More than five different polesitters for the first time since 2012

With Kevin Magnussen's surprise pole position, there are no less than six different drivers with one or more pole positions behind their name in 2022. The last time this happened was in 2008.

Hamilton still missing from the list

This season, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, George Russell and Magnussen have all been on pole position at least once. The Haas F1 driver is the big surprise in this list and the big missing driver is Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion is the only driver from the three top teams who did not achieve pole position in 2022. The Brit only has the chance to do so in Abu Dhabi. With that, he can bring the season to a year with seven pole finishers.

By the way, a striking fact is that after 2008, when there were last six different drivers with a pole position, in 2012 there were as many as seven different drivers with pole position. And in 2005, there were as many as nine. So in that year, almost half of all drivers on the grid took pole position once. With the six different pole-sitters of 2022, the percentage of drivers with pole position comes to 28.57 per cent.

In 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016, Saturdays were relatively dull and there were only three different polesitters in the season. In those last three years, it was invariably Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. They were joined those years by Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo.