2008 European Grand Prix stats and facts

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Felipe Massa scored his third career 'hat trick' of pole, win and fastest lap

Felipe Massa had a lot to celebrate after the European Grand Prix after dominating the weekend. So did Bridgestone who marked their 200th F1 race start – regardless of the fact it was actually their 202nd appearance.

Plus, which of Ayrton Senna’s records did Jenson Button match? Find out more F1 statistics and facts from Valencia below.

Felipe Massa scored his third ‘hat trick’ of pole position, victory and fastest lap – his other two were at Bahrain and Barcelona last year. That gives him as many as Fernando Alonso. The only other driver to score a hat-trick this year was Kimi Raikkonen in Spain, his last victory.

It was his ninth win, giving him as many as Rubens Barrichello, and 13th pole position, which also matches Barrichello’s haul – along with that of Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jacky Ickx, Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya. His ninth fastest lap matches the tally of Denny Hulme, Ronnie Peterson and Jacques Villeneuve.

The European Grand Prix was also Massa’s 100th appearance at an F1 world championship event, but only his 99th start, as he withdrew from the 2005 United States Grand Prix.

And Massa has now overtaken Lewis Hamilton as the driver who has led the most laps in 2008 with 278 to Hamilton’s 238.

Robert Kubica has now scored exactly 100 points in F1 from 34 starts.

Timo Glock scored points in two consecutive races for the first time in his F1 career.

Nico Rosberg scored his first point since the Turkish Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen has gone eight races without a win, his longest win-less streak since joining Ferrari.

Sebastien Bourdais made the 700th Grand Prix start by a French driver. Only Britons and Italians have started more F1 races – 781 and 723 each respectively.

No Renault-powered car finished in the points for the first time this year.

Jenson Button equalled Ayrton Senna’s record for most starts with a Honda engine with 96. Senna used Honda power with Lotus in 1987, then with McLaren from 1988-1992.

Nick Heidfeld finished his 22nd consecutive race. The all-time record for consecutive finishes is held by Michael Schumacher with 24 (Hungary 2001 – Malaysia 2003) followed by Rubens Barrichello with 23 (Spain 2005 – Britain 2006). Fernando Alonso has also finished 22 races in a row (France 2005 – Germany 2006).

The European Grand Prix was held at its fifth different location, the others being Brands Hatch, Nurburgring, Donington Park and Jerez. Valencia is the sixth different Spanish circuit to hold a Grand Prix, but the only one not to host the Spanish Grand Prix.

Finally, Bridgestone marked what it said was its 200th Grand Prix appearance – but it was actually its 202nd. It seems to have overlooked its first two appearances in the 1970s. Bridgestone supplied tyres for Kazuyoshi Hoshino’s Tyrrell in the inaugural Japanese Grand Prix in 1976. In the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix Hoshino and Noritake Takahara both raced on Bridgestones.

However it was the 200th consecutive race for the Japanese tyre manufacturer. It made its F1 return at the start of 1997 supplying Arrows, Prost, Minardi, Stewart and Lola. In that time they have scored 126 pole positions, 128 fastest laps and 133 victories. However it has been the sole tyre supplier in 62 races (1999-2000 and 2007-present). Its competitors have been Goodyear (1997-98) and Michelin (2001-2006).

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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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8 comments on “2008 European Grand Prix stats and facts”

  1. It may be slightly off topic, but why isn’t there a Asian round similar to the European one.
    If Bernie is that obsessed with going to the Eastern countries it would seem like a logical idea…
    Or am I missing something.

  2. Good ‘ol Heidfeld brings it home again,now if he could just get his BMW further up the field.

  3. Terry Fabulous
    25th August 2008, 23:00

    Gday Ratboy. In 94 and 95 they had a Pacific Grand Prix at the TT Aida circuit in Japan. Schumi won both times.
    The track was more suited to the bikes then F1.

    I have always liked the idea of them racing a Grand Prix on a South Pacific island where the track is the circumfrence of the Island. Sure it would take some Money and Bernie would probably have to invest it with a thousand year lease for all of their raw materials but it would look great on TV.

    Although having said that, Valencia looked great on TV but as Keith has pointed out. It ain’t no good for F1!

  4. Hello Keith

    Off Topic here, but I’ve had this thought around for quite some time.

    Racing drivers spend all of their early careers striving really hard to win races to move up to the pinnacle of motorsport and get to “race” in Formula 1.

    For most of them that’s it, they will never stand on the top step again. All that hard work, money and time just to become a…………failure.

    Cheers…………../Leslie.

  5. And to think, only two years ago, nobody rated Felipe Massa at all. What a difference a Ferrari and one year under the wing of Herr Schumacher can make, to a driver that had all been written off back in 2002.

  6. Terry Fabulous
    26th August 2008, 4:29

    Hi Leslie,
    Ironic isn’t it. One of the appealing things about F1 is watching so many ‘winners’ in the same race. Look at Bourdais. He won continually in CARTs and has barely made top ten in F1. I guess that is why it is so appealing in many ways.

  7. Of course, it could be said that Massa is still getting guidance from Old Schuey, who is always on the Pit Wall in an apparently unofficial capacity……
    And theres always Jean Todt around these days too, presumably to help out with talking the FIA Stewards and Charlie Whiting in case of any unforseen problems….

  8. To Terry.
    Oh yeah I forgot about the Pacific rounds..
    I actually liked that track.

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