2012 Malaysian Grand Prix stats and facts

Perez is first Mexican on the podium in over 40 years

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix stats and facts

March 26, 2012 at 5:38 pm by Keith Collantine

Sergio Perez scored his best result to date with second in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

It was the first time a Mexican driver has appeared on the podium since Pedro Rodriguez finished second in the 1971 Dutch Grand Prix for BRM – 19 years before Perez was born.

This was also the best result for Sauber as an independent team. They won the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix during their period of ownership by BMW, when they raced as BMW-Sauber.

They finished third as Sauber on six previous occasions, the last being with Heinz-Harald Frenzten in the 2003 United States Grand Prix.

Out of the 679 podium finishes for a Ferrari-engined car, this was only the third scored by a car that wasn’t a Ferrari. The others were David Coulthard’s third place for Red Bull in the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix and Sebastian Vettel’s win for Toro Rosso in Italy two years later.

Perez also led a race for the first time in his F1 career, becoming the 160th different driver to do so.

Alonso joins top five F1 winners

Fernando Alonso’s 28th Grand Prix win surely must be counted as one of his best. It moves him past Jackie Stewart’s tally of 27 and makes him the fifth most successful driver of all time in terms of races won.

He started the race from eighth on the grid, the second-lowest position he has ever won a race from. He won the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix from 15th, but the less said about that race the better.

This is the first time he’s won the same race with three different constructors: he won with Renault in 2005, McLaren in 2007 and now Ferrari.

Team mate Felipe Massa had a dreadful race and finished 15th. Having failed to finish in Australia, it leaves him 19th in the drivers’ championship behind both Marussias: Timo Glock has had a 14th place finish and Charles Pic has a 15th and a 17th.

Hamilton’s 21st pole position

Pole position went to Lewis Hamilton for the 21st time in his career, giving him one more than Alonso and Damon Hill.

Despite starting both of this year’s races from pole position, he has only led for 14 out of the 114 laps.

Just two races into his comeback, Kimi Raikkonen has already added to his tally of race fastest laps. He has the third-highest tally of any driver with 36, behind Michael Schumacher (76) and Alain Prost (41).

Sixth for Bruno Senna was his best result so far. It gives Williams eight points, three more than they scored in the whole of last year.

Jean-Eric Vergne scored the first points of his F1 career with eighth place. He is the 320th F1 driver to score points.

There were nine different constructors in the points: Ferrari, Sauber, McLaren, Red Bull, Lotus, Williams, Force India, Toro Rosso and Mercedes. That equals the record set in the 2010 European Grand Prix when Red Bull, McLaren, Williams, Renault, Force India, BMW-Sauber, Ferrari, Toro Rosso and Mercedes all scored.

Romain Grosjean has completed just four racing laps so far this year.

Finally, Narain Karthikeyan equalled the highest position officially held by an HRT driver during a race. He was ninth on lap 13, a position he also occupied during last year’s Canadian Grand Prix. Pic also held eighth place for Marussia for one lap.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

Spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Malaysian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

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103 comments on Perez is first Mexican on the podium in over 40 years

Fer no.65 (@fer-no65) said on 26th March 2012, 17:48

Out of the 679 podium finishes for a Ferrari-engined car, this was only the third scored by a car that wasn’t a Ferrari. The others were David Coulthard’s third place for Red Bull in the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix and Sebastian Vettel’s win for Toro Rosso in Italy two years later.

I guess you didn’t count Sauber’s own podiums because of the rebadged Petronas engine, right?

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- Lin1876 (@lin1876) said on 26th March 2012, 17:51
  
  I thought that too. Officially Petronas bought the engines from Ferrari, renamed them, then sold them on to Sauber, so they weren’t really Ferraris at all.
  
  Reply
  - UKFan (@) said on 26th March 2012, 23:55
    
    It wasnt like that, it was just a way to get better advertising, Ferrari was still obliged to provide support to Sauber.
    
    Reply
  - Fer no.65 (@fer-no65) said on 27th March 2012, 13:03
    
    @lin1876 didn’t they just renamed them? Like Infinity with Red Bull and Playlife with the Mecachrome engines in the Benettons… I seem to remember they did that, just renamed the engines.
    
    Reply
    - alelanza (@alelanza) said on 27th March 2012, 14:15
      
      RB engines have not been renamed Infinity, that was just a rumor.
      
      Reply
    - UKFan (@) said on 27th March 2012, 20:48
      
      Red Bull success made Renault sell their stake in Renault F1 Team therefore Renault decided to stick with Red Bull instead of renaming the engine to Infiniti which is a brand owned by Nissan which is owned by Renault.
      
      Reply
- Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 26th March 2012, 18:02
  
  Exactly.
  
  Reply
Lin1876 (@lin1876) said on 26th March 2012, 17:49

Love the stats as always. Where do you get the all from?

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- Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 26th March 2012, 18:03
  
  @lin1876 You should see the state of my bookshelves…
  
  Then there’s various website for cross-referencing, and ample notes I’ve compiled myself – see the 2012 statistics pages links in the article.
  
  Reply
Felipe Bomeny (@portugoose) said on 26th March 2012, 17:53

Jean-Éric Vergne is also the youngest Frenchman to score Formula 1 points.

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yeang said on 26th March 2012, 17:56

There were eight different constructors in the points, one fewer than the record of nine set in the 2010 European Grand Prix when Red Bull, McLaren, Williams, Renault, Force India, BMW-Sauber, Ferrari, Toro Rosso and Mercedes all scored.

actually wasn’t it 9 different constructors in the points? only force india got a double points finish. so that would equal the record from the 2010 european gp?

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- Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 26th March 2012, 18:08
  
  So it is – daft mistake. Have corrected it.
  
  Reply
GEZ (@gez) said on 26th March 2012, 18:10

Actually, Karthikeyan was 8th at one point on lap 6 if you go to 2.30 you get to see his position.

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- hey (@hey) said on 26th March 2012, 18:25
  
  Yes, but this wasn’t at the end of a lap, so isn’t counted.
  
  Reply
- MattB (@mattb) said on 26th March 2012, 18:44
  
  Liuzzi has been 8th in an HRT before. http://youtu.be/rupmyOvBbmE
  
  Again, somehow, I don’t think it counts!
  
  Reply
  - topdowntoedown (@topdowntoedown) said on 27th March 2012, 9:56
    
    Every time I see that I think he’s been playing too much GT5… when racing online there’s always one berk who comes flying up the inside :D
    
    Reply
Dizzy-A (@david-a) said on 26th March 2012, 18:11

Finally, Narain Karthikeyan equalled the highest position officially held by an HRT driver during a race.

The word “officially” was used so that Liuzzi’s Monza antics aren’t counted.

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- plushpile (@plushpile) said on 27th March 2012, 3:24
  
  @David-A as per the comment above, it’s official when the position is held at the end of a lap.
  
  Reply
Ribf1 (@ribf1) said on 26th March 2012, 18:26

Great job keith

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OOliver said on 26th March 2012, 18:27

Bruno Senna’s points.
The first points scored by a Senna for Williams since the first attempt 18 years ago.

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- Fer no.65 (@fer-no65) said on 26th March 2012, 18:35
  
  Such a sad stat.
  
  Reply
  - OOliver said on 26th March 2012, 19:12
    
    Yes a rather painful stat.
    That earlier marraige held so much promise. But fate conspired to make it an unfortunate one.
    I think he had been on pole in all 3 races.he started.
    
    Reply
    - cjpdk (@cjpdk) said on 26th March 2012, 21:19
      
      Also, 1994 was Senna’s worst season, finishing with 0 points.
      
      Reply
  - Arrows 98 said on 27th March 2012, 1:41
    
    this must be the most heartbreaking stat i have ever heard…
    
    Reply
Paul Gilbert said on 26th March 2012, 18:39

Drivers to have won at the same venue for 3+ different teams:

Moss at Monza – Maserati (1956), Vanwall (1957), Cooper (1959)
Fangio at Spa – Alfa Romeo (1950), Maserati (1954), Mercedes (1955)
Fangio at Buenos Aires – Maserati (1954, 1957), Mercedes (1955), Ferrari (1956)
Fangio at Nurburgring – Mercedes (1954), Ferrari (1956), Maserati (1957)
Prost at Silverstone – Renault (1983), McLaren (1985, 1989), Ferrari (1990), Williams (1993)
Alonso at Kuala Lumpur – Renault (2005), McLaren (2007), Ferrari (2012)

It seems as though every time an HRT is in the top 10 at any point, the driver in question ends up getting a penalty at the end of the race. It happened to Karthikeyan in Canada 2011 and Liuzzi in Italy 2011.

Also, I notice that the top 2 in the last race both finished outside the points. When did this last happen? Obviously there have been instances where both drivers have DNF’d (notably Korea 2010).

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- Enigma (@enigma) said on 26th March 2012, 20:54
  
  Wow, Alonso become only the fourth driver ever to achieve that! I guess, realistically, only Raikkonen and Schumacher have a chance of doing that this year. If Vettel moves teams and wins at Monza he could achieve it as well.
  
  Reply
- Enigma (@enigma) said on 26th March 2012, 21:32
  
  By the way, great stat&research – thanks a lot for sharing.
  
  Reply
- US_Peter (@us_peter) said on 27th March 2012, 0:08
  
  That really shows how easy it was in Fangio’s day to just hop from team to team to have the best possible equipment at any given race. Impressive that Prost is the only driver to win the same race with 4 teams! Doubt that will be equalled anytime soon.
  
  Reply
  - Jay Menon (@jaymenon10) said on 27th March 2012, 1:57
    
    @US_Peter
    
    I guess when you have the skills and capability…anything could be made to look easy my friend. There was an Interview with Sir Stirling Moss some years back…you should watch how he talked about Fangio, he had the highest regard for him as a racer.
    
    Reply
    - US_Peter (@us_peter) said on 27th March 2012, 4:18
      
      @jaymenon10 I didn’t mean to denigrate Fangio’s achievements in any way. On the contrary I think it was precisely because he was the best that the best equipment was available to him. I was merely pointing out what a different time it was compared to today when the top drivers are locked into multi year contracts sometimes as long as half a decade. That could be a long time to wait it out in an uncompetitive car. Of course Alonso proved yesterday that even in modern F1 a big red dog can win a race at the hands of a skilled master in difficult conditions.
      
      Reply
      - topdowntoedown (@topdowntoedown) said on 27th March 2012, 10:05
        
        Wasn’t that proved by Vettel at Monza in 2008, Panis at Monaco 1996 and Senna at Donington 1993? ;)
TommyB (@tommyb89) said on 26th March 2012, 18:53

According to the timing Pic was 5th at one point but I don’t think he held it for a whole lap.

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Guilherme (@guilherme) said on 26th March 2012, 18:57

Perez became the 174th driver to score a podium. And with Senna’s 6th place, 287 drivers have now finished a race in the top six. Also with Senna and Vergne, 427 drivers have finished a race in the top 10.

By the way, I’m disregarding the Indy 500 rounds in the fifties in these statistics.

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- matt90 (@matt90) said on 26th March 2012, 22:30
  
  Also with Senna and Vergne, 427 drivers have finished a race in the top 10.
  
  Senna got a point last year though, didn’t he?
  
  Reply
  - Guilherme (@guilherme) said on 26th March 2012, 22:40
    
    Yup, I was going to talk about top 8 finishes, but decided to skip directly to top 10′s and forgot that to delete Senna’s name :P The numbers are still correct though
    
    Reply
FERNANDO123 (@fernando123) said on 26th March 2012, 19:05

VIVA MEXICO CABRONES !!!!

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- Zecks (@zecks) said on 26th March 2012, 20:50
  
  surely a big attendance at the US GP me thinks
  
  Reply
  - smudgersmith1 (@smudgersmith1) said on 26th March 2012, 21:15
    
    Let’s hope so, despite all the troubles, F1 should be in the US .
    
    Reply
- joac21 (@joac21) said on 26th March 2012, 23:50
  
  VIVA!
  
  Reply
- UKFan (@) said on 26th March 2012, 23:58
  
  YES finally some swearing at F1fanatic.
  
  Reply
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1) said on 26th March 2012, 19:21

Does this also make Pic the only driver on the grid to not have any points in his F1 career, now that Vergne has scored points?

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- safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91) said on 26th March 2012, 19:31
  
  No Grosjean hasn’t any either.
  
  Reply
  - THOMF1S said on 26th March 2012, 19:39
    
    Still, the fact that 22 out of the 24 drivers on the grid have scored points isn’t a bad reflection of the talent on the grid today……although I do hasten to add talent is used in the most loose sense for some drivers…
    
    Reply
    - Randy (@randy) said on 26th March 2012, 22:46
      
      Having world championship points to your name doesn’t mean you have earned them racing with other drivers as my new favourite F1 driver ever has proven.
      
      I won’t tell you his full name, all i can say is that his surname begins with K and ends with
      arthikeyan.
      
      Reply
      - UKFan (@) said on 27th March 2012, 0:00
        
        I dont think its possible to tell Narains name usually indian guys have up to 20 names.
      - Karthikeyan (@ridiculous) said on 27th March 2012, 4:36
        
        @ukfanatic Oh, really !!!
alelanza (@alelanza) said on 26th March 2012, 20:04

I think Vettel’s 3 fingers in 5 secs to Karthikeyan is something i haven’t seen recently. 0.6 fingers per sec should be a record i think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SYn6fAIRU4&feature=related

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- Nirupam said on 26th March 2012, 20:31
  
  ROFL!!!
  COTD definitely :)
  
  Reply
- montreal95 (@montreal95) said on 26th March 2012, 21:55
  
  hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
  
  Since Seb didn’t get much practice with his finger this year yet, he forgot which one to use! :)
  
  Reply
- Mike (@mike) said on 27th March 2012, 0:07
  
  What bad sportsmanship. :c
  
  Reply
Jim said on 26th March 2012, 20:06

It was the first time a Mexican driver has appeared on the podium since Pedro Rodriguez finished second in the 1971 Dutch Grand Prix for BRM

And Rodriguez finished second to a Ferrari in a rain affected race

Reply

F1 Fanatic

Perez is first Mexican on the podium in over 40 years