Monaco Grand Prix 2008 facts & stats

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Here’s a round up of the statistical highlights from yesterday’s dramatic Monaco Grand Prix.

Spotted a curious stat I’ve missed? Then post it in the comments below…

Of the 55 Monaco Grands Prix to date, 35 have been won from the front row, but neither Ferrari driver was able to do that meaning the team’s losing streak at Monaco is now seven races. The team went 19 years without a win at Monaco between 1955 and 1975.

For the first time in favour years the driver on pole position (Felipe Massa) failed to win the Monaco Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton won the Monaco Grand Prix from third on the grid, the tenth time that has happened. It was McLaren’s 15th win in the Monaco Grand Prix. One more and they will have twice as many as any other team, rivals Ferrari having scored eight.

It was his sixth career victory putting him level with fellow British drivers Tony Brooks and John Surtees, plus Jochen Rindt, Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Laffite, Riccardo Patrese and Ralf Schumacher. It was Hamilton’s first win not scored from pole position.

Hamilton’s record at Monaco is very strong: he won both F3 Euroseries races in 2005, the GP2 race in 2006, was runner-up last year and won this year, giving him four wins in five races at the principality.

Felipe Massa scored his 12th career pole position, the same number as Gerhard Berger and David Coulthard. He also scored his fourth consecutive podium finish, a personal best.

Giancarlo Fisichella made his 200th Grand Prix start. Of those, 55 were for his current team, most of which in its previous incarnation as Jordan. He has failed to start twice: France in 2002 (injured in qualifying) and the USA in 2005 (Michelin tyre users withdrew) giving him a total of 202 appearances.

Rubens Barrichello scored points for the first time since the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, 23 races ago. Sebastian Vettel also scored his first points of the year on the maiden appearance of the STR3.

Despite his various problems Kimi Raikkonen notched up yet another career fastest lap, his 28th, putting him level with Jim Clark. However his 12-race streak of finishing in the points came to an end – he last failed to score when he retired from the European Grand Prix.

Three drivers have been classified finishers in every race this year: Raikkonen, Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld. Toro Rosso are yet to get both their drivers to the finish of the same event. In fact they’ve only mustered four finishes from 12 starts, and one of the four was Bourdais’ classification at Melbourne when his car had stopped.

And three drivers have an average finishing position that is worse than their average starting position. However in the case of two of those drivers, Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton, that statistic is distorted by races where they finished low down the order because of problems early in the race. Only one driver is consistently finishing below his starting position: Jarno Trulli (see chart).

Mark Webber has scored points in the last five consecutive Grands Prix – a personal best. Meanwhile Kazuki Nakajima has quietly amassed three points-scoring finishes from his seven career starts.

Nelson Piquet Jnr failed to progress beyond the first part of qualifying for the third time in six attempts.

Despite the demanding conditions the Monaco Grand Prix actually saw the average number of finishers for a race in 2008 – 69% of the field, or 14 drivers.

The top four drivers in the championship are covered by six points. After the sixth race of last season the top four were covered by 21 points – and the fourth driver was eventual champion Kimi Raikkonen

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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22 comments on “Monaco Grand Prix 2008 facts & stats”

  1. “Three drivers have finished every race this year: Raikkonen, Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld. ”

    Raikkonen didn’t finish in Melbourne, but did get points, so it’s just Hamilton and Heidfeld.

  2. Raikkonen was classified, so it counts. I’ll improve the wording of that, though.

  3. Fastest lap of the race? Shame on you Kimi, you had such a fast car but decided to go to sleep all race until the very end, if he could drive so fast, what was he doing all race. If u ask me, its just medicine after death. Fastest lap is yet another useless statistic.

  4. It was sure one of the worst performances from Raikkonen I remember but I would not slam him for setting the fastest lap … There was no way to go that fast while the track was wet … He did that fastest lap after trading few with Kovalainen whe he had empty track ahead and dry tyres on and at least in theory still soemthing to fight for (one point). All the other positions were pretty much set after the Kimi/Sutil crash and nobody else except Kimi and Heikki really needed to push that hard at that time…

    This number may be useless but it probably proves the point Massa was making … Ferrari had the car to win this race, they messed it up …

  5. I was thinking about it yesterday in the race, but this morning visting youtube i’ve realized about this fact: Coulthard crash at Q2 and Kimi crash at the race are almost identical. Both drift at the same point, cars pointed to the barriers, and both jumped the chicane. difference was David was unable to avoid crashing his car.

    In the race i thought maybe was a puddle or a wet zone, but in Q2 track was dry, so maybe there is something in this part of the track, or maybe is just a coincidence.

  6. “Ferrari had the car to win this race” – what about that massive gap that LH was able to open up before his pit stop, was that just less fuel while Massa was fueled to the end?

  7. frecon: there is a bit of a crest in that braking zone, so the back of the car is light. Combine that with cold brakes, downshifting and no engine breaking, and you have one of the most challenging breaking zones of the F1 year

    Kimi also had the damp patch to deal with, but going off there like they both did is still a driver error. If Kimi hadn’t tried so desperately to keep the car straight (I would *love* to see a cockpit view, he corrects the car 3 times in half a second) he just would have hit the barrier and slid, and probably not hit Sutil

  8. “He [Fisichella] has failed to start twice: France in 2002 (injured in qualifying)”

    Right race, but Fisi got injured in Saturday second practise. Sorry for nit-picking, Keith.

  9. “what about that massive gap that LH was able to open up before his pit stop, was that just less fuel while Massa was fueled to the end?”

    yeah I think so too. Plus before the first pit stop until the second safety car, Massa was always stuck in traffic, whereas Hamilton was never stuck behind anyone but for about 3 laps in high fuel load.

    I wouldn’t say Ferrari was quicker though, there was no proof for that or otherwise in such a race like this Monaco ;-). Too me, the worthiest winner was Kubica, if Hamilton didn’t make that mistake Kubica would have won the race imo, the only top gun with flawless performance

  10. Sorry but that’s a bit daft. The worthiest winner will always be the one who finishes first as in ahead of everyone else. Hence the 10 points. Amazing huh?
    Doesn’t matter how the cards fall. Yes, Lewis almost binned it but a win is a win. I like Kubica a lot and his drive was awesome. But he still hasn’t won anything (F1) yet. I look forward to the day he does.

  11. Monaco still taboo for Ferrari.

  12. eeeeeh Euna are you trying to suggest the traffic just disappeared into thin air after Massa went through it and before Lewis caught up with it (That was Monaco not Stargate)? Please … Lewis went through that traffic too … as i recall it he had been on heavy fuel load himself but only 17 seconds behind Massa when the Brazilian pitted, a much smaller gap than his over Massa when he himself pitted. Besides, let’s not forget Kubica overtook Massa – i don’t think Ferrari were as strong as they are claiming – i sincerely don’t see how they would have won that race – after Massa’s stop they were always racing for second.

  13. Here’s a stat: Incurring a driving penalty while standing still with the wheels off — Kimi.

    I’m guessing here (I didn’t see the race, I followed the live commentary on this site and F1 live timing), but was it fair to penalise the driver for the team’s mistake? AFAIK, he gained no advantage, and didn’t harm anyone else’s chances, so why penalise Kimi? It would be fairer to fine the team instead. Leave him in his grid slot he earned fair and square.

  14. Martin B: for me the worst part was the moment race direction chose to investigate the incident (with a SC on track), and when they punished Kimi (with all the cars running in group after relaunch the race).

    Saturday on GP2 one driver who overtook using the inside part of St Devote, was penalized 20 laps later, almost at the end of the sprint race.

    I think stewards should decide in the next 2 or 3 laps after an incident, otherwise they are interfering in the race result.

  15. There is a limit on how long stewards have to decide on a penalty, and there was the famous incident with Schumacher at Silverstone in 1998 where he ended up taking his penalty after the race.

  16. There was an limit back in 1998 (30 minutes), and that was one of the controversial parts of that day.
    AFAIK there is no longer any limit. A driver cannot take a penalty during a safety car period.

  17. @Ndinyo: yup, i didn’t say Hamilton didn’t get caught in traffic, he actually did as most of the front runners, Massa overtook them and he pitted and got stuck again, when Hamilton got into traffic, he only has 20laps fuel onboard, whereas Massa 48 or so, that’s why i said he almost didn’t spend anytime in traffic with high fuel load.

    You’re so right doubting Ferrari speed of course, they didn’t show anything in the race and they did in fact race for second which they also lost(thou i believe they lost 2nd due to poor strategy rather than speed).

    it’s just my 2 cents about “they have winning materials” i don’t have any proof ^^

  18. “when Hamilton got into traffic, he only has 20laps fuel onboard, whereas Massa 48 or so, that’s why i said he almost didn’t spend anytime in traffic with high fuel load.”

    LOL, I actually think it’s better to run into traffic with a full tank. OK, you may be spending more time in the traffic that way, but your are slow anyways, probably not much faster than the traffic. On the other hand if you have a light fuel load, it’s time to push, you can probably be much faster than the traffic, thus the traffic will cost you more time.

  19. Michael Counsell
    27th May 2008, 18:35

    The worthiest winner would have been Sutil. If he hadn’t started 18th (?) who knows where he would have been.

  20. Michael Counsell
    27th May 2008, 18:37

    Also 7 different teams in the top 7 places and if Raikkonen had hit a wall rather than Sutil it would have been 8 in 8.

  21. Prior to the race the general consensus appeared to be that Massa was lighter than Raikkonen and that the Mclarens were heavier than both Ferraris. From Massa’s surprise at being on pole I suspected at the time that he may have been heavier than Raikkonen and fuelled similarly to the Mclarens.

    With Hamilton and Raikkonen making unscheduled first stops, is it possible to ascertain the relative fuel loads of the top 4 in Q3?

  22. Keith,

    Isn´t Lewis the youngest driver to win at Monaco?

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