Madrid GP hits unwanted low as brutal Madring stat emerges

The Madring's twisty layout, while highly technical and spectacular in places, such as the long banked La Monumental corner, offered very few overtaking opportunities in the race as expected, effectively creating a contest in which track position proved crucial.

That was the case, for example, for Kimi Antonelli, who capitalised on McLaren's pit-stop blunder with Lando Norris to claim his eighth victory, despite admitting himself that the reigning world champion deserved to win on Sunday.

The championship leader himself spent the entire middle phase of the race stuck behind Charles Leclerc, despite holding an advantage in both tyres and pace, preferring to remain behind rather than risk an overly ambitious overtaking move.

Despite being a much more conventional semi-street circuit than Monaco, the Madring still produced six fewer overtakes than a venue that traditionally ranks at the bottom of the overtaking charts each year, due to the historic nature of a circuit that is as fascinating as it is often criticised.

At the top of the table is the Chinese Grand Prix, which saw an impressive 101 overtakes according to F1 Race Review data, comfortably the highest figure recorded so far this season.

Miami follows with 88, narrowly ahead of Japan on 85, while Italy sits fourth with 78. Canada also recorded a healthy 72 overtakes, followed by Belgium with 59 and Australia with 58, highlighting the considerable gap between the most overtaking-friendly circuits and those at the opposite end of the ranking.

Further down, Austria recorded 51 overtakes, just one more than Barcelona's 50, while Britain followed closely with 49. The exact figure for the Dutch Grand Prix is not yet known, while Hungary recorded 47 passes, before the numbers dropped dramatically.

Before the Madring, the season had produced an average of as many as 61 overtakes per race, underlining how the new regulations have effectively generated far more on-track action. That trend, however, did not carry over to the Spanish round.