In the strangest of Formula One seasons there was almost a comforting familiarity about Lewis Hamilton's continued excellence. (More Sports News)
The coronavirus pandemic meant the beginning of the campaign was ultimately delayed by four months and led organisers into a frantic rescheduling of the calendar.
To their credit, a competitive schedule was put together and 17 races were held after which Hamilton stood atop the drivers' standings for the seventh time.
Along the way, the Briton racked up several new records and won 11 races. It perhaps would have been more but Hamilton contracted COVID-19 and missed the penultimate race in Bahrain and was not quite with it physically for the season-ender in Abu Dhabi.
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It was Red Bull's Max Verstappen who took the top step on the podium in the latter race and, now the dust is beginning to settle on the 2020 season, we look at some of the best facts of the year thanks to our friends at Opta.
7 - Mercedes driver Hamilton has now equalled Michael Schumacher as the driver with the most F1 titles. He has seven, six of them with the Silver Arrows.
95 - During the 2020 season, Hamilton surpassed Schumacher's previous record tally of 91 race wins. He now has 95 and the 11 in 2020 represents his joint-best return for an F1 season in his legendary career.
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14 - Hamilton has had a pole position in 14 straight seasons (from 2007 to 2020). Schumacher previously had the best such record (13 from 1994 to 2006).
190 - At Sakhir, Racing Point's Sergio Perez became the driver with the longest wait from their debut to record a maiden F1 win. The Mexican did so at the 190th attempt.
13 - Pierre Gasly was the 13th French driver to win an F1 grand prix after his triumph in Italy. He was the first from the nation to do so since Monaco 1996, when Olivier Panis was victorious. The AlphaTauri driver was three months and 12 days old at the time of Panis' victory.
53.377 - Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas recorded the fastest pole position in F1 history (53.377 seconds at the Sakhir GP).
329 - Alfa Romeo veteran Kimi Raikkonen surpassed Rubens Barrichello (322) in the 2020 season as the driver to have appeared in the most grands prix ever .
7 - Mercedes surpassed Ferrari (1999-2004) as the team to have recorded the most constructors' titles in a row.
1,000 - Ferrari made their 1,000th F1 appearance at the Tuscany Grand Prix at the team's training track in Mugello. The Scuderia are winless in 23 grands prix, their third-worst streak in history.
17 - This season saw 17 races held, fewer than any other campaign in the last decade. Of those, 13 were in Europe (76.5 per cent). The campaign started on July 5, the latest in F1 history, and ended on December 13, the third-latest date after 1962 and 1963.
