Motor racing-Formula One statistics for the Australian Grand Prix

Formula One statistics for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park, round three of the 24-race championship: Lap distance: 5.278km. Five current drivers have won in Melbourne: Fernando Alonso (2006), Lewis Hamilton (2008, 2015), Valtteri Bottas (2019), Charles Leclerc (2022) and Verstappen (2023). Ferrari great Michael Schumacher won a record four times in Australia.

Formula One statistics for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park, round three of the 24-race championship: Lap distance: 5.278km. Total distance: 306.124km (58 laps)

2023 pole position: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull One minute 16.732 seconds. 2023 winner: Verstappen

Race lap record: Sergio Perez (Mexico) Red Bull, 1:20.235, 2023. There was no grand prix at Albert Park in 2020 and 2021. The circuit was shortened by 28 metres, with two turns taken out and seven corners modified, in 2022 and is now considered a new layout from 2019.

Start time: 0400 GMT (1500 local) AUSTRALIA

There are two Australian drivers in Sunday's race, McLaren's Oscar Piastri and RB's Daniel Ricciardo, for the first time since 2013 when Ricciardo was on the grid with Mark Webber. No Australian driver has ever won a home grand prix.

This year’s race will be the 27th held at Albert Park, and 38th Australian Grand Prix. It was held in Adelaide, as the final race of the year, between 1985 and 1995. Five current drivers have won in Melbourne: Fernando Alonso (2006), Lewis Hamilton (2008, 2015), Valtteri Bottas (2019), Charles Leclerc (2022) and Verstappen (2023).

Ferrari great Michael Schumacher won a record four times in Australia. Hamilton has been on pole in Melbourne a record eight times (2008, 2012, 2014-2019).

McLaren have won a record 11 times in Australia, with Ferrari on 10. The lowest starter to win was Britain’s Eddie Irvine from 11th in 1999 for Ferrari. Seventeen of the 26 races in Melbourne have been won from the front row.

Pirelli are bringing their softest tyres to the race. The track has the second shortest pit lane on the calendar at 281 metres. CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

Verstappen has led the championship for a record 41 successive races dating back to Spain in May 2022. He is 15 points clear of Perez, with Ferrari's Leclerc third and a further eight adrift.

RACE WINS Hamilton has a record 103 career victories from 334 starts but is chasing his first since 2021 -- a run of 47 races without a win.

Red Bull won 21 of 22 races last year, with Verstappen victorious in a record 19, and have won 33 of the last 35. Verstappen has won 56 grands prix and is third on the all-time list. Michael Schumacher is second on 91.

Verstappen has won the last nine races and can equal his record of 10 in a row set in 2023. POLE POSITION

Hamilton has a record 104 career poles, his most recent in Hungary last year. PODIUMS

Verstappen took his 100th career podium in Saudi Arabia. He is only the seventh driver to reach that number and the third with a single team. Michael Schumacher had 116 with Ferrari and Hamilton is on 148 (out of a total 197) with Mercedes. The Red Bull driver set a record of 21 podiums in a season last year but Michael Schumacher remains the only driver to have stood on the podium in every race of a season (2002).

MILESTONE Red Bull's one-two win in Saudi Arabia put them ahead of Williams in solo fourth place in the all-time list of winners with 115.

Sunday could be the first time Red Bull have finished one-two in three successive races.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)