Kevin Magnussen’s 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix pole position will always be remembered, a result that was totally unexpected but welcomed almost universally within the paddock. And it’s proved why a seemingly trivial change made by Formula 1 for 2022 was absolutely right.
When F1 sprint races were first held in 2021, it was on the basis that the short Saturday race was considered qualifying. Therefore, pole position for the grand prix was taken by the sprint winner, with what was the actual qualifying session simply setting the initial grid.
This year, everything is the same save for one tiny detail. As far as the history books are concerned, pole position is now awarded to the driver who sets the pace in the one-hour qualifying, irrespective of where they start for the grand prix. It’s a historic list that Magnussen is only the 106th person to add his name to in the annals of the world championship.
It’s significant for the team as well. Haas is the 41st team (or to be precise 41st team identity) to claim a pole position in world championship history.
Without the change, Magnussen’s great day would be, while not entirely lost, obscured. Of course, there’s always the possibility he could hold onto pole position for the grand prix proper, but competitive gravity being what it is that is extremely unlikely. Therefore, we can be thankful Magnussen’s name is now etched indelibly in F1 history books.
Statistics proliferate all sports coverage and countless numbers emerge on any given race weekend in F1. Many are irrelevant, circumstantial or, at best, require deep context to be bestowed with any meaning. But there are several ‘big beasts’ of F1 statistics that really matter. Along with world championship titles and race wins, pole positions is one of them.
Statistically-inclined F1 fans will be able to reel off the numbers set by the legendary drivers from the top of their heads – Lewis Hamilton 103, Michael Schumacher 68, Ayrton Senna 65 etc. These are numbers that genuinely mean something to those who are drawn to such number-crunching.
When F1 made the tweak to make the ‘official’ pole position statistic go to the driver who was fastest in qualifying, there was some criticism. After all, it’s self-evident that the driver on pole position for the grand prix has pole position.
But while that’s a legitimate counter-argument, it ignores the fact that pole position statistics aren’t merely a record of who happened to start at the front of the grid across 1000+ world championship races. That’s far too prosaic an interpretation. Instead, they recognise the achievement of a driver who, on a given day, has been quicker than the rest. That’s what gives a number of pole positions meaning. It’s still right to say that whoever starts up front on Sunday is on pole position, but in the context of the history books it’s the qualifying ‘winner’ that matters.
Magnussen may have required luck to make pole position possible, but he put himself in the right place to benefit from that with his excellent performance throughout qualifying. Of the drivers who wrongly took a second set of intermediates in Q1, he was the only one to make it to the second stage of qualifying. He then breezed through Q2 in seventh place before banging in a great lap in difficult conditions at the start of Q3. He nailed it, with George Russell doing the rest.
It’s only right and proper that he gets a number one next to his name in that illustrious roll-call of F1 drivers to take pole positions. It’s a marker to remind those who enjoyed it as it happened and for those in the future who are inclined to look back through the record books will see it as a sign of a great sporting story that demands further investigation.
It’s something Haas team boss Guenther Steiner appreciates too.
“Yeah, it’s symbolic and it will stay in the books, it will stay in history,” Steiner said when asked by The Race if the rule tweak makes a difference.
“That is a nice thing. What is it worth? I don’t know. But it’s something the team achieved, and Kevin achieved. It’s a nice thing to have.”
Yes, F1’s record books can be inconsistent. There are already pole positions that have gone unrecorded, including the sprints that were affected last year on top of the occasions when penalties not incurred for offences in qualifying – for example Michael Schumacher’s lost final pole position at Monaco in 2012 – skewed the picture. But that’s no reason to create more anomalies.
Magnussen’s pole position is a great story for F1. And proves why the adjustment to the record books made for 2022 was the right thing to do.
