Points for Petrov and first McLaren 1-2 since 2007 (Chinese GP stats and facts)
McLaren's championship-winning pair scored their first one-two
The Chinese Grand Prix saw McLaren score their first one-two finish since Fernando Alonso drove for them.
It was also the first British one-two in 11 years and Russia became the 33rd country to score points in F1. Read on for all the stats and facts from China.
Jenson Button won his second race in four starts for McLaren and the ninth of his career.
The Chinese Grand Prix has still not been won by the same driver twice. Since 2004 it’s been won by Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and now Button.
With Lewis Hamilton finishing second this was the first one-two for a pair of British drivers since the 1999 Austrian Grand Prix, won by Eddie Irvine with David Coulthard in second place.
McLaren recorded their 45th one-two finish and their first since Fernando Alonso led home Hamilton in the 2007 Italian Grand Prix.
After four races we’ve already had three different teams record one-two finishes – Ferrari in Bahrain and Red Bull in Malaysia.
It was pole position number eight for Vettel, who has now started from first place as many times as 1964 champion John Surtees and Riccardo Patrese.
Red Bull kept up their run of pole positions in 2010 and achieved their second front row lock-out. No-one has won a race from pole position yet this year – the last person to do so was Vettel at Suzuka seven races ago.
Despite having 11 wins and 17 pole position, Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap was only the fourth of his career. His last one came at the same circuit when he won the 2008 race.
All three drivers on the podium were powered by Mercedes – the first time this has happened since the 1955 British Grand Prix when the Mercedes factory team fill the podium, Stirling Moss leading home Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling at Aintree.
Vitaly Petrov scored the first points of his career – and became the first Russian driver to score in Formula 1. It was also his first race finish.
Russia is the 33rd different country to produce a Grand Prix points-scorer. The last addition to the club was Poland, when Petrov’s team mate Robert Kubica finished third at Monza in 2006.
Virgin and Sauber failed to get either of their cars to the finish once again. The two teams have only recorded one finish each so far this year. Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi are yet to see the chequered flag in 2010.
Most laps led
| Driver | Laps led |
| Sebastian Vettel | 110 |
| Jenson Button | 71 |
| Fernando Alonso | 18 |
| Nico Rosberg | 16 |
| Mark Webber | 4 |
Most podium finishes
| Driver | Podiums |
| Felipe Massa | 2 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 2 |
| Jenson Button | 2 |
| Nico Rosberg | 2 |
| Fernando Alonso | 1 |
| Robert Kubica | 1 |
| Mark Webber | 1 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 1 |
Finishes and DNFs
2010 season finishes and DNFs
Spotted any more interesting stats and facts from the Chinese Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
2010 Chinese Grand Prix
- Sunday in Shanghai – a fans’ view of the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix
- 2010 Chinese Grand Prix – the complete F1 Fanatic review
- Ferrari deny Alonso-Massa rift
- Points for Petrov and first McLaren 1-2 since 2007 (Chinese GP stats and facts)
- Safety car spares Hamilton and Alonso’s blushes (Chinese Grand Prix analysis)
- Chinese Grand Prix fastest laps
- Chinese Grand Prix in pictures
- Webber loses out in safety car incident
- Button leads McLaren to one-two in wet race
- Hamilton’s pit lane dice with Vettel could cost him second (Update: no penalty)
sato113 said on 19th April 2010, 8:41
‘first one-two for a pair of British drivers since the 1999,’ – but which GP was it?
nice stats as always!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 19th April 2010, 8:49
Sorry, Austrian! Fixed it.
The BBC mentioned that during their coverage and Coulthard didn’t seem terribly pleased to be reminded about it . This was, of course, the race where he took out Mika Hakkinen on the first lap, then lost the lead of the race to Hakkinen’s title rival Irvine. Not his finest hour…
Sush Meerkat said on 19th April 2010, 8:51
Petrov is impressive, for a formula 1 driver he’s overweight and he hasn’t done the normal F1 graduation route, but his starts and race craft are astounding.
Lustigson said on 19th April 2010, 9:13
I too was impressed by Petrov’s driving. Not necessarily by his speed, though, since he kept on losing time to teammate Kubica.
Maciek said on 19th April 2010, 9:26
It’s not really fair to compare Petrov’s pace to Kubica’s yet, and won’t be for a while, but he’s certainly shown some spunk the last two races.
James said on 19th April 2010, 11:11
I would hardly say he is overweight though, even by F1′s strict standards. He is over 6 foot tall and looks more muscular than flabby.
This was the sort of thing the minimum weight rise from 605 to 620 kg was supposed to fix. I find this a little concerning myself that teams are still demanding drivers to shed weight…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 19th April 2010, 11:13
It’s always going to be the case. Weight in a drivers’ body that can be lost could be re-positioned elsewhere in the car to improve the centre of gravity. That’s why the drivers are virtually lying down in the cars.
James said on 19th April 2010, 15:55
Oh yeh, I understand that completely, but like I said, part of the reason for the minimum weight increase was to help drivers of a taller physique.
I can see why teams would want drivers to be the weight of a Grand National jockey, but it really cannot be healthy for these guys to sustain their body weight and mass. It wasnt really like this before. Only 2005 has this been an increasing issue.
Royston Capel said on 19th April 2010, 9:14
Good stats,but I´d like to know which drivers have won a GP for three different teams.
f1yankee said on 19th April 2010, 9:49
currently, alonso and button. then we go back to mansell, prost, senna, berger, patrese, piquet, lauda, jones, and reutemann rounds out the 80′s
Ned Flanders said on 19th April 2010, 10:05
We looked at this after Alonso and Button took wins for a 3rd team at Bahrain and Melbourne respectively. Prost won for 4 different teams- Renault, McLaren, Ferrari and Williams- which is a record I think.
Prost also challenged for or won the championship for all 4 teams which is impressive. Alonso could do the same with same with a 3rd team (Ferrari) this season if he does well
SonyJunkie said on 19th April 2010, 10:55
Nigel Mansell Only won races for Williams and Ferrari.
Ayrton Senna only won races for Lotus and Mclaren.
2 Minutes To Midnight said on 19th April 2010, 12:09
For sure, Ayrton could won a race with Williams if the accident in Imola didn’t happen. (And I think he could also win a race with Ferrari, cause he said that he wants to drive for Ferrari in the end of his career.)
MouseNightshirt said on 19th April 2010, 13:34
Alas, that Ayrton would have had a win with Williams is a tragic irrelevance when it comes to actual stats.
Patrickl said on 19th April 2010, 13:51
Yeah, like those statistics are of any importance whatsoever.
Ned Flanders said on 19th April 2010, 13:59
If you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all Patrick. Your comments can be needlessly unfriendly at times.
Also, Senna came close to winning with Toleman so with a bit of luck he might have won for 4 or 5 different teams.
And with Vettel having won for 2 teams at such a young age, I could see him joing the ’3′ club within a few years
Patrickl said on 19th April 2010, 15:58
Ned seriously. He’s acting like there is some holy rule in allowing something into a statistic or not.
Lachie said on 19th April 2010, 9:51
My first two thoughts and a quick Wikipedia search confirmed Prost and Piquet both did. I would assume there’s more and maybe many in the early days where i’m not sure how strict the teams were (Fangio did it too :) )
Ilanin said on 19th April 2010, 14:29
It can get confusing. For example, Stirling Moss won races for Mercedes, Maserati, Vanwall, and Rob Walker; but he won races in a Mercedes, Maserati, Vanwall, Cooper and Lotus because Walker entered a variety of different cars as a privateer. Is that four or five?
geo132 said on 19th April 2010, 9:55
it was mentioned after the first race in bahrain. Alonso is one of those drivers who won 3 races, for 3 different teams: mclaren, renault and ferrari this year.
PJA said on 19th April 2010, 9:26
I don’t know if this has been answered elsewhere but when was the last jump start, as I can’t remember one happening for quite a while.
GeeMac said on 19th April 2010, 9:53
I was wondering the same thing. I’d imagine that there hasn’t been one since the late 1990′s or early 00′s.
Ned Flanders said on 19th April 2010, 10:07
My brain is telling me that Massa had one for Sauber at Magny Cours in 2002, though I can’t really remember now (me and my brain are seperate entities now, which explains a lot!)
' said on 19th April 2010, 11:06
Fisichella jumped the start at Canada 2006…
Enigma said on 19th April 2010, 18:56
Wasn’t it Barrichello in Brazil in 2007?
Enigma said on 19th April 2010, 18:58
Ah, didn’t that Bleu has already sad that.
Bleu said on 19th April 2010, 9:35
From a quick memory I don’t remember any in 2008 or 2009, but I think Barrichello had one in Brazil 2007.
Scribe said on 19th April 2010, 9:36
Funny that, Mark Webber’s had rock solid reliability. Finally a McLaren 1-2, just shows the importance of actually having two drivers, oh Heikki you were fun but you just couldn’t hack it huh?
Poor Kobayashi, really wanted him to do well, this Sauber could be the end of his career.
Enigma said on 19th April 2010, 9:57
It’s Lewis’ fault, he had a puncture in Hungary 2008 :)
Ned Flanders said on 19th April 2010, 10:08
But even that would’ve been a 2-3 if Massa’s engine had of lasted the distance
' said on 19th April 2010, 11:09
McLaren would have had a 1-2 at Australia 2008 if it wasn’t for an unfortunately timed safety car…
Patrickl said on 19th April 2010, 13:53
McLaren could have had a 1-2 in Australia 2010 if it wasn’t for an ill advised pitstop.
Dan M said on 19th April 2010, 19:27
McLaren wouldn’t have had a 1-2 in China if it wasn’t for an untimely safety car.
Christian said on 19th April 2010, 9:40
The most laps in the lead stats are pretty interesting. Vettel and Button out on their own at the moment.
Derek said on 19th April 2010, 12:05
I’m amazed that Hamilton and Massa have not lead a lap yet
Bleu said on 19th April 2010, 9:43
I had a look on other circuits which have started with many different winners.
- Österreichring had eight (Ickx, Siffert, Fittipaldi, Peterson, Reutemann, Brambilla, Watson, Jones) in 1970-77, until Peterson won again in 1978.
- Long Beach had different winner in every eight races (1976-83): Regazzoni, Andretti, Reutemann, Villeneuve, Piquet, Jones, Lauda and Watson.
- Jochen Rindt won German GP at Hockenheim in 1970 when it was held for the first time. When the race was permanently moved in 1977, winners were Lauda, Andretti, Jones, Laffite, Piquet, Tambay, Arnoux and Prost. Piquet took second victory in 1986 after new Nurburgring held 1985 event.
- Paul Ricard and Brands Hatch also had lots of different winners but they didn’t have permanent spot in the calendar. Dijon sometimes held French GP and Brands Hatch was rotating with Silverstone.
Other notes then:
- Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi have been involved in same first-lap accident twice in three races
- In general, this was first engine manufacturer 1-2-3 since Luxembourg GP 1997 when Renault took first four spots with Villeneuve, Alesi, Frentzen and Berger.
TommyC said on 19th April 2010, 9:49
i think it’s the first time it’s been that difficult to predict which team would first win two races in a season…
on a more serious note, maybe the race with the highest average for number of pit stops? most pitted at least 3 times didn’t they? alonso 5 even.
Enigma said on 19th April 2010, 9:55
69 pit stops all together I think. That’s averagely 2,9 stops per driver, including the retirees.
geo132 said on 19th April 2010, 9:57
one of Alonso’s pit stops was actually a drive through penalty.
One of the William’s pitted 6 times though!
David said on 19th April 2010, 14:31
I find it bizarre and highly irritating that people wistfully remember Senna as some sort of demi-god! People deride Schumacher’s achievements because of a handful of transgressions in the heat of the moment yet Senna was every bit as bad if not worse yet he’s revered as a legend. Senna was undeniably good but I believe he had achieved all he was likely to achieve by the time he killed himself at Imola. To my mind his star had started to fade by then, he was not the driver he was and Michael Schumacher was in the ascendancy. Senna would not have been able to compete with Schumacher’s relentless ability to perform and probably would have retired at the end of his Williams contract if not before. Talk of “what if” and “he could of won this and that if only he hadn’t killed himself” is akin to seeing the world through rose coloured specs, it’s overly romanticising the memory of the guy just because he’s dead. Indeed, there would have been no more titles for senna had he not had the accident and continued to race, he had entered his decline and as we know with other greats such as Hakkinen, Schumacher. Villeneuve, once the rot starts there’s no going back, it just gets worse and they can no longer find that superhuman level of performance anymore. I have nothing against Senna per se, I just think people lack perspective when his name comes up.
PJA said on 19th April 2010, 15:19
As you say it is a big “what if” but considering Hill only lost out on the 1994 title to Schumacher by 1 point I think Senna would have managed to win the title that year if he hadn’t died, I think the only issue would be would Schumacher have received all those penalties if things had been different.
' said on 19th April 2010, 11:11
Nurburgring had 75 pitstops from 22 drivers, an average of 3.41 per driver…
' said on 19th April 2010, 11:11
Nurburgring 2007, that is.
Ilanin said on 19th April 2010, 14:36
The 1993 European Grand Prix would have to be a challenger, if anyone could find pit stop data for it. Due to reliability issues more common in the ’90s it might not make it though. Prost made seven stops all by himself.
' said on 19th April 2010, 15:41
No, Donnington had 69 pitstops, an average of 2.875 per driver. I’m pretty sure Nurburgring 2007 is the highest.
Ilanin said on 19th April 2010, 17:55
Right, but that was in the refuelling era, so it isn’t directly comparable to either Shanghai 2010 or Donnington 1993.
Enigma said on 19th April 2010, 9:54
Kobayashi is yet to make a pit stop this year.
Senna qualified 23rd in all 4 races.
GeeMac said on 19th April 2010, 9:56
Great stats.
I read one in autosport that I don’t know if anyone has mentioned. Jenson’s win in Austrailia made him one of only 13 drivers who have won races for three different manufacturers. It’s quite an exclusive club with the likes of Fanigo, Lauda and Prost in it.
Magnificent Geoffrey said on 19th April 2010, 13:42
I’m assuming that Fernando is also one of those 13 as well?
theo said on 19th April 2010, 9:57
Kimi 5th in WRC rally of Turkey! in only 8th ever rally.
What a driver.
PeterG said on 19th April 2010, 10:07
Is Kovalainen still driving in China? Why does he only have 3 caps?
Is already known why Liuzzi spun his car?
Bleu said on 19th April 2010, 10:32
I think it’s Malaysian GP which is missing – Kovalainen finished but was not classified.
sato113 said on 19th April 2010, 15:33
nah he retired with a hydralic problem on lap 47
Andrew White said on 19th April 2010, 19:54
He went back out after that because it was Lotus’ home race, but he didn’t complete 90% race distance, so was not classified.
Ned Flanders said on 19th April 2010, 10:14
Sebastien Buemi was wiped out from behind by an out of control car on Lap 1 at Turn 6 for the second time in the last 3 races. Kamui Kobayashi was involved both times, too.
Incredible stat if I say so myself!
Sush Meerkat said on 19th April 2010, 11:00
how the hell did you spot that one?, nice find Ned.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 19th April 2010, 11:15
Wow nice one Ned!
Tom L. said on 19th April 2010, 12:30
You could even add to that that Huelkenberg was affected each time (I know being forced to run round the outside to avoid it isn’t quite the same as being hit by Kobayashi as in Australia, but still…)
KateDerby said on 19th April 2010, 10:34
STR comparison;
Well done to Alguersuari 4 finishes out of 4
Hard luck to Buemi 2 first lap smashes, neither he could do a thing about!