Sixth win in a row gives Vettel fourth title at age 26

2013 Indian Grand Prix stats and facts

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It was mentioned several times yesterday but the bald facts of Sebastian Vettel’s astonishing success bear restating: at the age of 26 years and 123 days, he has just won the world championship for the fourth time.

That made him the fourth driver in F1 history to claim four world titles:

DriverAge at fourth titleRace title was won atTitlesYears
Juan Manuel Fangio45 years, 82 days1956 Italian Grand Prix51951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957
Alain Prost38 years, 224 days1993 Portuguese Grand Prix41985, 1986, 1989, 1993
Michael Schumacher32 years, 236 days2001 Hungarian Grand Prix71994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Sebastian Vettel26 years, 123 days2013 Indian Grand Prix42010, 2011, 2012, 2013

It was the 11th world championship victory for a German driver, all of which have been shared by Schumacher and Vettel. Only British drivers have scored more, with 14 titles shared between 10 of them.

Somewhat overlooked amid the world championship hullabaloo was the fact that this was Vettel’s sixth win in a row. Only two drivers have won more races consecutively: Alberto Ascari and Schumacher.

The record for most wins in consecutive rounds of the world championship is the seven races won by those two drivers. However Ascari won nine consecutive races he entered in 1952 and 1953, skipping the points-scoring 1953 Indianapolis 500.

Wins in the remaining three races would tie Vettel with Ascari’s record, and with Schumacher’s record of most wins in a season. However Schumacher’s record 13 wins were scored in an 18-race championship in 2004.

It would also push Vettel past the record of most points scored in a season, which is the 392 he racked up in 2011. Of course, as noted regarding Fernando Alonso’s helmet, the changing points system makes it hard to compare between the two. For what it’s worth, Schumacher would have scored 380 points in 2002 under the current scoring system.

Vettel added his third hat-trick of wins in consecutive events at the same track, winning in India from 2011 to 2013 as he also has in Korea and Singapore. That plus his formidable record in Japan (four wins in five years) demonstrates his supreme dominance of this sequence of Asian races.

He chalked up his 36th career win, leaving him five short of Ayrton Senna, and his 43rd pole position.

India became the 20th different country to decide the destiny of the drivers’ championship. The Buddh International Circuit is the 28th different track where the 64 titles have been won:

CountryTitle decidersTracks
Japan13Suzuka (11), Fuji (1), TI Aida (1)
Italy11Monza (11)
USA6Watkins Glen (3), Caesar’s Palace (2), Sebring (1)
Brazil6Interlagos (6)
Portugal3Estoril (2), Porto (1)
Mexico3Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (3)
Germany3Nurburgring (3)
Switzerland2Bremgarten (2)
Spain2Pedralbes (1), Jerez (1)
South Africa2East London (1), Kyalami (1)
Hungary2Hungaroring (2)
Great Britain2Aintree (1), Brands Hatch (1)
Australia2Adelaide (2)
Morocco1Ain-Diab (1)
India1Buddh International Circuit (1)
France1Magny-Cours (1)
Canada1Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (1)
Belgium1Spa-Francorchamps (1)
Austria1Osterreichring (1)
United Arab Emirates1Yas Marina (Abu Dhabi) (1)

Red Bull also won the constructors’ championship on the first day both titles have been won since their and Vettel’s predecessors Jenson Button and Brawn did so at Interlagos in 2009.

Ferrari match McLaren’s record

Ferrari have equalled McLaren’s record for most points scores in consecutive races. They have scored for 64 races in a row, featuring in the top ten at every race since the 2010 British Grand Prix.

That was also the last race Fernando Alonso finished without scoring a point until yesterday’s grand prix. The upside to which is he can continue to wear his helmet marking his record 1,571 points in Abu Dhabi this weekend if he chooses to.

Romain Grosjean’s climb from 17th on the grid to finish on the podium was the most positions any drivers has gained so far this year, a climb of 14 places. The previous best was Paul di Resta’s gain of 13 places to finish eighth at Silverstone. This was Grosjean’s third consecutive third place finish.

Team mate Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest lap of the race, the 39th of his career.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

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

2013 Indian Grand Prix

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Images © Red Bull/Getty, Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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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92 comments on “Sixth win in a row gives Vettel fourth title at age 26”

  1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    28th October 2013, 11:23

    This is what I came up with:
    • Vettel is on par with Alain Prost with pole positions in 20 different Grand Prix
    • Vettel is shared 2nd behind Alain Prost (22) with pole positions on 20 different circuits (Senna & Mansell also have 20)
    • Kimi FLAP in India put him 2nd behind MSC (24) with FLAP in 19 different Grand Prix
    • Kimi FLAP in India put him shared 2nd behind MSC (22) with FLAP on 19 different circuits (Prost also has 19)
    • Vettel is now shared 6th with podiums in 21 different Grand Prix (MSC leads with 25, Alonso/Raikonnen each 23 and Hamilton also 21)
    • Vettel has currently lead at least 1 lap for 10 races consecutively (starting Canada), his best streak is 13 (Japan 2010 – Britain 2011).
    • Vettel has now lead at least 1 lap in 15 of 16 races this year (only not in ), he can still break his own record of 17 race with 1 lap lead (2011 17/19)

    1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      28th October 2013, 11:32

      Forgot to complete last sentence, Vettel has not lead a lap in Monaco this year as Rosberg lead all 78 laps.

  2. Amidst everything going on during the race, I completely forgot that Grosjean started in 17th place! He certainly isn’t the same man that joined Renault in 2009.

    1. And he made his 1 stop strategy work unlike Kimi who found himself in a very eventful first lap. However, both Lotus did great, too bad Kimi tyres gave up towards the end.

    2. Well, I was really into lower categories then and his talent was quite plain to see.

  3. As someone previously pointed out – if Vettel was to win in India he would be 8 days younger when securing his 4th title than Alain Prost was when he won his first F1 grand prix. This blows my tiny freekin’ mind.

    By my count:

    Vettel 4th title – 26 years 123 days (taken from above)
    Prost first race – 26 years 131 days (taking dates from Wikipedia)

    1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      28th October 2013, 11:58

      It certainly does, also Vettel won 4 championships within 3 years (2 years, 11 months and 13 days)

    2. Vettel was actually 15 days younger; he was 9,613 days old yesterday. Prost was 9,628 days old when he won his first GP.

      @keithedin

  4. Unless I’m mistaken, I believe Max Chilton has now matched Tiago Monteiro’s record of most consecutive classified finishes by a rookie driver with 16.

    1. Which proves nothing besides their common ability to drive an F1 car on a regularity rally x.x

    2. I believe Heikki Kovalainen also shares that record.

      1. Kovalainen had one classified retirement.

  5. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    28th October 2013, 11:58

    If Schum was 32 when getting his 4th, and imagining Vettel “just” gets 7WDC in his career, that means he still has 6 years to achieve the 5th. An I guess he will do it sooner.

    1. The thing is, Seb can win 6 more WDC or just stop at 4. F1 is tricky like Alonso said few weeks ago: somewhere down the road Vettel will need to drive a car that is off the leading pace and winning will get just harder. Back in 2006 many people, particularly in Spain, were asking when will Alonso tie Senna’s 3 WDC, get past Prost and eventually even Schumacher’s record, now the latter looks very unlikely and even many people would say a 4 times WDC Fernando Alonso is a long shot. Lewis Hamilton almost won WDC as a rookie and after winning the title in 2008 many did bet he was on his way to multiple championships, sure his career isn’t over but after 5 years he still seats in a single WDC.

      Seb is bright, and the way he goes for the records just shows he knows that the best means might not be there forever.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        28th October 2013, 13:21

        @jcost you say he “needs” to drive a car which is not the top notch, but also, if he is in that car (with a multi-year contract or not) the best team will hire him. Wouldn’t you do what it takes to hire Vettel? I mean, it’s like he has proved with titles what was said about Hamilton and Alonso before:
        Alonso > Schum YES, he beat him 2 years in a row (probably schum was already in free falling?)
        Raikonnen was already a big challenge –> won 2007 WDC
        Super Rookie (Hamilton) –> beat Alonso 2 years in a row (plus Alonso fleeing from McLaren to a midfield option)
        Super Duper car+Great driver (Button) –> WDC 2009 (You can even say it was against the odds)
        2010 to now –> another rookie blasts all the other champions (and 4 times)

        So if you follow this modern era tendency, the only one capable of beating Vettel is an upcoming talent.

        1. Button was not an upcoming talent. What I’m trying to say is that expecting Seb to dominate until he retires is quite optimist. Plus, Seb is good enough to be hired by any top team but even those teams get it wrong, just look at Ferrari or 2013 McLaren…

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      28th October 2013, 13:31

      Anthony Davidson did a good report on Vettel’s driving which showed how he feathers the throttle really cleverly to get the exhaust to blow the diffuser nicely and how he knows exactly when to make small adjustments to extract the most from the car.

      I remember Webber was much more on his pace vs Vettel before the blown diffuser business. Once they changed the rules and Red Bull’s new solution wasn’t working as well, Vettel wasn’t quicker than Webber but once they got to grips with it again, he pulled away.

      Personally, I think Vettel is a fantastic driver who has adapted to the current set of rules perfectly but with everything changing, it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on. You won’t be able to drive the cars in the same way you do now with the new regs so everyone will have to adapt to suit. If the way you will have to drive perfectly suits (for example) Grosjean, you could see him as the one to beat. Anything can happen!

      This generation of regs though have been absolutely dominated by Vettel so it’s up to the rest to make the next 5 or so years their time.

      1. Webber was also much more closely matched on pace when they raced om Bridgestones

        1. Ahhhh, Bridgestones. I miss those days.

          But really, I do. Think about the 2010 season… EPIC. SO close. I hope next year, Pirelli churns out some much more conservative tires so we can see some classic racing and drivers pushing the new cars to the limit more of the time.

      2. This is a good comment. I share the same view.

        I wont be surprised if Vettel doesnt win another championship. This is F1, anything can happen. I remember at the end of 06, everyone was pretty sure that we were in for an era of Alonso domination, it well could have been the case. He could have won titles in 07 and 08 if the Mclaren business didnt get out of hand….but look whats happened…7 years down the track and he’s still plonked at 2 WDCs.

        As the saying goes, every dog has its day..Vettel may have already had his.

    3. Whether he beats Michael record or not will depend entirely on his career choices, staying in an uncompetitive Red Bull or changing teams to prove doubters wrong could be a mistake. He has to be as cold as Fangio to put himself in the best seat available no matter what.
      Every top team would hire him in a flash, he has to be smart enough to take advantage of that.

  6. It was the 11th world championship victory for a German driver

    I thought, “what about Jochen Rindt”, but I saw on wikipedia that he was a German driver representing Austria.

    On title deciders: Ceasar’s Palace (2): two championships have been decided in a car park lol!

    1. According to the article you mentioned he never changed citizenship and there fore must be a German. It is possible that he had duel citizenship.

    2. @adrianmorse

      two championships have been decided in a car park

      Three if we include Yas Marina…

    3. Rindt drove under Austrian license so his wins count for Austria. It’s the similar to Rosberg. he holds both citizenships (FIN,GER) but drives under German license.

    4. At least it was a tight, unique, crazy car park. 2010 was decided on a giant car park. :P

  7. That was also the last race Fernando Alonso finished without scoring a point until yesterday’s grand prix. The upside to which is he can continue to wear his helmet marking his record 1,571 points in Abu Dhabi this weekend if he chooses to.

    Haha! Definately a weekend for Alonso to forget, the irony of wearing a helmet celebrating his points record and not scoring any for the first time in 13 races. And Vettel wrapping up the title. Pretty sure he won’t be wearing that helmet again!

    1. *14 races

    2. @s162000 last time he did wear such a special helmet was in Monaco if I correctly remember (that golden helmet with the puzzle with his victories). A race to forget too, he should avoid those special ones :)

      1. But he really should change his helmet’s colors.

  8. That was also the last race Fernando Alonso finished without scoring a point until yesterday’s grand prix. The upside to which is he can continue to wear his helmet marking his record 1,571 points in Abu Dhabi this weekend if he chooses to.

    I lol’d :D

  9. Red Bull also won the constructors’ championship on the first day both titles have been won since their and Vettel’s predecessors Jenson Button and Brawn did so at Interlagos in 2009.

    I don’t understand that @keithcollantine as Button and Brawn were crowned in October 18th…

    1. Ok just get it: the first time that both titles have been won on the same day since ’09, my bad…

  10. Vettel leads the Drivers standings as well as the Constructors’ standings.
    Vettel = 322
    Mercedes = 313
    Ferrari = 309.

    1. +1.

      He was on par with Ferrari before India at 297 :)

      1. That stat just makes me want to cry. What a boring year after the last 7 or so

        1. How can a statistic make the year boring?

  11. If the RedBull team would only have 1 car with Vettel in it, they still would lead the WCC.
    Meaning Vettel has scored more points on his own, than any other team with 2 drivers.

    1. Not really, as when Webber finished ahead of one of the other cars, he was also taking away points from them.

  12. Some other Stats :
    Grosjean Finished P3 for 3rd time in a row (Korea, Japan, India).
    Rosberg P2 Podium finish was his 3rd Podium of this season and his 1st two are Top steps in Monaco and Silverstone
    Sergio Perez Equalized Mclaren’s Best Finish with a P5, which Jenson scored in Chinese GP.

  13. sorry to break the fun @keithcollantine
    Abu Dhabi isn’t a country. it’s the capital of United Arab Emirates :p

    1. Very good point – updated accordingly.

    2. It actually confuses me as to why it is the Abu Dhabi GP and not the Emirates GP (or something to that effect). Anybody know why

      1. Probably PR, Abu Dhabi is trying to build its international standing. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE but is a less well known city than its sister Dubai.

      2. petebaldwin (@)
        28th October 2013, 13:44

        Don’t know if it’s the reason but I can’t imagine the lead sponsor (Etihad) would be keen on it being called the Etihad Emirates GP!

      3. I only noticed that a few weeks ago.

        It should indeed be the United Arab Emirates GP but sounds too long to say “Sebastian Vettel won the United Arab Emirated Grand Prix!,” I think it’s the reason why. Tried to, bu can’t find a proper explanation for that @strontium

        1. Still shorter than the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ ;-)

      4. Since UAE is relatively young federation of (afer Wikipedia) “absolute hereditary monarchies”, I believe it’s a derivative of every emirate’s sovereignty.

    3. It’s not quite as simple. Abu Dhabi is the capital of Abu Dhabi [no typo here], which is one of the constituent emirates of the UAE. Each emirate has substantial powers, and only some powers are held by the federal government.

      When comparing it with the EU and the US, the federal level of the UAE has probably more powers than the EU, but less than the US.

      I assume that the GP name reflects the name of the emirate rather than the city. In fact, I believe that Yas Island (where the GP is held) is a separate city from the city of Abu Dhabi.

      @adityafakhr @keithcollantine @strontium @geemac @petebaldwin @jeff1s

      1. that was a nice explanation @mike-dee.
        I noticed that too, UAE is federal country that consist of emirates, just like the states of USA.
        I don’t quite know, so it’s the Abu Dhabi emirate who held and fund the GP and not the federation?
        either way, they have right to name the GP that way.

        it just tickles me wondering if somewhat Austin would be Texas GP, or Indianapolis would be Indiana GP hehe.

  14. Clearly records are meant to be broken..hope we are all still here to see even an younger quadruple world champion :)

    1. Maybe one of the Russians entering the series next year will break Seb’s record :)

      1. by the time the Russian starts next year he will be few months older than Seb i think , seems he is safe for the time being atleast..

  15. Vettel has been world champion more often than not during his 7 seasons of Formula 1.

    Vettel hasn’t been to Abu Dhabi or Brazil with an odd number of WDCs. In 2010 he had no titles, whereas in 2011 he had had already won his second title. I always find it interesting that you can win two titles within a year!

    1. He isn’t the world champion until he receives his trophy in December. As has been the case every year he has won the championship. He has just reached an insurmountable lead in the championship at this point.

      1. That’s just a pedantic technicality. He is world champion already by all means otherwise whenever someone wins a title, broadcasters, drivers and teams would have to say “Sebastian, you are the guy who is going to be world champion when you are crowned in December! How does it feel to be a world champion in a few months?”

        1. David not Coulthard (@)
          28th October 2013, 14:31

          That’s just a pedantic technicality. He is world champion already by all means otherwise whenever someone wins a title, broadcasters, drivers and teams would have to say “Sebastian, you are the guy who is going to be world champion when you are crowned in December!

          @stormbreak Well, thereis the remote chance that seb will gfet DQ’d from the championship. As his fan, though, I don’t want to see that happening.

      2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        28th October 2013, 13:53

        @djdaveyp87 Let’s imagine that he is only the world champion the day of the ceremony. Even though, @stormbreak will be happy with this information (to confirm what @stormbreak said:
        FIA Gala 2011 was on December 14th, 2011
        FIA Gala 2012 was on December 11th, 2012

        So Vettel got 2 championships WITHIN a year (Yeeeeees, that’s what I’m talking about!!!)

    2. He is also the only WDC on the grid who never finished behind a team-mate in the championship – even though he joined TR mid-season in 2007.

  16. Well maybe not in the spotlights but some drivers are on their way to breaking a record.

    Adrian Sutil can break the record for most races without a podium next year (if he still drives in formula 1)
    Sutil has 106 races under his belt with a best finish of 4th
    Record holder is Pierluigi Martini with 118 grand prix without a podium, 4th is also his best finish
    If Sutil is able to score a podium in the future he is by far the record holder for races before first podium
    Martin Brundle holds that record with 91 races before his first podium.

    Also Charles Pic is on his way to a record in formula 1. The record of most races without scoring a point
    Luca Badoer holds this record with 51 races without a point. Although with the modern point system he would have scored 26 points.
    Pic has driven 36 races without scoring a point. If he drives with Caterham in formula 1 next year, wich is pretty certain. He has a good chance of breaking the record.
    And if he does score points than he can also break a record. The record of most races before the first points. That record is currently held by Nicola Larini with 44 races before he scored his first points.

    1. Sad records :-D

      1. The real sad thing is this, had his luck been slightly better Luca would have scored his first points.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o11i32AoTwo

        1. Yeah indeed, he was in fourth place just a few laps from the finish. In a Minardi!
          That would have been an incredible result

    2. Felipe Massa is another driver on Their Way to breaking the record.
      He can break the record for most races seeking a new win next year (if He does not win one of the three remaining races and if He is for a small team.)
      The current record belongs to Ricardo Patrese with 99 races.
      Massa has 83.

  17. First German 1-2 in history was 1997 San Marino was Frentzen – Schumacher
    Here are the others since then:
    2) 1997 Magny-Cours MSC & HHF
    3) 1997 Suzuka MSC & HHF
    4) 1999 Monza HHF & RSC
    5) 2001 Montreal RSC & MSC
    6) 2001 Magny-Cours MSC & RSC
    7) 2002 Interlagos MSC & RSC
    8) 2003 Montreal MSC & RSC
    9) 2004 Suzuka MSC & RSC
    10) 2013 Monaco ROS & VET
    11) 2013 India VET & ROS

    SO 11 1-2s for Germany. Don’t know about the other countries.

    1. MSC & RSC also probably have and will keep having the record for most 1-2s by brothers on F1. Were there any other successful siblings in F1?

      1. No, the Schumacher-brothers were the only one to have gotten a one – two in F1. It was said multiple times when they first achieved it.

  18. So this mans leads Mercedes in the WCC.

    WCC:
    1. Infiniti Redbull Racing
    2. S. Vettel
    3. Mercedes
    4. Ferrari
    5. Lotus

    He just breaks every record, even this:

    Shortest time elapsed before earning a penalty: 6 seconds;
    Sebastian Vettel (2006 Turkish Grand Prix; recorded speeding in pit lane six seconds into his career as a Formula One driver) – Wikipedia

  19. vettel is the first world champion since 2002 to be win the title by winning a race!

    2012 brazil – vettel won championship by finishing 6th
    2011 japan – vettel won championship by finishing 3rd
    2010 abu dhabi – vettel won championship at the point when rosberg finished 4th
    2009 brazil – button won championship at the point when vettel finished 4th
    2008 brazil – hamilton won championship by finishing 5th
    2007 brazil – raikkonen won championship at the point when kubica finished 5th
    2006 brazil – alonso won championship at the point when massa won the race
    2005 brazil – alonso won championship by finishing 3rd
    2004 belgium – schumacher won championship by finishing 2nd
    2003 japan – schumacher won championship at the point when barrichello won the race
    2002 france – schumacher won championship by winning the race

    1. Two corrections:
      2002 title was clinched with Räikkönen’s second place. If Montoya had been second, the title race would have stayed very theoretically alive, 59-point gap with 60 points available.

      2007 title was clinched with Massa 2nd, as Hamilton was a lap down. Had everyone from 2nd to 6th retired on the final lap, they would have still been ahead of Hamilton.

      1. i stand corrected! thanks for pointing that out.

        that means the last instance where the champion won the title by winning the race was schumacher at hungary 2001. incidentally, that was schumacher’s 4th title too!

      2. Also, had Massa retired from 2nd in that race, Alonso would have got the extra 2 points to win the championship.

    2. 2007 – Kimi won GP Brazil

    3. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      28th October 2013, 17:53

      Nice one – very shocking stat

    4. Vettel won the 2010 Abu Dhabi race though

      1. That was not enough. The point is that until the first 4 places were taken -and Alonso was not in any of them- Vettel had not secured the championship.

      2. He meant that when Vettel crossed the line, there was still a chance that Alonso could get the position he needed (Everyone in front of him could have had an engine failure at the last corner). He needed to be at least 4th with Vettel winning to be come WDC.

        Hence when Rosberg came in 4th, Alonso had no chance of being world champion.

  20. 2 interesting things to note: 1. Webber has technical troubles in the Red Bull yet again. 2. Despite an early pit stop, Vettel and that Red Bull manages to make those tires last longer than any other team while still pounding out fast laps comparatively. How is that possible? Is that Red Bull so good and the other cars just so far behind? Webber was doing much the same before his car failure and was in an easy 2nd position. The other teams and drivers must be pulling their hair out trying to understand how and why that Red Bull chassis continues to be so dominant.

  21. Maybe not a stat, but if I remember it right Vettel is the 8th driver to perform a donut a the end of a formula 1 race. Hopefully we’ll see a lot more

    Raikkonen 2007 Spa
    Hamilton 2009 Silverstone
    Webber 2009 Abu Dhabi
    Hamilton 2011 Silverstone
    Vettel 2011 Suzuka
    Massa 2011 Interlagos
    Hamilton 2012 Silverstone
    Vettel 2013 India

    1. Sorry Vettel did the 9th donut at the end of an F1 race. Just saw a video with Jenson Button making donuts after the 2009 grand prix of Abu Dhabi.

      1. There was one guy that tried to do donuts during the race! Here is the video:

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP2Lj-_4fQg

        @jlracing

        1. Haha very good one! He should be very embarrased

        2. I need to correct myself: it was during Thursday practice, not during the race. It was also the 7th and last weekend for Schiattarella to drive in F1.

          @jlracing

  22. Vettel’s win records during his Red Bull career at the two Asian legs of the championship:

    Spring (Sepang/Shanghai): 4 for 10

    Fall (Singapore, Suzuka, India, Korea): 13 for 16 (!)

  23. Has any other driver won a race after having pited in lap 2?

    1. Alonso:Europe 2007

    2. DC at Melbourne 2003.

  24. Still no podium for Hamilton in India – the only such circuit on which he has raced.

    First time somebody other than Vettel has led in India.

    Last driver to manage 3 consecutive 3rd place finishes – Hamilton at the start of 2012.

    Last time that the same 2 drivers managed 1st and 3rd in 3 consecutive races – M Schumacher and Barrichello in 2003 (Raikkonen was 2nd twice, Alonso once).

    Last time that the same 2 drivers managed 1st and 3rd in 3 consecutive races with 3 different drivers finishing 2nd – Jones and Laffite in 1979 (Regazzoni, Villeneuve and Scheckter finished 2nd).

    Last race-winner to be running as low as 17th at one point – Button in Canada 2011 (was running 21st). Last time in a dry race – Alonso in Singapore 2008 (was running 20th). Last time in a dry race with no safety cars – Watson in USA West 1983 (started 22nd with team-mate Lauda going from 23rd to 2nd).

    3rd race in a row that Hulkenberg has qualified 7th – although this time it was not so lucky.

    First time this season that Massa has beaten Alonso in a race where both finished.

    Only the second time this season that a team has seen neither of its cars classified – the first being Force India in Malaysia.

    Only the second time this season (after Monaco) that somebody other than Alonso, Raikkonen or Webber finished 2nd.

    di Resta is the first driver to finish 8th 3 times this year. 7th is now the only points position in which no-one has finished more than twice this year.

    Massa and di Resta (currently tied on 102 points) would also be tied (on 38 points) under the previous scoring system.

    And some from magnetimarelli.com:

    First time that a non-Red Bull driver has started on the front row in India.

    Vettel’s 35th win with Red Bull – same number as Senna with McLaren.
    10th win in October for Vettel.

    Vettel’s 6th win in Asia in 2013 – he only managed 5 in 2011 and 2012.

    Last time Massa finished ahead of Alonso on merit – China 2011.

    Over half the laps that Massa has led since the start of 2012 were in this race (6/11).

    First time since the start of 2011 that Alonso has gone 3 races without a podium.

  25. Vettel is growing on me, he’s a good guy, just every loves an underdog more than a favorite.
    I’d like to thank CNN for giving away the race winner, but more importantly for declaring Seb the “20 year old” winner of the NASCAR Truck Series race on Saturday in Virginia. Check out the crawl in the video clip.
    http://youtu.be/BzWaAkPDtWw
    Vettel is fast, but I don’t think he could make it from DC to Dehli in time to win both races.

  26. Since Abu dhabi 2009 that Alonso did not finish a race without completing a single lap in the top 9.

  27. Not sure if already noted, but except for a 4-year streak from 2005 to 2008 ALL WDCs since Ayrton Senna’s last title in 1991 have been won by teams employing either Ross Brawn or Adrian Newey.

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