It’s amazing that in the high-tech world of Formula 1, the statistics about the fastest top speed are very questionable, but according to virtualstatman (A guy who is pretty much a walking F1 encyclopedia) Valtteri Bottas broke the all-time speed record at the recent Mexican Grand Prix.
After doing some digging, it was discovered that Juan Pablo Montoya has been wrongly credited with F1’s fastest speed for years, with his 372.6km/h being set at an unofficial test at Monza in 2005 and not that year’s Italian Grand Prix.
1/3 Studied all data from the 2005 Italian GP this morning – the @F1 website seems to be wrongly crediting Montoya with a top speed record
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) October 31, 2016
2/3 I believe Montoya’s 372.6km/h was set in Monza testing on August 24-25. It definitely wasn’t officially recorded during Italy 2005
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) October 31, 2016
3/3 The highest official speed in the entire 2005 Italian GP at any point on the track was Raikkonen’s 370.1km/h, not Montoya’s 372.6km/h
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) October 31, 2016
With that in mind Bottas’ speed of 372.54 km/h (That’s 231.5 mph!) easily beats the speed by Kimi Raikkonen during the 2005 Italian Grand Prix.
Hit 372 kph (231mph) in the #MexicanGP today 🏎💨😎😀
Photo @glenn_dunbar pic.twitter.com/sV9ZVG0VW3
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) October 31, 2016
With Formula 1 cars likely to be slower on the straights next year (albeit a lot faster in terms of lap time) that top speed from Bottas’ Williams FW38 is unlikely to be beaten any time soon.
So well done, Valtteri. Even if the achievement isn’t officially being recognised.