Ferrari and Chilton break records in Abu Dhabi

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix stats and facts

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Two records were broken in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – and neither of them were taken by Red Bull or Sebastian Vettel.

The record for most consecutive points scores by a team fell for the second time this year, this time to Ferrari. The claimed their 65th points haul in a row, going one better than McLaren managed earlier this year.

Both teams began their streaks in 2010 when points were first awarded for ninth and tenth places. Red Bull’s last no-score was in Italy last year.

Max Chilton broke Tiago Monteiro’s record for most consecutive race finishes at the start of an F1 career. Chilton has finished the opening 17 rounds of his first year in F1, one more than Monteiro managed with Jordan in 2005.

Vettel equals seven-in-a-row record

However for the 11th time this year the big prize went to Sebastian Vettel. He has equalled his personal best wins tally from 2011 with two races to spare.

In an even greater achievement, he equalled the most consecutive races won any driver in F1 history with his seventh in a row.

As noted here previously Alberto Ascari won nine consecutive starts in 1952 and 1953, missing the 1953 Indianapolis 500 which counted towards the world championship but was not run to F1 rules.

Vettel has been undefeated since the summer break:

YearRaceGridFinish
2013Hungarian Grand Prix23
2013Belgian Grand Prix21
2013Italian Grand Prix11
2013Singapore Grand Prix11
2013Korean Grand Prix11
2013Japanese Grand Prix21
2013Indian Grand Prix11
2013Abu Dhabi Grand Prix21
2013United States Grand Prix??

Here’s how his run compares with the most successful streaks of the only other drivers to win seven in a row:

Michael Schumacher

YearRaceGridFinish
2003Japanese Grand Prix148
2004Australian Grand Prix11
2004Malaysian Grand Prix11
2004Bahrain Grand Prix11
2004San Marino Grand Prix21
2004Spanish Grand Prix11
2004Monaco Grand Prix4DNF
2004European Grand Prix11
2004Canadian Grand Prix61
2004United States Grand Prix21
2004French Grand Prix21
2004British Grand Prix41
2004German Grand Prix11
2004Hungarian Grand Prix11
2004Belgian Grand Prix22

Alberto Ascari

YearRaceGridFinish
1952Indianapolis 50019DNF
1952Belgian Grand Prix11
1952French Grand Prix11
1952British Grand Prix21
1952German Grand Prix11
1952Dutch Grand Prix11
1952Italian Grand Prix11
1953Argentinian Grand Prix11
1953Indianapolis 500Not entered
1953Dutch Grand Prix11
1953Belgian Grand Prix21
1953French Grand Prix14

Vettel’s win was the 37th of his career, leaving him four short of Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41.

He was beaten to pole position by Mark Webber, who equalled fellow Australian Jack Brabham’s tally of 13, which is also shared by Graham Hill, Jacky Ickx, Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Both Red Bull drivers finished on the podium meaning the team took their 20th podium finish this season and their 100th of all time.

More Abu Dhabi Grand Prix stats and facts

Fernando Alonso failed to reach Q3 for the first time this year, meaning Vettel is the only driver left to have got into Q3 at every race this year. He and Felipe Massa are now tied 8-8 in qualifying (Massa was unable to set a time in Monaco).

Alonso did claim fastest lap, his 21st, which moves him back level with Vettel, as well as Gerhard Berger.

Kimi Raikkonen became the third driver to be excluded from a qualifying session this year. The others are Mark Webber (Chinese Grand Prix) and Paul di Resta (British Grand Prix).

Nico Rosberg has turned the tables at Mercedes: having spent the entire race ahead of Lewis Hamilton he has now led his team mate on track for more laps than Hamilton has this year.

With three third places and one fourth, Romain Grosjean has scored half of his points this season in the last four races.

Jenson Button has completed 999 racing laps so far this year, more than any other driver. Giedo van der Garde has the least with 807.

With just two races to go in 2013, we are still yet to see wet weather tyres being used for any racing laps this year.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

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

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Browse all 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix articles

Images © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo, Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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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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79 comments on “Ferrari and Chilton break records in Abu Dhabi”

  1. I kind of feel that Ascari should be recognised as having a nine race winning streak but I know it’s a technicality with the Indy 500.

    1. @magnificent-geoffrey
      This is the reason why I hope Vettel manages to win three more races – so that we have one less stupid Indy 500 affected record :P

      1. @magnificent-geoffrey @hotbottoms That whole period is very messy to refer to because not only was the Indianapolis 500 not run to F1 rules but in 1952 and 1953 the world championship was contested by F2 cars instead of F1. So in a very shallow way it would make things less complicated to refer to.

        But to get ten-in-a-row Vettel would have to win the first race of next season and I think a few chairs will be put through TV sets if that happens!

        1. I think a few less chairs will have intimate relations with televisions if he wins the race 0.5 second in front of Räikkönen, who in turn is 0.5 second in front of Alonso, with Ricciardo 4th on 5 seconds.

          1. Exactly my point of view, I’ll be happy with a 10-in-a-row Vettel victory in Adelaide next year if he has to fight for it every inch of the way. On the other hand, if he does a Vettel, i.e, pulls away 3″ in the first lap, is 30″ away by the first pitstop and spends the rest of the race napping at the wheel- I’ll put a chair through my 27-inch monitor (sorry, don’t have a TV set) and sign up at motoGPfanatic.

          2. Throws chair at only means of watching races… then wants to watch MotoGP instead.

            Seems legit :P

        2. and I think a few chairs will be put through TV sets if that happens!

          HAHA

          1. @Hyoko – I know Vettel is good but if he wins next years “Melbourne GP” from Adelaide that will be impressive haha

    2. I don’t think he should get the 9 in a row-record. He didn’t participate in an official world championship event, that’s that. If he had raced, maybe it would have been 10 in a row. But now it is 7 in a row.

      1. I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_Indianapolis_500

        Alberto Ascari actually DNF the race. So his record might just be 7 in a row,

        1. I believe there’s a misunderstanding here.
          The 9-race series won by Ascari began immediately after 1952 Indy 500. It is in 1953 when he did not enter the Indy 500 race, causing the hiatus in the 9-win series.

          1. Jeez, I totally mixed up the year.

    3. Wow. If not for the DNF in Monaco, Schumacher will have 13 straight wins.

      1. It would have been an amazing record, but instead, Schumi had to prove he wasn’t the king of Monaco. Again.. Although Montoya probably wasn’t faultless in that incident.

  2. I believe this was third race where 100% of race retirements occurred on the first lap. Others are Argentine Grand Prix 1958 and Brazilian Grand Prix 2008.

    1. impressive stat!

  3. Another interesting fact that I noticed: could this be the first race in F1 history taking place during a Solar Eclipse?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_November_3,_2013

    1. @andae23 Is Sherlock holmes home ?

      1. @hamilfan @vlad It’s on the forum somewhere, this was indeed the very first race with a solar eclipse during the race.

  4. As things stand Vettel’s lead in the drivers championship over Alonso is now up at 130 points, higher than the current record for largest championship winning margin of 122 from 2011 (and likely to be higher by the end of the season).

    I don’t expect Alonso to put that one on his helmet :p

    1. Vettel also leads the Constructors’ Championship.

  5. For Vettel to win seven in a row in such a competitive era of the sport is nothing short of incredible. If he could make it to nine I think that’d surely be his most impressive record.

    1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      4th November 2013, 13:00

      @tommyb89 Not trying to undermine his achievement if he goes nine in a row, but what competitive era are you talking about?

      1. @shreyasf1fan@tommyb89 presumably means that every season Vettel’s won his championships, there have been at least 4 other champions on the grid.
        Bold indicates that they drove a racewinning car in that season:
        2010- Alonso, Button, Hamilton, Schumacher
        2011- Alonso, Button, Hamilton, Schumacher
        2012- Alonso, Button, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Schumacher
        2013- Alonso, Button, Hamilton, Raikkonen

        1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
          5th November 2013, 13:04

          @david-a No doubt the other 4 WDCs drove race-winning cars in the 4 seasons you mentioned. But in all those years, the RBR has still been dominant in the second half. Less so in 2010, but still. 2012 was close, as was 2010. So you may say they were somewhat competitive. But 2011 and 2013 were pure RBR domination. You gotta admit this – Vettel’s no slouch over a single lap or a race, but his car makes his job a hell lot easier.

          1. Would he have won the 7 on the trot if the tyres had not been changed????
            Red bull made big noise about the tyres… cannot compare the two parts of the season

  6. i though the battle between alosno and massa in qualifying was in favor of alonso 9-8 at the moment

    1. @mrjlr93 The explanation for that is in the article.

      1. sorry didnt see that

        1. he crashed therefore lost out by not being able to set a time.

  7. The overwhelming Vettel/RBR domination kinda changes the mathematical rules for 2nd place in WDC and WCC

    No one can come anywhere near Vettel and (barring for mechanical failure or major brain fade) he will most assuredly win the next two races. So it means there are only 36, not 50, points left for the rest of the world in the WDC and 66, not 86 for WCC.

    With his decent recovery drive yesterday and Lewis’ and Kimi’s misfortunes, Fernando has pretty much the WDC-2nd in his pocket. Even if Kimi is 2nd in both races, all Fernando needs is two points (one 9th or two 10ths).

    The WCC is a bit more complicated but Ferrari really need to improve their results if they want to get back on top of Merc.

    1. I hate to say but you are right. I pretty much thought that in current form Kimi would be able to snatch 2nd, but with the DNF and little chance of 25’s it is looking bleak.

      It is also interesting how Vettel’s dominance gives him very little time on camera. The producer prefers to show actual racing elsewhere on track so it somewhat makes me wonder if all the winning is even produces the marketing value of it’s costs.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        4th November 2013, 15:15

        @poul I’m sure the doughnuts-and-fine story was a great marketing success for Red Bull, and 25000 euros or pounds or whatever it cost is the cheapest global TV add they have made.

  8. How many drivers have a 100% finishing record for their whole F1 career?
    It’s possible Max Chilton will achieve that, if he finishes the next two races then isn’t invited back next year.
    I expect he’ll stay on at Marussia with his backing (and recent signs of improvement) but with McLaren looking for a place for Magnussen etc, you never know…

    1. Good question, and no, I don’t have the answer. The problem is, there are many drivers who entered just a few races, even just one, so there is not so much merit in finishing them all. An event better question would be: Who has entered more races without any retirements?

      (to complicate matters a little more a driver is classified by completing 90% of a race distance, so getting a classification is not the same as actually finishing a race)

    2. Of the retired drivers, I think Cesare Perdisa holds the record.

      1. hmm, he only entered 7 races, I would have expected somebody had a longer series. I’ll try to check it out.

    3. @tomsk Chilton is by far the one with most races regarding drivers with 100% finishing rates. If I’m not mistaken, the only one that comes close is Nicolas Kiesa, who has only 5 starts.

      1. Wait, disregard that, somehow I didn’t read Bleu’s post.

  9. Chilton>Maldonado. Lotus should have taken Chilton instead. At least his records are positive.

    1. So Maldonado scoring Williams’ first win in 8 years in a car which was hardly one of the team’s best, in a field with 6 world champions in it, holding off a driver who was in the form of his life in the process, isn’t a positive for you?

        1. Can’t even be bothered to respond to this. Your standards are clearly wildly out of whack if you think Maldonado is less deserving of a Lotus seat than a man who is being made to look average at best this season.

    2. @aish So, we’ve finally found Max Chilton’s account on this site.

      1. @philereid HAHAHA yeah I vote for him every DOTW. I’m that 1%.
        Lol.

    3. I think Chilton’s could get two records in his rookie (only hopefully?) season: If he’s luck, he could eclipse Karthekeyian’s record for the most LAST place finishes in a season as well. I..E: Some records aren’t really that meaningful.

      1. Also, he has only run the complete race distance (i.e not been lapped) in 3 races and has only reached 14th place for 5 laps the whole season. The other three in the Caterhams and Marrusias have all at least got a lap or two in 12th place during the season.
        He is slow and steady, mostly avoids collisions (except with Van DerGarde), but usually because he’s so far behind everyone else. On the positive side, he has gained a lot of useful knowledge in observing the blue flags.
        :)

    4. No NO NOOO! He’s slow and steady yes, but even when Bianchi has problems with his car he struggles to beat him. God I hope he’s off the grid next year, he seems to think he’s here on talent not because of his millionaire dad…

      1. Rather disturbingly, the chance of him taking the Force India seat seems quite high.

        Eddie Jordan said he’d stake his reputation on it (I think, I know he predicted Chilton to FI, but he might have staked his reputation on another move mentioned in the same conversation) and that’s quite a bold statement.

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          4th November 2013, 15:19

          @gongtong so it looks like Force India are trying to replace a little-talent driver for another…

          1. Hmm, I’d say Diresta and Sutil are probably both superior to Chilton. Chilton has looked pretty awful so far, however consistent. In his defence (And I really can’t think of anything more than this) he has been up against Bianchi, and he’s pretty good…

            I just remembered though, that that wasn’t what Jordan was predicting. He said Hulkenburg would be back in the Force India next year. I THEN read elsewhere a couple of times that Chilton could trump that move with his AON monies.

            Apologies for my mistake.

          2. @gongtong Could you imagine Chilton and Hulkenburg in the same team? It’d be an absolute slaughter.

  10. Great ! And great article too ! Thanks !

    In my opinion, most of these broken records were possible thanks to reliability being better than EVER. With all the restrictions of all kind, especially for the engine, plus the fact that now V8s rule in F1, many not so important records (like MOST CONSECUTIVE …..) are possible. Just think how many engine related retirements we’ve seen at Monza for ex ’til 5-10 years ago.

  11. Even though Chilton finished each race he drove fewer laps than Button and Perez – but also 13 laps less than Vettel who had a DNF close to the end of the British GP.

    1. If your a lap down or more when the winner crosses the checkered flag your race ends when you too cross the start finish line. So if someone wins and Max is 2 laps down, his race ends having completed less than race distance.

  12. wasnt Hamilton close to chilton’s record in 2007?

    also: ‘With just two races to go in 2013, we are still yet to see wet weather tyres being used for any racing laps this year.’
    Is this a record now?

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      4th November 2013, 15:20

      Brazil will bring the rain. Of course it will.

    2. I’m pretty certain that the 1986 and 1987 seasons had no wet races, so that’s not a record.

      1. But this season has already been longer than either of those.

    3. We did have 5-8 laps of intermediates in Malaysia though, so there were some wet races.

  13. Nico Rosberg lies 6th in the championship with four podiums; a win at the Monaco Grand Prix from pole, a win at the British Grand Prix, and a 2nd place immediately followed by a 3rd place, in rounds 16 and 17 of the season- all like Mark Webber last season.

    1. That’s freaky o.O

    2. Good spot! Also notice that the last three winners of the British GP didn’t win another race in the respective seasons (providing Rosberg doesn’t win a race).

  14. When was the last time McLaren failed to score a top 4 position for 17 races in sucession?

    It’s probably a first, isn’t it?

    1. They had some bad cars in the 90’s – the Peugoet powered Brundle/Blundell vehicle – 95 I think?

    2. Most likely yes, since their worst season was probably 1980 with no podiums scored, but they did manage two fourth places.

  15. I wonder how many F1 drivers would do the Indy 500 if it still counted towards the WDC, probably everyone hehe but there’s not enough room I guess.

    1. Attending Indy 500 would be more important nowadays, however, since all the championship races count towards the Drivers’ championship. That wasn’t the case between 1950 and 1960, when Indy 500 was a championship race. So attending Indy 500 didn’t help claiming the championship back then, unless the driver could reach podium or so.

    2. Another issue is the 500 is usually on the same day as the Monaco GP.

  16. Sorry max, totally un-impressed with you this season, your gonna be a lucky lad if you get another chance next year, kermit the frog could do better job against the frenchie in the other car.

    1. +1, but sadly the money in his father’s pocket weighs a lot more than his luck and skill :(

  17. Unless I’m very much mistaken, this was the first retirement on the opening lap for Kimi Räikkönen since the 2006 US GP (where he was taken out by JPM).

  18. Chilton goes too slowly to retire from a race. He can have this record, but it doesn’t change the facts that he almost always finishes last.

  19. Not exactly a record, but that picture reminds me how much I like the F2004 in the looks department as well. It’s simple compared to what we saw in 2007/8, but still looks like a lean, mean machine.

  20. Amusing fact: Whilst Max Chilton was finishing last in the grand prix, both his brother Tom and the man whose ‘streak’ he broke, Monteiro, were winning race one and two respectively in the WTCC at Shanghai!

  21. Only the second time that the Abu Dhabi polesitter has finished the race.

    In his 5 visits to Abu Dhabi, Webber has started in each top 5 position once.

    Webber reaches 1000 points.

    21 finishers – equals Bahrain.

    And some from magnetimarelli.com:

    First time Hamilton hasn’t qualified on the front row in Abu Dhabi.

    11th time Vettel has led every lap – matches Stewart and Schumacher, trailing Clark (13) and Senna (19).

    12 races without a win for Alonso – his joint longest streak since joining Ferrari.

    First non-mechanical DNF for Raikkonen since Singapore 2008.

    1. 11th time Vettel has led every lap – matches Stewart and Schumacher, trailing Clark (13) and Senna (19).

      Interesting that Vettel has caught Schumacher already on this one. I guess this is because of refueling?

  22. I suppose being miles behind everyone else, thus having hours at your disposal to respond to incidents way in front, helps Max somewhat.

  23. “Jenson Button has completed 999 racing laps”

    Slow *and* reliable, you say…

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