The all-time record set by Fernando Alonso at the F1 French Grand Prix

The veteran driver set the all-time record when he completed three laps of the Circuit Paul Ricard.

That took him past the milestone of 18,621 laps set by Kimi Raikkonen.

Alonso, now aged 40 and driving for Alpine, started the 2022 season 586 laps behind Raikkonen’s record.

He ended the F1 French Grand Prix in sixth place. He is now 50 laps ahead of Raikkonen, on a total of 18,672 laps. The remainder of this season will give Alonso the chance to massively extend that all-time record and he is expected to remain in his Alpine seat for 2023 too.

This is the second all-time record that Alonso has set in 2022, breaking Raikkonen’s efforts in the process.

The Spaniard eclipsed Raikkonen’s record of 349 Grand Prix appearances in the seventh round of this season, in Monaco. Alonso has raced in 355 grands prix after the 12th round of 2022 in France.

Fernando Alonso can target more all-time records

Lewis Hamilton made his 300th F1 Grand Prix appearance in France, an achievement that only six previous drivers have managed.

Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Alonso and Raikkonen are those six drivers with 300 race starts.

Alonso is now just five races from eclipsing the all-time record of 349 Grand Prix starts, held by Raikkonen.