Vettel set to surpass Alonso as most successful active driver

2013 Belgian Grand Prix stats and facts

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With his latest victory in the Belgian Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel is poised to become the most successful driver on the grid in terms of race wins.

Vettel’s fifth win of the season has moved him within one victory of Fernando Alonso’s tally of 32 wins. The Ferrari driver has won twice so far this year.

Here’s how many races the five most successful drivers in F1 today have won so far:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2013drivercolours.csv

Race699700701702703704705706707708709710711712713714715716717718719720721722723724725726727728729730731732733734735736737738739740741742743744745746747748749750751752753754755756757758759760761762763764765766767768769770771772773774775776777778779780781782783784785786787788789790791792793794795796797798799800801802803804805806807808809810811812813814815816817818819820821822823824825826827828829830831832833834835836837838839840841842843844845846847848849850851852853854855856857858859860861862863864865866867868869870871872873874875876877878879880881882883884885886887888889
Jenson Button0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000111111111111111111111111111111111111111112334567777777777778899999999999999999999991010101011111111121212121213131313131313131313131414141414141414151515151515151515151515
Kimi Raikkonen111111111111111111111111111122222222234455555677889999999999999999999910101010101010111212121212131314151516161717171717171717171717171717171717171717171717171717181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181818181919192020202020202020202020
Fernando Alonso0000000000011111111111111111111111234445556677777778991010101112131414141414141414151515161616171717171718181819191919191919191919191919191919191919202121212121212121212121212121212121212121222222222222222222222323232425252626262626262626262626272727272727272727272727282828282828292930303030303030303030303030313132323232323232
Lewis Hamilton000001222233334445555566678888888999999999991010101011111111111111111111121313131313141414141414141414151515151515151616161616161616171717171717171718181818191920202020202021212121212121212121212222
Sebastian Vettel0000000000000000000000001111111222223333333445556666667777777889101112121314151516161616171819192021212121212122222222222222222222232425262626262627272828282929303031

Vettel’s 31st career win puts him level with Nigel Mansell on the all-time victories chart.

This was Vettel’s first lights-to-flag victory of the season, and the eighth of his career. He also became the fifth driver in F1 history to spend more than 2,000 laps in the lead, joining Michael Schumacher (who heads the chart with a massive 5,111), Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Mansell.

Vettel also took the fastest lap, the 19th of his career, putting him level with Senna, Stirling Moss and Damon Hill.

The only thing standing between Vettel and a perfect result was Lewis Hamilton’s pole position lap. This was Hamilton’s fourth in a row and seventh consecutive front row start – both personal bests.

Raikkonen’s record run comes to an end

After a record 27 consecutive races in the points you wouldn’t have bet against Kimi Raikkonen adding to it on a track where he’s won four times in the past.

But his streak was ended by something as humble as a visor tear-off, which was ingested by one of his brake ducts, causing overheating and retirement.

Raikkonen had finished his previous 38 starts (including eight with Ferrari at the end of 2009) which is also a record. He was three short of Nick Heidfeld’s record for consecutive race classifications.

Paul di Resta equalled his best ever starting position with fifth, which he also achieved in Bahrain. Di Resta qualified fourth in Italy last year but had a five-place grid penalty.

Pastor Maldonado, Max Chilton and Esteban Gutierrez collected their third penalties of the year while Sergio Perez took his first. There are eight drivers left on the grid who haven’t had a penalty this year.

For the first time this year Lotus set the fastest lap of the weekend – Raikkonen’s 1’48.296 in Q2. However qualifying was disrupted by wet weather and it’s likely Mercedes or Red Bull would have lapped quicker in dry conditions than the times seen last year, even with the greater restrictions on DRS use this season.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

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

2013 Belgian Grand Prix

Browse all 2013 Belgian Grand Prix articles

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo, Lotus/LAT

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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115 comments on “Vettel set to surpass Alonso as most successful active driver”

  1. Vettel has won at least 5 races for 4 consecutive seasons, putting him level with Ayrton Senna (1988-1991) and one behind Michael Schumacher (2000-2004)

  2. I’m so bored of the RBR and Vettel pair now. We need Bernie to change the show up a bit.

    1. I’ve heard that Bernie is considering banning anyone who goes under the name “Adrian Newey”

    2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      26th August 2013, 11:27

      I never thought i’d actually say this but,

      I want to see if Vettel and RBR can break the Schumacher/Ferrari records.
      It’s not exactly Red Bull’s fault that they’re romping the competition. It shouldn’t be up to Bernie or the FIA to give other teams a chance, they should do it by stepping up to the plate and trying to better them (not an easy task).

      I dont like seeing Vettel (or anyone, except Hamilton) cruise to easy victories, because the once hopeful battle for the most important position (1st) is done after the first few laps, and viewership strikingly decreases.

      The same with the Schumacher/Ferrari pairing, F1 viewership was at an all time low. But when you look back at the statistics, it looks incredible.

      1. I don’t want to downplay Michael’s achievement, but I think what Red Bull is doing is tougher than the run of Ferrari in 2000-2004. They were challenged only in 2003 by McLaren and Williams. All other seasons they simply trounced the competition. The only season that Red Bull had such a crushing advantage was 2011, but even there McLaren took a couple of wins on merit. Also while Michael had also great rivals like Mika and Kimi (and Villeneuve/Hill before they faded), Seb is facing at least 3 top drivers at the top of their game, not forgetting Webber and Rosberg.

        1. “I don’t want to downplay Michael’s achievement, but I think what Red Bull is doing is tougher than the run of Ferrari in 2000-2004. They were challenged only in 2003 by McLaren and Williams. All other seasons they simply trounced the competition.”

          Sure, in 2003 they had cars that would have won championships in Schumacher’s hands, Schumacher had a bad start to the season, for the first time in his career he had some legitimately bad races, yet he still came through and was clearly the driver of the season. Wasn’t even close.

          And are you forgetting 2000? Ferrari was inferior to the McLaren, two of the greats at their peaks each fighting for a third world championship.

          Schumacher never had a car advantage until 2001. When he finally was given the best car on the grid he proceeded to smash every season record. Then he gets the best car again in 2002 and proceeds to smash the records he set in 2001. Then does the same in 2004.

          Also, what people gloss over is that Schumacher left championships on the table by switching to a basket case Ferrari team at the end of 1995. Despite having far inferior machinery, he goes to the last race of the season in 97 and 98 (where he stalls on the grid through no fault of his own). He most likely wins that race too if he starts on pole considering he was able to get back up to third before going out with a puncture. 1999 he would have won the championship if not for breaking his leg and missing 6 of 16 races.

          So those “easy championships” of 2001, 2002 and 2004 (I only consider 2002 and 2004 as “easy”) were owed to him in a way. He deserved to have the best car on the grid after all those years of fighting for championships with inferior machinery. And when he was given the best car on the grid he rewrote all the record books.

          And please this era is strong but not nearly as strong as people make out. Alonso couldn’t beat Hamilton in the same car. Hamilton got outscored by Button over three seasons. Raikkonen got beat by Massa in 2 out of 3 seasons.

          1. all very good points.

            BUT PLEASE will people stop calling the ferrari a basket case in 95!! can people go back and re watch the season! the 95 ferrari was quick! not very reliable but fast! Alesi led many many races.

            To say the ferrari was a dog is a joke. it was slower in the year before Prost went there and alonso. Both times them 2 drivers fought for the title in their first season.

          2. And Mika was incredibly fast. His only problem was making mistakes when NOT under pressure. On the other hand, under pressure, he was better than Schumacher and Kimi, for instance. Absolutely cold.
            In a championship like we have this year, with all the competitiveness, Mika would be up there, for sure.

          3. “all very good points.

            BUT PLEASE will people stop calling the ferrari a basket case in 95!! can people go back and re watch the season! the 95 ferrari was quick! not very reliable but fast! Alesi led many many races.

            To say the ferrari was a dog is a joke. it was slower in the year before Prost went there and alonso. Both times them 2 drivers fought for the title in their first season.”

            What? The Ferrari was worse in 2009 and 1989 than 1995? That’s absolutely absurd. Talk about revising history.

            And for the record the 95 Ferrari was a better car than the 96 one.

          4. @anon
            I want empahsise again that I didn’t mean to downplay Michael’s achievements in anyway. There is a reason that he sitting on top of every record book and I wasn’t indicating that it was all to machinery either.

            What I was trying to say was that competitive environment was less fierce to create a dominant driver-car package. The most important factors were no resource restriction and no test constraints, so esp. Michael who notoriously got sick in simulator could really trim the car to his liking. As a result only one other team (McLaren plus Williams in 2002) were competing with Ferrari from 1998-2004 until the rise of Renault/Alonso.

          5. What I was trying to say was that competitive environment was less fierce to create a dominant driver-car package. The most important factors were no resource restriction and no test constraints, so esp. Michael who notoriously got sick in simulator could really trim the car to his liking. As a result only one other team (McLaren plus Williams in 2002) were competing with Ferrari from 1998-2004 until the rise of Renault/Alonso.

            All teams had no resource restrictions and few test constraints. In 2004 Toyota had the biggest budget in F1. McLaren, Ferrari, Williams were all up there. Williams had BMW dedicated to their engines. I could be wrong but BAR threw huge money at their cars and had a win and some podiums for all their years of effort. It was a very competitive environment with teams spending more money than they do today.

            At the end of the day, Schumacher only had the best car on the grid in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

      2. @tophercheese21

        It shouldn’t be up to Bernie or the FIA to give other teams a chance

        But Bernie is the one who gave this gift to RBR back in 2009, by deliberately turning F1 on it’s head and favouring aero.

        1. @jason12
          First of all, Bernie does the commercial stuff. He doesn’t control the technical regulations. Secondly, aero didn’t become more important. The teams just had to start over with it. No one knew red bull would be so good at it.

    3. +100. Their dominance is to an extent on par with Schumachers-Ferraris. Certainly in 2011, maybe also this year.

      1. I mean Vettel _is_ good, really good. I think he is (heard before on this blog) sort of on “Raikkonen-level”. In a little lesser car he would good enough for a single title. But that RedBull really helps him, there’s no argument against that. Hamilton is faster on a single lap, and Alonso is more complete. Raikkonen on the other hand is more calm than Vet. But he(Vet) is closing, have impressed me this season, and I’m certainly not a fan. =)

        1. I think he is on Kimi level. I think if he didn’t have the help by RB he would only be a 1 WDC.

          1. I think if Ayrton Senna had not had help from McLaren, he’d have been a zero time WDC.

          2. @jonsan Let’s pretend he wasnt 2 seconds faster than Prost on the same car.

          3. @austus – Yet even with that, Prost outscored him in both years. And had Senna hypothetically not been in a strong car, as people keep saying about the current champion, he wouldn’t have won any titles.

        2. A driver who botches up qualifying can’t be “complete” by definition.
          In that regard, Vettel and Hamilton are the most complete drivers on the grid: both are amazing in qualifying and race. By the way, there is no evidence whatsoever that Hamilton is faster than Vettel on a single lap. His car is faster, that’s for sure. I think they’re equally talented and pretty evenly matched.

          1. Vettel is more consistent then Hamilton in races. there has been too many races in the past 2-3 years where Hamilton ruined his tyres and race strategy by driving too fast for the strategy to work, plus he has crashed out far more times then vettel over the years. Vettel is almost always perfect during the race, a metronome. Alonso is a more complete race driver then Hamilton too. I place Hamilton equal 3rd with Raikonnen.

          2. @lancelot
            Just like there is no evidence that Hamilton is faster than vettel , there is no evidence that Alonso is a poor qualifier… when he had faster cars he has qualified well… and it is nt like he is getting beaten by Massa(who is the only other guy driving the same car)…

          3. @puneethvb well would you argue that Massa is a good qualifier then? I wouldn’t, so he’s not really a great baseline. However, both Webber and Rosberg are good qualifiers and so their respective teammates fairly consistently beating them is a pretty affirmative sign.

          4. Massa qualy has been just fine with other team mates. Who were the clearly rubbish michael schumacher and Kimi.

            If only massa had good team mates to compare him too…His team mates have together had 10 world titles. Only Damon off the top of my head can get near that in terms of competitive team mates in recent years.

            by the way Fernando was about half a minute head of massa again. Obviously Alonso is under performing again.

          5. Well, Schumacher isn’t really a spectacular qualifying (he’s a bit like Alonso in that respect) and Räikkönen is good yes, but no Vettel or Hamilton. Also, he was prett off-canter in 2008 and Schumacher was maybe starting to show the first signs of slowing down a bit in 2006. Then there’s Massa’s crash, after which he’s never really been himself.

          6. @ Max;

            wasn’t Raikkonen _the_ qualifying ace of 2005-2006(his last years with Mclaren)?? Alonso was the reliable one, and Kimi the flying finn, during Alonsos WC-winning years.

            Remember his Monaco lap in 2005, with that MP4-20? =))

          7. @Q85

            Massa qualy has been just fine with other team mates. Who were the clearly rubbish michael schumacher and Kimi.

            Schumacher 14-4 Massa.

        3. For me Vettel is the mix of Hamilton and Alonso. That’s why I want him at Ferrari asap. And I have the impression he is smarter out of the track, working with the engineers. F1 is not only about raw speed. Prost beat Senna fair in both 88/89, who would say that? Although Senna is regarded as a better driver.

          1. also, vettel has the best personality of all the drivers on the grid, even though many think completely the opposite. he’s always ready to make fun of himself, always ready to be selfcritical, never up his own a$# nor full of ****. only thing annoying about him is his signature finger which looks completely unnatural and I would beat him with a stick to punish him for it

    4. What precisely do you think Bernie can or should do? Unlike the early 2000’s, the current rules are already designed to try to prevent any one driver or team from repeatedly winning. Short of announcing that “Henceforth the drivers will line up on the starting grid in order of their surnames, with Alonso first and Vettel and Webber last”, it’s hard to know what more the FIA can do.

      As for claims that we are in a period of Red Bull dominance comparable to that of Schumacher/Ferrari, consider this: in just the 17 race 2002 season, the Ferrari’s finished 1-2 nine times. In the 69 GP’s from the start of 2010 to the present, the Red Bull’s have finished 1-2 nine times.

      1. I lolled when I read the first few sentences. Thank you!

        1. @ Vettel1

          I would nt say Massa is a great qualifier though he is nt as bad a qualifier as people try to portray.. he did pretty well against Kimi, who was considered a qualifying king in his Mclaren days … I never said Alonso is the best qualifier out there, I said he is by no means a poor qualifier.. Hamilton did have a slight qualifying edge over Alonso when they were team mates in 2007 .. Vettel could very well have a small advantage over Alonso though we can never be sure unless they drive the same car…

  3. This is what I noticed:

    – Lewis Hamilton and Vettel shared the front row for the 19th. For the Briton, this was his seventh consecutive front row start. Of all the drivers on the current grid only Vettel has managed to do this: fourteen consecutive front rows between 2010-2011 and nine consecutive later on in 2011.

    – After VET-RAI-GRO, VET-ALO-HAM becomes the second repeat podium of 2013, as the same podium also occurred at the Canadian Grand Prix. Like in Canada, the crowd were booing during the podium scene, though in Belgium that had a completely different reason…

    – Sebastian Vettel now leads the championship by 46 points – the largest gap since the 2011 season.

    – Sergio Perez finished eleventh for the twelfth time in his 48-GP career, without ever finishing twelfth.

    – Max Chilton has finished the first eleven Grands Prix of his career. The only other drivers to have achieved this are Tiago Monteiro (first sixteen GPs) and Lewis Hamilton (first fifteen GPs).

    – Kimi Raikkonen ended his streak of 27 Grands Prix in the points. This also means that no driver has completed every lap this season. Lewis Hamilton comes closest, with all but one laps completed.

    – Romain Grosjean finished eighth in a race for the first time since the 2008 GP2 season.

    – With no rain and safety cars, this was the shortest Belgian Grand Prix since the 2008 edition.

    – Still no points for the rookies…

    – A bit random, but still: the only Ferrari driver to have qualified on the front row was Felipe Massa in Malaysia.

    1. Nice stats @andae23. Why were people booing the podium in Canada, I’ve forgotten?

      1. @cornflakes Coz Vettel – people don’t appreciate a fair win apparently

    2. @andae23, what about Heikki Kovalainen, didn’t he finish all the races in his debut season except for the final race in Brazil?

      1. @adrianmorse I always forget something… thanks

        1. He actually retired on the final lap at Monaco.

          1. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
            26th August 2013, 22:55

            Regardless, he was still counted as finishing under the regulations, thus it wasn’t a true retirement for statistical purposes.

    3. And second last front row for Ferrari, Germany 2012, I think. And Singapore 2010 was last dry top two qualy for Ferrari?

    4. FWIW, McLaren have also finished both cars every race but I know for sure they’ve been lapped more than Lewis at Spain.

      1. @beejis60 There’s a difference between finishing and being classified: McLaren have called it a day a few laps from the end a couple of times this season, so Button has finished all but 4 laps, and Perez all but 14.

    5. what about chilton’s monaco shunt? surely he didn’t finish that race, if i recall correctly

      1. Nope, he did finish that race: it was Bianchi who retired.

    6. Vettel has as many wins in F1 as his 2008 teammate had in Champ Car.

  4. Are penalties received due to gearbox and engine changes classified in the same category as driving penalties?

  5. Does anyone know the number of consecutive Q3 appearances Lewis Hamilton is on now, I think the last time he missed out was Malaysia 2010, but I am not sure.

    1. @ben73 You’re spot on

      1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
        26th August 2013, 12:07

        Is that a record, 66 consecutive Q3 appearances?

        1. No clue to be honest.

        2. it is, by far….

  6. Imo, F1 is currently at its best and hasn’t been this competitive since the 80’s. we got 5 WDCs competing and car performances are extremely close. Although this year it’s not a very exciting championship – in the grand scheme of things it couldn’t get much better than this.

    1. @tmf42 It’s refreshing to hear something positive being said for the sake of it. Thank you for making us appreciating what we have. Having followed Formula 1 for more than 20 years, there are some things I missed from the 90’s, mostly due to it being linked to childhood memories, but those current years are the best in my books, whatever how far from perfect they are. Let’s wait for Monza then!

  7. This was the first time that Red Bull were the fastest car in terms of top speed.

    1. According to which data?
      Official FIA data puts Webber and Vettel second and third at the speed trap, with Massa first. So not there.

      Now the speed trap (not far after the Raidillon) isn’t the place where they get top speed. The end of the Kemmel straight is, which coincides more or less with intermediate 1 if I’m right.
      Official FIA speed data at I1 puts Webber at #12 (316km/h) and Vettel at #18 (314km/h). Sutil is #1 at 322, with the Williams’s and Ferrari’s following suit at 320.

      1. Lol, yeah if only speed traps where used to determine who is fastest around the track. Usually the backmarker cars have the highest speeds.

    2. They weren’t. Don’t look at the speed trap. Look at S1 speed. Red Bull were somewhere in the middle with Mercedes and Lotus. Ferrari were one of the fastest cars on the straight.

  8. Alonso has broken his trend of been hit in the first lap at Spa.This has happened to him at the last 4 Belgian GP.2009-caught out in the whole grosjean,hamilton,button incident which he eventaully had to retire at his first pit stop.2010-T-boned by barichello,2011,hit by ricciardo(both incidents,miracle he was able to carry on and obviously last year.

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      26th August 2013, 12:03

      In 2011 he was hit by Senna

      1. Wasn’t Senna’s fault. he was thrown into Alonso by the Safety car defending against Paul Tracy.. meh..

        1. i thought it was rubens too

  9. Vettel may be the most successful but Alonso is the most spectacular. It may be not Vettels fault because he most of the time drives the fastest car but still that doesn’t change my opinion

    1. To be frank, i dont think Vettels awesome stats change many opinions. People will still always rate Ham/Alonso as better drivers, because they’ve proven themselves against highly regarded teammates, and in poor cars.

      Peole will always rate Senna/Fangio above Schumacher, despite his records.

      If F1 was a pure driver contest, then stats would mean more, but as this sport is very very equiptment-heavy, stats will mean little.

      1. Not really. The team bosses by the way, said Vettel was the best in 2 of the last 4 years, and 2nd best in the other 2 years, behind Alonso, never third, and never behind Hamilton.

        Vettel has proven himself in poor cars- that’s where his career started.

        The only person (other than each other, for one year, in which they both blew the title to Raikkonen) that LH/FA have had that is as good as or better than Webber, is Button.

      2. I don’t recall Alonso ever “proving himself” against a “highly regarded teammate”. Unless losing out to Hamilton while LH was in his rookie season counts as “proving himself”.

  10. Vettel set to surpass Alonso as most successful active driver

    I think he did that last year by winning a third championship.

    1. It depends on if you measure it by WDCs or number of wins.

      1. I measure by win percentage. He’s far, far ahead of Alonso in that regard.

        About twice as many poles as Alonso too despite just over half as many race weekends. Staggering statistic.

        3 championships to 2 as well.

        1. Those stats would only hold any relevence if they’d have enjoyed the exact same level of machinery for the exact same amount of time. Otherwise its a series of pointless numbers.

          1. The best drivers invariably find themselves in the best team. Plus the best drivers have a good tenth or two over the rest of the field. The Red Bull was only a dominant car in 2011. The rest was the difference Vettel makes.

            Vettel’s first full season he has a Toro Rosso and was incredible. Finished ahead of Hamilton in Brazil, wins Monza.

            2009 (his second full season) Vettel probably wins the championship if Red Bull started the season with a double diffuser and her didn’t retire 5 times. To me he got close to the maximum out the car.

            2010 the Ferrari and McLaren were on par with Red Bull. Alonso, Hamilton, Button, Webber weren’t good enough. The driver in his third full season showed them how to drive supremely under pressure. They all cracked, except the guy with the least amount of experience.

            2011 Red Bull was a great car. Had a car advantage and extracted the maximum. Webber could only win one race such was Vettel’s dominance.

            2012 McLaren was fastest but McLaren made errors and the car had reliability problems. Ferrari was strong from Barcelona onwards and had bulletproof reliability. Incredible car reliability and luck kept Alonso in the championship more than anything, not “great driving”. Still, Alonso had every chance to win the championship but cracked under the pressure. Couldn’t make Vettel pay when he started at the back of the grid in Abu Dhabi, allowed Massa to outqualify him in the last two races. Not crack in qualifying and he would have won the championship.

            Hamilton at McLaren has had cars capable of winning the championship in 2007, 08, 10, 12. You could even make a case for the McLaren being good enough in 2011. The McLaren was good enough to win 6/17 races. Alonso at Ferrari has had cars capable of winning the championship in 2010, 2012 and now 2013.

    2. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      26th August 2013, 12:43

      +1 that is in all driver’s view the key stat for being successful, next one is # of wins.

      Alonso is leading in wins, podiums, FLAP, points and races, Vettel leads in championships and Poles. Vettel obviously leads in all the per race stats.

      Wins: Alonso 32 versus Vettel 31
      Poles: Vettel 39 versus Alonso 31
      FLAP: Alonso 20 versus Vettel 19
      Podium: Alonso 92 versus Vettel 54
      Races: Alonso 209 versus Vettel 112
      Points: Alonso 1,515 versus Vettel 1,251

      1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
        26th August 2013, 12:45

        Sorry forgot the most important one:
        WDC: Vettel 3 versus Alonso 2

        1. yeah while having a better faster car maybe, anyone can do that ;)

          1. Which is also what Alonso and your Senna needed?

      2. Alonso has 22 poles.

        1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
          26th August 2013, 13:17

          Indeed my mistake, Hamilton has 31 poles

    3. @matt90 Which is why I wrote “in terms of race wins”.

      1. I was taking the headline.

        1. well its not really possible to write the whole article in “headline” you see.

          1. But if you use that as an excuse then you can get misrepresentative headlines.

  11. I wonder who is the driver with the most wins without a drivers championship
    RB, DC, FM?

    1. Sterling Moss with 16 wins and DC with 13 wins followed by Reutemann – FM and RB have both 11 wins

  12. Since he is a Ferrari driver, Fernando Alonso did at least one podium on EVERY track/GP.

    1. @french-steve Really?? Now, that’s a stat..

    2. Wouldn’t Vettel have that record as well? I think the only races he didn’t win yet were Hungary and USA, but he did finish on the podium there. Hamilton may also have that record.

      1. @mike-dee – Hamilton’s been on the podium at every current circuit (and the two from last yeat that aren’t on the calendar anymore) except India.

  13. After a record 27 consecutive races in the points you wouldn’t have bet against Kimi Raikkonen adding to it on a track where he’s won four times in the past.

    The funny thing is that I did! It was 6/1 odds and I thought that if Fernando ended his run of points in this track then Kimi would as well hehe.

  14. Vettel and Hamilton both recorded their 54th podium appearance, moving them into a tie with Lauda for tenth on the all time podium winners list.

    Vettel and Hamilton both recorded their 56th front row start, moving them into a tie with Mansell for sixth on the all time front row starters list.

  15. What a boring first place race. When I saw the RBR car surpassing Hamilton like it was nothing I thought:”Unless he has an accident he will not loose” then I went back to sleep. Special mention to Fernando Alonso: He fought his way to the top brilliantly.

    1. @juergen You’ve come to the wrong article to voice your grievance..

  16. And yet another race where Checo Perez finishes 11th.
    He’s now finished 11th on 12 occasions, and out of his 48 completed races, it means every 4 races he finishes 11th.
    Even weirder he’s still yet to finish 12th, and has finished 13th once.

  17. Antonio (@antoniocorleone)
    26th August 2013, 19:07

    I wasn’t an start to finish victory for Vettel as Button stayed out 1 or 2 laps longer in the first stint and was in front of Vettel at least for 1 lap.

    1. nope – Vettel passed him right before the chicane. So he has completed every lap in the lead.

  18. Couldn’t see it posted above – Romain Grosjean completed a full racing lap of Spa for the first time in F1!

    In 2009 he collided with Alguesari/Hamilton/Button (not necessarily his fault) and in 2012 he infamously took out…. Hamilton and Alonso!

  19. Great stats :)

    I noticed that this was only the third time of the Vet-Ham-Alo podium, but the first of which was outside North America. Strangely, Alonso has never come out on top during these three.

    Also, Vettel continued his streak of winning every other Grand Prix this season. So if that trend continues, then he won’t win in Monza :P

    1. Vettel continued his streak of winning every other Grand Prix this season

      Not quite, he neither won Spain nor Monaco, which were consecutive. @jamiefranklinf1

  20. For me in the same car, Alonso is just a better driver… Vettel’s fast, Alonso is fast and more of a complete driver in my opinion… Alonso just didn’t have A redbull, he has been dealing with renaults and Ferraris that clearly aren’t the leading car in pace like the RB is.

    1. I don’t believe any true and passionate driver, without bias, would be able to pick between them. Individual stats don’t tell the whole story, which I think is kinda your point, but having the best car doesn’t mean you don’t need to be a great driver to use its potential, watch mark webber for proof of this (mark is a very good driver in an awesome car, seb is an awesome driver in an awesome car).

      I believe if they had equal machinery, there would be nothing between them. Luck would be the difference i believe. Say seb wins one year, or gets more poles, it would be very close, and Nando would prob win the next year, as no one can be lucky all the time.

      I believe what more accurately represents the performance of the car is quali. Any top driver can put the best car on pole, which is why seb has so many poles from his short career. Nando on the other hand has far more wins from further back, as he’s more often than not had an inferior car to some of his rivals.

      Obviously, this is not intended to take away from seb, if the roles were reversed, his stats would look more like nandos, and nandos stats would look more like his. My point is formula one is about man and machine working in harmony. Nando is every bit as good as seb, so are Lewis and kimi for that matter, but seb has had the good fortune of having an awesome car in which to showcase his awesome talent.

      Nando has more often than not had to show his awesome talent in other ways. When driving an inferior car, you can’t really show your one lap pace. However, you get plenty of opportunities to show your race craft, as you usually start in the pack and your only chance of a good result is to make good passes quick enough to not lose touch with the front of the field.

      The reason nandos stats make him look like a slow qualifier, with excellent race craft, is the same reason sebs stats make him look like a great qualifier with average race craft. Machinery.

      I am very passionate about driving, and I firmly believe the best drivers on the current grid are seb, Nando, Lewis and kimi, in no particular order. I also believe there would be very little, if anything, between them in equal cars. This is why, despite those being four of my favourite drivers, I always go for my favourite team first – ferrari. /rant.

    2. Finishing on the podium every week doesn’t occur in a Fiat Panda either.

  21. I like a driver to win a WDC when his team does not win the WCC to show he is a great driver. (obviously its not easy for this to happen)

    2008 – Lewis
    2007 – Kimi (Spygate changed things)
    1999 – Mika

    These are only the recent examples.

    Vettel would have earned much more praise if he had achieved something like this i believe. Plus Alonso really should have had his name on this list in either 2010 or 2012.

    1. Cool story mate, except Lewis won his title largely due to ferraris stuff ups and unreliability, none of which were their drivers fault. So where your post suggests Lewis had an inferior car, but won due to ferrari having inferior drivers, is not true. Massa would have won easily if his car and team didn’t constantly fail him.

      Mika won his 99 title because Michael broke his leg, otherwise michael would have been 8 time champ. There are a lot of variables you are missing. All is not as straightforward as you suggest. Although I agree that driving a clearly inferior car would boost sebs popularity, by allowing him to show he doesn’t need the best car to be competitive.

    2. Plus Alonso really should have had his name on this list in either 2010 or 2012.

      Shoulda but didn’t.

      Especially in 2010, he needed Vettel’s car failures in Bahrain/Korea, plus Hamilton’s rim failure in Spain, to gain points over those two.

      1. Alonso made more errors than anyone in 2010

  22. 2nd time in the last 4 years that the Spa winner has only missed out on the Grand Slam (pole, fastest lap, led every lap, win) due to missing out on pole.

    First time that Hamilton has not been off the track at any point during the Belgian GP.

    And some from magnetimarelli.com:

    Last time that we had 3 consecutive identical front rows – Vettel-Hamilton in Hungary, Belgium, Italy 2011.

    3rd lights-to-flag win in Belgium in the last 4 years.

    Massa ties Hakkinen for 3rd place in Most Races With One Team table (131).

    First British driver to manage 4 consecutive poles since Damon Hill in 1995.

    First time Button has started 2 consecutive Belgian GPs from the top 10.

    A McLaren has qualified 13th in all of the last 4 races.

    Pic is now the only 2013 driver not to have reached Q2 this year.

  23. I’d imagine that Alonso would surely have thought that by this point in his Ferrari career, he would easily be the king of the modern F1 hill, with at least one more WDC and many more wins to his credit. The RB/Newey/Vettel juggernaut, along with some Ferrari failings, has certainly rained on his (and a couple other’s) parade.

  24. Has anyone compiled the stats of Webbers good vs bad starts when he qualifies in front/1 place behind Vettel vs 2 or more places behind Vettel?

    1. Well the first part would be easy to work out as Webber hasn’t out-qualified Vettel all year…

    2. In Monaco when Vettel and Webber were 3 and 4, they both had excellent starts.

  25. Although Alonso’s present position as active pilot with most wins seems shaky, his record in podiums looks stronger, he is the all-time third pilot in podiums (after Schumacher and Prost), and at his present average (0.44/race) should beat Prost after 32 races (early 2015 season) and stay all-time second for a long time. Beating Schuey looks unlikely, though: 144 races, some 8 years from now without losing steam.

    Of the active pilots, both Hamilton and Vettel have a better podiums/race ratio than Alonso, but very close, +0.006 for Hamilton and +0.042 for Vettel. It would take 6240 races for Hamilton to top Alonso, somewhere in the 24th century. For Vettel it would be 906 races, in the second half of the present century (yes, I am aware that both are younger than Alonso an can be expected to be around a few more years than him. I think Vettel still might be able to top Alonso’s podiums -but not likely before Alonso retires-, and even Schuey’s, but I wouldn’t bet on Hamilton doing either).

    By the way I couldn’t find anywhere a list of the top podiums/race scorers so I did it myself. I hope there are not too many mistakes:

    A couple of mostly forgotten guys have a perfect 100% score, both with only one race: George Amick and Dorino Serafini. Third is Luigi Fagioli (71.4%) and fourth the great Fangio (62.7%), fifth his countryman Jose Froilan Gonzalez (53.8%), sixth Nino Farina (52.9%), seventh the Professor Prost (52.5%), eighth Schuey (50.3%), and tied for ninth with 50% are Sam Hanks (4/8), Mauri Rose, Bill Holland and Lee Wallard (1/2). BTW Wallard not only was in the podium in one of his 2 races, he won it, so he has the best wins/races ratio ever, 50%, topping Fangio’s 45.1%. Going ahead with the podiums/race list, thirteenth is the much overrated Ayrton Senna (49.4%), fourteenth is Seb Vettel (48.2%), fifteenth Alberto Ascari (46.9%), sixteenth Lewis Hamilton (44.6%), seventeenth is a tie with Jim Clark (32/72) and Jim Rathmann (4/9), both 44.4%, nineteenth Alonso (44.0%), twentieth Jackie Stewart (43.0%), twenty-first Bill Vukovich (40.0%) and twenty-second Kimi Raikkonen (39.9%).

    1. And fifty more drivers:
      Mike Hawthorn 23rd (37.8%)
      Damon Hill 24th (34.4%)
      Tie for 25th (33.3%): Jimmy Bryan (3/9), Mike Nazaruk, Paul Goldsmith (both 1/3)
      Stirling Moss 28th (32.8%)
      Phil Hill 29th (32.6%)
      Juan Pablo Montoya 30th (31.6%)
      Niki Lauda 31st (31.2%)
      MikaHakkinen 32nd (30.91%)
      Nigell Mansell 33rd (30.89%)
      Carlos Reutemann 34th (30.8%)
      Denny Hulme 35th (29.4%)
      Luigi Musso 36th (29.2%)
      Jody Scheckter 37th (29.1%)
      Nelson Piquet 38th (29.0%)
      Tie for 39th (28.6%): Cesare Perdisa, Rudi Fischer, Mike Parkes (all 2/7)
      Piero Taruffi 42nd (27.8%)
      François Cevert 43rd (27.7%)
      Bruce McLaren 44th (26.5%)
      Richie Ginther 45th (25.9%)
      Peter Revson 46th (25.8%)
      David Coulthard 47th (25.1%)
      Tie for 48th (25%): James Hunt (23/92), Luigi Villoresi (8/32), Art Cross, Jimmy Davies, Manny Ayulo (all 1/4)
      Jack Brabham 53rd (24.6%)
      Peter Collins 54th (24.2%)
      Tony Brooks 55th (23.7%)
      Emerson Fittipaldi 56th (23.5%)
      Gerhard Berger 57th (22.9%)
      Dan Gurney 58th (22.4%)
      Wolfgang von Trips 59th (22.2%)
      Tie for 60th (21.4%): John Surtees (24/112), Eugenio Castellotti (3/14)
      Ronnie Peterson 62nd (21.1%)
      Jacky Ickx 63rd (21.01%)
      Jochen Rindt 64th (20.97%)
      Rubens Barrichello 65th (20.86%)
      Alan Jones 66th (20.7%)
      Jenson Button 67th (20.33%)
      Clay Regazzoni 68th (20.29%)
      Graham Hill 69th (20.1%)
      Tie for 70th (20.0%): Patrick Depailler (19/95), Alfonso de Portago, Bob Sweikert (both 1/5)

  26. It was Lotus-Caterham’s best qualifying position by van der Garde. Not the best grid position though,since penalties helped Kovalainen up to 13th at Spa three years ago.

  27. Vettel has finally won the 11th round of a season. The only ones left are the 10th and 20th rounds (only 1 20th round has been held though- Brazil 2012)

  28. di Resta’s first race-ending crash since Brazil 2012 (9 months to the day previously).

    Rosberg has scored more points already in 2013 than he managed in the whole of 2012.

    Chilton’s last 5 races: 19-17-19-17-19.

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