F1 Fanatic

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Singapore, 2011

Sebastian Vettel’s extraordinary season continued in Singapore with his third win and fourth pole position in a row.

He is closing on the records for most pole positions, victories and laps led in a single season:

Most race wins in a single season

Vettel needs to win all of the remaining races to beat Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season.

Of course it should be remembered there is one more race this year than there was in 2004.

Most pole positions in a single season

Three pole positions from the remaining five races would be enough for Vettel to match Nigel Mansell’s record of 14 set in 1992.

Nigel Mansell, Williams, Imola, 1992

Most laps led in a single season

With 294 laps left to run in 2011, Vettel has a strong chance of beating the record for most laps led:

The highest proportion of laps led in a season is 71.47% by Jim Clark in 1963. To beat that Vettel must lead 228 of the remaining laps this year.

Vettel chalked up his 19th career win putting him alone in 13th on the list of all-time winners. Four more wins this year will put him in the top ten all-time race winners in F1.

The 26th pole position of his career puts him level with Mika Hakkinen in seventh among the drivers who have set the most pole positions.

It was the 15th consecutive pole position for Red Bull. The record for most consecutive pole positions stands at 24, set by Williams between the 1992 French and 1993 Japanese Grands Prix.

Button blocks Vettel’s perfect result

Jenson Button, McLaren, Singapore, 2011

Vettel led every lap of the race, something he has achieved twice before in his career, at Suzuka in 2009 and Valencia last year.

If Vettel had set fastest lap he would have achieved his first ever perfect result of pole position, fastest lap, victory and leading every lap.

But he was beaten to it by Jenson Button, who set the fifth fastest lap of his career. That puts him level with Giuseppe Farina, Carlos Pace, Jody Scheckter, Didier Pironi, John Watson and Michele Alboreto. Vettel has only set fastest lap once during a race this year.

Button finished on the podium for the eighth time this year, giving him twice as many top-three finishes as his team mate.

He also held second place for every lap of the race. This meant the top two positions were unchanged throughout the Grand Prix, as they were last year when Fernando Alonso finished first ahead of Vettel.

Red Bull on verge of title

Vettel gave Red Bull their 24th win, putting them alone in eighth on the list of teams with most wins. They also had their 60th podium finish.

Red Bull are within reach of the constructors’ championship and can win it in Suzuka.

The Singapore Grand Prix has been won by four different teams in as many years: Renault in 2008, McLaren in 2009, Ferrari in 2010 and Red Bull this year.

Alonso failed to finish on the podium at Singapore for the first time.

Fifth race penalty of 2011 for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton collected his fifth race penalty of 2011, giving him more than any other driver. The other top offenders are Sergio Perez (four), Jenson Button, Pastor Maldonado, Kamui Kobayashi and Paul di Resta (two).

Di Resta achieved the best result of his career so far with sixth. It was Force India’s first double points finish since the Australian Grand Prix.

The balance of power at Sauber continues to tilt towards Sergio Perez. He out-qualified Kamui Kobayashi for the fifth race in a row and gave the team their first points in four races.

Sebastien Buemi marked his 50th race start.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

• 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 F1 statistics: Driver form guides
• 2011 F1 statistics: Race information charts

Spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Singapore Grand Prix? And can anyone find out whether we’ve ever had five – or more – pairs of team mates occupying the front rows of the grid?

Share your favourite stats from the Singapore Grand Prix in the comments.

2011 Singapore Grand Prix

• Vettel and Button take Driver of the Weekend wins
• Rate the race result: 2011 Singapore Grand Prix
• Ferrari deny Massa told to cause Hamilton crash
• From Kovalainen’s fire to fireworks: your Singapore videos
• 2011 Singapore Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Vote for your Singapore GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Vettel supreme as championship beckons
• McLaren: Another collision, another penalty for Hamilton
• Ferrari: Alonso wants to focus on 2012 in last races
• Force India: Di Resta claims best result yet

Images © Singapore GP/Sutton, Williams/LAT, Singapore GP/Sutton