Vettel joins Stewart as sixth most successful driver

2013 Malaysian Grand Prix stats and facts

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Sebastian Vettel’s Malaysian Grand Prix may not have been popular, but it raised him ever higher among the ranks of the sport’s most successful drivers.

It was the 27th victory of his career, drawing him level with Jackie Stewart. Vettel’s fellow thrice-champion took 99 races to rack up that many wins – the Red Bull driver needed four more.

The pair are tied for sixth place on the list of drivers who have won the most races. It puts Vettel three wins behind Fernando Alonso, who is F1’s most successful active driver.

Vettel joined Alonso and Michael Schumacher as three-times winners of the Malaysian Grand Prix – no one has won it more times than that.

It was the thirteenth one-two finish for Red Bull – out of those Vettel led ten and Mark Webber led three, though that is a touchy subject at the moment. Vettel also claimed his 38th pole position.

200 appearances for Webber and Alonso

Two drivers marked their 200th participations in F1 race weekends but neither were happy with the outcome.

Webber lost a potential victory to his team mate in a row over team orders. And shortly after Ferrari marked Alonso’s 200th race weekend participation, he retired from the race on lap two. The only consolation to be drawn from this is at least Ferrari have got better at counting how many races their drivers have been in.

Both Alonso and Webber have appeared at 200 races but only started 198. Neither driver took the start at Indianapolis in 2005 due to the mass withdrawal of Michelin runners. And both failed to start one race each during their first seasons with Minardi.

Alonso retired with a gearbox failure after the initial start of the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix. But that race was abandoned and a new race declared, which Alonso could not start. The following year in Spain Webber and team mate Alex Yoong did not start the race as both Minardis were withdrawn due to rear wing faults.

Lewis Hamilton may not have been too pleased to be on the podium, but it was the 50th appearance of his career, as well as his first for Mercedes.

Hamilton led home fourth placed Nico Rosberg, giving Mercedes their best combined result since they returned to F1 as a factory team in 2010.

Sergio Perez and his Sauber successor Nico Hulkenberg scored their first points for their new teams as well. Perez also set the race’s fastest lap, the second time he has done so in his career.

60 in a row for McLaren

It may have been a rough start to the year for McLaren but they have maintained their run of consecutive races in the points – which is already a record – to 60.

Ferrari have scored for the last 50 races in a row and need five more to match their best-ever streak which began at the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix and lasted until the same race four years later.

However Force India’s best-ever run of ten consecutive races in the points came to an end.

As for drivers, Kimi Raikkonen finished in the points for the 19th race in a row, and needs five more to match Michael Schumacher’s record of 24. The next race on the calendar is at the only track where he failed to score last year: Shanghai.

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.

2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

Browse all 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix articles

Images © Ford.com, Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, McLaren/Hoch Zwei

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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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98 comments on “Vettel joins Stewart as sixth most successful driver”

  1. The 2 laps that Button lead the race mean that 2013 is the 33rd consecutive season (record) that McLaren leads at least one lap in a season.

    1. And Ferrari doesn’t hold a longer record? In which of those 33 years did they never make it to the front for even a lap over the course of the whole season?

      1. @himmatsj Its not a “who has the most” stat, its just a stat.

        1. Its not a “who has the most” stat, its just a stat.

          @georgetuk = +1

        2. He did say it was a record.

      2. 1992, very probably.

      3. 1980? Reigning world champions and produced an absolute pig of a car.

        1. If 1980 was the last time Ferrari didn’t lead a race, then they also would have 33 consecutive years.

  2. It’s now 4 races in a row where Alonso has been outqualified. I’m not sure this has ever happened!

    Felipe Massa also now has more points than the Spaniard, I believe this hasn’t occurred since China 2010.

    This is the first time JEV has finished in the points where he didn’t finish in 8th place.

    It was the first double failure to finish for Force India since Japan 2010.

    4 points from the first two races is the worst amount for McLaren since 2009, where they had 1 point (in old money) from Hamilton’s 7th place in the half-point Malaysian Grand Prix. In today’s money that would count for 3 points.

    1. It’s now 4 races in a row where Alonso has been outqualified. I’m not sure this has ever happened!

      It has happened three times before: in 2003 (Trulli), 2004 (Trulli) and 2007 (Hamilton)

    2. Felipe Massa also now has more points than the Spaniard, I believe this hasn’t occurred since China 2010.

      Malaysia 2010, I believe.

    3. @craig-o as @andae23 says, and as I pointed out after qualifying (https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/23/2013-malaysian-grand-prix-qualifying-report/comment-page-2/#comments), this is the 4th time it has happened. However he has never been outqualified 5 times in a row yet.

      1. @oel-f1 @andae23 Okay, cheers! Never noticed that!

    4. It’s now 4 races in a row where Alonso has been outqualified.

      I now it’s wrong of me, but I’m going to say it.

      “Ferd, Felipe is faster than you, Do you understand?”

      1. If he finished with less points after 19 races, sure, go ahead.

    5. It’s now 4 races in a row where Alonso has been outqualified.

      What’s interesting about that is it all started after Massa renewed contract with Ferrari. Koft “hint” koft ;-)

  3. So it was Mark’s 200th GP. Now I understand everything.. This was silly from Seb. The season is long and 7 points never decide the WCD.

    1. @vettel81 1 Point decides the WDC, you can ask Massa, Alonso and Hamilton :)

      1. I was being sarcastic :)

        1. :) Got it…

      2. Webbo actually hasn’t gotten round 200GPs yet.
        He actually made his debut in 2002, with Minardi. He finnished fourth in his home gp, in Melbourne

    2. A gap of less than 7 points have decided the WDC twice in the three full seasons the new points system has been implemented, in 2010 (4 points) and last season (3 points).

      1. This is why what Vet did was the correct decision. Why gift points to Webber? He’ll only waste them.

        1. Of course…
          In that case, every driver should give Vettel their points, because clearly they are all going to waste them if Vettel is destined to be the champion again…

          1. @cg22me – No, because these people are competing against Vettel. On the other hand, it’s Mark job to race Vettel and everyone else, which he usually does well (hence 9 wins). But Red Bull’s best chance for the driver’s championship is obvious.

          2. I get your point in theory…
            But I imagine many people could say the same about Alonso vs. Massa, and to an extent, this year so far, they are reasonably well matched.

            Basically, even if there is an “obvious” choice, is it really fair to dismiss the ulterior this early on in the year?

          3. Well, fair point. It isn’t “obvious” this year yet, so it is arguably unfait to dismiss them.

            But still, Massa and Webber have to match or beat their teammates far more often to convince me that they are genuinely evenly matched with their teammates, rather than just going through a rare hike in form.

  4. Nice Land marks for Vettel, Webber and Alonso although each of them will remember this day for different reasons.

    I did not realize Vettel is so close to Alonso as far as wins are concerned.

  5. Hamilton led home third placed Nico Rosberg

    Think that should be fourth, as much as Hamilton thinks that Rosberg should have been on the podium instead. :)

  6. “Vettel joins Stewart as sixth most successful driver”

    Oh, come on. The number of race wins should not be a barometer to judge how successful or otherwise a driver is!

    1. Yeah, especially since Stewart sat in a race-winning car from his very first race. (/sarcasm)

      With 27 out of 100 (JS) or 27 out of 103 (SV), it’s close enough to call.

      1. Actually, if Vettel wins 2 out of the next 4 races, or 6 more this season, he will have Stewart beat on the percentages game as well.

      2. 27 out of 99. Stewart did not start at the 1973 United States Grand Prix after Tyrrell withdrew following Francois Cevert’s fatal crash.

    2. ?? are you being sarcastic? success judged by wins in such a sport is the most basic barometer to go by – as the drivers themselves say that what they aim to achieve is wins. success is one thing, i think you are trying to talk about a barometer of skill – which does not always equal the baometer of success.

    3. The number of race wins should not be a barometer to judge how successful or otherwise a driver is!

      That’s a bit pedantic. Race wins is one possible (and the most commonly used) measure of a drivers success.

      Unless you were kidding and I missed it, in which case “Oops”.

      1. I would say that most common is championships rather than race wins.

        1. Most drivers have not won any championships, which rather limits its utility in comparing different drivers. Championships are used in comparing champions, often. Though even there you can get a pretty heated argument going over whether Prosts 4 WDC’s make him better than Senna with 3, and so on.

          1. There’s the issue of confusing success and quality. Prost’s number of championships definitely makes him more successful as an F1 driver.

    4. The ‘most succesful’ driver isn’t necessarily the ‘best’ driver: there is of course a strong correllation between the two, but drivers like Stirling Moss, who is regarded as one of the best drivers in F1 history, is less succesful than a lot of other drivers in F1.

    5. Wins write history in this sport. Not opinions, fan love, or the what if’s and but’s.

    6. The number of wins is certainly one measure, even if it’a not the only one.

      Jackie Stewart is living proof, however, that you don’t have to be ruthless to the point of abandoning all principles – as Gerhard Berger suggested was the case when defending Vettel this weekend – in order to be a great champion.

      1. That is an interisting point @nigel1, thanks

  7. Hamilton led home fourth placed Nico Rosberg, giving Mercedes their best combined result since they returned to F1 as a factory team in 2010.

    nice stat

  8. Here’s what I noticed:
    It is now 49 races since any team apart from Red Bull finished 1-2. There have been 7 1-2 finishes since then and Red Bull have clinched them all.
    In the old(2003-2009) points-paying system, McLaren would’ve got zero points, their worst start since 2000.
    Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton maintained their 100 % points-finish record at Sepang.
    This was Felipe Massa’s first front-row start since Bahrain 2010.
    There were more, but my memory’s failed :(

    1. Also, for the first time since 2010, no rookie has opened their points account after 2 races..

      1. Some more stats which I forgot:
        1. Lotus’s 3rd 6-7 finish in 9 races.
        2. Romain Grosjean finished ahead of Kimi Raikkonen for the first time in the last 15 races.
        3. Sergio Perez emulated his McLaren predecessor Lewis Hamilton in taking the fastest lap in his second start for the team, both at Sepang.
        4. The last 3 race weekends have had at least one official session to be disturbed by rain. Considering that the next weekend is Shanghai, there’s a pretty good chance of making it 4.
        5. Fernando Alonso’s last non-podium points finish was back in Hungary last year. That’s 11 races now(and counting…)

  9. Can anyone confirm: Perez’s first points since signing for Mclaren? — It’s taken a long time, if that’s the case.

    1. Given that he didn’t score any points with Sauber since he signed for McLaren and that this is his first points with McLaren it has to be.

  10. For the third year in a row, Pastor Maldonado fails to finish the first two Grand Prix of the season (though he was still classified in last year’s Australian GP).

  11. @keithcollantine
    I don’t know if this is the correct place to post this, but I just read that Robert Kubica was involved in a crash yesterday. Thankfully he’s ok. Here’s the video on the sky news website: http://news.sky.com/story/1069164/lucky-escape-for-robert-kubica-in-rally-crash

    1. As ever, Kubica’s an accident waiting to happen. It’s about time he hung up his helmet and thanked his lucky stars he’s (just about) made it through alive. Always quicker than he is capable of driving…

      1. I’m going to call him “The Cat” from now on because he definitely has 9 lives. Although if you count his crash at the Canadian gp in 2007, the rally crash that ended his F1 career and this recent one yesterday, he has 6 lives left!

        1. @hellotraverse
          interesting, but rather scary cause nobody dare to think what happen to him after his 9th crash.

        2. @hellotraverse – It’s unfortunate he keeps having these accidents. He could have been up there with some of the best in F1 today (though some overrated what he had already done in F1 in my opinion).

          1. I agree with you regarding him being overrated. He definitely had the talent and potential to become a WDC, but alas, we’ll never know now. I do cringe when people refer to Kubica as if he’s a 5-time WDC, it does my head in (such as when Alonso said that Kub was better than him).

          2. While I completely sympathise with Kubica and I am sad he’s not in F1, only one person decided to do rallying in the off-season and that was Kubica himself. I guess relative to Kimi and Webber you could say he has been unfortunate I guess, but drivers fully focussed on F1 should be staying away from getting injured in the off-season. Perhaps I’m being too harsh, but you could also argue he is fortunate to still be alive… based on both of these crashes.

  12. Not that Hamilton can take too much credit for it but it’s already impressive that mercedes have their best result 2 races into him being here. They’re on the up.

    1. You’re right, the Hamilton effect has already kicked in. This is the kind of progress that only a top driver can bring to a team, which is precisely why Mercedes broke the bank to acquire him (a fact that almost certainly played a part in Brawn’s decision yesterday to halt Rosberg’s podium push).

      1. It’s one of those things where if you invest a lot in staff in the engineering dept. etc you may as well go all out rather than waste it on a driver who can’t do the car justice. I’ve a huge amount of respect for nico but I feel, until he has a chance to prove himself, he’s still an unknown quantity when it gets down to championship crunchtime.

      2. I actually think Rosberg has just as much pace as Hamilton, but in the crucial moments at times he has not delivered – I think Hamilton seems to keep his cool a bit better in certain situations. I really think it’s going to be a close battle though – certainly closer than Nico vs Schumacher that’s for sure.

  13. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    25th March 2013, 17:39

    It was the thirteenth one-two finish for Red Bull – out of those Vettel led ten and Mark Webber led three, though that is a touchy subject at the moment

    As much as people don’t like it, statistics just register the “cold numbers”, such as Rubens-assisted Schum victories, crash-gate assisted victories, Michelin-assisted podium for Jordan at Indy, etc, etc

    1. That is what F1 is all about, the facts. Whether we like it or not emotions play no part in winning. Too many people are judging the situation from an emotional standpoint, rather than a factual one. When we lavish praise on Schumi and reminisce his 91 race wins, we don’t subtract the Barrichello assisted wins, or disregard his 1994 WDC because he crashed into Hill. History remembers only the facts, and the fact is, Vettel won yesterdays GP. FACT.

      1. Rather, I would say statistics is about the facts. F1 on the other hand is about being on the limit. Emotion, winning and glorious defeat are all a part of it.

      2. Actually, most evaluations of Schumacher I’ve seen mention both of those issues. History is not a list of numbers and placings.

        1. ilanin – True, but I see little (fair, non double standard) reason for people to downplay the young German we have now.

          1. I completely agree with you here. Formula One is a complex sport, rewarding success for teams and individuals. If an individual is at a top-end team (VET at Red Bull, HAM at McLaren since childhood, MSC at Ferrari between 2000 and 2004, Senna at McLaren etc), then of course they are more likely to win!

            I sometimes despair of the double standards of some people who will in the same breath criticise Vettel for being supported by the Red Bull hierachy, then praise Hamilton for being an amazing driver (despite being supported by the same sort of scheme with the same sort of connotations and, until this season, backing).

            In pure fact, Vettel has won 27 Grands Prix. He has won three World Driver’s Championships…in a row. He is a very successful driver, and success always provides division.

        2. @ilanin
          My post was a response to people saying that Rosberg and Webber actually finished 3rd and 1st respectively, when clearly they didn’t.

      3. When we lavish praise on Schumi and reminisce his 91 race wins, we don’t subtract the Barrichello assisted wins, or disregard his 1994 WDC because he crashed into Hill.

        And when we lavish praise on Senna we don’t knock him for winning all three of his WDC’s in what was, by a huge margin, the best car on the grid at the time.

        1. And when we lavish praise on Senna we don’t knock him for winning all three of his WDC’s in what was, by a huge margin, the best car on the grid at the time.

          Exactly!! So why does everyone feel the need to constantly belittle Vettel by saying that he’s only a 3-time WDC because he had the fastest car? If Senna deserved his championships, surely Seb deserves his.

          1. DelendaEstAmbulando
            25th March 2013, 21:18

            If Senna deserved his championships,

            That’s a huge “if”.

          2. Senna also proved he could race in an inferior car i.e. 1993 just like Alonso last year

            Put vettel in the Mercedes and see if he’s still a triple champion

          3. (@omarr-pepper) +1.
            (@hellotraverse)

            When we lavish praise on Schumi and reminisce his 91 race wins, we don’t subtract the Barrichello assisted wins, or disregard his 1994 WDC because he crashed into Hill

            Actually, I do. I also disregard 2004 and 2002 in parcticular, and do the same for 2011.

            And when we lavish praise on Senna we don’t knock him for winning all three of his WDC’s in what was, by a huge margin, the best car on the grid at the time.
            Exactly!! So why does everyone feel the need to constantly belittle Vettel by saying that he’s only a 3-time WDC because he had the fastest car? If Senna deserved his championships, surely Seb deserves his.

            Because he beat Prost, that’s why. It’s the almost direct equivalent Alonso being at RB, and him beating Alonso.

        2. I agree with your point, but Senna did have Prost for a team mate for one of those years, which does make it an impressive feat.

          1. @matt90 this is very true, so perhaps we need a Vettel/Alonso partnership at Ferrari then? ;)

            Still though, I find it disrespectful that people say Newey’s won the drivers championship the last three years.

        3. Two of them. The Williams FW14 was definitely faster than the McLaren for the majority of 1991; on the other hand it was less reliable. In any case, I don’t think his car gave Senna an *advantage* over Mansell.

          1. Patrese beat Berger by ten points, after all.

      4. Facts will be read by people who have no memory and read books and use Internet for stats but keen followers will remember the facts of Schumacher cheating for his first world championship and Senna’s death may have taken away his 94 & 95 titles

        Just like vettel only deserving 2011 title

        2010 he was lucky Ferrari stuffed up last race after red bull didn’t back webber and backed vettel and almost gave Ferrari title

        2012 Alonso losing by only 3 points in an inferior car

        They might not be stats but they are still facts by the avid follower

        Everyone knows webbers race in Malaysia which is probably why most people on this forum voted him driver of the race

        1. You forgot Senna cheating by robbing Prost in 1990.

          And nope, Vettel deserved all 3 titles and that’s why he won them.

        2. Facts will be read by people who have no memory

          Fiction, would be for people with no memory.

          2010 he was lucky Ferrari stuffed up last race after red bull didn’t back webber and backed vettel and almost gave Ferrari title

          2012 Alonso losing by only 3 points in an inferior car

          That’s BS. Ferrari stuff up 1 race, and we ought to forget the rest of the season? Webber has no mechanical DNFs, still can’t outscore his teammate, and the team should back him?

          In 2012, though Alonso drove a great season, so did Vettel, in a car that was less reliable than the Ferrari, and had less speed than the Mclaren. It was a competitive season between at least 3 teams. The winner “deserved” it as 2nd place would have “deserved” it, had he won.

          Everyone knows webbers race in Malaysia which is probably why most people on this forum voted him driver of the race

          To be honest, Vettel never wins DOTW anyway, for whatever excuse. Doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve his 3 world titles and 27 wins.

          And Schumacher won the championship in 94, and did so even more convincingly in 95. Don’t disrespectfully play the pointless “if” game.

          1. +22

      5. As for the Rubens assit wins comment, that’s really a biased emotional view. Cause then we have the Berger assist wins for Senna. The Johannson assist wins for Prost… Oh, and the Patrese assist wins for Mansell. The list is endless, we might as well strip every driver of their wins, and give the trophies to their team mates.

  14. This is the first time as a Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has more points than his team mate after the two first races of a season (he was ahead of Räikkönen in 2009 both none of them had scored any points).

    1. In fact, the only time before that he has managed to out score his team mate from the 2 first races was in 2004 with 1 point to Fisichella’s 0.

    2. Both in Australia and Malaysia, the last 15 races (1999-2013) have only been won by European drivers (Eddie Irvine, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel)

  15. Probably a new record for the use of the word “obviously” in the post-race press conference (more than 50 instances, including the podium interviews).

    1. obviously

  16. Hamilton has finished every Malaysian GP he has competed in inside the top 8 (without ever winning). Every year other than 2007 he has hit trouble somewhere:

    2008: grid penalty
    2009:
    2010: only qualified 20th
    2011: post-race penalty
    2012: pitstop blunder
    2013: went into wrong pit box

    Red Bull have equalled Renault & Brabham in total wins (35), 5th place overall.

    Vettel & Webber have scored as many 1-2 finishes as Hakkinen & Coulthard (13).

    And this race must be a record for least happy podium ever.

    1. Oops – forgot 2009 (which I believe was a pitstop blunder).

  17. Jean-Eric Vergne’s first point finish which wasn’t 8th place.

    Btw, I count Alonso as having started 2001 Belgian Grand Prix, so in my books he has 199 starts.

  18. Also, before Vettel, previous driver who has had one pole and one win in first two races without getting them in the same race is Michael Schumacher in 2002. Before that Damon Hill in 1995 and Ayrton Senna in 1990.

    1. Vettel won from pole in Malaysia.

      1. My mistake, forgot that because he wasn’t leading all race.

  19. I suppose the only difference between JYS and young Sebastian would not be in skill ,but honour, probably more difficult to learn .

  20. I wonder if RedBull were giving Mark the win because of his 200th appearance thing and thats why everybody was so upset when Vettel overtook him, since no one was half this angry with Mark after he ignored team orders at Silverstone in 2011. If that was the case and the agreement was that in case of a 1-2 finish Mark should win than I understand why he was so upset, on the other hand take 7 points away from Vettel’s end of season tally and he only has a single WDC.
    Nice stats by the way.

    1. I wonder if RedBull were giving Mark the win because of his 200th appearance thing

      I really don’t think there’s any chance of that.

  21. Raikkonen has now finished the last 22 GP’s. If you count 2009, he has now finished his last 30 GP’s.

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