2008 Chinese GP stats and facts
Lewis Hamilton scored his second win/pole/fastest lap hat-trick
Strange coincidences between Lewis Hamilton and Rubens Barrichello, rotten luck for Adrian Sutil, and a championship hanging in the balance.
Here are the stats and facts from the Chinese Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton scored the ninth win of his F1 career and the first since he was stripped of victory in the Belgian Grand Prix. It was his fifth win this year, giving him one more than last year.
That gives him as many victories as Rubens Barrichello and Hamilton’s 13th pole position also matches Barrichello’s tally, along with Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jacky Ickx, Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya.
It was his second ‘hat trick’ of win from pole position with fastest lap, the first coming at Fuji last year. That gives him as many as – you guessed it – Rubens Barrichello, plus eight other drivers.
Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld both passed the 200 points mark – Hamilton doing so after 34 starts, Heidfeld after 149. Ferrari, meanwhile, scored their 4,000th point, hitting 4007.5. McLaren are second on the all-time points tally with 3304.5.
One final Lewis Hamilton stat: he goes into the final round with a seven-point lead over Felipe Massa, the same lead he had over Kimi Raikkonen last year. However they do not have the added complication of a third driver in the title battle, Robert Kubica having dropped out of the running.
The current points system was introduced in 2003 with the intention of making championship battles closer. But were the previous points system being used, Hamilton’s advantage over Massa would be five points instead of seven.
McLaren scored their first Chinese Grand Prix victory.
Sebastian Vettel’s best-ever points-scoring streak came to an end after five consecutive races in the top eight.
Adrian Sutil suffered his 11th retirement of the season, three more than any other driver (second is Nelson Piquet Jnr with eight). It was his sixth mechanically-induced retirement, also three more than any other driver (Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen and Rubens Barrichello each have three).
The world championship will be decided at the final round for the third year in a row, and for the 25th time in F1′s 59-year history.
Spotted any other interesting stats and facts in the Chinese Grand Prix? Post them below…
Becken said on 20th October 2008, 17:15
Oh, yeah, well spotted… Anyway, the GP bankers are doing rubbish trophies all season:
Take a look at this picture HERE
michael counsell said on 20th October 2008, 18:05
Hamilton ended his longest win drought in F1 (six races). It was also his first fastest lap of the season (Raikkonen has 11, with Massa, Heidfeld and Kovalainen all on 2)
Fernando Alonso has scored the most points (40) in the last 7 races (2 wins, 4 fourths and a DNF). It was also his 5th 4th place of the season.
Along with Massa and Hamiltons 5 wins, no one else has finished in the same position more often.
If Massa had been the clear no.1 Ferrari driver from the start of the season Raikkonen could have handed him an extra two points at the Spanish GP. Kovalainen has never finished one place in front of Hamilton, either finishing at least two positions ahead or behind.
The current top six in the championship (Ham, Mas, Kub, Rai, Hei, Alo) all finished in the top six which they previously did the Turkish GP weren’t the top 6.
Webber and Rosberg recorded their worst finishing positions of the season in 14th and 15th.
IDR said on 20th October 2008, 20:29
Michael Counsell,
Raikkonen has made just 10 FLAPS not 11. He would like to take one more and beat his own record (with M Schumacher) of fastest laps in one season.
Terry Fabulous said on 20th October 2008, 22:06
@ Becken
Outstanding Spot!
kilwa said on 20th October 2008, 22:16
Heikki leads a GP for 10th , 7th time during this GP.
Trulli drove his 198 GP here , and he’s still waiting for the fastest Lap .
Mclaren started for the 141th time from the pole position.
the 547th GP for ferrari where they scored points , 485th for Mclaren scored points , and 151 for Renault where they scored Points
Wesley said on 21st October 2008, 0:02
LOL!…Thanks for that picture link Becken,that’s just too funny.I love the look on Lewis and Kimi’s faces.
Pink Peril said on 21st October 2008, 0:11
I wonder if Lewis’ trophy was Made In China….. :D
Bud said on 21st October 2008, 2:26
Anyone know why Massa had the ‘anvil wing’ and Kimi didn’t?
ron said on 21st October 2008, 13:14
They should revert back to the old points system, the current system rewards the best looser and doesnt encourage cut throat racing…
Paolo said on 21st October 2008, 16:48
Rregardless of the championship’s outcome, next year there will be three world champions on the grid.
More or less the average value when in the middle of a new generation of drivers.
At the beginning of 2007 there was only one (Alonso) given the retirement of Schumacher and Villeneuve.