Hamilton is second driver in five races to match Senna

2015 Japanese Grand Prix stats and facts

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Lewis Hamilton became the second driver in the space of five races to equal Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 race victories. Sebastian Vettel did the same in Hungary.

Vettel has already added his 42nd win last week, making him the third most successful F1 driver of all time in terms of victories. But as Hamilton as the all-conquering Mercedes W06 beneath him, don’t bet against him being ahead at the end of the season.

Hamilton reached Senna’s milestone in his 162nd race – one more than Senna started. Here’s how all three drivers compare at the moment:

Ayrton SennaLewis HamiltonSebastian Vettel
Starts161162153
Wins41 (25.47%)41 (25.31%)42 (27.45%)
Poles65 (40.37%)49 (30.25%)46 (30.07%)
Podiums80 (49.69%)82 (50.62%)76 (49.67%)
Technical retirements33 (20.5%)10 (6.17%)14 (9.15%)
Championships324
Points*1,881 (11.68 per race)2,116 (13.06 per race)2,022 (13.22 per race)

*All starts adjusted to today’s scoring system

For the first time since 2011, every driver was classified
Hamilton led every lap of the way and set the fastest lap, but for the second weekend in a row a driver missed out on a ‘grand slam’ by less than a tenth of a second. Nico Rosberg beat Hamilton to pole by 0.076 seconds.

Rosberg’s second pole position of the year was the 17th of his career, giving him as many as Jackie Stewart. Rain on Friday meant the track was still ‘green’ on Saturday, and Rosberg’s pole time of 1’32.584 was 0.078 seconds slower than he managed last year. Surprisingly, Hamilton still hasn’t had a pole position at Suzuka.

This was the second time Rosberg has out-qualified Hamilton this year. That leaves Romain Grosjean as the only driver who’s participated in every weekend this year and only been beaten by his team mate once in qualifying.

Rosberg finished between Hamilton and Vettel – the same top three as last year and the seventh time this trio have occupied the podium this year.

For the first time in the V6 hybrid turbo era every car which started the race was classified (Felipe Nasr was not running but he had completed 90% of the race distance). This last happened in the 2011 European Grand Prix at Valencia, with a larger field of 24 cars.

Fernando Alonso’s 247th grand prix wasn’t a happy one, but he has now started more races than all by far drivers in F1 history, one of which is his team mate Jenson Button on 279. Having passed David Coulthard on Sunday, Alonso should equal his former team mate Jarno Trulli’s 252 starts at the final race this year.

Verstappen: F1’s first and last 17-year-old?
Button continued his record of finishing every race he has started at Suzuka – this was his 14th – but this was the first time he was outside the top ten.

Red Bull failed to score for the first time since last year’s Australian Grand Prix, when Vettel dropped out with an engine problem and Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified after taking the chequered flag in second place.

And finally, yesterday was probably the last time we’ll ever see a 17-year-old on an F1 grid. Max Verstappen turns 18 on Wednesday, and from next year the FIA will impose a minimum age limit of 18 for F1 drivers.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

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

2015 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2015 Japanese Grand Prix articles

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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117 comments on “Hamilton is second driver in five races to match Senna”

  1. Keith what is your obsession with Senna stats?? Last 5 stats articles all have Senna in the title!

    1. Because its nice to see that today’s F1 drivers have it much easier with equipment which retires 3 times as less as during Senna’s time. Making Senna’s stats even more incredible.

      1. Because its nice to see that today’s F1 drivers have it much harder with rivals which retires 3 times as less as during Senna’s time. Making their stats even more incredible.

        1. On top of that we all can remember several races from both Hamilton and Vettel where they were leading and lost the win due to a technical issue or an exploding tyre…

          Perhaps someone has a list of Senna his certain losses due to technical causes?

          1. I don’t have a list for Senna, but I know the numbers somewhat. From what I remember, Vettel lost the lead due to technical issues like 8-10 times or something. It’s 4-5 times for Hamilton. Vettel inherited 1 race. Hamilton 3 or something, maybe less maybe more.

          2. From memory.
            In 1989: Canada, USA, England, Italy. In France his drive-shaft broke on the start, so will never know. In 1990, Mexico and Australia (he crashed due to gearbox failure). In 1992, Canada.
            Maybe some from 1985 but i’m not certain.

        2. I would say the opposite. Senna was more likely to be retiring from the lead than inheriting the lead on that basis. Look at his pole position rate. To me this puts him still above Hamilton and vettel in the wins metric.

          1. Hamillton’s retirements from lead and inherited wins are somewhat comparable. But Vettel has ever inherited 1 race in 2012. He lost like 10 races from lead. So Vettel is more likely to be retiring from the lead than inheriting the lead on that basis.

        3. Awesome comeback Martin!
          +1 from me

        4. Great comeback! Ayrton Senna’s also had quite a few retirements that were caused not by mechanical/technical reasons but by good old brain fade. An egregious example was the Monza 1988 crash lapping Schlesser whitout which the MP4/4 would have won all the season’s races (I’m not going into purposefully shunting Prost, there’s already too many petabytes on that).

        5. You beat me to the perfect response Martin.

        6. Much harder rivals is laughable.
          How old are you?

          1. @edmarques
            Martin (and Daniel who made the first comment) were referring to reliability skewing the stats, not how hard the rivals were.

      2. easier with equipment which retires 3 times as less as during Senna’s time.

        Senna’s stats are definitely incredible. But the above point is very much debatable and perhaps moot as Senna’s competitors of that time also had similar equipment and thus suffered with as much technical retirements as him(Senna).

      3. Senna was a great driver, but he made his stats with superior equipment like most drivers, after all, Senna was human.

    2. With all these Senna stats I always imagine what Prost could’ve done had there never been a Senna, or the other way around of course. Same for Vettel and Hamilton (and Alonso). I’m a Prost fan either way.

      1. They would be Michael Schumacher.

    3. I know there’s been a lot of the Senna angle in Stats and Facts recently, but with both Vettel and Hamilton reaching that mark within a few races of each other, and not very much else of note in the statistics, I’ve felt it’s been the way to go. We may well be having the same conversation in twelve months’ time about Alain Prost!

      1. Keith, You are doing a grand job eeking out news when nothing of note is happening. Perhaps you should do an article about racing paint drying or the colorants used on run-off areas around the circuits. That will keep everyone happy.

        1. This isn’t “somewhatinterestedinf1” nor is it “Iliketheracesbutcantbebotheredwiththequoteunquotestuffifindboringevenifmyfellowsiteusersactuallyfinditinterestingorattheveryleastadiscussionpoint”

          it’s “f1fanatics”

          1. wow how hard would this site be to find if it was the middle one!!!!! would HAVE to bookmark that one!!!!

      2. Keith, keep up the good work. You’re doing a swell job. Interesting stats.

      3. GJ Keith I approve fully, you highlight interesting stuff

      4. @keithcollantine : Awaiting your article on the new sponsors on cars. That’s one of my favorites on this site.

    4. There is a tweet on F1 account comparing the big 5: https://twitter.com/F1/status/648463653746950144/photo/1

      1. An official F1 twitter account post that picture and tagging Lewis on it. Very inconsiderate of them.

  2. maarten.f1 (@maarten-f1) (@)
    28th September 2015, 12:27

    But he can totally be the first driver to match Vettel’s wins! How awesome is that?

    1. Then next year Vettel can be the first driver to match Hamilton

      I see a pattern developing.

    2. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! - @omarr-pepper (@)
      28th September 2015, 13:42

      @marteen-f1 and in more races, and starting his career in a WCC contender!!!

    3. Good joke. But it points out that we are privileged to be watching now two of the top 3 or 4 drivers ever to be competing battling on track. If Ferrari continues to improve this would make it even better.

    4. I just hope Ferrari to be more competitive, so every two race it will be new headline of who matching who.

      1. Lol That’d be ridiculous but so funny :D

    5. @maarten-f1 Hate to spoil it, but technically he already did at the 2011 German GP, when Hamilton matched Vettel’s tally of 16 wins.

      1. When was it Vettel matched Hamilton’s total?
        I looked up:
        Monaco 2011: 15th wins-Vettel matches Hamilton
        Germany 2011: 16th wins-Hamilton matches Vettel
        That’s the last time they had the same number of wins.

        1. Italy 2013: Vettel caught Alonso, 32 wins.
          USA 2014: Hamilton caught Alonso, 32 wins.

  3. This was the first time since the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix where both Red Bull cars were running at the end, yet neither finished in the points. It is also the first time since the 2012 Italian Grand Prix where both cars were classified outside of the points. However it was the first time where all four Red Bull-owned cars were running at the finish, yet only the Toro Rossos were in the points.

    Mercedes have picked up just five podiums in the last five races. That’s the same number as Ferrari. Oddly enough, this stat was also valid at the previous round, as the top three at the British Grand Prix was identical to the top three at this round.

    Best two car finish for Lotus this season, and the first time they’ve had two cars in the top eight since India in 2013.

    Despite a non-start at Silverstone and failing to complete the race distance at Suzuka, Felipe Nasr is yet to be classified as ‘retired’ from a Grand Prix.

    If Mercedes outscore Ferrari by three points at Russia, they will clinch the World Constructors Championship at the same venue for the second year running. The last time the World Constructors Championship has been decided at the same event for a number of consecutive years was between
    2008 and 2010 at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

    Lewis Hamilton has failed to secure pole position for the last two rounds. This is his longest drought since the end of last season (three rounds). Hamilton now has 20 wins for Mercedes in the space of 52 races (38.5%). He won 21 races for McLaren in 110 races (19.1%).

  4. The stand out stat for me is retirements. Senna 20 % vs Hamilton 6% and Seb 9%. Cars today are so much more reliable. Is the wins percentage (SEN 25.4, HAM 25.3, VET 27.45) based on races started or races finished? I think the former. So how about a stat on wins as a percentage of races where technical retirements are excluded?

    1. Vettels stat would be even better compared to Hamiltons.

      Do note as mentioned above that all cars had those kind of retirement rates, so Senna perhaps also won several races beind led by another car who then retired.

      1. ColdFly F1 - @coldfly (@)
        28th September 2015, 12:54

        Do note as mentioned above that all cars had those kind of retirement rates, so Senna perhaps also won several races (being) led by another car who then retired.

        Maybe the only true stat then is win percentage of races where all drivers finished ;-)
        @xtwl @elreno

        1. @coldfly Races in which the top 10 drivers in the championship finished would make the stat somewhat closer to “perfect”, far as it still is from perfect :)

          1. ColdFly F1 - @coldfly (@)
            28th September 2015, 13:24

            @davidnotcoulthard
            I was just hoping to stick to mine:
            Senna: 0/0
            Vettel: 1/1
            Hamilton: 0/0

            And voila, yet another statistic where Hamilton matches his idol, and Vettel beats them both ;-)

          2. ColdFly F1 - @coldfly (@)
            28th September 2015, 13:26

            @davidnotcoulthard
            I was just hoping to stick to mine:
            Senna: 0/0
            Vettel: 1/1
            Hamilton: 0/1
            And voila, yet another statistic where Hamilton matches his idol (but needing 1 race more), and Vettel beats them both ;-)

      2. @xtwl

        Do note as mentioned above that all cars had those kind of retirement rates

        As far as I remember, the Mclarens of the late 80ies were seen as extraordinarily reliable, with most other cars having far more DNFs. I haven´t done the numbers, but a quick glimpse over 1988 and 1989 makes it look like nearly 50% of the drivers retired each race. Of course, the majority never was ahead of Senna those days.

    2. For anyone who wonders how many finishes it took for drivers to get their 37th-38th-39th-40th-41st-(42nd) race wins:
      Senna: 88-89-91-96-97
      Schumacher: 91-92-95-96-99-(100)
      Vettel: 96-97-98-116-124-(127)
      Hamilton: 132-134-136-137-(138)
      Prost: 101-102-106-109-112-(124)

      1. Prost: 96-97-101-104-107-(108)

        Previous one was wrong.

        1. Ot it wasn’t. I’m so confused with counting. Aahh!

      2. Hamilton was the first driver to match Senna without wearing red overalls at the time. Top 3 drivers from all time race winners list has also won that race with Ferrari.

        1. Wearing red overalls is also true for Senna himself. Not clear from the comment above.

      3. And there’s the cold hard truth of it right there. Also, Senna did it with massively less reliable cars and began his career in teams that were hardly “dominant”. Vettel and Schu are close as is prost (with a similar career progression up through the field), but where’s Hamilton (whom has always raced for a top team)? Those numbers don’t lie. :-)

        1. To be fair to Hamilton, while they were technically top teams, McLaren 09 and Merc 13 were not multi-race winners. Very similar to Red Bull last year and Ferrari this year – winning very situationally.

          1. McLaren was 2nd fastest car by the end of 2009.

        2. Of course, this stat doesn’t highlight just how many DNFs were caused by crash, and how many of them was driver’s fault. For example, Vettel’s never crashed out since 2010. He’s on the longest streak without crash-out. Someone should at least count how many crashes there were even if they can not point out whether driver was responsible or not.

    3. The stand out stat for me is retirements. Senna 20 % vs Hamilton 6% and Seb 9%.

      Your stats are actually not quite right. Retirement statistics are;

      Senna – 37.98%
      Vettel – 16.34%
      Hamilton – 14.2%

      This is total retirements including accidents/collisions. If you take into account mechanical/reliability incidents only the stats are;

      Senna – 24.69%
      Vettel – 10.45%
      Hamilton – 8.02%

      This is the thing I’ve been pointing out to all the moaning Hamilton fans every time he has a retirement and they cry and carry on about poor Hamilton’s terrible reliability. In the history of Formula 1, there are only 10 drivers who have a better retirement rate than Hamilton – IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF FORMULA 1!

      1. That’s quite true actually. Among 5 champions, he has the best rate. Raikkonen, Button, Vettel are the unlucky top 3, followed by ever-closing Alonso with his McLaren Honda I believe….

  5. I think it’s more appropriate that Hamilton had to wait an extra race to match Senna, so he hasn’t beaten his hero’s win per race tally. Despite it not being the best, it makes Hamilton slightly “worse” than Senna, which, considering the Brazilian couldn’t improve on his tally, is almost as a mark of respect.

    1. So what will you say when Lewis’s matches Prost’s record? Will you still be comparing it to Senna’s

    2. Hindsight is a wonderful thing

    3. That statement would be valid, if it was his intention to beat or tie Senna’s win to starts record from the get go.

      Listen him talk in the past, the only thing he said he’d like to do, was to win 3 world titles. Never did he talk about race wins.

      This is all the media’s doing and not that of Hamilton. And like he has said in many interviews, whilst he’s honoured to draw level, he knew had Senna not died so suddenly, he would’ve had more wins and probably championships too.

    4. Yeah. That’s what Hamilton was trying to do.

  6. For the first time since 2011, every driver was classified

    via reddit:

    There are actually only 5 races in the history of F1 with that kind of accomplishment:
    1. Japan 2015 at Suzuka
    2. Europe 2011 at Valencia
    3. Italy 2005 at Monza
    4. USA 2005 at Indy. Even if most of the drivers retired, they actually did it before the start so they are not qualified at all.
    5. Netherlands 1961 at Zandvoort (the original layout).

    According to wiki this is also the only race where noone even made a pitstop.

    Funny thing – At Monza and Valencia both times Narain Karthikeyan came last.

  7. Saying that Senna’s rivals also had similar retirement rates is pointeless.
    We should look at how many races he retired from the lead.

    regardless, with 33 retirements, he still has such a remarkable win taly. That just shows that he really was the “professor” as Rubens likes to says.

  8. Please people remember that Hamilton would have equaled Senna total if he was not robbed of a certain victory at Monaco

  9. First time Max Verstappen starts in 17 ª place
    First time Max Verstappen finish in 8 ª place
    First time Daniil Kvyat finish in 13ª position
    Max Verstappen was the first Dutchman to score in the Japanese GP

    Daniil Kvyat’s start was the 700th of the Japanese GP’s history.
    Nico Hulkenberg’s start was the 1000th in 14th round of the championship.
    Felipe Massa’s finish was the 600th in 14th round of the championship.

    200th GP since Olivier PANIS’s last GP.
    300th GP since McLaren’s last title, Tyrrell’s last GP and Mika HAKKINEN’s first title .
    500 GP since Keke ROSBERG’s last pole position, Gerhard BERGER’s 1st fastest lap and Benetton’s 1st fastest lap
    600 GP since René ARNOUX’s first win and Elio De ANGELIS’s 1st podium .

  10. I’m not 100% sure since I checked everything by hand, but I believe this is the first Grand Prix in history where the top 5 in the championship also finished in that order. There have been a handful of Grands Prix where the top 4 in the championship finished in that order (for instance the 1999 Monaco Grand Prix, where M Schumacher, Irvine, Häkkinen and Frentzen finished 1-2-3-4), but never the top 5.

    1. I’m not 100% sure since I checked everything by hand,

      Omg, statistic freak? ;)

      And you checked all the GPs with the current standing at that point in time, and not the final standing?

      1. And you checked all the GPs with the current standing at that point in time, and not the final standing?

        @skylien Yes, because the other happened a couple of times (for instance 2011 Singapore)

    2. the top 5 in the championship before the race or after?

      1. @matt90 Before, else we should include every first race of the season ;)

        1. Haha, exactly what I was thinking.

  11. Converting poles to wins:
    Fernando Alonso: 14 times, 63.64%
    Jenson Button: 5 times, 62.50%
    Sebastian Vettel: 28 times, 60.87%
    Lewis Hamilton: 25 times, 51.02%
    Kimi Raikkonen: 6 times, 37.50%
    Alain Prost: 18 times, 54.55%
    Ayrton Senna: 29 times, 44.62%
    Michael Schumacher: 40 times, 58.82%
    Nico Rosberg: 6 times, 35.29%
    Felipe Massa: 8 times, 50.00%

    1. Number of poles:
      Alonso: 22
      Button: 8
      Vettel: 46
      Hamilton: 49
      Raikkonen: 16
      Prost: 33
      Senna: 65
      Schumacher: 68
      Rosberg: 17
      Massa: 16

  12. Vet and Ham are legends imo. But Vet only one to be beat in 3 stats in a year qually race season and even wins. Ham in his 2011 year won same races and out qualified his teammate. I think stats are fine and ham had it harder no doubt 07 08 vs fer. Both have had 2 dominant cars yet vet always had best car for his titles. 2012 yes he still had best pakage overall. They are greats no doubt both going to be top 3 in stats imo.

  13. Hi @KeithCollantine, always find your stats articles interesting.

    Just one thing, is it me or does the bit about Alonso’s number of starts make no sense? Where it says he
    “has now started more races than all by far drivers in F1 history”
    Is it supposed to say:
    “has now started more races than all bar five drivers in F1 history”

    The five of course being Barrichello, Schumacher, Button, Patrese and Trulli.

    1. Sometimes I wonder if Keith writes using speech to text :P

  14. McLaren by the way still extending their longest win drought.

    1. Also seems to be worst season for Button and Alonso in their F1 Carrers.

  15. lewis should win most of the remaining races this season.then next season merc are going to be very strong too.lewis should win 2 or 3 more wdcs before he retires.so he should break more records before then.vettels more a schumacher fan than a senna fan,whereas lewis loves senna.plus lewis driving style is more aggressive like sennas.thats why ppl compare lewis to senna,more than they compare vettel to senna.

    1. Meeh… I’m not sure Hamilton’s driving style matches Senna. It’s also bs talk from people on the Internet that Hamilton is “naturally” faster or talented than X person. I once heard someone who has worked with Senna, Schumacher, Vettel that both Senna and Vettel was more talented than Schumacher, and Schumacher had to work harder. Who knows really. Also do you think that Hamilton doesn’t work as hard as anyone, or at least work hard to achieve what he did.

      By the way, Vettel has a stylized Senna “S” on his helmet. I am not sure that he’s not a Senna fan. It’s probably all the more poetic for him since it can mean a different number of things: Sebastian, Senna, Schumacher etc.

      1. That´s not an “S”, it´s a “5”, which is also his chosen number. He was having it in red on the RedBull, which isn´t possible on the Ferrari. It´s not about Senna, it´s about Mansell who was his favourite pre-Schumi-era driver.

        1. I’m not talking about 5. Can you not distinguish a 5 and an S??? I surely can. It is an S. Look again.

          1. Apparently no one’s aware there is actually an S on Vettel’s crash helmets.

        2. He won his first championship with the number 5 on his Red Bull. That’s a big reason he has said.

        3. He’s not talking about the 5 on his helmet LMAO. He’s talking about the “S” next to “Sebastian”.

      2. It’s a very interesting S indeed. Off the top of my head it looks like it might be related to Sebastian, Senna, Schumacher, or even Superman!! What with the triangle outside of S :D And it can also be a 5 (five) which is his number obviously and that is related to him, and Mansell and a number of other things. Very well-thought….

  16. ColdFly F1 - @coldfly (@)
    28th September 2015, 19:03

    IMHO I find it a bit shallow (even morbid) to compare to Senna’s records when Senna was not able to set a full career benchmark!

    I could also claim that I’ve been constantly beaten Usain Bolt on the 100m sprint until 1990.

    1. On top of that we both have as many Oscars as Will Smith and Leonardo DiCaprio.

      1. :D Good examples from both of you.

      2. ColdFly F1 - @coldfly (@)
        29th September 2015, 9:31

        And each of us has as many Nobel prizes as Stephen Hawkins & Thomas Edison – combined! @xtwl

    2. Awesome, is Hamilton better than Senna now? Id say most probably yes. Current deivers are the best in history, they get the best training and make fewer mistakes.

      Schumacher was the first complete modern driver, that is why he dominated the sport so well until competition cought on.

      Senna was the best romantic driver, whom made car dance and intimidate rivals with shere briliance. There is no denying his qualifying stat is close to MSC, despite doing and winnig way fewer races.

      If Senna would drive today, his imperfect style would most likeley be slower than Vettels or Hamiltons… But I would not dare to put him any further behind.

      In his era he well earned the right to be called fastest. But Prost got more wins and championships even then lol, so he is a lot like Hamilton. Well see what future seasons bring.

      I put my money on Vettel reaching 5 Championships first.

      1. I wouldn’t say the current drivers are the best. Just because they are better prepared, it doesn’t mean they would beat Senna in MP4/4. It also doesn’t mean Senna would beat Hamilton in W06 or Vettel in RB9. Completely different things. Incomparable I’d say.

        1. I would bet on Vet or Ham in any equal machinery, MP 4/4 no problem, given enough time to adjust.

          Sportsmen these days are faster in every way.

          1. Senna was already very fit at the time and if he needed to be fitter for modern day racing then he would be.

    3. Wow Usain Bolt beat you over 100 M when he was four (or five)!!!!!

  17. I don’t know if Hamilton is a match for great Ayrton Senna ,there are many talents came after senna.Michael Schumacher,Mika hakkinen,kimi Raikkonen,Fernando Alonso,Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian vettel etc.out of this only Lewis Hamilton’s name is always compared with senna more than others.Recently vettel matched senna’s tally but it didn’t create much attention. in Hamilton’s case it has been started before Singapore gp.People have different arguments on Hamilton in comparison with above drivers he may be or may not be good but in natural ability he is not second to anyone i guess.I think this is why he gets more votes in senna comparison.

    1. “People have different arguments on Hamilton in comparison with above drivers he may be or may not be good but in natural ability he is not second to anyone i guess.”
      This is always such a feeble argument…
      People also have different “standards” in how they compare Vettel to others for example. Human beings are quite irrational. How anyone can just assume that Hamilton must be the most “natural” driver ever is beyond comprehension. If you think Hamilton doesn’t have to work, or if you think Vettel, Senna, Prost, Schumacher are not brilliantly gifted, you are mistaken.
      Alonso and probably every other driver (incl. Vettel) also admire Senna. Alonso is driving for “McLaren Honda” despite being a backmarker for the most part. It’s interesting he doesn’t get any Senna comparison.
      Hamilton probably gets compared to him because of his admiration and his continuous emphasis on “emulating” him, or “carrying the baton” for Ayrton, and so on. I mean, 2 other drivers caught up and surpassed Senna before him, 1 of them just just before him.

      1. +1 same as Vet and Msc… It is of Hams making.

      2. @manas

        Recently vettel matched senna’s tally but it didn’t create much attention. in Hamilton’s case it has been started before Singapore gp.

        That’s because of the cars they’re currently driving. When F1 turned up in Hungary and won his 41st, nobody expected Vettel and Ferrari to win. Mercedes were expected to win. Hamilton was expected to get merely his 39th win. Not to even mention that the attention of F1 was on the tragedy that befell Jules Bianchi.

        On the other hand, Hamilton and Mercedes were expected to win last week in Singapore, so the hype was around LH matching the 41 wins in 161 races. They failed, so the hype simply carried over to Suzuka, where Mercedes were still expected to win. Basically, if Vettel had driven an RB9 for 2 more races, the same attention would have surrounded Vettel before and during the event.

  18. I was checking the drivers’ records yesterday and Hamilton and Vettel have practically identical stats (points, poles, wins, podiums, fastest laps, consecutive this, consecutive that, almost same number of championships) etc, etc

    I haven’t been a big fan of Vettel but now that I see him at Ferrari – it’s hard to not put him up there with the greats. Same goes for Lewis of course who’s just a delight to watch on the track.

    Raikonnen has some impressive stats too and I don’t understand why he’s struggling so much the past years.

    As for Alonso, his racecraft can easily be compared to Valentino Rossi’s ability to pass folks – F1’s doctor;-) He’s such an amazing driver and were it not for Vettel and Hamilton, he’d have had 7 championships.

    1. Yup, Rai and Alo, are drivers in decline… Vet and Ham are true greats of today, peaking till around 2020. Then next gen will take of… Imagine 22 yr old Verstapen in Red Bull Audi team oh yes.

      But right now Ham is clearly gaining stats Fast.

  19. As at Japan 2015, slightly more than 30% of Hamilton’s wins have been with a fellow world champion as a team mate.

    1. I meant 33%

    2. And 50% of his wins will be with Mercedes works teams. And he has never won a GP without Mercedes engines.

      1. *works team

        Otw, all his wins are with Mercedes works teams, as McLaren was a works team with Mercedes at the time.

    3. Compare that with Senna, Prost, and Vettel. Then it looks like Hamilton is Prost, and Vettel is Senna!!

  20. The next 1.25 wins should be historically mega for Lewis. What an amazing career choice he hade in 2013.

  21. will the writers on F1 Fanatic stop trying make Rosberg look better than he is. Hamilton has destroyed Rosberg in race and qualiflying trim.. It is just pointless to continue to writing bias reports, when most neutral fans can see that Rosberg is struggling to compete.

  22. Not only were the top three finishers in exactly the same order as last year’s race, the top three in qualifying were also exactly the same. When was the last time this happened, if ever?

    Interestingly, all of the drivers mentioned were driving for the same team as last year, with the exception of Vettel.

    1. The same teams*

  23. Hamilton, Senna and Vettel all actually have 42 wins, although Hamilton and Senna only ‘officially’ have 41.

    Vettel has finished all 7 of his Suzuka races in 1st or 3rd.

    The last 5 races between them have only had 2 laps in which somebody other than the race winner was leading.

    Second time this year (after Malaysia) where the number of cars that were classified is the same as number of cars that started the previous race.

    Every driver (excluding Magnussen and Rossi) has started ahead of their team-mate at least twice this season.

    The top 5 have all finished in those positions at least 4 times this year.

    Maldonado is the 12th different driver to finish 8th this year (only Verstappen has done it more than once).

    Kvyat’s first no-score since Austria – Raikkonen and Bottas now have the longest uninterrupted streaks (both last failed to score in Hungary).

    And some from magnetimarelli.com:

    25th time Hamilton and Rosberg have shared the front row – equals G Hill and J Clark.

    First time a Toro Rosso has started inside the top 10 at Suzuka.

    8th win of the season for Hamilton – no driver has ever failed to be World Champion in a season where they have scored 8+ wins.

    2nd time in the last 3 races that Hamilton has led every lap – and in the in-between race, he never ran higher than 4th.

    Raikkonen has scored over twice as many points so far in 2015 than in the whole of 2014.

    First Dutch driver to score points in the Japanese GP.

    Alonso finished 11th in Suzuka driving for a team with a 7-letter name starting with M – just as he managed in his debut season (2001).

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