Raikkonen sets new F1 record – Longest period from first to last pole

Kimi Raikkonen has set two new records in Formula One in Monza last Saturday, driving the fastest lap in history with an average of 263.587 km/h, but also set a new record for the longest period from the first to the last pole position.

Raikkonen had his F1 debut in Sauber in 2001, and in 2002 he came to McLaren as a substitute for Mika Hakkinen. That season he had four podiums and one fastest lap, and in 2003 he secired the first win in Malaysia and the first pole position at Nurburgring where European GP was held.

McLaren drivers have been driving the modified 2002 F1 car MP4-17D in which Raikkonen won pole position at Nurburgring without setting the best time in any of the three sectors.

After having failed to secure the pole position for 0.059 seconds (and started fourth) in Brazil and in Austria for 0.039 seconds (second behind Michael Schumacher), Kimi Raikkonen finaly got his first pole position in career and first for  McLaren in 2003.

This time, Raikkonen beat his rivals for a fraction of a second – Michael Schumacher was slower only 0.032 seconds, and Ralf Schumacher just 0.096 seconds despite having four laps of fuel more than Raikkonen.

Fifteen years later, more precisely 15 years, two months and four days, the Finn rewrote history and won the pole position at Monza in Ferrari SF71H, setting a new record in Formula 1 between the first and the last pole position.

So far, the record kept Rubens Barrichello with 14 days less from his first pole position in Belgium in 1994 in Jordan and the last in Brazil in 2009 in Brawn GP. And the first and last pole Rubens won in the rain.

STARTING GRID FOR 2003 EUROPEAN GP

STARTING GRID FOR 2018 ITALIAN GP