Lewis Hamilton finally ended his long wait to score his first podium finish for Ferrari in the Chinese Grand Prix.
But the 78th Ferrari driver to participate in the world championship took longer than any of his predecessors to reach the rostrum in a grand prix.
This didn’t look like being the case when Hamilton joined Ferrari a little over 12 months ago. He led on his debut in Australia and won the sprint race at the next round.
Ferrari’s season went off the rails soon afterwards. But even though Charles Leclerc reached the rostrum seven times, his new team mate failed to.
Hamilton came close at times. He was just over a second away from a podium finish in his first start on Ferrari’s home ground at Imola. He repeated that result at his own home round, plus in Austria and Austin. But it was in Mexico, where a penalty led to a frustrated eighth place finish, that he probably had his best chance to finish on the podium, as he repeatedly challenged Ferrari over why Leclerc had been allowed to pass him off the track at the start.
It was clear from the outset of the new season that Ferrari have a much more competitive car on their hands this year. Hamilton gained on Leclerc in the second stint of the race and finished a little over half a second behind his third-placed team mate.
In China, Hamilton and Leclerc scrapped over second place for a long time, though eventually had to give best to George Russell’s Mercedes. Hamilton prevailed this time, however, and finally stood on the podium in his 26th appearance in a grand prix for Ferrari.
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Every one of the 77 Ferrari drivers who came before him either reached the podium sooner, or didn’t last long enough at the team to do so. Leclerc only had to wait two races for his first and Hamilton’s predecessor Carlos Sainz Jnr did it in five. Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen all stood on the podium on their debuts for Ferrari.
The last Ferrari driver to start more than 10 races before reaching the podium was Gerhard Berger. He joined Ferrari in 1987, and before finishing second in the Portuguese Grand Prix that year posted seven retirements (mostly technical in nature) and four fourth-place finishes.
Ivan Capelli had the longest Ferrari career without ever finishing on the podium. He was shown the door two races before the end of the 1992 season. Ferrari’s F92A was an uncompetitive and unreliable machine, though Capelli’s team mate Jean Alesi dragged it to third place twice.
Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi – Ferrari’s driver pairing of 1981 and the first part of 1982 – both had long waits for their first podiums. Pironi took the longest, waiting 19 races to stand on the top step at Imola in 1982 – that fateful ‘stolen’ win from his team mate. Villeneuve had taken most of the 1978 season to achieve his first podium finish for Ferrari.
Inevitably, a significant reason why Hamilton took so long to score his first podium finish for Ferrari is that seasons are longer now than they used to be. Still, for a driver to join Ferrari and take over a year to achieve their first podium finish is a rare thing. Whether this statistic turns out to be an unusual footnote to the success which followed for Hamilton at Ferrari remains to be seen.
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More stats and facts from the Chinese Grand Prix tomorrow on RaceFans
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