Hamilton matches Clark’s record of team loyalty

2011 Australian GP stats & facts

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Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Melbourne, 2011

Lewis Hamilton reached an historic milestone in the Australian Grand Prix.

It was his 72nd start for McLaren, meaning he now shares the record for the longest F1 career spent driving for a single team with Jim Clark.

But while Clark took nine years to amass 72 starts for Lotus in world championship races, Hamilton has equalled the tally at the start of his fifth season.

Sebastian Vettel scored his first hat-trick of wins, adding his Australian victory to the two he scored at the end of last year. Indeed, he’s won four of the last five races.

It moves his wins total up to 11, giving him as many as Jacques Villeneuve, Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello.

The last time the reigning champion won the first race of the year was Fernando Alonso in 2006. That was also the last time a driver successfully defended their title.

Vettel also bagged his 20th podium finish and 16th pole position – the latter matching the totals of Kimi Raikkonen and Stirling Moss.

Vettel’s pole position time of 1’23.529 (an average speed of 228.552kph) was the fastest-ever lap of the Albert Park circuit in an F1 race weekend, almost four-tenths faster than the previous best also set by Vettel last year.

However the fastest lap in the race (Felipe Massa, 1’28.947) was almost five seconds slower than the record set by Michael Schumacher in 2004, of 1’24.125. The Drag Reduction System, tyres that degrade more rapidly and the refuelling ban explain much of the difference.

That was Massa’s first fastest lap since Monaco 2009. He’s racked up 13 in his career, as many as Jacky Ickx, Alan Jones and Riccardo Patrese.

Until this weekend Red Bull had never been on the podium at Melbourne. Vettel put that to an end, but Mark Webber once again failed to better his first result in his home race – fifth for Minardi in 2002.

Rubens Barrichello set a new record for starting more seasons than any other driver. He has raced every year since 1993, giving him a record 19 seasons, beating the previous record of 18 set by Graham Hill.

Assuming the FIA’s decision to exclude Sauber from the results is upheld, Paul di Resta became the 70th driver to score a world championship point in his first race.

That mark should have fallen to Sergio Perez. Instead he and team mate Kamui Kobayshi became the first drivers to be disqualified from a race since Lewis Hamilton at the same circuit two years earlier.

Vitaly Petrov, Renault, Melbourne, 2011

Vitaly Petrov scored his first Formula 1 podium – and the first for a Russian driver – in his 20th start.

The return of Pirelli meant we had our first non-Bridgestone win since Alonso won for Renault on Michelin tyres at Suzuka in 2006. Pirelli made their first appearance in an F1 race since Australia 1991 and won their first race since Canada 1991.

Spotted any other interesting statistics and facts from the Australian Grand Prix weekend? Share them in the comments.

F1 Fanatic’s 2011 season statistics pages will be launched ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

2011 Australian Grand Prix


    Browse all 2011 Australian Grand Prix articles

    Image © Pirelli, Renault/LAT

    Author information

    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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    171 comments on “Hamilton matches Clark’s record of team loyalty”

    1. This is the article I have most been waiting for!

      1. Ooh, I have a stat.

        HRT’s Liuzzi and Karthikeyan became the first drivers to ‘DNQ’ for a race since Alex Yoong failed to qualify his Minardi Asiatech within 107% of Michael Schumacher’s pole position time at the 2002 German Grand Prix at the (newly castrated) Hockenheimring.

      2. Me too :) the facts and stats articles are my favourite :)

        1. Same here. There’s nothing like making Excel pages full of stats!

          1. Perez is the first driver to be DSQ from points in his first race since Kubica made his debut in 2006.

            1. I read somewhere on Twiter he shares being DSQ from 7th on his debut, in a Sauber with RK.

      3. I always anticipate these articles as well. The thech articles from John are my other favorites.

        1. Tech, not thech.

    2. Didn’t David Coulthard stay with McLaren for 8 years?

      1. Coulthard didn’t spend his entire carreer at one team though. Hamilton (so far) has.

        1. Oh. Who’s to blame for the ambiguity?

          1. Looking at Twitter, I’m not the only one who understood the article wrong. So… *looks at the author*

            1. I am with you mate, this article isn’t particularly well articulated (a rarity for F1 Fanatic)

            2. I agree, it is always be the author’s fault when I don’t understand something.

          2. I think the second sentence spells it out quite plainly:

            “the record for the longest F1 career spent driving for a single team”

            What exactly about that is confusing you?

            1. How many races did Schumacher do with Ferrari? Or doesnt that count as he has driven for other teams? Same as Hakkinen.

            2. I must admit to being slightly confused when I first read it as well. I think in part because it’s such an obscure statistic (still interesting though, just not the first thing that springs to mind). It doesn’t really show team loyalty, what it shows to me is that Hamilton was fortunate enough to start his Formula 1 career for a very competitive team.

              I would have phrased it as “… driving for only one team”, since I don’t feel that amassing X starts for a single team excludes having started for others.

              I feel like this is going to come across as annoyingly grammar-nazi’ish, I hope not. Although I do find it interesting how language can be interpreted in so many ways.

            3. I think in part because it’s such an obscure statistic

              Given the recent hyped-up talk about Hamilton upping sticks to Red Bull I thought it was quite pertinent.

            4. Obscure, not irrelevant. It’s just an unusual record since when I think of a record, I think of something that someone would need to come a long and break. However in this case, the record would no longer be a record if Hamilton raced for another team, it wouldn’t be broken, just cease to be a record. My point was that because of the unusual nature of the record, it wasn’t the first thing that sprung to mind. :)

              As a complete change of subject, is there a limit on the depth of a comment tree, since I notice I can’t reply to the above comment.

            5. Obviously I and a lot of your readers were confused because our brains probably interpreted “F1 career” as career within the F1 team, not within F1 as a whole.

              I would’ve written it as “the record for the longest F1 career spent entirely driving for one team”, but hey, maybe I should make my own F1 site, with blackjack!

            6. Fair enough (and nice Futurama reference, someone knows how to get around me…)

            7. It’s kind of difficult to phrase for sure, but the statistic is relevant given the talk of a move to RBR, say, and Lewis’s own insistence on loyalty (including the recent chat with Whitmarsh).

              Loyalty is admirable but not when it’s blind. And given McLaren have almost been his ‘parents’ I get the feeling that a move elsewhere would be good for Hamilton’s development, however good the McLaren car this year or next.

            8. Adrian Sutil would also be matching Lewis and Jim had Spyker not been bought out in 2007 (assuming the team had survived this long without the buyout).

            9. I had to read it twice because my mind automatically thought ‘career’ and not ‘single team’, but it was quite clear after reading it a second time…..

            10. I also had the same impression reading the article. But I admit the text is perfect and I read it too fast at first. I also remembered Schumacher’s 100+ starts with Ferrari, but then I realized he was talking about drivers who raced for only one team during their whole careers.

              That’s a funny record: it’ll be ‘provisional’ until Hamilton retires, because if he ever drivers for another team, he loses it.

            11. Keith don’t be touchy. Everyone can do mistakes and you can (not in this case though) make confusing sentences.

            12. I wasn’t being touchy, I was literally asking what wasn’t clear. I took care to write the article as clearly as possible and I was disappointed some people were confused.

              Frankly, I think the eagerness to make a correction explains some of the confusion.

      2. Read the article again…

        1. Because Keith is in a slightly obtuse mood…(he’s either tired and grumpy or typing ‘read it again’ with a sly grin on his face)

          Scribe has, it by the way, but I’ll be long-winded.

          Lewis has ONLY ever driven for McLaren in F1 the same way that Jim Clark ONLY drove for Lotus.

          So…

          While Michael Schumacher was at Ferrari for donkey’s years and *won* 72 races for Ferrari (he started alround double that amount), he also drove for Benetton and now Mercedes (and, some might say, the FIA), Lewis has been with one team his entire career and has matched Jim Clark’s single-teamedness.

          Here’s hoping Lewis leaves the sport in a much less unfortunate way than Jimmy Clark…

        2. Good thing you warned. I had to read that three times to get it :-(

          I bet Hamilton is not feeling like moving away from them right now.

        3. I’ll agree to an extent with the complainers, but only a bit: it’s a nitpicky thing to complain about, it’s not too hard to figure out what it means and it’s a tricky thing to word concisely. Maybe: “record for the longest career spent driving with his first F1 team” hmm, not that great, maybe: “record for the longest F1 career spent driving for his original team”? No offense though, Keith – your writing is excellent, especially given how much you produce in the days surrounding a race weekend!

          1. excellent article as usual but agree is a bit confusing, couldn’t figure out how the Hamilton stat was right until read some of the comments!

        4. Haha, this is like with the iPhone and the death grip – you’re holding it wrong.

          There’s nothing wrong with the article, you’re all reading it wrong!

    3. This is the first time since Turkey 2009 that the leader of the World Championship has won a race (if you consider Vettel the leader, as by virtue of the #1 on his car he was listed first coming into the weekend).

      1. There is no leader before the start of the first race.

    4. Didn’t Senna stay at McLaren for 6 years, totalling some 96 GPs?

      1. Read the article again, it’s a single team that Lewis and Clark raced at. Never have they ever been in another teams car.

        I expect Schumacher’s Ferrari years were the longest stay at a single team.

        1. They were. I think he also had the longest partnership with another driver (Barrichello).

          1. I have a feeling Jenson and Lewis will be breaking that record soon

          2. Just! Schumacher and Rubens started 104 races together, Coulthard and Hakkinen were next up I believe, with 99 starts

            1. Alesi and Berger must be up there somewhere, they spent 5 seasons together (93-97) with two different teams (Ferrari, Benetton) though Berger missed 3 races in 97 and Alesi missed two in 94…

            2. Yeah, although for both couples it was the same number of seasons – 6.

          3. I thought that was Hakkinen and Coulthard (off the top of my head)

          4. Dan – Alesi and Berger were together for 5 seasons and started 82 races together. Back then of course, seasons were 16 races long, with a couple of 17s…

    5. wow.. didn’t even think of this

    6. So double DSQ yesterday, Hamilton in 2009, and there was also Barrichello in 2008. So the last 3 disqualifications all happened in Melbourne.

      And on another note, I remember watching my first GP2 Asia race in Qatar in 2009, and I remember only 4 people – Hulkenberg winning, Perez and Petrov on the podium, and Kobayashi crashing massively at the start. According to wikipedia, D’Ambrosio and Maldonado raced in that season as well. And who of those 6 is the only one not racing in f1 this year? Yep, the race winner…

      1. Interesting fact, that.

      2. And thw two before that were in Canada, Massa and Fisichella, so the last 5 DSQs have been in Commonwealth countries. Okay that’s stretching it but still true :P

        1. In fact the only one of the last 11 DSQs that wasn’t in a Commonwealth country was Sato in Japan 2005…

          1. Sato was also DSQ’d in China 2006.

    7. What about Chandok for the quickest time taken to write off their car in a F1 season? I can’t recall a quicker one…

      1. good one!

      2. I disagree with this statement only because the car wasn’t written off. Lotus repaired it and Trulli drove in in FP2.

        If you trade “damage their car in an accident” for “write off their car”, then that statement has a high probability of being true.

    8. Perez, like Kubica, finished 7th on debut but was subsequently DSQ’d on a technicality. (Kubica was disqualified after Hungary 2006 for an underweight car IIRC)

      1. Also both were driving for what is effectively the same team…

        1. Wow, Sauber must learn to avoid that…

          1. Yeah, however in the case of Kubica it was more a communications failure: they should have advised him to get the ‘pick up rubber’ by driving over the marbles after the race. That would’ve added the extra weight he needed. At least, that’s what Niki Lauda said at the time and I cannot imagine him to be wrong…

            1. Well, we all know one has to do it after the race :) Too bad Kubi didn’t (or he simply forgot) and his team failed to advise him appropriately as all other teams do.

            2. Not entirely true. The final examination by Sauber revealed that Kubica’s fire extinguisher was damaged and leaked out during the race, thus causing the underweight.

            3. Oh, I didn’t know that, Phildick!

        2. And on both occasions Felipe Massa scored the fastest lap and was eventually classified 7th.

      2. How many drivers have been disqualified from their debut race?

    9. I believe this is the first time since Diniz and Hill for Arrows, that two drivers have finished outside the 107% while the rule was in operation. Hill was allowed to race. Can anyone say when the last time both drivers from a team participated in qualifying but failed to qualify, and weren’t allowed to race?

      1. Probably the two Pacific’s at some stage in 1994…that my friends was a woeful team! Seeing as Australia was the last race in 94 I’ll say Austaralia!

        1. The 107% rule has only been in operation since 1996. I think both Fortis fell foul of it on a few occasions that season before the team eventually folded.

          But I believe the last time two cars from the same team fell outside 107% and weren’t allowed to race was the much-beloved Mastercard Lola team, at Melbourne in 1997.

          1. Ah, thought it was too easy to be true…

        2. Nope, it was the 2 Orange Arrows cars in France in 2002

          1. Well remembered. I’d forgotten about that one. They deliberately drove incredibly slowly so they wouldn’t have to race, as they couldn’t afford to.

            1. That was such a farce. Arrows were never a very good team but it was still sad to see them dying so publicly

            2. However, the last driver (rather than both members of the same team) to not qualify was Alex Yoong in Germany 2002 – the race after France 2002 (see first comment).

            3. Arrows were an awesome team with an awesome livery.

        3. Haha, GeeMac – Hill and Diniz were teammates in 1997, therefore 1994 couldn’t have been the last time since 1997. :)

          And just looking at the Australian GP in Melbourne:
          In 1996 – both Forti-Fords of Badoer and Montermini didn’t qualify
          In 1997 – both Lola-Fords of Sospiri and Rosset didn’t qualify

          Both Fortis failed to qualify together as many as 5 times in 1996.

          This also happend to Minardi and Arrows in the French GP of 1999. But all four drivers were allowed to race.
          Exactly the same thing (with the same lack of consequences) happend to Minardi and Arrows in the Belgian GP of 2001.

          And the last instance of two cars from one team not qualifying was in 2002, when the Arrows team deliberately failed to qualify for the 2002 French Grand Prix due to financial problems.

          1. Ned Flanders
            That was such a farce. Arrows were never a very good team

            Well, yeah. The only significant things they’ve left in my memory were Damon Hill’s “almost-a-win” in Hungary 1997 and their 2000 car, which to this day is for me the most beautiful car of the narrow cars era (1998- ):
            http://www.f1-racing.org/arrows2000.jpg

            1. And it had one of the best liveries ever!

      2. Sorry guys, but Hill qualified inside the 107% time at the Australian GP in 1997, just, but he did.

        However, your stat is still correct, I believe, as both the Mastercard Lolas failed to qualify

      3. Magny-Couers 1999 was the last time before Magny-Couers 2002 that 2 or more drivers finished outside the 107% when the rule was in operation. Five drivers (Damon Hill’s Jordan, both Arrowses (Pedro de la Rosa and Toransuke Takagi) and both Minardis (Luca Badoer and Marc Gené) were outside the 107% rule. The wet/dry session had made it difficult to judge timings for doing fastest runs and some had other problems (notably, Damon Hill got through 3 engines in the qualifying hour, which may itself be a record). All five were allowed on the grid, but they were arranged in race number order. This meant that the unlucky Minardis, despite setting a faster time than the Arrowses, ended up starting behind them on the grid.

        Probably just as well for Hispania that F1 is steering clear of France this year ;)

        1. Just to add insult to injury, Takagi managed to get disqualified from the race anyway. Damon and Marc were among the numerous retirements, but Luca overtook Pedro in their battle for the last two finishing places (10th and 11th) in the race.

        2. I thought it was Spa 2001, when loads of drivers were caught out by the track drying late on…. Frentzen qualified 4th for Prost!!

    10. However the fastest lap in the race (Felipe Massa, 1’28.947) was almost five seconds slower than the record set by Michael Schumacher in 2004, of 1’24.125. The Drag Reduction System, tyres that degrade more rapidly and the refuelling ban explain much of the difference.

      And V10’s.

      1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
        28th March 2011, 10:43

        Actually to add – since 2007 the Australian fast lap got slower but qualifying lap got quicker. In 2007 FLAP was 0.091 seconds quicker than qualifying lap in 2011 FLAP was 5.427 seconds slower than qualifying

        FLAP
        2007 1.25.235
        2008 1.27.418
        2009 1.27.706
        2010 1.28.358
        2011 1.28.947

        Qualifying
        2007 1.25.326
        2008 1.25.187
        2009 1.24.783
        2010 1.23.919
        2011 1.23.520

        1. Great Statistic! :)

    11. Cant beleieve some people cant understand the article!

      1. Don’t be so surprised. At first I also wasn’t sure (English in not my mother tongue), but read the comments and understood.

        One point, though: Hamilton looks very well settled at McLaren but he may still change the team sometime.

      2. Cant beleieve some people cant understand the article!

        Cant belive ……….. :-)

          1. I can’t Belize it!

            1. I’ll be leaving now.

            2. Come on guys, this is silly, just leave it be!

      3. Matter of interpretation. I remember when most people finally clicked with where the 1 is in the F1 logo, while I thought that was always the case.

        1. Even now the light has dawned I’m still looking at that logo and seeing the speed lines as the one!

          1. A while back I saw a road sign for a garage, and their logo was P1, which was derived from the F1 logo – except they had also misunderstood and were using the speed lines for the one!

          2. I have to seriously think about it to convince my vision that there’s any 1 in the F1 logo at all.

        2. It wasn’t until last year I noticed! I always thought the speed lines were the 1 too!

        3. Tom M in Australia
          29th March 2011, 22:24

          I never noticed that before!!

    12. Statistics like consecutive wins or first win when you are the only one competing as a tyre supplier, are just so pointless but of course that shouldn’t stop them proudly claiming the win, after all they competed for it. :-)

      1. It’s like reading Pirrelis rapport after the race, they are happy to have 3 of their drivers on the podium. Sure … right.

        1. Imagine if there hadn’t been 3 cars left to get on the podium at the end!

    13. Petrov is the first podium debutant for an incredible 41 races, since Sebastian Vettel at the 2008 Italian GP.

      It’s incredible to think there were no new podium finishers in the topsy turvy 2009 season in particular, but unless my brain is letting me down there wasn’t. Here’s a list of when all of the 2011 drivers have taken their first ever podium, or best result:

      Vitaly Petrov: Australia 2011
      Sebastian Vettel: Italy 2008
      Timo Glock: Hungary 2008
      Nico Rosberg: Australia 2008
      Heikki Kovalainen: Japan 2007
      Lewis Hamilton: Australia 2007
      Felipe Massa: Europe 2006
      Mark Webber: Monaco 2005
      Jenson Button: Malaysia 2004
      Fernando Alonso: Malaysia 2003
      Nick Heidfeld: Brazil 2001
      Jarno Trulli: Europe 1999
      Rubens Barrichello: Pacific 1994
      Michael Schumacher: Mexico 1992
      Adrian Sutil: N/A (best result 4th Italy 2009)
      Narain Karthikeyan: N/A (best result: 4th US 2005)
      Kamui Kobayashi: N/A (best result: 6th x 2)
      Tonio Liuzzi: N/A (best result: 6th x 2)
      Sebastien Buemi: N/A (best result: 7th x 2)
      Jaime Alguersuari: N/A (best result: 9th x 2)
      Paul di Resta: N/A (best result 10th Australia 2011)
      Jerome D’Ambrosio: N/A (best result: 14th Australia 2011)
      Pastor Maldonado: N/A (best result: DNF Australia 2011)
      Sergio Perez: N/A (best result: DSQ Australia 2011)

      And other drivers to take their podium over the last 10 seasons:

      Nelson Piquet jr: Germany 2008
      Robert Kubica: Italy 2006
      Tiago Monteiro: US 2005
      Takuma Sato: US 2004
      Kimi Raikkonen: Australia 2002

      I’m sure I’ve made some mistakes/ omissions. If so, feel free to correct me!

      1. i think you won..

        but thats actually really amazing.. no new guys on the podium since 08!

      2. Wow, nice job with the historics there Ned!

        Can’t think of anyone missing there.

      3. Your missing out on Giancarlo Fisichella first place 2003 in Brasil

        1. No, I’m only including drivers who took their first podium in the last 10 years. Fisichella’s first podium was back in 1997

      4. WHOA!!!! errrrrr COTD anyone?

      5. Oh, Pedro de la Rosa’s first (and only) podium was Hungary 2006!

        1. and Nick Heidfeld hasn’t had a win since 1999

          1. Along the lines of wins there is a stat that will only hold up until the next race.
            That Schumacher has as many wins as all the current winning drivers on the grid combined.

            This will change in Malaysia whether Schumi can win or not.

            Though he isn’t looking as strong as his old self, this is a great reminder at how good he truly was.

      6. They mentioned that stat on SPEED during the race broadcast. I remember reading last year that there’d been no new podium finishers since Vettel, but had forgotten about it when SPEED pointed out that Petrov had broken that streak of no new podium finishers. Way to go Petrov!

    14. I stand corrected

      1. I sit down when Ned corrects me.. helps me deal with the shock ;)

        1. It can’t happen that often, surely!

          1. Well I’m sitting down now just incase it does ;) You never know when it may strike!

    15. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      28th March 2011, 10:36

      I know it is boring stat/record and likely will be broken every race till Kubica is back or Heidfeld kicked out.

      Heidfeld extended his record of most race starts without a win to 175

      MSC podium % dropped from 61.6% back to 57.0% since his return – 2nd active driver is Hamilton with 51.4% and 3rd is Alonso with 39.4%.

      With help of new point system Hamilton now broke through the 500 career points barrier and is ranked 9th with Button at 549 7th, Barrichello at 654 4th, Alonso at 841 2nd and Schumacher at 1441 1st

      1. Talking of boring stats, Nick Heidfeld’s run of consecutive race finishes is already back up to 5…

        1. Aaah curse you stoopid Flanders! I was going to jump in with that one!

          Reminds me of my favourite statistic from the 2009 Japanese GP Facts and Stats:

          Nick Heidfeld has now finished one (1) race in a row, closing in on his previous record.

      2. Heidfeld extended his record of most race starts without a win to 175

        Which he still doesn’t have, Andrea De Cesaris is 39 entries ahead.

    16. Vitaly Petrov scored his first Formula 1 podium – and the first for a Russian driver – in his 20th start.

      An amazing stat when you think of how much we were slagging him off last year!

      1. I love that guy. His response to getting the trophy, he said he was going to go to sleep with it. He did an incredible job!

        What a time to step up to the plate. He didn’t get to 4th out of luck, he was 6th on the grid to start with. He showed some prope nous, and I for one, don’t think he’s getting enough noise made on his behalf what what he’s acheived, and when he’s acheived it.

        ( stats are from memory, memory may be corrupted ;) )

        1. He’s always made good starts though!

          I must say I was a fan on his after Malaysia last year – but gradually went off him mistake after mistake… Glad he’s doing well now though!

          1. Yeah I know what you mean, I had similar feelings. But my goodness how he’s pulled his socks up :)

        2. Yeah… what you said about the trophy and the luck. He ran a great race.

      2. I do like the guy but I’ve been given him a pretty hard time. I promised I’d stop ragging on him if he brought it home in the position that he started.

        Well, he got a great start, ran a good race and ended up with a podium.

        Congrats to Pet! There now my soul is pure again… :)

    17. Did yesterday’s race break the record for most pit-stops?

      1. I don’t know – but I doubt it did – there were 44 pit stops – which I think has probably been beaten in a dry-wet-dry-wet etc race… though I think this record will be beaten at a circuit such as Montreal.

    18. 72 races?! My old uncle Owen was loyal to Watford FC for nigh on 82 years! That’s real loyalty for you!

      1. YOung ones today eh? They renew their phone contract and they consider that loyalty.. what’s the world coming too? I don’t know… Brrrbrbrbrhuurumph

      2. Hare – are you a fellow Watford fan?

    19. So here’s a stat question:

      Interesting podium % stat on Lewis

      had me thinking, with him on podium…

      We know Lewis has won every year in his career?
      Has any other driver won every year of their careers? (or at least first four years?)
      Has any other driver been on podium every year in their careers?

      1. schumi won races in every FULL season(so not 91) that he competed in i think. Before his comeback.

        that pretty impressive!

        senna must be quite similar. cos he didnt do all the races in his first full season at toleman did he?

        prosts cant be bad either. tho in 91 he didnt win, but again he didnt finish the season.

        1. according to stats, Senna raced full season at Toleman and didn’t win in that year.

          Prost also had first season at McLaren, but not sure if that was complete season

          1. i thought he missed some once he signed for lotus, i might be wrong tho.

          2. i thought he missed some once he signed for lotus, i meam missed races for toleman. due to contract issues.

            could be wrong tho

      2. Jelle van der Meer (@)
        28th March 2011, 13:17

        You can add Vettel to that list as well
        2008 Toro Rosso – 1 wins in 1st full year
        2009 Red Bull – 4 wins in 2nd year
        2010 Red Bull – 5 wins in 3rd year
        2011 Red Bull – 1 win so far in 4th year

        Fangio excluding 1952 year won every year
        Drivers with 6 or more consecutive years within atleast 1 win
        Jackie Stewart – 6
        David Coulthard – 7
        Stirling Moss – 7
        Jim Clark – 7
        Nelson Piquet – 8
        Ayrton Senna – 9
        Alain Prost – 10
        Schumacher – 13

    20. 2011 is the 31th consecutive season (record) that McLaren leads a race for at least one lap.

    21. Does anyone know how many points Massa gained in total after others drivers dsq?

        1. I mean in his whole career.

          1. Including 25 sec penalties.

            1. thats a hard one to work out lol

      1. Good question!

        4 yesterday (would’ve been 2 in pre 2010 points)
        2 at Spa 2008
        1 at Hungary 2006 (after Kubica’s DSQ)
        1 at Fuji 2008 (after Bourdais’ 25 sec pen)

        That’s all I can think of

    22. A boring stat but with Vettel winning the race, Germany now has two drivers to win at Albert Park joining Finland also with two Albert Park winners.

      1. GB has 4?

        Damon in 96
        DC 97 and 03
        lewis 08? cant remember that one.
        button 09 and 10

    23. David Coulthard turned 40 over the race weekend, Schumacher made a comeback at 41, watch this space.

      1. I really doubt it. He’s busy with other things.

        1. I think he’s joking. I hope so anyway!

          1. Mainly joking, although the thought does occur to me; Who would Red Bull put in that car if Vettel/Webber was unavailable? Probs Algesuari, but maybe they would take a chance on DC, long shot. Anyway; yes, mainly joking.

      2. Coulthard was just an ok driver. Nothing extraordinary about his talent. Only a team interested in going backwards will sign him on. But for luck, even Klien trounced him in terms of performance. Results though is another matter, as you can always bump your team mate from behind to claim the points.

    24. It’s the first time that Vettel is leading the drivers’ standings before the end of the Championship. Woo hoo!

      1. yes, very true. it’s only the second instance when he’s led a championship.

    25. Like Sergio Perez, Kubica also made his debut with Sauber and was disqualified in his first race too. I think Perez will have at least as bright future as Kubica’s.

    26. How many starts does Sutil have?

      1. I just looked it up, he’s got 72 as well. And would be tied if his team hadn’t changed ownership.

    27. “The return of Pirelli meant we had our first non-Bridgestone win since Alonso won for Renault on Michelin tyres at Suzuka in 2006.” Probably not an unexpected win ;)

      A good bunch of interesting facts!

    28. Anoraks. The lot of you.

      (but it’s really interesting, please keep ‘m coming! :) )

    29. the thing is how many rookies go straight into a top seat?

      yep…2

      and out of them how many are the best in the world?

      yep…just 1…lewis

      I don’t see him or Seb moving on any time soon

      1. Jacques Villeneuve jumped straight into a race winning car in his rookie season, no?

        1. yep and missed out on the title in final round too.

          got pole in his first race! and won his 4th

    30. Hulkenberg is the first former GP2 champion to lose his F1 race seat. Only one former champion didn’t make it to F1 after his win.

    31. One other statistic. Vettel is the first youngest world champion to thank his race team with a grouchy voice after a win.
      Last year he was the first first winner to do that.
      Now he is leading the stats in both categories

    32. how many races did Schumacher drive a Ferrari for?

      1. This record is from the start of Hamilton’s career. I’m not sure if you know, but Schumacher was at Jordan Grand Prix for 1 race (Belgium 1991)

    33. First Double-DNF for a Team fired by Mercedes Engines since 2006 US GP after JPM crashed Kimi and himself out (and a lot of others)?!

      Ok, in 2009 Aussie GP Hamilton finished but was DSQed and Kova wasn’t able to finish a lap in the first two races ;)

      1. The previous one was in Japan 2010 with both Force Indias out.

    34. Perez finishes 7th, gets disqualified for technical infringement whilst in no. 17 Sauber.

      Kubica (Hungary 2006) finishes 7th, gets DQ for having underweight car, no. 17 Sauber.

      On both occasions Massa moved up to 7th in the points.

      Any coincedence?

      1. and a McLaren finished 2nd on both occasions.

        Also Hamilton finished 2nd in European GP 2010 (27th June) and 2011 Australian GP (27th March).

        Luckily there’s no race on the 7th of a month because it’s not Hamilton’s favourite: China (October 2007) tyre problem; Belgium (September 2008) penalty post race; Turkey (June 2009) finishes P13 nearly a lap down.

        The exception to this is Brazil (November 2010) when he finished 4th, 7.8 seconds behind Alonso.

    35. What about Michael Schummacher? Didn’t he start in somehing like 180/185 races for Ferrari?

    36. how many drivers have being DSQ in his debut?

    37. What are the most number of cars to finish the first race of the year? Excluding DSQ.

      Or perhaps what is the least number of cars in the first race fail to finish purely because of a mechanical failure?

      This race had a pretty reliable field for Melbourne, i remember when it was almost garanteed that only half the field would make it to the end.

    38. I have one assumption to make: Maybe this was one of the youngest podiums overall? And the first podium with no driver older than the age of 26 ever?

      If sum up their age, they are 23+26+26 = 75 years old. But I have in mind that there might have been a combination beating it with Rosberg, Hamilton and Alonso in Singapore 2008. How old were they at this stage? Alonso 27, Hamilton and Rosberg both 23 witch would sum up to 73 years. But Alonso was definitly over 26 years old.

      This really felt like a “next-gen”-podium finish when you grown up following Schumacher vs Hill & Mika.

      P.S.: Thanks for giving me the One in the F1 Logo. Never seen it although I repainted it often when I was bored in school!

      1. The youngest podium ever was Italy 2008 (Vettel, Kovalainen, Kubica).

    39. This was the first race since Bahrain 2010 when the HRTs turned up with no testing miles under their belts.

      I’d hazard a guess and say they hold the record for fewest testing miles since the in-season testing ban came into effect (if not ever).

    40. It was the first race since Singapore 2008 to have 3 British drivers in the top 10, and the first since China 2007 that there were 3 scoring points.

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