Michael Schumacher record beaten by Fernando Alonso with Lewis Hamilton a long way off

Fernando Alonso has officially had the longest Formula 1 career in the sport's history, overtaking Michael Schumacher at the top of the list.

The German was for so long the most successful racer ever to appear in the sport, and was around for longer than anyone before him as well. Exactly 21 years and three months passed between his first and last race appearance, a record set in 2012 that would take a while to beat.

Perhaps 10 years is a shorter timeframe than expected, but it was eclipsed on Sunday when Alonso took to the track for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. By taking part in the Baku race, his F1 career was officially extended to 21 years, three months and eight days.

Had the Spaniard been in the sport for that entire period, then the race in Azerbaijan would also have been his 400th Grand Prix. It wasn't as he had a mini-break from F1 between 2019-20, but he is still creeping towards the current F1 appearance record held by the recently retired Kimi Raikkonen.

Other than his new record, Alonso also came away from the race with something else to show for his efforts. A controlled performance yielded a seventh-placed finish and the six points that come with it, while Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon added an extra point to that total by crossing the line 10th.

While it took Alonso a decade to break Schumacher's longevity record, it may be a much longer period this time. Lewis Hamilton is expected to break into the top 10 later this year, overtaking Jack Brabham, but his career is still more than six years shorter than that of his former McLaren team-mate.

Sebastian Vettel is also only a few months behind the Briton, but both of them are in the twilight of their F1 careers and are unlikely to go on for long