Mercedes’s second chance to equal longest winning streak

2016 Singapore Grand Prix stats and facts

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Mercedes can equal the record for the longest winning streak by an F1 team at the next round of the championship.

Nico Rosberg’s Singapore Grand Prix victory was the tenth in a row for the team, a streak which began at the Monaco Grand Prix. An eleventh win would tie the record set by McLaren between the Brazilian and Belgian Grands Prix in 1988.

However Mercedes have been here before. They also won ten consecutive races between the Japanese Grand Prix last year and the Russian Grand Prix earlier this season. Their hopes of an eleventh ended when their drivers took each other off at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Had that not happened, and one of the silver car gone on to win that race, Mercedes would have obliterated the record. They would currently be on a 21-race winning streak and instead of tying the current record would be on course to double it.

Mercedes’ dominance has made a third consecutive constructors’ championship title a formality. They will clinch it at the next round in Malaysia if they finish the race at least 215 points ahead of their rivals, and they already have a lead of 222.

Schumacher took seven wins but no title in 2006
Rosberg has now won eight races this year to Lewis Hamilton’s six. As there are six races to go, and one of these drivers is virtually guaranteed to become champion, the record for most wins in a season without winning the championship is likely to fall to one of these two drivers.

There have been four occasions when a driver has won seven races without taking the title: Alain Prost in 1984 and 1988, Kimi Raikkonen in 2005 and Michael Schumacher in 2006.

Speaking of Schumacher, Rosberg emulated him by winning his 200th Formula One start from pole position: Schumacher’s came in the 2004 European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. This was Rosberg’s 22nd career victory, giving him as many wins as Damon Hill, and his 29th pole position, drawing him level with Juan Manuel Fangio.

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However Daniel Ricciardo took the race’s fastest lap. The Red Bull driver took the seventh of his career, the same number achieved by Jacques Laffite, and also the 50th for Red Bull.

Ricciardo has never failed to finish on the podium at Singapore since joining Red Bull. He prevented Mercedes from taking a one-two, a feat which no team has yet managed to achieve at this circuit.

As the chequered flag fell Rosberg had just 0.488 seconds in hand over Ricciardo. That’s the closest winning margin we’ve seen at any track since the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix, when Fernando Alonso led Sebastian Vettel home by 0.293s.

Along with Rosberg, Toro Rosso marked their 200th grand prix start last weekend, both having arrived in F1 at the beginning of 2006. The 950th round of the world championship also saw the 100th appearance by Romain Grosjean, although he failed to start the race.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

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

2016 Singapore Grand Prix

Browse all 2016 Singapore 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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67 comments on “Mercedes’s second chance to equal longest winning streak”

  1. One strange thing I noticed was Nico’s race winning time was about 1:55, five minutes off the two hour limit. We had a minimal SC period, yet in the first race we had two SC periods and finished the full race distance within two hours

    1. Ryan Fairweather
      19th September 2016, 13:15

      Since refuelling was banned the lap times during a race are down, causing overall race times to increase.

  2. They will achieve and surpass this in 2016, but HAM might not win again this year.

    On the back of largely good starts, a superior pole conversion rate and near-flawless driving in the rewarding “clean air” at the head of the pack, ROS will win this year’s WDC.

    1. You know the future already, well done.

    2. Rosberg has won all his races from the front in ‘Vettel’ style let’s say. For some reason, self inflicted or not, Hamilton was always out of the picture during those Nico dominated races. The few times they were close, they crashed (Spain/Austria) and/or Hamilton took the win.

      I have yet to see Rosberg in a situation where he’s not on the front two rows or in a relatively bad position (idk, like 6th pos.) after the first lap and then táke that victory like a boss.

      I know Hamilton, Alonso and Ricciardo can, I know Kimi could back in the day and I know that to a slightly lesser extend Vettel and Button do too.

      Yes, Rosberg is a very very quick qualifier and can dominate from the front by beeing absolutely flawless and he’s now won 22 Grand Prix which put’s him top 10 all-time I’m sure. However, we musn’t forget a Merc has been the default race winner for almost three years now and someone who’s not Nico won the title in the previous two. Rosberg’s pretty good, but not great imho.

    3. Nico may well win the WDC the driver championship this year. I am someone who has favored Rosberg to Hamilton over the past few years(Hamilton’s sportsmanship always gets between me and him), but in reading the stats above and thinking more about it, I couldn’t help but do a little research about Nico’s run with Mercedes.

      – 22 career wins, all of them with good track conditions
      – 14 won from pole (29 career poles, 15 of them were not converted to wins, 9 of them lost to Lewis)
      – 4 of them were won by being ahead at turn 1, those don’t qualify as on-track passes to me
      – 2 of them won by competitor car failures
      – 2 of them won by pit strategy
      – 0 of them required an true on-track pass

      Zero overtakes in his 22 career victories. I always knew he was a front runner, but I think I never truly accepted until today that he just doesn’t have that fighting mentality. I know that I have seen some on-track passes from Rosberg from further back in the pack, but they are far and few between(and with a superior Mercedes chassis) and less memorable than the more memorable clumsy moves(some of them controversial) along the way. I did an internet search for best Nico Rosberg career overtakes and was not impressed with the results. He is a really fast driver, but put a car in front of him and he usually can’t do anything but follow it home.

  3. This was the shortest Singapore GP ever as the winner’s time was 1 hour 55 minutes 48.95 seconds. Also, the safety car period lasted only two laps, which is another Singapore record as the field spent more laps behind the safety car in all the previous years:

    2008 8 laps
    2009 4 laps
    2010 7 laps
    2011 4 laps
    2012 9 laps
    2013 6 laps
    2014 7 laps
    2015 10 laps
    2016 2 laps

    1. Using Stats F1 these are the laps of the GP that haven’t had a Safety Car. The entirety of Lap 1 plus 6-12, 43-49 and 54-61. This means that taking all the GP’s at this circuit together the Safety Car window for strategists lasts between Laps 13 and 42

  4. “He prevented Mercedes from taking a one-two, a feat which no team has yet managed to achieve at this circuit.”

    I’ve had to reread this 20 times until I finally understood that the feat is not “preventing Mercedes from taking a one-two at this circuit”, but rather “taking a one-two at this circuit” :)

    1. Ah, I was also scratching my head over this one, thanks for clarifying that :)

    2. Ah now it makes sense! I thought it was some obscure stat that Mercedes have never had both cars finish when one has been on the podium.

    3. I read it that way about a dozen times and then gave up. Thanks for illuminating me.

    4. Nope, still don’t get it.. Care to enlighten a fellow non-english user? :)

      1. @gordess Well, if Ricciardo wouldn’t have been there, Rosberg and Hamilton would have scored a 1-2 for Mercedes. No team has accomplished a 1-2 in Singapore yet. And so that is what Ricciardo prevented :)

      2. @gordess

        No team has ever achieved a 1-2 at this circuit, by coming 2nd Ricciardo prevented Mercedes from being the first team to do so.

        But I’m glad I’m not the only one that when reading it in the article interpreted it as saying ‘No driver has ever prevented Mercedes from achieving a 1-2’

      3. @mattds, @philipbg; Now I get it! Thanks guys!

  5. After years of absolute dominance, Dieter Zetsche had the second best moustache in the paddock.

    1. liked this one

    2. Fudge Kobayashi (@)
      19th September 2016, 14:41

      COTD

    3. great stat, @gridlock.
      wonder who will be shortest man in the paddock after BE gets the boot.

    4. COTD for sure, like @offdutyrockstar said!!

    5. Missed something? Who topped Zetsche? Is Nigel Mansell making a comeback? Salvador Dalí? Bismarck or the Kaiser Wilhelm? Frida Kahlo?

      1. He’s talking about Chase Carey.

  6. “Mercedes could equal the record for most consecutive wins by a team at the next race – but they’ve already blown a chance to do that already this year.”
    Who are “they”? It was Lewis who blew it.

    1. I just double checked, Lewis Hamilton is a member of the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

    2. But surely, it was Nico who was in the wrong engine mode!

      Yeah, I went there…

  7. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
    19th September 2016, 14:29

    Ricciardo bit him some time ago

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      19th September 2016, 14:30

      ? It was a reply to @gridlock moustache comment

  8. Hmmm. It’s getting a bit too dominant now. Yes, the McLaren in the late eighties was immense, but Ferrari came along in 1990 and gave them a run for their money. Even throughout the Red Bull years, for two of those four seasons other teams were in the hunt.

    It would help if Mercedes had changed their line up, but that hasn’t happened either. I just hope the 2017 regs can shake things up a little. Yes, well done Mercedes and all that for building a great engine, but I think it would be nice to see someone compete with them now.

    1. “Yes, well done Mercedes and all that for building a great engine”

      You mean a building a great engine, a great chassis, a great team and getting two great drivers on board? Amuses me that people still believe Mercedes dominance is purely because of their engine.

      1. It’s not just their engine, it’s the software, the ability to run it in higher settings than their customers, the ability to design the car around the engine rather than bolting it on and so on.

        Their car is good but as we’ve seen, it doesn’t look so good when they aren’t out in front with everything turned down. When they are having to drive in dirty air, they don’t look anywhere near as impressive.

        Hopefully with the token system removed, it’ll give the others a chance to catch up in terms of the whole package including reliability. This should allow all teams to turn their engines up in Q3 so we have more sessions like Singapore where mistakes mean they can qualify lower than 2nd.

      2. @Martin “You mean a building a great engine, a great chassis, a great team and getting two great drivers on board? Amuses me that people still believe Mercedes dominance is purely because of their engine.”

        Well, Red Bull also have two great drivers, a great chassis and a great team. Seeing that, yes, Mercedes dominance is purely because of their engine. Do you really believe that if the Renault was equivalent, Mercedes would still dominate RBR?

    2. Mercedes won 87% 2014-now
      Red Bull won 53% 2010-2013…

      Just bring 2017 already, it can’t be much worse…

      1. @paeschli And it feels even more extreme than that. 2010-2013 (even in 2011 and 2013), there were many races where other cars that had a decent shot at winning even if in Red Bull ended up winning. Not all races were like Singapore 2013 where Vettel could pull more than two seconds per lap. This Sunday’s race in Singapore was one of the few times in the last three years where the Mercedes win was actually in doubt.

    3. The problem is not Mercedes. If they can consistently bring the best package, there is no reason to tell them they shouldn’t or change something to break their formula. The problem is regs that prevent others to catch up. Which in turn means the main problem is the lack of long-term vision for the entire sport. Let’s hope the best mustache in paddock realises this.

  9. “He prevented Mercedes from taking a one-two, a feat which no team has yet managed to achieve at this circuit”

    Mercedes have never had a 1-2 at Singapore so I don’t get this stat :/

    “but they’ve already blown a chance to do that already this year.”

    Shouldn’t that be

    “but already they’ve already blown a chance to already have done that already this year already.”

    1. No team has ever managed a one-two finish in Singapore. Ricciardo prevented Mercedes from being the first to achieve it.

      1. Ahhhh yeah that would make more sense lol. It is a confusing sentence.

  10. Yes, well done Mercedes and all that for building a great engine

    I don’t think that’s fair to Mercedes’ achievements, @john-h.
    Can’t be just the PU; we saw a ’16 Mercedes powered car struggling to beat a ’15 Ferrari power car.

    1. shouldve been a reply to the comment above.

    2. Yeah I know, I realised that when I typed it @coldfly. Thanks for putting me straight.
      Engine, chassis, whatever though… they _really_ do need some competition next year.

  11. I might be completely wrong on this but from memory:

    This is the first time an F1 race has started with a car spinning into the wall before turn 1 since Japan 2010. Hulkenberg was directly involved on both occasions.

    1. That was my first thought too, but then I remembered Monaco 2012 with Schumacher and Grosjean. That didn’t involve contact with the wall, admittedly, but it was the most recent similar incident

  12. Was this the first time ever that a marshal has been leading a Grand Prix?

    1. To be fair, I believe the marshal was a lap behind.

      1. He responded fairly quickly to the blue flags

  13. How long has it been since Kimi Raikkonen led a race?

    1. Since yesterday.

      1. +1 Michael Reilly

    2. @xtwl Two days since I last checked. Before that, it was the race before. Not sure what you’re getting at…

  14. Button winning his 200th race should be mentioned alongside Rosberg and Schumacher, given only 3 drivers have managed it.

    1. @optimaximal Which race was that? I would assume it took place in 2012.

  15. This stat is not mine but i want to share it, it is the first time where the winner of the Singapore GP isn’t a World champion.

    And, this is mine, Rosberg have 8 wins, in 7 of them is first time winner on those tracks , AUS, BAH, RUS, EUR(although first time held),BEL,ITA, SIN. I don’t now if that stat means something but is awesome ! Anything similar to that?

    1. Hate to burst your bubble but rosberg won in melbourne in 2014. So its six out of eight being first times

      1. Sorry , my bad!

  16. First DNF for Bottas since USA 2015.

    Kvyat’s joint-best finish for Toro Rosso.

    Ericsson’s best start of the season.

    First DNS since Vettel & Palmer in Bahrain.

    In each of the last 3 years, Ricciardo has finished on the podium in the same position as he started in Singapore. This is the second track (after Hungaroring) where he has finished on the podium every year since joining Red Bull.

    Hamilton has only ever finished in odd positions (1st, 3rd or 5th) in Singapore – he also has 3 DNFs.

    Biggest lap-time difference between Hamilton and Rosberg in qualifying in a straight fight (i.e. no mechanical problems etc) as team-mates (apparently!).

    Hamilton has 99 front-row starts and 99 podiums.

    Both Alonso and Button have competed in 80 GP weekends since they last managed a pole positon (their last poles came 2 races apart in 2012 but Alonso has missed 2 races since).

    The last 3 races have all been won by the driver, all at circuits where he had never previously won. Other instances of this include D Hill’s first 3 wins in 1993, M Schumacher in the first 4 races of 1994, Hakkinen’s first 3 wins, Alonso in early 2005, and Vettel in Turkey-Spain-Monaco 2011 (there are likely to be other examples).

    Perez keeps alive his record of never starting in the 10 but always finishing in the top 10 in Singapore.

    First time since Singapore 2015 Hamilton has missed the front row without a penalty or mechanical problem.

    In both the last 2 years, Red Bull have started 2nd and 4th and finished 2nd and 6th.

    Thanks to statsf1.com and magnetimarelli.com for some of the above.

    1. Re three in a row having never won any of them before, think button did 4 in a row 2009 – Bahrain, spain, monte carlo and turkey.

  17. It’s amazing how often Mercedes has the opportunity to break the longest ever winning streak in F1. I think it’s their 3rd occassion in 3 seasons. Just goes to show how utterly dominant they have been. I doubt that even the Mclaren of 88-90 was as dominant as the Mercedes form 2014 onwards. In fact, it would be great to see the stat of how both the teams compare.

    For the sake of the sport, I really hope some team can challenge them in 2017.

    1. With the engine tokens being removed, I think we’ll see other teams start to catch up quite quickly.

    2. @todfod

      The 2014 W05 was easily the most dominant performing car in history. It was the fastest car at every track by a large margin and only lost wins through problems rather than lack of performance.

      2015’s W06 though was beaten on merit in 3 races, and this year you could argue Mercedes have won 2 races they weren’t strictly the fastest race car at for Monaco and Singapore (I know they qualified on pole but over a race distance Red Bull were too close to call)

      1. @philipgb

        I actually think the W07 is an even stronger challenger. If it wasn’t for Lewis and Nico taking themselves out on the Spanish GP weekend, they would have won every race of the year and so far, they have taken pole at every circuit. Their reliability seems better this year than it was in 2014 as well.

        1. You’re forgetting Ricciardo on pole at Monaco at a race which he should’ve comfortably won if it wasn’t for his team completely cocking up.

  18. Vettel kept his record of a top five finish at every Singapore Grand Prix.

    2008- 5th
    2009- 4th
    2010- 2nd
    2011- 1st
    2012- 1st
    2013- 1st
    2014- 2nd
    2015- 1st
    2016- 5th

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