The facts of Vettel’s crushing superiority

2012 Indian Grand Prix stats and facts

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Visitors to the first two Indian Grands Prix might be left wondering whether anyone other than Sebastian Vettel is allowed to be at the front of an F1 race.

He repeated his feat from last year of starting from pole position, leading every lap and winning the race.

All that was missing from this crushing display was the fastest lap of the race. He did his best to secure that, setting a new fastest lap on his final tour.

However Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Bruno Senna all beat it with their final laps, leaving Vettel’s the fourth-quickest lap of the race.

Even so, this was another peerless performance from Vettel and Red Bull. It was his fourth consecutive win and the team’s third consecutive front-row lock-out.

Vettel matched his previous feat of winning four races in a row through the last two races of 2010 and the first two of 2011. Only five drivers in F1 history have managed to win five or more races in a row:

DriverWinsFirst raceLast race
Alberto Ascari9*1952 Belgian Grand Prix1953 Belgian Grand Prix
Michael Schumacher72004 European Grand Prix2004 Hungarian Grand Prix
Michael Schumacher62000 Italian Grand Prix2001 Malaysian Grand Prix
Jack Brabham51960 Dutch Grand Prix1960 Portuguese Grand Prix
Jim Clark51965 Belgian Grand Prix1965 German Grand Prix
Nigel Mansell51992 South African Grand Prix1992 San Marino Grand Prix

*This span of races includes the 1953 Indianapolis 500, which counted towards the world championship, which Ascari did not enter.

For the third race in a row, Vettel led from start to finish. This last happened in 1989, when Ayrton Senna led every lap of the San Marino (pictured), Monaco and Mexican Grands Prix.

Vettel has been in the lead ever since Lewis Hamilton pulled over with gearbox failure on lap 23 of the Singapore Grand Prix: a total of 205 laps.

There are only four longer streaks of consecutive laps led in F1 history. They belong to Ascari (in 1952), Senna (in 1988 and 1989) and Mansell (in 1992). See the last edition of stats and facts for details.

This was the seventh race Vettel has led from start to finish. Only five drivers have managed more than that:

DriverRaces
Ayrton Senna19
Jim Clark13
Jackie Stewart11
Michael Schumacher11
Nigel Mansell9
Alberto Ascari7
Alain Prost7
Sebastian Vettel7

Vettel now has 35 pole positions to his name, but needs another 30 to draw level with the next driver in front of him on the list: Ayrton Senna.

Red Bull scored their third consecutive one-two in qualifying – the first time they have achieved this. The last team to score three consecutive front rows was McLaren in the 2007 Monaco, Canadian and United States Grands Prix.

By scoring his 26th win in his 98th race Vettel could match Jackie Stewart’s career record of 27 wins in 99 races in the next race.

Red Bull can also win the constructors’ championship for the third year in a row in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This will happen unless Ferrari take five points out of their lead or McLaren reduce it by 15.

Lots of landmarks

Vettel’s win was the 150th for a Renault-engined car. Here’s how many of those wins have been scored by different constructors:

TeamsWins
Williams64
Renault35
Red Bull34
Benetton12
Lotus5

McLaren recorded their 150th fastest lap. It was the eighth of Button’s career, putting him level with James Hunt, Gilles Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher.

And it was the 100th fastest lap for a Mercedes-powered car. The vast majority of those were set by McLaren, who’ve racked up 82 since their alliance with Mercedes began in 1995. The rest were set by Mercedes themselves (12), Brawn (4) and Force India (2).

More Indian Grand Prix stats and facts

McLaren scored points for the 55th race in a row, equalling the all-time record held by Ferrari. However, as noted here before, when Ferrari did the same points were only awarded down to sixth place for the majority of races.

Paul di Resta finished in 12th place for the third race in a row – the first time this has ever been done by a driver in F1.

Mercedes have still not scored any points in the three races since Hamilton’s move to the team was announced. Nor has Sergio Perez scored since McLaren signed him for 2013.

Finally, Michael Schumacher set a new record for the most laps completed by a Grand Prix driver. He has now logged 16,644 racing laps, eclipsing Rubens Barrichello’s tally of 16,631. The next-highest driver who is still competing is Button on 11,826.

2012 Indian Grand Prix

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Images © Red Bull/Getty images, Honda

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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110 comments on “The facts of Vettel’s crushing superiority”

  1. We still don’t have a VET-ALO-HAM podium. But we are getting closer. Only 0.6 seconds this time..

    1. Actually – you know what would be an interesting stat? Which combination of 2/3 of them appears more… VET/ALO, ALO/HAM or VET/HAM

      1. @raymondu999 Probably Alonso and Vettel (just a guess).

        1. You are right of Vettels total of 44 podiums he shared 18 with Alonso but only 8 with Hamilton. However Hamilton who has in total 4 podiums more than Vettel also shared 16 with Alonso, who has himself already 83 Podiums.

        2. I was bored, so worked it out. Sorry if I miscounted anywhere. Since the start of 2009:

          ALO/HAM: 8
          ALO/VET: 18
          HAM/VET: 8

          1. Bah, @unitedkingdomracing not only did it faster, they did it better!

          2. Holy mother of ********. ALO/VET appears more times than the total of ALO/HAM HAM/VET?!

          3. @gwan Interesting! Care to add 2007 to that, with Alonso and Hamilton sharing plenty of podiums? There was 1 occasion in 2008 (Singapore).

          4. @unitedkingdomracing already did in the comment above mine. I started with 2009 partly because I thought it was a fairer comparison between the three to start when Vettel got into the Red Bull, but mostly because of laziness ;)

          5. @gwan Ah, somehow missed that!

  2. It really shows how Red Bull/Vettel is on a run of success close to the likes of Lotus/Clark, an amazingly powerfull combination, but sadly its as exiting as seeing Schumi rake in the records.

    1. @BasCB I would have nothing against Vettel’s superiority if he had a more competitive team mate, like Senna had Prost

      1. @girts you mean Webber isn’t as good as Prost!? My whole life is a lie :P

        1. @raymondu999 Vettel & Webber actually seem to be more equal when the car is less competitive. But, as soon as Newey finds some magical weapon that allows them to dominate the field, Vettel literally flies out of sight.

          1. Vettel & Webber actually seem to be more equal when the car is less competitive.

            @girts – No, since the car was “less competitive” than certain rivals in Australia, Malaysia, China, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Belgium. The only races out of those that Webber was close, were China and Malaysia.

          2. That’s part of the reason why I find it difficult to rate Vettel as highly as I do Alonso & Hamilton: Vettel only ever looks dominant when he’s got a huge performance advantage. I’ll gladly give him his due when he shows that he’s able to win with a car that’s not untouchable in qualifying (that & the fact that Webber seems to be quicker when there isn’t some “trick” aerodynamic aid on the RBR) Just my opinion, of course, but there are at least three drivers who are better racers than he is. You’re supposed to win from the front when you’ve got the fastest car… Not criticizing him for what I consider easy wins (he doesn’t make the rules or designs his own trick mods… He’s making the most of a great situation just like he’s supposed to). Just expressing my own opinion.

          3. @Aldoid – I’m not attacking you or anything, but I need to ask how anyone else has looked as dominant, but without a performance advantage, and how Webber has been quicker, bearing in mind the examples I just posted above?

          4. @David-A I’d add Silverstone and Monaco to the list, too. Yes, the Red Bulls were good on both weekends but clearly didn’t have the advantage that they’re enjoying now. Moreover, Vettel isn’t as strong in qualifying and tends to make more mistakes when he doesn’t lead the race, such us during the wheel-to-wheel battles at the German and Italian Grands Prix this year.

            To avoid any misunderstandings: I believe that Vettel is better than Webber anyway, even when not in the best car but his advantage is not as big then.

          5. @Aldoid i agree and i have the same opinion as you.

          6. @girts – Bahrain, Singapore and Canada could be added as well then, but point taken.

            I find Webber to be a bit frustrating; not a pushover like Massa seems to be, but he isn’t a world champion, despite not really being much (or any) worse than Button. Therefore he’s fairly difficult to beat, but beating him is often considered not to be a big deal.

          7. I agree with Grits and Aldoid, I mean you only have to look at 2009, 2010, and the first half this year to see that Vettel doesn’t outright blow Webber out of the water. Unless he gets a Newey assist for the weekend.

            Vettel is great, but when in equal less advantageous cars to the rest of the field they seem to be on equal playing. What makes Vettel great or seem so much better than Webber is the ability to put together a great single lap for quali, and then capitalize on it during race day.

            Now Alonso on the other hand shows us all what you can do with a car that isn’t the class of the field.

          8. That’s part of the reason why I find it difficult to rate Vettel as highly as I do Alonso & Hamilton: Vettel only ever looks dominant when he’s got a huge performance advantage.

            As opposed to Hamilton who, when McLaren was clearly the fastest in Australia and Spa for example, got beaten by Button you mean?
            Or Alonso who, with upgrades only on his car, just about out qualified Massa by 8 hundredths of a second last Saturday? And Alonso who was only able to stay in front of Massa in Korea because Massa was repeatedly told to slow down?
            Yeah, those were some impressive drives. :)

            Cherry picking races can be used against any driver.
            Should we say Schumacher was an average driver because Irvine and Barrichello occasionally got the better of him? What nonsense.

          9. @magillagorilla

            Look closer at 2010. Vettel had to overcome the 60 or so points he lost through car failures to still beat Webber by 14 points.

            And in 2012, Webber beat Vettel in 4 races all season, Sepang (Karthikeyan incident), Shanghai, Silverstone and Monaco. That’s four out of 17, and you can hardly say RBR were dominant in all of those remaining thirteen races. So what if Mark at best could be a handful of points ahead for a couple of races after Vettel lost 25 at Valencia? If MW was so close to SV, he wouldn’t be 73 points off him.

            So that leaves only Vettel’s 2nd full season, 2009 where they close (with Vettel taking twice the wins and 2 places ahead in the standings).

          10. @ F1fanNL: Really? I don’t remember cherry picking any races. You, however, picked Australia (where Lewis got caught out by the safety car) and Spa (where he got crashed out by Grosjean) to use as an example of how Jenson beat Lewis. And after Massa’s dreadful beginning to the season, I for one am happy he’s rediscovered some form, but if you really think that getting close to Alonso one time in qualifying is something to write home about, there’s hardly any point to us debating this because we’re never going to see eye to eye. (I don’t disagree with you on the Korea issue… Massa was quicker on the day, & Ferrari should’ve let him have a go at Webber, but it’s Ferrari, & anyone who’s watched F1 for any reasonable amount of time would’ve been crazy to expect anything else from the Scuderia. Alonso wasn’t the one who told Massa to back off). I’m not hand picking races: you did. You might’ve tried picking some better ones to make your point though.
            To be clear, I’m not one of those who looks at statistics & draws conclusions. If that were the case, I’d just wait until after the races, read the results & then pick a favorite based on who won. I’m one of those strange motor racing fans who actually watches the sport for the RACING. I’m more interested in & entertained by the action on track, rather than who crosses the stripe first or who stands where on whatever all-time list. &, when it comes to racing, there are three drivers in the current field that I rate more than I do Vettel: Alonso, Raikkonen & Hamilton. In my opinion, they are more complete drivers with much better race craft, & they usually do more with an under-performing car than anyone else on the grid… both in qualifying and come race day. Again, JUST MY OPINION. You’re entitled to disagree, of course. This is a forum for us to express our opinions, after all. Plus, I’m not usually too worried about whether others disagree with my opinions.

          11. @Aldoid:

            Massa was quicker on the day, & Ferrari should’ve let him have a go at Webber, but it’s Ferrari, & anyone who’s watched F1 for any reasonable amount of time would’ve been crazy to expect anything else from the Scuderia. Alonso wasn’t the one who told Massa to back off).

            Maybe I’m just nuts, but why in the world would anyone think Massa having a go at Webber under the circumstances was a good idea??

            Let’s say he succeeds and Massa takes 2nd, Webber 3rd and Alonso 4th. Why would any team trade a 2nd Place finish with a driver out of contention for the WDC and have their driver, who was leading the WDC at the time (with 5 races to go in the season), lose another 3 points to the driver who was going to take over the lead of the WDC, who is also the 2x defending WDC, in a car that is quicker than the car you have? This isn’t a Scuderia thing. This is just plain common sense.

            It’s not like Massa was going to take Vettel on and win the race.

            I’m gobsmacked anyone says that Massa should have been allowed a go at Webber.

          12. @ uan: You’re putting words into my mouth. Don’t get me wrong… I’m not suggesting that they should’ve let him finish ahead of Webber or Alonso. Not that they’d ever do it, but I think a better move would’ve been to let Massa have a go @ Webber to force him to be defensive. You’re slower when you’re on the defense, & that might’ve allowed Alonso to get closer to him. I mean, if you’re using team orders, then use them constructively! Don’t just let him hold station behind Alonso when he could be giving Mark some grief. If it doesn’t work out, on the last lap he & Alonso could’ve always traded places again… nothing lost. I mean, there’s no guarantee that Massa would have even caught Webber, but I personally think a bit of pressure could’ve forced Mark to either go faster & risk killing his tires, or lose time being defensive.

          13. “I’m one of those strange motor racing fans who actually watches the sport for the RACING.”

            The last time Vettel had to “race”, he did rather well (at least as well as Kimi, Lewis or Nando). I think it was 11th to 2nd, pulling off quite a lot of non-DRS passes.

        2. Actually, Webber is better than Senna or Prost — it’s just that the evil masterminds at RBR are holding him back.

          1. Webber better than Senna or Prost – wow… -.-

          2. Think you missed the extremely healthy dose of sarcasm there.

          3. I think she is being sarcastic…

          4. @aka_robyn

            I agree. Webber beat Alonso in F3000. And Alonso is the most complete driver on the gird today so… Webber is completerer. ;)

          5. @aka_robyn, please don’t call me a conspiracy crank, I think that if Webber was the team #1 his results would be better, when he clearly has better speed in practice and qualifies well ahead of Vettel (rare, I know) he usually gets the job done. When he fulfills his #2 role he usually gets a race/ tyre tactic designed to ensure some safe points rather than a risky win

      2. @girts, Yeah I would love to have more of that caliber drivers on the grid too! Shame there’s only so many of them in a lifetime.

        Seriously, I think the article from the BBC’s Gary Anderson offers an explanation for the fact Vettel is getting more out of the car (the same was true of the exhaust blowing last year), in that it requires a bit different take on driving that he seems to manage better. Webber was far closer whenever the car was behaving more like one would expect from a racing car, I don’t think theres that much between them, if you would give them say 2008 spec cars.

        1. I think that the best drivers on the grid right now, in the order that they popped into my mind:
          Sebastian vettel
          Lewis hamilton
          Fernando Alonso
          Heikki Kovalainen
          Nico Hülkenberg
          Sergio Perez
          Timo Glock
          Kimi Raikkonen
          Romain Grosjean.

          These drivers, I believe, that if given equal machinery, will all be within 0.2 seconds, from the fastest to the slowest.

          1. @xjr15jaaag no Button or Webber?

          2. Jenson is a maybe, but they are both incredibly inconsistent; when the car’s not right, Button really struggles; Monaco springs to mind.
            For Webber, he has massive performance swings; on tracks like Monaco and Silverstone, he’s a match for anyone, but that only really applies to 4 or 5 tracks on the calender, whcih just isn’t good enough.
            The reason the drivers listed above are mentioned, is because they are all very consistent, in that they can go to just about any race track and set a blistering lap time, and the car doesn’t need to be perfect for them to be able to do that.

          3. Really? I just wonder how Kimi got to 3rd in the championship in the 7th best car if he is only the 8th best driver?

            IMO Fernando is the best, trailed by Sebastian and Kimi. Lewis may be in top three for speed but certainly not in top three for best driver. Same for Sergio: On a good day he is one of the best but he makes way too many mistakes.

          4. @poul
            Is that a response to my list of the best drivers?
            As mentioned, they appear in the list in the order they popped into my mind; not a list of their performance in my opinion.

          5. @xjr15jaaag
            Sorry, I somehow misread that as order of quality.

          6. Fernado Alonso
            Lewis Hamilton
            Kimi Raikkonen
            Sebastian Vettel
            Nico Rosberg
            Nico Hulkenberg
            Jenson Button
            Paul Di Resta
            Felipe Massa
            Romain Grosejan

            This are the top 10 skills driver raking, in my opinion.

    2. @girts @bascb Is interesting to think that back in 2010 everyone though that Webber was a superior driver and should have earn the driver´s championship… but now everyone thinks he is weak, to say the least…

      Webber is a capable driver, stronger than Massa and with more consistency…

      1. It’s true. Webber seems to be plagued by more issues with stuff like the KERS. He also seems to be on the back foot each weekend on lap time… Vettel typically goes faster, sooner. Although Webber lately has been very strong in Q3 when it counts. And like you said in 2010 Webber was right there and could have been WDC but for a couple races going better (Korea for example).

        Webber won two races this year and got the pole at Monaco. He is also generally finishing close to Vettel, when misfortune does not strike.

        1. @tigen maybe poor Webber don´t haev “the luck of the champion” on his side…

      2. @celeste

        I have no proof but I would guess that Red Bull have spent the last few years designing cars that are more suited to Sebastian’s driving style than to Webber’s.

        Looking at the team from the outside I get the impression that internally it’s a repeat of the Hakinnen/Coulthard years at McLaren where the priority is to give Seb a car he can win the WDC with while Mark is there to pick up enough points to help the team win the WCC.

        1. @beneboy I don´t believe that. Specially because of Newey´s character. Newey is a designer that likes to desing the car and the driver have to do with whatever he desing… About two years ago I read an article in wich a driver complaint to Newey about something in the car and Newey simply told him that they will change the driver before they change the car…

          Is have also been told that Webber and Vettel share the configuration of the car and sometime copy each other so it seem to me that it´s there is a team that have a farily amount of equity between their drivers is Red Bull, they are allow to race each oter, and Newey does whatever he wants with the car… and they both have to do whatever they can to drive it…

          1. @celeste

            +1.

            Furthermore @beneboy, if Webber would even get the slightest whiff of Vettel getting better treatment in terms of car development he would raise hell.
            That and China this year obviously disproves your guessing.

      3. Webber has done nothing to suggest he is better than Massa. In the best car for the last 3 years he has not even finished in the top 2. When Massa was in the best car he came within a corner of the WDC and reliability cost him in 07.
        Massa is a good driver as the last few races has shown. Give him a Red-Bull, he’d be flying just like he was in 2007 & 2008, where he often qualified in pole and enjoyed many lights to flag victories, just like another driver at the moment. The reason he struggled so much this year is because the Ferrari was a very difficult car to handle car. Now they have sorted the issues, suddenly he is not too far from Alonso. Lets not forget at his best Massa was more than a match for Kimi, who as we have seen this year and many gone by, is a superb driver.

        1. Couldn’t have put it better myself. I like Mark, but he’s not as good as Massa.

          As far as driver skill I’d rank them as

          1. Vettel and Old Schumi
          2. Kimi and Alonso
          3. Hamilton and Massa
          4. Button
          5. Webber.

  3. Keith, I bet that picture of Senna/Prost must have been at the end of lap 1! Those Mclarens in 88 and 89 were insane.

    1. Heh, I had to enlarge it to make sure it wasn’t from a videogame, they look too perfect.

    2. I think this is not a picture but a drawing. Maybe Keith could confirm what it is.

  4. Paul di Resta finished in 12th place for the third race in a row – the first time this has ever been done by a driver in F1.

    Bet he doesn´t want to do it 4th times in a row…

    1. @celeste For sure not, especially when his team mate is doing so well. However, Kovalainen probably would be happy if he had such a record right now :)

      1. @girts Has to be said, as a Malaysian, I’d be extremely happy if Kovalainen was about 2 places higher than that.

        1. @ScuderiaVincero Me, too. It’s been a pretty disappointing season for Kovalainen, despite a few good performances by him and the team. I hope that he stays at Caterham and that they’ll have enough money to build a more decent car for 2013.

          1. I feel their two best points-scoring opportunitites would have been Monaco and Valencia, and scoring points was exactly what they were expecting. A pity really. Caterham may be holding him back, but he’s their best bet in getting to the midfield proper. They must make a huge leap forward next year. They have to.

      2. @girts you are right, bet Kovalainen wants a better result… really sometimes I don´t know what to made about Paul Di Resta, some people seem to rate im very high, but he hasn´t have spectacular results… If I remember 2 or 3 of the last races he has reported some kind of problem in the car…

    2. Paul di Resta’s results remain a mystery. Looks like he and Hulkenberg have switched places @celeste

  5. Paul di Resta finished in 12th place for the third race in a row – the first time this has ever been done by a driver in F1

    Di Resta has been disappointing since Singapore, whilst Hulkenberg has been superb. I do wonder if losing a McLaren drive and all the talk about Hulkenberg being the next guy to step up to a top team instead of him is affecting his driving.

    1. Paul di Resta finished in 12th place for the third race in a row – the first time this has ever been done by a driver in F1.

      Pretty much sums up his F1 career to date.

    2. Honestly, I keep wondering what I’m missing with all the hype over di Resta. Am I being an idiot (I don’t follow either of the Force Indias especially) or is it just a UK media storm?

  6. Just two (I’m a bit busy):

    – It was the 200th time that a British driver (Jenson Button) set fastest lap. It took the UK 859 Grands Prix, 22 different drivers (of which Mansell (30) and Clark (28) were the highest contributers) and 19 constructors (with Williams and McLaren contributing the most). Their closest rivals are Germany (117) and France (88).

    – Lewis Hamilton scored the UK’s 6000th point. They now have 6013.28, most of all countries (followed by Germany with 4163.5 and Brazil with 2891)

    1. May I just ask how on earth do you score .28 of a point? o_O

      1. That was thanks to Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn in the 1954 British Grand Prix. See here:

        https://www.racefans.net/2012/09/24/2012-singapore-grand-prix-stats-facts/#fastestlaptie

      2. In the 1950s, 1 point was awarded to whoever set fastest lap time. Due to the inaccuracy of the time keeping at the 1954 British GP (the accuracy was 1 second), seven drivers (including the two drivers mentioned by Keith) got 1/7 point.

        1. Oh, I see. Thanks keith and andae. :)

    2. Impressive total from Germany, considering there are still only 2 German world champions. I guess having two such dominant world champions as well as a strong representation in the current field, where more points are available, has really helped to push that one up.

    3. Actually I think what is even more impressive is Finland’s total of 1479.5 points from a population of just over 5 million and a country that is not exactly dense with race tracks.

      (No, I am not Finnish myself)

      1. As Ron Dennis was so found of saying, “If you want to win, you need a Finn.”

  7. Vettel now has 35 pole positions to his name, but needs another 28 to draw level with the next driver in front of him on the list: Ayrton Senna.

    Should be 30, not 28.

    1. Fixed, thanks.

  8. Might be wrong on this one but i think its the first time since Italy 2008 that an entire weekend went through in which no teams or drivers recieved any fines or penalties

    1. that is a cool stat, but also kinder shameful if true – that we don’t get many completely incident free weekends.

      – i wonder what it would be if you took out all the fines for speeding the the pit lane?

      1. in the pit lane*

  9. I’ve got a question. Is it fair to compare stats? I know it’s a complex question with a long answer and a series of “ifs” regarding what’s the sport today and what it was 60 years ago.
    But my question is oriented to this: Is it fair to compare stats, when the rules are different? And by this I mean, from the early 50’s to the early 2000’s, F1 was about getting to the finish line, and throwing the car away after that, as “The best racing car is the one that will collapse after the finish line”.
    Now it’s very different. I don’t say it’s better or worse. But the thing is, now cars are designed to last by the rules (8 engines per season means they must last 3 races!). So leading every lap of 3-4 grand prix in a row, though it is still a feat for a driver, I don’t think is such a feat for the machine as it used to be (lowering somewhat the driver’s feat as well). Cars used fo fail, we’ve forgotten that, and now we compare finishes to back then as if the rules are still the same, but they’re not. And consistency in times when failure was king, in my opinion, was quite a harder feat…

    1. @LehonardEuler. I philosophically completely agree to that sentiment and argument. Even though certain sports like Cricket and Formula 1 are a massive a team game, the Individual heroes and the stats play a significant role in the game. The fans and therefore the media equally relish it. I admit to the sin that I love reading a good statistics articles like this one in the newspapers, magazines or web sites.

      Sometime it is Ironic that a boring, losing 100 in cricket is regarded as a milestone but a match winning 99 does not make its way into the statistics books. Personally I believe that though statistics does not give a complete picture of the game or the sports person, they do not lie. It does show some strong performances and some undeniable facts. And more importantly statistics makes see things in the right perspective. Like there is no other words to the fact that Vettel has been pumping out some focused performance over the last month or so. A good car is a one thing but it is only as good as the driver can make it work otherwise drivers will be replaced by robots ( Not a distant reality). That is one of the reasons why drivers are paid more than the CEOs of the teams.

      And to the more important question of the dimension of the time with the statistics. It is very difficult to avoid that because statistics is based on the dimension of time. @LehonardEuler to your argument maybe we should divide the F1 into era’s lets say the Tough 50 to 80 , The Technology era of 80’s to 2000 and the Super efficient 2000 & Beyond. To simply put it Ferrari’s point scoring run of 55 with 6 Point scoring positions are massively superior than Maclaren’s with 10 point scoring position and a much of reliable cars, engines and gearboxes.

  10. What about McLaren changing 5 wheels in 3.3 seconds?

  11. I asked on twitter straight after the race, but I’ll ask again here as it’s very related.

    What is the record for number of fastest laps set on the last lap by drivers as they crossed the line. There were 4 in this race. Surely this kind of thing doesn’t happen too often. Is 4 the most?

    1. @Ajokay I suspect there will be an example of a wet-then-drying races where there was more. In Canada last year there were three on the last lap:

      2011 Canadian Grand Prix fastest laps

    2. There were 6 actually: Vettel, Alonso, Button, Hulkenberg, Senna and Vergne.

      As for the record: no idea, I don’t keep track of that record.

    3. I did a quick search… Britain 2010 had eight drivers set their fastest laps on the last lap, including Alonso who set the fastest lap of the race.

      http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2010/833/6759/live_timing_popup.html

    4. Are you meaning by the fastest lap of the race as they crossed the line or that drivers’ fastest lap? I assume there have been many cases of the 2nd statement that are more than 4/6, unsure about the first though.

      1. @andae23 @andrew81, @vettel1 No, I mean the fastest lap of the race, not the driver’s fastest lap of the race. No-one cares about a fastest lap that isn’t the fastest lap of the race.

        This race had 4 drivers set the fastest lap of the race as they crossed the line for the finish, each obviously faster than the last. Has there ever been more?

        1. Honestly I don’t know!

        2. @ajokay The reason I misinterpreted you was because you counted Senna. His lap wasn’t faster than Button, so it wasn’t the fastest lap when he crossed the line. Going by your definition, only three drivers set the fastest lap on the last lap, Vettel, Alonso and Button.

          1. @andrew81 My apologies, I’ve misread that bit of the article. I did mean only laps that were fastest lap of the race, so we’ve had 3 here. Still though, quite something.

        3. whoops, sorry

  12. The finishing order of the first six is the same as in the final standings of 2010 season – Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Hamilton, Button, Massa.

  13. Vettel came close to not only have a Grand Chelem, but also was fasted in FP1-3. He was almost fastest in all 3 rounds of Qualifying, too, with only Pastor using Options in Q1 going faster.

    I’m curious if any driver has actually done that-been fastest in every single session along with the Grand Slam?

  14. Vettel is not the first driver to lose out on a Grand Slam after taking the chequered flag – Hamilton managed it in Hungary 2007 (losing the fastset lap to Raikkonen who crossed the line less than a second behind Hamilton).

    Last time that the podium had the same 3 drivers 2 races in a row: Europe and Britain 2011 (on those occasions some blokes called Vettel, Alonso and Webber were on the podium).

  15. I saw comments for almost all the grate drivers from 50’s to now except Fangio !! I’d like to comment something about driving ability,that actually has been told by Ascari. “I was outside watching Fangio passing his car from exactly the same spot of the curve I was standing,for 60 consecutive laps without missing an inch!!! Unbelievable with the cars we had…

    1. Great stuff. It’s amazing that even though gap is so narrow, you can still pick out drivers who are pushing more by standing next to the corner, as Brundle often does. And it’s same suspects all the time, Schumi, Kimi and Vettel.

  16. The drivers who finished in 3rd, 4th, 5th all finished there for the first time this season.

    Under the 2003-2009 points system, the only change in the standings would be Schumacher ahead of di Resta on countback (both would have 15 points).

    4 teams are tied for most retirements this season (including those where the driver was still classified): Williams, Sauber, HRT, and Mercedes all have 10.

  17. First Grand Prix in 26 years on the radio or tv were I fell asleep between lap 20 and 54.

    No joke, Its true. O.o

  18. Forgot to mention R5L commentry on the the radio was…. well…. trips to there booth to make there presence worthwhile of people involved in the race.

    Would of been better to use the now defunct Cefax for race/lap data.

  19. * Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren locked the first six places for the first time since Korea last year. This happened two more times in 2011 (Valencia and Hungary) and once more in 2010 (Germany).
    * A Red Bull, Ferrari or McLaren has been on the podium every race since Malaysia 2009 (the half points race) or 71 races in a row.
    * Mark Webber, Felippe Massa and Bruno Senna finished in the front 10. The last time no driver from outside of Europe classified in the first ten positions was the United States GP in 2001.
    * Fernando Alonso now has 227 points, exactly as much as he had after last year’s Indian GP. After the 17th round in 2010 he had just 4 more – 231.
    * Lewis Hamilton scored his 888th point in F1, while Sebastian Vettel scored his 888th point under the 25 point per win scoring system.
    * Alonso finished his 140th race in the points and he is now tied with Rubens Barrichello for the second place in the all time table; Jenson Button finished his 121st race in the points and he ties with David Coulthard for fifth place; Mark Webber finished for 96th time in the points and ties Ayrton Senna for tenth place. Schumacher is leading with 220.

  20. If Red Bull continues like this for the coming 5 more years, Newey will provide da ‘Do something’ boy the chance to rewrite all the stats before his age of 30. And going bit further assuming 5 more years, Formula One may become synonymous to Vettel the Greatest. LOL. That’s good for some, bad for most others though that’s also how the world works and operates.

  21. soundscape (@)
    30th October 2012, 7:02

    I’m surprised a lot of those ‘consecutive’ records weren’t set/broken during the Schumacher/Ferrari domination years. I was only young, but all I seem to remember from those days is a red car a loooong way out front.

    1. @soundscape Refuelling will have masked a lot of that. That leads to an interesting question, though – if you counted all the laps where Schumacher was the ‘net’ leader into account, would he have had a longer streak?

      1. This is why stats mean absolutly nothing to me. They are entirely pointless unless combined with context.

        1. Best tool, to make your opinion “true and valid”, even with context.

  22. “crushing superiority”

    my favorite kind! :D

  23. Vettel just continues to impress me. It’s not even like he personally had had a good run of form to coincide with the power of the RB8, he’s been brilliant all year, especially at Spa. People will always point towards the car being the best, which it is, but this year Vettel has really stood out for me more so than ever before. He’s a good all-round driver and a deserving triple world champion (assuming Alonso doesn’t surprise us).

    1. I like the guy, he is pure racer, grew up with a steering wheel in his hands. For some reason, my one single turn-off point is his screaming after he wins. He is most likely sincere and emotional, but it feels way to awkward to me.

      1. Well, for all he knows, that could be his last ever win, so he wants to enjoy them when he has an opportunity.

  24. I believe Schumacher also had a run of 5 victories at the start of the 2004 season (in addition to his other 2 streaks mentioned above).

    statsf1.com claims 151 fastest laps for McLaren (possibly a non-works McLaren?).

  25. *Vettel moved into 7th in the all time wins list on 26, one in front of Clark and Lauda, one behind Jackie Stewart.
    *Vettel joined Schumacher and Alonso as the only drivers to have scored over 1000 points in their career.
    *Vettel moved into a clear third on the pole and win in the same race record after taking his 19th (!), behind Schumacher and Senna.
    *He has now spent 205 laps in the lead, since Hamilton retired in Singapore, 100 less than Ascari’s record from 1952.
    *Raikkonen is on a streak of 14 consectutive points finishes, has only failed to score once out of this year’s 17 races, and is the only driver to have completed every lap. He will break the record of most finishes in a season (18) and most points finishes (17) if he keeps this up.
    * Aswell as Paul di Resta having three consectutive 12th places (first time ever), his team-mate Hulkenberg had finished in the position behind Raikkonen in the last three races.
    *The Indian GP marked exactly 500 races since John Watson and Niki Lauda charged through the field at Long Beach in 1983 to take a 1-2 after starting 22nd and 23rd. Sadly, the HRT team failed to deliver.

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