2008 German GP Facts & Stats

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Lewis Hamilton was one-third of the youngest podium trio ever

The 2008 German Grand Prix saw the youngest ever podium. Plus Kimi Raikkonen failed to match the record for most consecutive fastest lap, while Nick Heidfeld goes after the record of most consecutive finishes.

More stats and facts from the German Grand Prix below.

Lewis Hamilton scored his eighth career victory giving him as many as Denny Hulme, Jacky Ickx and Felipe Massa. He has now won as many races as he did last year. He also started from pole position for the ninth time.

It was McLaren’s first win at the Hockenheimring since Mika Hakkinen won in 1998.

Kimi Raikkonen failed to set the fastest lap for the seventh race in a row which would have seen him match Alberto Ascari’s all-time record of seven. Nick Heidfeld instead set the second fastest lap of his career having set the first at Malaysia this year.

Nelson Piquet Jnr scored the first podium finish of his career with second. It was also the first time a Renault has led a race this year.

This means half of the drivers have led a lap this year (11):

Lewis Hamilton 233
Felipe Massa 168
Kimi Raikkonen 135
Robert Kubica 49
Nick Heidfeld 21
Heikki Kovalainen 13
Rubens Barrichello 7
Nelsinho Piquet 6
Timo Glock 3
Jarno Trulli 2
David Coulthard 1

Last year 12 drivers led at least one lap.

With Nelson Piquet Jnr and Felipe Massa on the podium it was the first time two Brazilians have stood on the podium since Ayrton Senna (first) and Nelson Piquet Snr (third) in the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton, Massa and Piquet Jnr together made the youngest ever podium with an average age of 24 years, seven months and one day. The previous youngest podium was Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya in the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix, an average of 24 years, seven months and 12 days.

Nick Heidfeld was classifeid for the 20th race in a row. The record for most consecutive race classifications is held by Michael Schumacher, with 24 between 2001 and 2003.

What interesting stats did you spot in the German Grand Prix results?

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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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13 comments on “2008 German GP Facts & Stats”

  1. Perhaps not all that interesting, but yesterday we saw only the 3rd Mercedes victory in the German Grand Prix since 1950, and only the 10th since the first Grosser Preis von Deutschland in 1926.

  2. A couple of stats that resulted from Piquet’s podium:

    It was the first time since 1990 that three different brazilians stood on the podium on the same season: Massa, Barrichello (Silverstone) and Piquet. Back then, Senna was world champion, Piquet Snr. won a couple of races and Roberto “Pupo” Moreno, Piquet’s team-mate, scored a 2nd place in Japan (I think).

    Nelsinho Piquet joins Lewis Hamilon, Heikki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg as the 4th GP2 graduate to grab an F1 podium… only Timo Glock is missing…

    Nelsinho Piquet joins Michael Andretti, Damon Hill and Nico Rosberg as the 4th son of a former champion to stand at the podium… don’t know if I’m missing someone else…

  3. Nice one Daniel :-)

  4. How about a record for most dry-weather passes? Seemed that after Glock’s SC period, there was 3-4 passes per lap. Kimi passed what 4 cars in 3 laps – all in points-paying positions??

  5. Keith, does anyone know when the last time we saw a pass for the lead on track in the closing stages of a race? I would say Nurburgring last year.

  6. michael counsell
    21st July 2008, 18:50

    Piquet is the 11th driver from 8 teamsto score a podium finish this year.

    Heidfeld is the highest scorer for the last 4 races.

    Most finishers on the lead lap since ??? I’ve checked back up until 1995 when you’d be lucky to get all the podium on the lead lap. Could be a record.

  7. What does it mean to be classified (Heidfeld)?

  8. Ferrari :(

  9. steve thompson
    21st July 2008, 20:15

    Banco Santander have done their bit to take another bit of atmosphere away – did anyone notice the trophy for Germany was the same as every other Santander Grand Prix – the logo….yawn

  10. Steve K – To have completed at least 90% of the race distance. You can only score points if you’re classified.

    Steve Thompson – Including the giant Mobil 1 oil can above the pits. It’s one of Hockenheim’s defining features and I thought it was a shame it was covered up with a big Santander advert.

  11. Steve Thompson – Yes I noticed that. Although Lewis did get a much nicer trophy for winning the British GP and you can lip read Heidfield say to Lewis on the podium “I’d rather have that one” after looking at his Santander trophy.
    Maybe that’s a new record for the same looking trophy in a row for 2nd \ 3rd and Constructor.

  12. Keith, do you’ve any idea what is going wrong with Ferrari! looks like F2008s didn’t get the best out of their tyres in Germany, and qualifying pace was also not exceptional. Being Ferrari/Kimi fan I thought Kimi will bounce back after so may ill-fated races. McLaren and especially Lewis was looking too comfortable, a nice drive indeed!

  13. I just read your post ‘McLaren’s technical innovations have put the MP4/23 ahead of the pack’; that answered the question from McLaren’s point of view.

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