Heidfeld sets record for most podiums without a win
2011 Malaysian GP stats and facts
Nick Heidfeld, Renault, Sepang, 2011
After his third-place finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix Nick Heidfeld now holds the record for most podium finishes without a win.
He’s finished second or third 13 times – one more than previous record-holder Stefan Johansson.
Heidfeld’s third place was the 100th appearance on the podium by a Renault driver. Only six teams have more (see table).
Sebastian Vettel scored his fourth win in a row and his third consecutive win from pole.
The last driver to win four races in a row was Jenson Button in 2009 (Bahrain, Spain, Monaco and Turkey).
If Vettel can win again in China this weekend he’ll be the first driver to win five in a row since Michael Schumacher in 2004 – and he went on to win seven on the trot.
Vettel’s 12th career win gives him as many as fellow champions Mario Andretti and Alan Jones, plus Carlos Reutemann. His 17th pole position puts him level with Jackie Stewart.
Mark Webber set the fastest lap for the seventh time in his career. But lap times at Sepang were significantly slower than last year.
The quickest lap of the weekend was Vettel’s pole position time of 1’34.870, was 1.3 seconds slower than last year’s best during practice (qualifying was hit by rain).
The fastest race lap was 3.5 seconds slower than last year and 6.3 seconds slower than the 2004 record sent by Juan Pablo Montoya.
Paul di Resta has now scored points in his first two race starts. The last driver to do that was Lewis Hamilton in 2007, but the number of points-paying positions has been increased from eight to ten since then.
As indicated in the previous stats and facts, Hamilton is now the driver who has had the longest career spent with just one team: 73 for McLaren, one more than Jim Clark had with Lotus.
Vettel leads the championship by 24 points, which is a larger lead than anyone held during the whole of last season.
The top five drivers on the grid all qualified in the same positions in the first race.
So far this year Fernando Alonso has led two laps, Lewis Hamilton three, and Sebastian Vettel has led the remaining 109.
Spotted any more interesting facts and stats from the Malaysian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
Review the year in statistics so far here:
- 2011 F1 statistics
- 2011 F1 statistics: Championship points
- 2011 F1 statistics: Season records
- 2011 F1 statistics: Races
- 2011 F1 statistics: Qualifying
- 2011 F1 statistics: Retirements
- 2011 F1 statistics: Strategy
2011 Malaysian Grand Prix
- Hamilton says Sepang driving “didn’t put anyone in danger”
- Domenicali praises Massa’s “return to form” in Malaysia
- 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
- Who was the best driver of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend?
- Red Bull stay ahead but KERS is still a weakness
- Ferrari on form in race after poor qualifying
- Hamilton called for his extra tyre stop at McLaren
- Renault recover from Friday drama for podium
- Schumacher scores for struggling Mercedes
- Two more retirements “not acceptable” at Williams
Browse all 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix articles
Image © Pirelli
box this lap (@sebashuis) said on 11th April 2011, 14:00
Vettel leads the championship by 24 points, which is a larger lead than anyone held during the whole of last season.
that is very interesting, didn’t expect that.
Icthyes (@icthyes) said on 11th April 2011, 14:07
Last time anyone had a lead of 96% of a race win or greater was Button at the end of 2009.
The last time anyone had such a big lead after the second race was Schumacher in 2001.
OEL F1 (@oel-f1) said on 11th April 2011, 14:06
Ferrari haven’t been on the podium for the first two races this season. When did that happen before (bar the horrible 2009, that is)?
OEL F1 (@oel-f1) said on 11th April 2011, 14:11
After a bit of research, this is what I found:
Discounting 2009, the last year Scuderia Ferrari didn’t score a single podium from the two first races was 1993. That sure wasn’t yesterday. Actually, that was before I was born!
Adam Tate (@adam-tate) said on 11th April 2011, 22:55
Wow, that is the most incredible statistic of all!!!
Stuey said on 11th April 2011, 14:13
“results speak for themselves”?? Luckily they don’t for most people, only people who are stupid enough to think the Renault team is now Lotus. Infy, you have just made one of the stupidest comments i’ve ever seen.
I bet Lotus Group think all fans are as stupid as you- thank god the rest of us understand the word “marketing”- phew!
Go and watch the football, f1 doesn’t need fans like you…
sumedh said on 11th April 2011, 14:30
Have Renault made the record for the most number of spots gained on first lap?
Follow-up question: Does the Forward Exhaust coupled with KERS give some mega-startline speed? Perhaps a technical insight into this might help?
brendan said on 11th April 2011, 15:30
remember fisi start at spa in the benneton/renault in 01? then the race got stopped after burtis crash and he did it again! he nearly took the lead if i remember right.
UKfanatic (@) said on 11th April 2011, 14:53
Heidfeld’s record is impressive didnt knew that, but i’m sure he knows that if vettel had an mechanical or pit problem and he didnt had had pit problems he could have break that streak of winless podiums. Anytime this year that can happen or maybe just rain cause hes handy in the rain without kubica he can forget team orders like in 07 and maybe retire again but with an victory, in 09 he made an podium and was kicked out anyway
dennis said on 11th April 2011, 15:16
Michael Schumacher completed his 15,000th lap in F1.
The record must however belong to Barrichello, methinks.
james_mc said on 11th April 2011, 21:42
Perhaps not if you consider the relative reliabilities of their cars?
DaveW said on 11th April 2011, 16:57
Why the hate for Heidfeld? He did a brilliant job in Malaysia, period. He has not won a race, but how many times has he had a car when the other guy won a race in the same car?
The lap times historical note is pretty interesting. To my eye, the cars were just creeping around, especially through the turns 5 – 8 sweeping turns, turns that used to be real white-knuckle semi-flat out turns. And as slow as they were going, all we could hear on the radio were race engineers pleading with drivers to “look after the tires.”
I’m never one to say the sport should be dangerous or require “courage” to be good, but after a certain point, can we really say that driving an F1 car now is at all like taming the V-10 beasts of six-seven years ago?
I’m a little bit dreading a season that ends up being about drivers crawling around the course like grannies trying to figure out how many times they can pit so they can crawl a bit faster than the other guy.
dyslexicbunny said on 11th April 2011, 16:59
I believe Petrov has the most air for this season. Webber took last year. As for general record, no idea.
Under_investigation said on 11th April 2011, 18:12
Has any driver ever lost the world championship after winning the first 2 races?
LehonardEuler said on 11th April 2011, 18:55
Alain Prost in 1982. There might be another one, but that’s the one I recall/found.
LehonardEuler said on 11th April 2011, 19:04
I also found:
Jacques Laffite in 1979
Niki Lauda in 1976
Emerson Fittipaldi in 1973
Tarquin Tardybrush said on 12th April 2011, 11:32
Jacques Laffite never lost the championship. He just never won it.Still around and crazy as hell.