Formula 1 in the middle of the season

Even though in the last few seasons we are used to having a break in the Formula 1 championship after the last race in July and it coincides approximately with the middle of the season, we cannot say that it is a rule for all seasons.

The percentage of races contested until July

In the very first Formula 1 season from 1950, the last race in July is also the penultimate race of the season. In that race in Rheims, Giuseppe Farina did not finish the race in points and dropped down from the overall leader position to the third position. He wins the last race of the season at Monza and returns to 1st place, winning the first F1 championship. Farina is the first driver who, in the season in which he wins the championship, is not the leader of the classification at the last race in July.

Champion in July

However, this situation has not occurred frequently in the seasons so far, the pilots who after the last race in July occupy the 1st place, in 72% of cases also win the championship.

The lowest position can be found in the 1964 season when John Surtess was tied for 6th place on points with Dan Gurney after the race at Brands Hatch which was the fifth race of the season. In the next 5 races, with two victories, two 2nd place finishes and one dropout, he manages to win the championship.

The next on the list is Keke Rosberg who is world champion in 1982, but after the race from Paul Richard he is in 5th place. After the race in Germany he collects points to win the title in a tragic season in which the leader until then, Didier Pironi right at the race in Germany is withdrawn from activity following an accident.

We have two pilots in 4th place at the end of July. First Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 and Sebastian Vettel in 2010. We also have two drivers in 3rd place at the end of July, namely Farina in 1950 and Vettel in 2012.

Among the drivers who won several championships, only Lewis Hamilton (2014 and 2017) and Sebastian Vettel (2010 and 2012) won the championship in two seasons when at the end of July they were not the leaders of the F1 ranking.

Statistically, we could say that a 1st place ranking at the end of July does not necessarily give you the Formula1 championship of that season. Even if in the last five years, always the one ranked 1st at the end of July has also become the champion of the season, we still have to wait for a few races from the 2023 season to see if Max Verstappen will manage to win a new title or if another driver will the new champion.