been taken an average of 9 victories per season since joining Mercedes in 2013, being the only driver in history to achieve at least one triumph at every season. Of course is one of the 8 Formula 1 records to smash in 2020 

The most consecutive constructor titles

Another of Formula One’s 8 records that could be broken in 2020 is the number of constructor’s titles achieved consecutively by any one team. Mercedes, who has dominated the competition since the start of the hybrid era in 2014, is just one crown away from the seventh achieved by Ferrari consecutively in 2004.

The youngest ever world champion 

Here you are another of the 8 Formula 1 records to smash in 2020. At 22 years of age, both Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) aspire to become the youngest ever world champions this season, breaking Sebastian Vettel’s record. The racer from Happenheim got his crown at 23 years and 134 days of age in 2010. 

Number of races in the points

Michael Schumacher holds this record with a total of 221 races finished in the point positions between 1992 and 2008. Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, however, are just eight races away from catching up. The Briton already holds the record for accruing the most number of points consecutively, which he did over 33 races between Japan 2016 and France 2018.

This record currently belongs to Rubens Barrichello who took part in a total of 322 GPs between the year of his debut in 1993 and his retirement in 2011. Kimi Raikkonen, however, will start this season with 312 GPs under his belt, which means that he could steal the record from its Brazilian owner in Austria 2020 and thus take one of the 8 records up for grabs this 2020.

If Hamilton takes his ninth pole in Australia he will draw up level with Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher as the driver to have achieved the most poles at a particular Grand Prix. Despite the feat, the Briton has only achieved two victories in all of the occasions in which he has taken the star in first place in Melbourne. 

Most victories after leading every lap

Both Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton have led every lap on 19 of their 41 victorious Grands Prix. Hamilton drew up level with the Brazilian legend after having held onto the first position throughout all of the Chinese, Spanish, Monegasque, French and Saudi races in 2019.

Jim Clark, however, holds what is known as the Grand Slam or Grand Chelem record (pole, fastest lap and victory while leading from beginning to end) which he has taken in a total of eight occasions. Hamilton is close behind with six. 

Number of podiums

The #44 from Mercedes is right behind Schumacher in number of podiums with 151 (over 250 races) against the German’s 155 (over 308 races). It is not a question of “if” but rather of “when” the current champion will break this last of the 8 Formula 1 records at hand in 2020.

Images of 8 Formula 1 records to smash in 2020: Mercedes AMG F1.