Striking: For six years in a row, fastest in FP2 becomes F1 champion

It offers absolutely no certainty, but it is a striking statistic. Ever since 2017, the fastest driver in FP2 of the first GP of the year has also become champion that same year. Will this series come to an end this year, or will Fernando Alonso go on for his third F1 title?

Indeed, it was Aston Martin driver Alonso who came out strongly from the F1 winter test days and managed to set the fastest time in FP2 of the Bahrain Grand Prix (the season opener). The Spaniard was a scant two-tenths faster than Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen. Even over a full lap, the Aston Martin seems stable, so it could just be that Aston Martin is having a rock-solid start to the season.

Will Alonso continue this remarkable run?

A strong season start alone will not win you a title and Aston Martin will have to keep up with ironclad top teams like Red Bull and Ferrari throughout the year. In any case, the figures of the past six years do seem to favour the Spaniard. Interestingly, since 2017, every driver who topped the timesheet in the first FP2 of the year that year has also won the title.

From 2017 to 2020, that was Lewis Hamilton and for the past two years, it was Verstappen. Alonso could be next. It says little, but the fact that it has happened for seven years in a row perhaps shows that there is at least some indication of how the teams perform from F1 winter tests and first practice sessions.