Hamilton’s third hat-trick makes him title favourite

2014 Singapore Grand Prix stats and facts

Posted on

| Written by

Lewis Hamilton is in the lead of the drivers’ championship for only the second time this year after winning the Singapore Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s seventh win of the season means he has now won half of the races so far this year. It was his second victory in Singapore, where he last triumphed for McLaren in 2009.

For the third time this year Hamilton won from pole position and set fastest lap on the way. That was his fifth career ‘hat trick’, giving him as many as Fernando Alonso and three fewer than Sebastian Vettel. The record is held by Michael Schumacher, who has 22.

Hamilton racked up his 29th win, 37th pole position and 18th fastest lap – the latter putting him level with David Coulthard.

It’s been a year for close pole position battles. In Malaysia, Monaco, Canada and Austria the front row was decided by less than a tenth of a second. It happened again in Singapore, where Hamilton edged Rosberg by just seven-thousandths of a second. You have to go back to the 2010 German Grand Prix to find a closer fight for first place than that – Vettel pipped Alonso by two-thousandths on that day.

The only thing that kept Hamilton from a ‘grand slam’ was the two Red Bull drivers, who each led one lap of the race. In Vettel’s case, it was the first time he’d led a race all season, making him the ninth driver to do so.

Singapore continues to be one of Vettel’s strongest venues. This was his fifth consecutive finish in the top two, and he has placed in the top five in all seven editions of the race. Alonso can top that, however – he’s finished in the top four in every Singapore Grand Prix, though this was a streak which began in dubious circumstances.

YearDuration
2008:1hr 57’16.304
2009:1hr 56’06.337
2010:1hr 57’53.579
2011:1hr 59’06.757
2012:2hr 00’26.144
2013:1hr 59’13.132
20142hr 00’04.795

Aided by a lengthy Safety Car period, the Singapore Grand Prix once again hit the two-hour time limit and also had to be shortened by a lap. This is consistently one of the longest races of the year.

Jean-Eric Vergne equalled the best result of his career so far with sixth place, which he also scored in last year’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Behind him Sergio Perez took seventh for Force India and Nico Hulkenberg backed him up in ninth. The team now have 117 points, beating their previous best of 109 which they scored two years ago.

This is partly thanks to their strong finishing rate. They are the only team who are yet to see either of their drivers fail to be classified as finishers due to a technical problem.

Having taken a three-point lead in Singapore Hamilton’s chances of winning the championship has risen enormously. Assuming Mercedes deliver on their potential to take one-two finishes in all the remaining races, Hamilton now has a 62.5% of claiming the title – a figure which was less than 10% before the weekend began.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

Have you spotted any other revealing stats and facts from the Singapore Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

2014 Singapore Grand Prix

Browse all 2014 Singapore Grand Prix articles

Image © Singapore GP/Sutton

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

104 comments on “Hamilton’s third hat-trick makes him title favourite”

  1. I can’t believe that Force India have, once again, jumped McLaren. I’m already looking forward to next year.

    1. Button had a electric problem, magnussen got 1 point (because Bottas lost his tyres) but it’s simple if you keep finishing in the points but you don’t then you move above the ones not scoring points

      1. @macleod, true, but it is still disappointing none the less. Hopefully they can take 5th back in Suzuka.

        1. While I agree that McLaren’s performance, given its vast resources and experience, is disappointing, I for one will be rooting for Force India to finish ahead of McLaren.

          I’m all for one of F1’s “middleweight” teams bolstering its financial health in these uncertain times. The addition of Sauber and the illustrious Enstone team to conversations about three car teams and the demise of minnows Marussia and Caterham is deeply troubling.

  2. The fact that the race always ends up close or at the 2 hour mark sort of makes up for the fact it’s lacking in support races. GP2 being removed was sort of disappointed, and the Masters while being fun was more of a glorified exhibition – no one was going to go hard out in classics

    1. Not only was it the longest race, it was the only race that seemed even longer than it was.

      1. True that.

  3. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    22nd September 2014, 11:36

    Well aware that new point system makes the following a bit empty but Vettel has overtaken his childhood hero MSC in career points. Vettel has now 1577 career points versus MSC 1566, first is Alonso with 1,739.

    Next to catch MSC is Lewis who currently has 1,343.

    Lewis is trailing Vettel in all key stats except # of races but another year with a dominant car might change that.
    # races 143 versus 134
    Points 1,343 versus 1,577
    Wins 29 versus 39
    Poles 37 versus 45
    Flaps 19 versus 23
    Podiums both 65

    Wish that Raikonnen would get 1 more FLAP to match Alain prost.

    1. You have to convert the points and use one points system.

      1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
        22nd September 2014, 12:19

        Yes I know and agree if you really want to compare, MSC career points would be well above 3000 if you convert his results to today’s point system. His 91 wins alone are 2275 points. You probably should also factor in that there are 19/20 reasons per season while in MSC time it was 16/17 etc etc.

        But purely looking at the stats (history books) that ignore the various different point systems and simply say how many points scored in their career. Vettel has scored 1,577 in his career and MSC 1,566.

        1. @jelle-van-der-meer that stat is misleading and quite pointless.

          1. As a Hamilton fan. I have to totally agree. He is truly comparing apples to oranges. The points would have to be converted to one system and converted again to take into account the number of races/year which has fluctuated quite a bit.

    2. By the end of this season, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lewis is within 5 wins and poles of Seb, equaling him on Flaps, and onbviously surpassing him on Podiums. I suspect it will all be in Lewis’ favour by the end of 2015.

      1. The big one however (WDCs) won’t be in Lewis’ favor by the end of 2015.

    3. These are great points. On the Vettel comparison, it’s remarkable how fortunes can change. When Vettel was even on this third WDC, there was much talk, hushed and unhushed, about him overtaking Senna and even Schumacher in the stats books. Among current runners, he had already put Alonso behind him and Hamilton seemed doomed to continue bobbing around 3-5 in the WDC, picking up only a handful of wins and poles in a good year. His youth, speed, and the keys to Newey machinery seemed to promise it. Things can fall apart so quickly in F1. It seems amazing that Hamilton has Vettel’s win total in view now and may have been able to eclipse him in poles this year were it not for some technical issues. More so, Vettel now looks rather ordinary next to his rookie teammate, suggesting that even with a dominant new RBR, he may still be a sitting duck for Hamilton in the next couple years. If Alonso ever gets a decent car, he may be able to restore his position over Vettel in the last stage of his career.

      1. I was amazed that DC has more Flaps than HAM, how did that happen ? I suppose it has a lot to do with the recent emergence of tyre management as crucial to winning.

      2. I made a point about the stats of the current front runners earlier in the year to a bit of derision. I know that there are more races these days (averaging 18/19 a year now as opposed to 16 throughout the 80s/90s) but Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso have all surely got to be started to be looked at as up there with the all time best.

        The 80s was seen as a golden period of F1 with Senna, Prost and Mansell. The big 3 of modern times are not far off those guys career statts and they are all now approaching similar amounts of races started as the big 3 from the 80s.

        People will point to reliability being much better these days but that also means there is less chance for other drivers to inherit wins because of other drivers misforunte.

        And you are right about fortunes changing, who would have thought after 07 that Alonso would only have 32 wins 7 years later (he had 19 after the 07 season, he has averaged less than 2 a year since), similarily Hamilton, after 9 wins and a championship in his first 2 seasons would only win another 12 races from 09-13 (an average of less than 3 a season).

        Vettel meanwhile has racked up the stats with Red Bull, 38 wins in 5 seasons (an average of nearly 8 a year!!) but now looks set to struggle in the short term at least while Red Bull try catch up Mercedes and Ricciardo seems to have the legs on him at the moment!

        The big 3 have picked up the majority of the success in F1 since 2009, will be interesting to see how they fare in the next 3-5 seasons and if any of the younger drivers start making headway in the stats!

  4. Hamilton’s win keeps up the Singapore GP’s record of only ever being won by world champions

    1. Well observed.

    2. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      22nd September 2014, 12:21

      Very nice stat, and not just world champions today but world champion at time the race was held.

      1. Nice point, I missed that

        1. I’m confused.

          1. For example even though Vettel is a champion, if he’d won at Singapore in 2010 instead of Alonso then this record wouldn’t stand as Vettel wasn’t yet a champion at the time of the 2010 Singapore GP.

            Also not necessarily the current defending champion at the time of the respective Singapore GP, just a driver who has won the title at some stage.

      2. Vettel is wc but didnt win

        1. I think he means that the winner has previously been a WC rather than being the current WC

    3. @celicadion23 – great stat.

      So it might have been the Singapore statisticians who messed with Rosberg’s wire loom!

  5. Formula Indonesia (@)
    22nd September 2014, 12:05

    is Perez one of F1 drivers that cause safety car without being retire??

    1. Formula Indonesia (@)
      22nd September 2014, 12:10

      and we also see it in Korea 2013 and arguably Abu Dhabi 2012

    2. Also Bottas in Australia this year.

      1. Formula Indonesia (@)
        22nd September 2014, 13:11

        yeah but he did it 3 times over his career

  6. Longest race of the year was also the second shortest. (in distance with 1 long lap deducted, but still not as short as Monaco)

    1. It seemed a lot longer.

  7. The Singapore grand prix has only 3 winners in 7 races, but 5 different constructors. Vettel has the most wins but is now the only driver who hasn’t won it with two different constructors.

    Alonso complaining that the safety car at Singapore didn’t help his strategy is the most ironic statement made by a driver since the championship began.

    1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      22nd September 2014, 12:22

      +1!!!!!!

    2. Alonso complaining that the safety car at Singapore didn’t help his strategy is the most ironic statement made by a driver since the championship began.

      Comment of the day :D

    3. Lol!! That was a good observation!!

    4. Kimi was told by Alonso to crash on lap 13, but he say no.

      1. ROFLMAO!! Where is Nelson when you need him!

    5. Alonso complaining that the safety car at Singapore didn’t help his strategy is the most ironic statement made by a driver since the championship began.

      +1

  8. It’s amusing how one race makes someone a title favorite, especially when you consider the fact that the guy driving the same car retires with reliability issue. If there was no chance of reliability issues than I would put my money on Hamilton since the start of this season. I mean he is in my view the more complete and faster driver and 7 wins to 4 wins is the obvious evidence, but I’m sure that even Hamilton is taking a race by race approach. Of course that he now has a psychological advantage but the pressure is maybe even bigger now. Lewis once said that he likes to chase not to be chased and now he is in that position. However it’s one of the best season in a long time since I remember and that is since 1993 :)

    1. @nidzovski I think that is a well summed up paragraph. I suppose the swing to LH being favourite was as much to do with the concept that he had had more unreliability up until then and so, what if he had more bad luck in Singapore and now the gap to NR was quite big. Nor was it a LH-NR 1-2 with NR still heading LH. It completely swung the other way and so given that LH just seems to have that bit of an edge on pace more often than not, NR has his work cut out for him. He always did, and still had to run his races no matter what was going on with LH.

      I’ve been looking at this season, upon seeing LH with those 4 wins at the start, after Australia of course, as a season for us to see how NR does in this foreign territory, having never had a WDC capable car whereas LH has had them before. So now with things quite equal in terms of unreliability issues, and the points being quite equal too, this is going to be fascinating.

      Can NR rise to the occasion? Can LH keep it together while leading not chasing? This is why they get paid the big bucks and what the paying audience deserves to get for their money. Like everyone else I just hope it gets decided on the track and not by more unreliability issues, yet that is racing and is just as possible as anything.

      1. Thank you @robbie mate. “Can NR rise to the occasion? Can LH keep it together while leading not chasing?”
        I think that NR is capable of maximizing any given opportunity as much as Lewis is, even if Nico has no experience in WDC fight. The real problem is obvious. Reliability will be the key of this years WDC fight. I remember that at the beginning of this season there were question marks of how many cars would end Australia GP with this new formula? It’s new and complicated as hell so the chance of more issues is much greater than in previous years. For example we weren’t thinking about reliability last year when Vettel was smashing the opposition in the second part of the season. Nevermind the outcome of this years WDC it would be interesting what would next season bring if Mercedes can maintain the upper hand.

    2. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      22nd September 2014, 13:16

      I think the difference between Hamilton and Rosberg was best demonstrated in Hungary. Rosberg was stuck behind someone (forgot who) for lots of laps, he pitted and Hamilton needed less than 2 laps to get passed that same car.
      Then afterwards Rosberg was complaining that Hamilton should let him pass as Rosberg was “Faster” and on fresher tyres however Rosberg never came even close to make that “Faster” claim. Maybe he was if free air but Rosberg struggles in traffic and dirty air.

      On the other side Rosberg is much more stable, calm and reliable than Hamilton. Hamilton is much more emotion, sometimes TOO eager making silly mistakes like his qualifying in Austria or aborting his lap in British qualifying. Overall best example is losing a podium in Monza 2009 by crashing in the parabolica 1 or 2 laps before the end.

      1. @jelle-van-der-meer I agree with you. There is no perfect driver out there. Alonso is maybe the most complete driver but I’m not fond of him as I think that he would do anything for his interest and I mean anything. It’s too early to judge Daniel’s capability as his showing in this season is a mix of second best car and a really bad year for Vettel. However the one with the best car almost always wins WDC.

        1. Yes, although I am not an Alonzo fan, I agree he is the most complete driver out there. He can work wonders with a dog of a car. Lewis comes closest to doing the same, but has been pointed out, he can get emotional and make pointless mistakes. You could never convince me Vettel was anything more than an above average driver in a genius car. Ricciardo is an exciting driver, but too soon to see how good he will be. Nico is a good driver but not a good passer. The two races where Lewis started in the back and made it to the podium were two of the most exciting races of the season. Nico would not have been able to do that.

      2. mistakes like his qualifying in Austria or aborting his lap in British qualifying

        Well, if that’s his grand list of mistakes, he’s had one of the most impressive years of any driver. I think Austria counts as a bit of ‘nervous’ emotion, though his mistake was compounded by some misfortune (losing traction at a bump in the circuit) while Silverstone was a rational decision that played out wrong. Now compare with ‘stable, calm and reliable’ Rosberg: how many over-emotional events have we seen this year? Arguably Monaco, Canada, Spa and Monza at least: Monaco, either spinning off or deliberately sabotaging qualifying (if so, desperation rather than cleverness I think). Then losing the cornering at Canada, crashing into Hamilton at Spa, losing the cornering twice at Monza and thus the race. Sorry but this stereotype of the two drivers just doesn’t stack up anymore.

      3. “Rosberg was stuck behind someone”
        That would be Vergne, who overtook him after a SC restart

      4. Actually Lewis crashing at the Lesmo corners in 2009 was to see him in his purest form and an example of why so many like to see him compete. He was a smidgeon behind the Brawn of Jenson and to finish behind him at that race was the point of no return, he couldn’t retain his championship if it ended that way. So he wrung absolutely everything from the McLaren, and as it turned out, a little bit too much.

        Not a silly mistake, just stupendous will-to-win

    3. Lewis has been absolutely spectacular this year during what I believe is Nico’s best season. They are so close in performance and yet the gap between them is huge. It reminds me of tennis where a player can win almost 49% of the points and still lose 3 sets in a row… The players are almost equal but the results should favor the best player. Without reliability, Nico would have been many, many points behind Lewis and down 1-2 sets.

      1. To me, the fact that Lewis is still ahead of Nico with 3 DNFs to Nico’s 2 tells me Lewis is the better driver.

    4. Formula Indonesia (@)
      22nd September 2014, 13:47

      actually Nico career is a lot tougher than Lewis. he was racing for a lower midfield teams, Williams who was really slow (compare to Top teams) and fighting for 7th or 8th and in his debut he scored fastest lap and he very matching Mark. and dominate Wurz on next season, 2008 was a good year but in 2009, he showed who he are. he was very consistent and solid and could’ve win in Singapore, the opporpunity came in 2010 when he moved to mid top teams, he only a whisker behind Massa who had a better equipment, and could’ve scored a surprising win in Korea, and some decent results along with Podiums. he continue to be “unsung hero” in next 2 year, and few of f1 fans expect Nico to dominate Schumi for 3 consecutive years (i understand Schumi have past his primes, but Nico just very solid on 2010-2012) and then big test came for him in 2013, and he did it well with only 18 pts behind Lewis (some bad lucks in China, Australia, Malaysia, Hungary,and Korea) in Brazil he was running a wet weather set-up. I know he’s slower than Lewis on pure pace, but he also have some advantages over him. while Lewis always had top teams over his career, in 2009 the car was poor in 1st half but it was 3rd behind Brawn and RBR in 2nd half. other than that, he have quick car over his season. Nico starts from the mid bottom and move into a WDC contender. Nico of course still have some weakness, but we should look at his past too

    5. @nidzovski

      It’s amusing how one race makes someone a title favourite, especially when you consider the fact that the guy driving the same car retires with reliability issue.

      I don’t see your point. Hamilton and Rosberg have the same chance of experiencing a technical problem in the remaining races. Hamilton’s points lead is what makes him the favourite.

      1. @keithcollantine I think that Hamilton`s talent and speed is apriciated by bigger number of journalists and F1 fans than Rosberg`s ability and this is why the whole thing just exploded. In my view it would be a real shame if WDC title goes to the guy who has maybe half of the other guys victories but that reliability is making me nervous and does not give me a reason to proclaim Hamilton as a favourite even though he has a few points of advantage. The rest of the season will be like walking in a minefield as we saw how quick can everything change. I know that whoever leads the championship is a favourite but…I already explained :). It`s not that I don`t respect Nico, I do a lot, but Lewis is just my kind of a driver. That`s it! To sum up. Lewis in my eyes was from race one a title favorite. If you know what I mean :)

  9. Its quite surprising that only now Vettel managed to lead a race in 2014 season!

  10. I love Lewis and he’s still my favourite but he has become a bit of a drama queen lately. On the other hand, Nico has never got the title and this year he’s definitely deserved it… so why not Nico?

    1. Because he has only 4 wins to Hamiltons 7. Hamilton also has one extra DNF and two issues in qualifying which Nico hasn’t. I think that stat really says it all.

      1. Absolutely spot on!

    2. @arthurjach elaborate please.

  11. Why would this third “hat trick” make him the championship favorite ?
    3 points only, and no tricky margin for Mercedes anymore…Nico is morally stronger, he will get over it, and win it !

    1. @nomeg1 As explained in the article, based on permutations of likely outcomes.

      By ‘morally stronger’ I assume you mean in terms of ‘morale’ rather than ‘morality’? Not that I think either will play a role in this.

      1. Don’t be so sure… I hear Bernie is planning to introduce bonus points for good behaviour, starting in Japan.

      2. I meant that I believe that Nico has a stronger psychological asset over Hamilton, and will undergo the upcoming battle better. I must also say that I have no favorite here, they both are excellent drivers, meriting the crown. Hamilton was, in Singapore, above all the rest, too bad we did not get to see the awaited battle, and maybe therefore feel in which way the wind would blow for the next 5.
        Suzuka is a circuit for big boys, let’s hope that both are saved from any car failure.

    2. Championship favourite statistically speaking.

      This is the Stats round-up after all.

    3. The bookies had him as favourite before this race I checked the odds on Saturday.

    4. What shows that Nico is “morally” stronger then? Taking out his team mate in Spa? Missing the chicane twice in Monza?

      How is it even relevant? The issue is more which car will break less from now on. If both cars keep driving, statistically Hamilton is miles ahead having won almost all races where there were no (major) technical issues. He even beat Rosberg in two races where Hamilton did have technical difficulties.

      1. Spa was a big mistake, and Nico apologized and was punished internally, he will remember.
        The chicane in Monza was, for me, a disguised give back to Lewis, no way such a driver can make twice the same mistake and at the same spot !

        For the rest of what you say Patrickl, you are right, but in F1 it is not always the one with the most wins who gets the title, you should know that.

  12. Vettel (39) + Alonso (32) + Hamilton (29) = 100 wins !

    1. Formula Indonesia (@)
      22nd September 2014, 14:46

      Button (15) + Raikkonen (20) + Massa (11) + Ricciardo (3) + Maldonado (1) + 100 = 150

      1. That also covers the entire period since Schumacher’s first retirement, if laid out linearly.

  13. Hamilton has won 7 races this season. Losing the championship after winning 7 races hasn’t happened often in F1 history. The only examples in previous F1 championships are:
    Schumacher 2006
    Raikkonnen 2005
    Prost 1988
    Prost 1984

    While compiling this, I really felt for Prost. Winning 7 races TWICE and yet losing the championship. And not to forget he won 4 championships anyways. Really incredible. Would have been great to follow his career real time rather than reading about it now.

    1. I agree, it’s fair to say that Prost and Raikkonen really could have won more titles, with just a little bit more luck and less car failure retirements!

    2. Should probably do it as a percentage, given the ballooning calendar in recent years. So has someone lost the WDC after winning only ~1/3 of the races? Seems more likely. Something as interesting, and particularly appropos given the legacy of a current contender, may be how few races one can win and still be WDC—I believe Keke did it with only 1.

      1. He did an that was quite a weird year.

      2. Formula Indonesia (@)
        22nd September 2014, 16:02

        How about a championship without a single win

        1. That has never happened. Probably, never will!

          There have been midseason points leaders who have not won a race until then. Hamilton after Chinese Grand Prix 2012 is an example.

          One of the curious examples is of Massa after round 3 (Malaysian GP) of 2010 season. He hadn’t won a race, hadn’t got pole and hadn’t even led any of the three races at any point and yet he was leading the championship.

          1. I can’t see it happening these days but it very nearly did in 1982. Keke Rosberg only won one race that year, the Swiss GP, which he only won by passing Prost on the final lap. But if he had finished second he still would have had enough points to win the title.

      3. As did Hawthorn.

    3. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      22nd September 2014, 16:22

      Well his 1984 loss was even worse, only 0,5 point. Both Lauda and Prost had 5 retirements but Prost had 2 more wins, including Monaco which was the 50% point race in which Lauda retired.
      It was also the only case of the 4 in which the champion had less wins.

      From above list Alonso is the only one having benefitted twice by becoming Champion with same amount of wins as the #2, in both case 7 and his only 2 championships.

    4. Also no driver has ever won four races in a row and then not gone on to win the title. Hamilton won’t want to be the first ever driver to go against this statistic!

      1. @celicadion23

        Also no driver has ever won four races in a row and then not gone on to win the title.

        Now you’ve done it. I have to start rooting for Rosberg, I just love crazy stats and firsts.

    5. so no driver in the past won 8 or more races and still lose WDC?

  14. Rosberg has now gone four races without a victory, longer than Hamilton’s longest drought this year (three, twice).

    First race this year that Bottas has been classified outside of the top 10. He has also finished behind his team mate for the second race in a row, this also occurred at Malaysia/Bahrain.

    Kamui Kobayashi became the third driver this year to DNS a race. This hasn’t happened since 2010 (5 different drivers to DNS)

    Fourth time Sauber have retired both cars in a race this season, beating Lotus’/Caterham’s three.

    Kimi Raikkonen has scored points for the last four races, his longest streak this season. If he keeps it up for 24 more races, he will beat his personal best.

    One for the tin-foil hat brigade: during their time as team mates at Mercedes, Nico Rosberg now has had more retirements than Lewis Hamilton.

    Despite a broken monkey seat, Vettel managed to finish 2nd, the first time he has finished 2nd in a race since Monaco last year, and is the 14th time that he has finished 2nd. He has 12 3rds and 39 wins. This also means that he has finished 2nd and 3rd in every season that he has driven for Red Bull Racing (and 1st if he can win before the end of the year).

    1. Rosberg has now gone four races without a victory

      Again.

    2. Formula Indonesia (@)
      22nd September 2014, 16:05

      I think Nico got more bad lucks in 2013 and this year was Hamilton turns, not threatening both fans but karma happen in our life

      1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
        22nd September 2014, 16:24

        Well Karma has to do with your own behaviour not so much with luck.
        I can not recall anything particularly that would qualify Hamilton’s bad luck as result of Karma.
        In case of Nico Rosberg I only need to think of Spa and Monaco this year

      2. lol not this again Ham would have still finished ahead last year reliabilty did not decide it. Ham came 4th in Sliverstone after tyre exploede he was destroying Nico that day Nico was 3rd then Vet retired so Nico had a free win. Check Hungary 2013, Ros was 8th or 9th and retired with a few laps left so again he hardly lost any points. Their is a risk reliabilty actually affects who wins this season unlike last year.

        1. Formula Indonesia (@)
          23rd September 2014, 9:12

          Australia and China also cost him (both mechanical), and probably Malaysia and also Korea (front wing faliure when he overtook HAM) and then it just turn the table next season, the diffrent is 2013 for 5th place WDC and 2014 for the title

    3. Rosberg has now gone four races without a victory, longer than Hamilton’s longest drought this year

      Interesting I always thought of Rosberg as MR Consistency.

      during their time as team mates at Mercedes, Nico Rosberg now has had more retirements than Lewis Hamilton.

      Interesting again. I thought Rosberg had more “mechanical sympathy” than his teammate.

  15. Still I don’t think the rest of the calender suits Lewis driving style. I think Rosberg will shatter under pressure now that he has no lead on the tables, but he has got speed on his side in my opinion, it just needs to calculate less and feel more.

  16. At 50/1, I’m tempted to put a bet on Ricciardo for the WDC. All he has to do is get within 50 points, and then hope Rosberg and Hamilton take each other out in Abu Dhabi.

  17. By the books of most Hamilton has been the title favourite since the season began. So what’s new now, apart from him leading championship? He’s still been the favourite in bookings etc.

    1. @lari Bookmakers take past performance into account when calculating their odds, the methodology I described above does not.

    2. Bookies also take their liability into account. If (as seems likely) a lot of money has already been staked on Hamilton, they want to incentivise bets on people other than Hamilton.

      1. That is true, Keith, but bookies was just one example. I guess there’s no poll, but if there was a poll made asking which one would be likely to win championship after 1st round or first 2-3 races (when it was obvious Merc was well ahead of the rest), I bet Hamilton would’ve come on top as clear candidate.

  18. * In last six races Red Bull driver who started behind has finished ahead

    * Before Kobayashi, the previous driver to retire during the warm-up lap was Jarno Trulli in Malaysia 1999 (not including dummy grid DNFs or drivers entering pits after warm-up lap)

    1. @bleu are you sure about trulli? i recall petrow breaking down at the british gp in 2012. i could be wrong though.

      1. I checked it, Petrov’s car failed in the reconnaissance lap about 25 minutes before the race.

  19. – Vergne and Vettel are the only ones who have finished in the top 6 in a Toro Rosso. That means with the pre-2003 points rule (top 6 get points) they would have been the only one drivers to have scored points in a Toro Rosso.

    – With 48 points, Vergne is the driver who scored the most points for Toro Rosso. Vettel is 2nd with 40 points scored during his time at Toro Rosso

    – Sauber already has 4 double DNF’s this season. The last time that has happened was in 1999 when they had 7 double DNF’s in the whole season.

    – This was the 2nd race in a row a Caterham finished first in the Caterham/Marussia battle. The last time this has happened was at the 2013 Japanese GP

    – Although Rosberg has led more laps than Hamilton this year (374 against 344), Hamilton has led more KM’s than Rosberg this year (1828 against 1710). This is mainly due to the fact that Rosberg led the whole Monaco GP wich has the most laps (78) but the least KM’s of the season.

    1. Actually joining Vettel and Vergne, Liuzzi had one 6th for STR (China 2007)

      1. Good spot. Totally forgot about that one. Well then Vergne and Vettel are the only ones who have 2 or more top 6 finishes in a Toro Rosso xD

        1. Vergne is the first since the Torro Rosso car is actually a separate design from the Red Bull car.

          Although, to be honest, Vergne was fortunate that so many drivers picked the wrong strategy (trying to make softs last for half a race distance). Seems like only Hamilton, Vergne and Perez got it right. Making the rest look like slowly moving chicanes at the end of the race.

  20. In his last 6 Singapore visits, Hamilton has managed 2 DNFs, 2 5th places, and 2 wins.

    First race since China in which Rosberg hasn’t led a lap. Curiously, the only 3 races this season which Rosberg hasn’t led have been the 3 east Asian races.

    Hamilton now has 241 points – more than he has scored in any previous whole season.

    Rosberg would be 3 points ahead of Hamilton under the previous 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system. Curiously, under that system, Perez and Raikkonen (currently tied on 45 points) would be tied on 14 points.

    First race since Korea 2012 in which Button has not been classified. His 36-race streak is second only to Heidfeld’s 41 in 2007-09.

    And some from magnetimarelli.com:

    First time Vettel has been outqualified by his team-mate at Singapore. Ricciardo has never been outqualified by a team-mate at Singapore, so something had to give.

    Hamilton ties Fangio for most wins with Mercedes (8).

    120 points for Vettel at the Singapore GP – the joint most for any driver at one event (along with Alonso at the Spanish GP). This is of course skewed by the points-system changes.

    Ricciardo’s DQ from 2nd in Australia seems to have made him averse to finishing 2nd – since then he has finished 1st 3 times and 3rd 4 times, but never 2nd.

    26th 4th-place finish for Alonso – equals Gerhard Berger’s record.

Comments are closed.