2010 Malaysian Grand Prix stats and facts

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Red Bull are the third different team to win in as many races this year

With Ferrari, McLaren and now Red Bull taking turns to win in 2010 we’ve had three different teams win in the first three races – something which hasn’t happened in 20 years.

Read on for more stats and facts from the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel won the sixth race of his career, giving him the same number of wins as Tony Brooks, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Laffite, Riccardo Patrese and Ralf Schumacher.

Mark Webber started from the second pole position of his career and set his fifth fastest lap.

With Webber finishing second behind his team mate Red Bull achieved their fifth one-two. Four of these saw Vettel finish ahead of Webber.

Three different teams have won the first three races of the year – the last time this happened was in 1990:

1. United States Grand Prix – Ayrton Senna, McLaren
2. Brazilian Grand Prix – Alain Prost, Ferrari
3. San Marino Grand Prix – Riccardo Patrese, Williams

The last time there was more than this was 1983, when Brabham, McLaren, Renault, Ferrari and Williams won the first five races.

Jaime Alguersuari and Nico Hulkenberg scored the first points of their F1 careers by finishing in ninth and tenth places.

Nico Rosberg put Mercedes on the podium for the first time in 55 years. Juan Manuel Fangio and Piero Taruffi finished first and second for the silver arrows in their previous incarnation in the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. That was the last appearance of the factory team in F1 until this year.

Rosberg also achieved his highest ever qualifying position and first appearance on the front row, taking second place.

Lewis Hamilton started from the lowest position he’s ever been on a grid in F1 – 20th. His previous worst was 19th at Monaco last year.

Lotus and Virgin reached Q2 for the first time this year.

Felipe Massa leads the drivers’ championship for the second time in his career. The last time came after he won the French Grand Prix in 2008.

Most laps led

Sebastian Vettel has now led more than twice as many laps in 2010 as all the other drivers put together:

DriverLaps led
Sebastian Vettel110
Jenson Button33
Fernando Alonso16
Mark Webber4

Most podium finishes

DriverPodiums
Felipe Massa2
Fernando Alonso1
Lewis Hamilton1
Jenson Button1
Robert Kubica1
Mark Webber1
Nico Rosberg1
Sebastian Vettel1

Average position change in 2010

The average number of places a driver has gained or lost from the start to the end of a race for all the races so far in 2010.

DriverPosition change
Mark Webber-3.33
Nico Hulkenberg-3.00
Adrian Sutil-1.50
Rubens Barrichello-1.33
Michael Schumacher-1.00
Sebastian Vettel-0.50
Nico Rosberg0.00
Sebastien Buemi+0.50
Jarno Trulli+2.00
Pedro de la Rosa+2.00
Fernando Alonso+2.33
Robert Kubica+2.33
Jenson Button+4.33
Vitantonio Liuzzi+4.50
Felipe Massa+5.33
Jaime Alguersuari+5.33
Heikki Kovalainen+6.00
Lewis Hamilton+6.67
Bruno Senna+7.00
Karun Chandhok+8.50
Lucas di Grassi+10.00
Vitaly PetrovNo classified finishes
Kamui KobayashiNo classified finishes
Timo GlockNo classified finishes

Over to you

Spotted any more interesting facts and stats from the Malaysian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments below…

2010 Malaysian Grand Prix

    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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    172 comments on “2010 Malaysian Grand Prix stats and facts”

    1. And the Virgin Racing finished race for the first time. So did Bruno.

      1. Must have nursed the fuel all race, anyone have info on that?

        1. They said on the commentary that they were being lean with the fuel so that they could get the car to the finish.

        2. At the end of the race Di Grassi was really slowing down to save fuel. He was doing lap times in the 1:50’s.

          Pretty similir to what Massa was doing last year in Spain, but Di Grassi started a bit sooner so he only needed to go about 5 seconds a lap slower to save enough fuel.

          Guess the safety car helped too.

          1. There wasn’t any safety car period yesterday.

          2. There wasn’t any safety car period in Malaysia.

    2. James Bolton
      5th April 2010, 8:41

      I’ve found a few!
      The last time the eventual World Champion failed to win one of the first three races was in 2003.
      Consistent qualifying from Michael Schumacher – 7th, 7th, 8th.
      But it’s the fifth race in a row that he’s been outqualified by his team mate, including last two races of 2006 (although he had a technical issue in Brazil 06).
      This weekend had the biggest laptime gap between first and second in qualifying since the 2005 Australian Grand Prix.
      Red Bull achieved their third pole in a row.
      Force India have got a car into the top ten of qualy in 5 of the last 6 races.

      1. great info! was very curious about the large qualifying gap between pole and P2 :]

      2. “Juan Manuel Fangio and Piero Taruffi finished first and second for the silver arrows in their previous incarnation in the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. That was the last appearance of the factory team in F1 until this year.”

        Why the hell did Mercedes quit F1 if they were doing so well?! That’s like McLaren quitting the sport today after scoring a 1 – 2 at Malaysia yesterday!

        1. Because of the 1955 Le Mans disaster that year. A Mercedes driven by Pierre Levegh left the track at high speed, killing the driver and over 80 spectators, as well as a further 100 injuries.

        2. Their sports car team had been involved in a crash in the Le Mans 24 Hours which killed around 80 spectators plus their driver.

        3. McLaren got the 1-2 at Malaysia? Wow, they are great… wait a minute…

          1. Nice info James :) thnx :)
            About P1 and P2 is good, but first fact is wrong…
            Matt u should read autosport history :)

    3. To all the people out there that seem to know every stat in the history of F1. Have we ever had more than 3 races in a row where the winner did not start on the front row?

      1. Many times, even last year.

        Hungaroring – Hamilton from 4th
        Valencia – Barrichello from 3rd
        Spa – Räikkönen from 6th
        Monza – Barrichello from 5th

        1. In 50’s and early 60’s there were about 3 or 4 cars in front row, so then it happened rarely

    4. Fact or Fiction i wonder how Alonso stayed on Massa’s tail with a broken clutch. At one time he set the fastest lap of the race!!

      1. First I thought you were bagging Massa, but I worked it out eventually, Alonso obviously had a problem, you could here it when he entered the corners quite clearly, and from the sound it was fairly easy to deduce it was a problem on downshifting that did prevent him from getting power to the wheels during that time.

        That being said I saw this on a small TV in a dodgy hotel in the middle of no where. So I could be very, very wrong….

        1. From what Alonso said after it was more serious than I imagined with no clutch and having to hit the throttle hard to shift down. Scary, no wonder he considered it his hardest ever race

          1. Yeah you could hear it pretty obviously during downshift when you where on the onboard camera view. More then likely this problem would be my guess was what actually killed his engine. He just pressed really hard with a late break and hard downshift for corner 1 and then smoke. My guess neutral kicked in and when car got back in gear had to much rev and just shreeded.

        2. luckily it wasn’t on the upshifting! that would have been worse.

        3. You could HEAR IT when he entered the corners, not here it. Sorry I know I am being pedantic, can’t help it.

      2. I’m pretty sure F1 cars don’t normally use the clutch to change gears. They should also not be able to accidentally catch neutral while going through the gears. A sequential box would have to downshift to neutral through all the gears (assuming the box was in high gear).

        Correct me if I’m wrong but the F1 gearbox should work very similarly to a street bike transmission.

    5. We’ve had eight different drivers on the Podium so far, as much as during the whole 2007 season.

      1. very nice stat!

      2. I think we all expected the battle for the title to be an 8 way fight…it just seems like no one has told Robert Kubica that he is taking the spot Michael Schumacher was supposed to be in!

    6. The one stat relevant to me was that this was the first race in 10+ years that I was watching live and switched off with 20 laps remaining… to go to sleep!

      With no hopes of rain and no exciting battles (except the HAM and PET skirmish) I did not want to sacrifice a rare Sunday siesta for another Bahrain-like bore…

      I did not learn the result till today and was not surprised to find the same top-10 barring ALO’s retirement.

      Yes, I may have missed HAM vs. SUT and it was not the most boring race in these many years but the point is that in the absence of rain, the expectation of a dull race is so certain now and barring retirements the top order does not change…

      1. Well, you missed Massa getting past Button, and you missed Alonso passing Button, losing the place and then having his locomotive-like engine failure.

        1. Yes, I did miss that…

      2. I couldn’t disagree more, that race was far from boring, and if you thought that you are probably watching F1 for the wrong reasons.

        1. The problem is it was a very familiar race. It seems like nowadays whoever gets through turn 1 can pretty much be assured of a cruise to the flag. Leader gains time slowly on second place, third and maybe sometimes fourth lag behind in their own uneventful race (how many times did we see Rosberg or Kubica and when we did were they doing anything interesting) and then you might get some action in the midfield when we want it up front.

          Had it not been for a spark plug in Bahrain and a drop of rain in Australia the first two races would have plaued out exactly the same as did many races last year as did many races for the last decade.

          1. In addition I just point out that had Webber gotten thru turn 1 first I just can’t see the race playnig out any differently, he’d have the clean air so pull out the gap on Vettel. Had the McLaren’s qualified better then it would have been Hamilton or Button cruising in an uneventful third and fourth, the only way their was action was because Hamilton was cutting thru lesser cars and drivers

          2. Yes but the races in the last decade would perhaps have had some changes in the front runners because of pit-strategy, a lone overtaking move, …

            My point is that its more predictible than usual. Like you said, in the first two races too, the top order after the first lap would have remained unchanged had it not been for spark-plugs and brakes(or whatever it was)… The drop of rain is the only thing that can ensure some close racing nowadays…

      3. Nomad, I believe The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is the series for you.

        I thought it was a great dry F1 race personally.

        1. haha, I would’nt go that far… just wanted to highlight the already known fact that there is hardly any overtaking in dry races… although I did miss the two that Keith pointed out…

          1. ohh there was plenty of overtaking. Ferraris on McLarens, MacLarens on Ferraris, Renault on McL, McL on Renault, STR on Renault, STR on Williams, Lotus on Virgin an more.
            Sure there was NO overtaking after second corner on the top 5 runners. When your leading it’s easy to control the race especially if your fastest as well. With quali the way it is the first corner and incidents is the only thing that going to determine podium finish position pretty much.

            1. Ultimately, if you put the fastest cars at the front and the slowest cars at the back with similar fuel loads, strategies and tires, you can’t expect much overtaking in a dry race.

              I agree with Keith on almost everything and have a great deal of respect for his knowledge and insight, but the two main areas where I don’t are with the Medals system and reverse grids. I think that reverse grids would make for exciting wheel to wheel racing, lots of overtaking and a closer title battle.

            2. I don’t think anyone argues with you that reversed grids makes for exciting races.

              It’s just that that’s not true racing and I’m with Keith that that is something that we shouldn’t have in F1.

              I’d rather they pull lottery tickets from a hat instead. At least that would be fair.

            3. They use reverse grids in V8 Supercars (or used to in the past) and they are rubbish…

              Its like Pamela Anderson – the boobs might look good but you know they aren’t real. Yeh I’d prefer lottery tickets out of a hat

          2. I guess so, but F1 is not the X-Factor it is a sport. Unfortunately Bernie wants as many viewer as possible and hence the former applies.

            Thankfully Alonso’s comments reflected this recently and hence my reaction to comments if they find 20 laps boring!

            1. First of all, Nascar is boring as hell! Is there overtaking? Well, you almost don´t get to see it since all cars look the same and all run tidy and arranged in the two rows in the little ovals over and over and over and over… a real sedative! I gave it a shot and after 5 laps I had enough! The Malaysian race was not like Abu or Bahrain, wasn´t great, but not a total bore…

      4. because it was early morning?

      5. I have to admit I did drift off a little during this time, although that was just down to my tiredness following a 75 hour week and due to the comfort of my bed!

        Race was pretty good overall, although if grid hadnt been jumbled up in the way it had then I feel it would have been a boring race like Bahrain. I still have faith in F1 though, and I’n sure there shall be excellent races without rain this year (by 2009/2010 standards, Malaysia this year was a good/great race IMO, a 6/10)

      6. If f1 is so boring then don’t watch it.It’s clearly not the sport for you?

    7. Keith, could you add above that Patrese was driving for Williams in 1990? Cheers and keep up the good work!

    8. Massa leads the world championship without even having led a single lap!!

      2 teams have notched up 1-2 wins this season.

      If Mclaren or Mercedez manage a 1-2 sometime later, it will be the first time since (I don’t know when) that 3 teams scored a 1-2 in a single season.

      We could have had that in 2008, but Lewis and Heikki never scored a 1-2 then.

      1. and don’t forget that Bourdais may well have had the pace to have made it a STR 1-2 in Monza had he not had his problem at the start. But then again IF is a big word in Formula 1….

        1. James Bolton
          5th April 2010, 13:26

          Indeed, IF actually is F1 backwards, as Murray used to remind us.

          1. Err…IF is actually FI bacwards…not F1!
            Sorry, just had to point that out. I know Murray used to say it, but its not correct.

            1. Thanks for the clarification kb $:)

              Apologies for my sarcasm.

            2. oh really kb???

      2. In 1998, Ferrari, Jordan and Mclaren all got 1-2 finishes.

        1. Heikki and Lewis were never on the podium together, Nevermind scoring a 1-2

          1. You are right, but I was talking about Hakkinen and Coulthard ;)

          2. Heikki and Lewis actually were on the podium together, it was even a 1-2, but it was back in 2007 when Heikki was in Renault.

            1. btw last time when 2 british drivers were on podium together was Irvine&Coulthard in 1999. So if Mclaren scores one-two win they will stop this… ”black stat” for british :)
              So that means Lewis has never been on podium with Heikki, and also never with Jenson. BTW Have Heikki and Jenson been together on podium?

            2. Nope. Heikki was on the podium four times in his career. He shared the podium with:
              – Raikkonen (thrice)
              – Kubica (twice)
              – Hamilton
              – Vettel
              – Glock

            3. ok we get it, but in english there are no such word like thrice. U have to say three times, but I know im too pedantic

    9. The last time there were 3 ferarri engine faliures in a race was

      Australia 2008 – massa, bourdais, raikkonen

      Malaysia 2010 – de la rosa, kobayashi, alonso

    10. Sauber still yet to finish a race post-BMW.

      1. whoops, my mistake. PDLR did manage to get home in Australia. My apologies.

        1/6 isn’t so flash though, even Hispania with their zero testing are doing better than that.

        1. Is it just me or does Peter Sauber look more tense on the pitwall each race. His body language after KOB was out was quite depressed. Is Sauber the team that Todt needs to have a stand-by entry for, in 2011?

          1. If they continue like that, yes. No sponsors, Budget just for 2010, that’s not enough. And the car is not on TV often enough since they don’t last that long, so there is no CEO of a big company watching the race and thinking “If I had our name on there…”

            1. Magnificent Geoffrey
              5th April 2010, 16:16

              I would be beyond gutted if the Sauber team are forced to pull out of the sport. Let’s hope they find some long-term investors as soon as possible!

          2. Yeah, he didn’t look happy yesterday, plus he said when he took over the team he didn’t really want to do it.

    11. James Bolton
      5th April 2010, 10:17

      Jenson Button has finished 28 of the previous 29 races -only his lap one crash in Belgium last year resulting in a retirement.

      1. Terry Fabulous
        5th April 2010, 10:40

        Jenson Heidfeld?

        1. Nick Button actually :)

          1. And Nick Heidfeld continues his record of most consecutive non-starts in 2010 :p

    12. first time a senna finished a formula one race since australia 1993!

      1. Nah, it was B. Senna that finished this one, but it was A. Senna who finished in Oz 1993 ;-)

        1. yeah, as he said- ‘a’ senna. not A for Aryton.

          1. I think that was supposed to be a joke…

            1. doesn’t sound like it was. lol.

        2. It’s more like “D” Senna at the moment!

        3. In fact neither of them are actually called Senna. They both changed their name to Senna.

          1. Airton’s father’s surname was da Silva, but he raced with his mum’s surname- Senna.
            Bruno’s mother is sister to Airton, so she is Senna/da Silva too. But Bruno’s father’s surname surely isnt Senna :)

    13. Am I the only person that sees the fundamental issues still remaining in F1. None of the top 5 cars could overtake at all. Had the grid not been mixed up there would have been another processional race with only the pits to change things up at all.

      Massa did get past Button when the tyres were in their graining phase but they would all have had the same strategy if the qualifying was not a mess from Ferrari and McLaren, so I doubt there would have been any overtaking at all at the front.

      1. Completely agree Michael.

      2. I think the problem was the Red Bulls were so much faster than any of the cars near them, if the McLarens and Ferrari’s had been at the front too there might have been more action up there

      3. But none of the top 5 cars in this race had the pace to overtake! These cars wren’t exactly stuck behind one another.

        If Qualifying goes well then there shouldn’t be much overtaking. These cars are all different so if they line up on the grid according to speed, how can you expect them to overtake in the race.

        I would have said that none of the top cars deserved to overtake.

      4. It’s not really a problem. It’s just the way things have been for just about the last 2 decades.

        We saw that fight can occur and that even overtaking is possible. Of course when there is not much speed difference then not. So what? It’s not like the cars should be able to just breeze past when there is the smallest of speed difference.

        The OWG set as a target that 1.5s a lap time difference (in Barcelona) shoild be enough to reasonably overtake. If you make the difference less then it becomes too easy.

        Massa was 2 seconds a lap faster than Button and eventually he got past Button. So maybe it’s slightly more than 1.5 seconds right now, but Massa isn’t much of an overtaker either.

      5. You cannot know what the race would have been like if the Ferraris and McLarens would have started from more habitual positions. It’s pointless to say that the race would have been processional if not for the mixed-up grid – for all we know it might have been better.

    14. All races this year were won from 2nd row on the grid.

    15. Senna qualified 23rd in every race this year

    16. This was the first race since Hungaroring 2009 where Barrichello didn’t score a point.

    17. Is it just me, or was there an unusually large amount of cars that retired due to mechanical failures (7)? Curious if anyone knows if this has happened as much in the past, especially pre-inseason testing ban.

      1. James Bolton
        5th April 2010, 13:32

        You’re right. Since around 2002 the number of mechanical failures has dropped hugely, with a few races occuring where nobody retired at all!
        But it hasn’t always been this way. Before the quality control of the zeroes there were frequently five or ten cars dropping out with mechanical issues. Although it should be noted that the grids often featured 26 cars.

    18. Here’s one- when was the last time Michael Schumacher has had 3 races without at least a podium?

      1. If you don’t count the transition between season 2006 and 2010, the last time Schumacher didn’t land at least a podium for 3 races would be end of 2005.

        1. At the end of 2005 he actually didn’t get a podium for 6 straight races..

    19. it was schumacher’s first DNF since Japan 06

      It was mercedes first DNF since the Italian GP 1955

    20. “Nico Rosberg put Mercedes on the podium for the first time in 55 years.”

      That sounds so weird. Thanks for the stats though, really love these.

    21. No one has won a race from the front row yet.

    22. Jaime Alguersuari is now the youngest driver ever in taking his first points in F1.

      The previous record belonged to Sebastian Vettel.

      Next step to win a race. When? I’m afraid only time will tell us.

      1. Wrong,Vettel was 19 years and 349 days Alguersuari was 20 years and 12 days.Jamie missed out on the record by 28 days.But
        Alguersuari does take one record.First driver to be born in the 1990’s to score a point.

        1. Magnificent Geoffrey
          5th April 2010, 16:20

          “First driver to be born in the 1990’s to score a point.”

          Please don’t put it like that! I cannot stand the fact that someone younger than me is a Formula 1 driver and that putting it that way makes me feel so worthless!

          1. Worthless… yet you refer to yourself as “Magnificent”? :P

      2. How can someone propose a stat or fact without checking if it´s right? Specially if it is stated like a stone cold fact!!!

        1. Alguersuari- first driver ever who scores a point being younger then my sister :D

    23. I believe Vettel was younger when he scored points for BMW in 2007 at the US GP, he was still only 19.

    24. i saw a pic where there were only 2 pedals in the car(lotus), i assumed there was semi-auto shifting without a clutch; do the cars have a manual clutch? if not, how do they do a wheel spin? :)

      1. They have a manual clutch for the race starts that is next to the gear shift panels on the steering wheel.

        1. u mean to say they dont use if after that?
          ie during the race for shifting gears?

          1. I don’t think so. I think it’s just for changing from neutral to 1st.

            I may be wrong though, perhaps Alonso overiding the automation and was using the manual clutch somehow to shift down?

          2. They only use it from and to standstill. Since the gearboxes are semi-automatic they don’t need to use the clutch while they’re racing.

            1. The gearbox is a sequential transmission. To upshift the engine is electronically killed for some fraction of a second allowing the gears to slip out and engage the next gear. For downshifts the gears are disengaged and then revmatched to engage the lower gear. I believe Alonso’s revmatching system was malfunctioning making downshifting a great challenge. He more than likely used the manual clutch and throttle to rev match a downshift. This would allow him to downshift about as quickly as your mom approaching a roundabout ;)

            2. I dont exactly know how a F1 car works. But being automatic or semiautomatic Gearbox does not deprive the existence of an automatic clutch system, that might get broken. The way I take is that an F1 has a clutch system that is only manually used in the starts but automatically in upshifting.

            3. As stated above, you don’t need a clutch (manual or automatically operated) to change gear. Even in a manual gearbox road car you can change gear without using the clutch pedal just by matching the revs……try it!

    25. This is the first time Vettel has won from not the front row (I think)

      1. I think its actually the first time he’s won from a position other than pole.

        1. I was going to say I’m waiting for him to win from not leading after the first lap but I think maybe he inherited Abu Dhabi from Hamilton’s retirement

        2. Not quite – he was second on the grid at Abu Dhabi last year when he won.

        3. I remember people were saying he could not win from a position other than pole, without giving him time to show he can do that. Hamilton only scored his first non pole win nearly half way through 2008.

          1. It’s not his fault his an amazing qualifier.

            And please tell me the last time someone won a race without someone else retiring ahead of them. Where they actually passed for the lead to win a race?

            Australia – Vettel retired from lead
            Bahrain – Vettel retired from lead
            Abu Dhabi – Hamilton retired from lead]

            I don’t remember a race where Massa, Webber, Kubica, Kovalinnen or Button by passing for the lead on track either.

            1. KUB passed HEI in canada 08…? although the team probably influenced that

            2. I’m not sure if it was the last one; Raikkonen overtook Fisichella in Belgium last year

            3. Hamilton on Webber in Hungary.
              Raikkonen on Sutil in Belgium.

              No, it’s not ‘Massa, Webber, Kubica, Kovalainen, or Button’, but it’s not my fault you were selective there ;-)

            4. Button on Vettel at Turkey
              Massa on Kubica at Bahrain

              But they were only first lap lead changes! :P

              Gosh, F1 really needs more action to happen at the front!

            5. Paul Gilbert
              5th April 2010, 22:21

              Button passed Hamilton to win in Bahrain last year.

            6. hamilton on piquet, germany 08′

            7. hamilton won from P4 at silverstone 08 – passed to win in heavy rain and won by 66 seconds!! watch the start on youtube – awesome.

            8. What about Spa 2008? Raikkonen vs. Hamilton on lap 2 and then at the end of the race.

    26. I thought Toyota locked out the back row at Monaco last year. If that’s right, then Hamilton didn’t start 19th at Monaco last year.

      1. Andrew White
        5th April 2010, 13:57

        I just had a look on wikipedia. Hamilton qualified 16th, but had to change his gearbox after that crash which would have put him last, but Glock started from the pit lane.

        1. Oh yes, it’s all coming back to me now. Thanks.

    27. Andrew White
      5th April 2010, 13:55

      – The Malaysian race was only 12 seconds longer than the Australian race.
      – Nico Rosberg is the only driver not to have finished outside the top five.
      – McLaren are the only team not to have retired from a race yet this season, although Alonso was classified in Malaysia.
      – Jaime Alguersuari has completed every lap of the season so far, only six other drivers (the top 8 in the WDC minus Vettel and Alonso) have achieved this.
      – Only Rosberg and Kubica have beaten their team mates in every qualifying and race this season.
      – If championship points were awarded in qualifying, Red Bull would have twice as many points as any other team (116 to Ferrari’s 58).

      A question as well:
      – When was the last time the top five drivers in the championship were separated by four points or less? This is more impressive considering the new points system.

      1. James Bolton
        5th April 2010, 14:06

        Possibly after Hungary 2003

      2. Immediately prior to Bahrain 2010 ;-)

      3. What about after Silverstone 2008? Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen with 48 and Kubica with 47 or 46 I think. I don’t remember who was 5th though.

        1. Kubica 46 points, Heidfeld in 5th on 36 points.
          see http://www.motorsportmumblings.co.uk/msm/viewtopic.php?p=148328#p148328 for full points table post British GP, 2008

    28. keith- typo…
      ‘3. San Marino Grand Prix – Riccardo Patrese’ in a Williams right?

    29. wow, that’s alot of different podium finishers from only 3 races!

    30. I also believe its the 60 GP By Robert Kubica in his F1 career.

    31. LaIn Asutralia we had 11 drivers on the same grid position as the previous race. But this time only Bruno Senna was in the same position as last time. Which is just as uncommon I guess. But it will also mean next race will be completely different again.

      Engine scores:
      Mercedes 128
      Renault 91
      Ferrari 78
      Cosworth 6

      3 races, 3 winners and 3 drivers scoring there first points.

    32. OK, complainers-of-no-overtaking, let me spell this out for you:

      1) Qualifying is supposed to put the faster guys ahead of the slower ones

      2) In -any- kind of racing, it’s difficult to pass without a time gap of more than 1 second

      3) So you tend to only pass when the driver ahead makes a mistake or has a hardware problem

      4) F1 drivers are the best of the best, and F1 teams are the best of the best. They tend not to make mistakes, in general. And the cars are extraordinarily reliable.

      Therefore,

      5) There is little passing among the best teams

      If you’d like to change this artificially, feel free to randomly throw banana peels, qualify randomly, give the cars weapons, or put oil slicks on the road at random points. But when you get the result you hanker for – tons of meaningless, pointless passing – don’t call it motorsport. Call it what it would be: American Idol with cars.

      Otherwise, stop whining about the ‘lack of passing’. The point of racing is not to generate lots of flying bodywork and smoking tires – the point is to determine the fastest driver and team. If you have a problem with that, go watch professional wrestling – but stay the hell out of racing. You don’t belong here.

      1. You know, it reminds me of the criticsm that we Americans often level at “soccer”: you have a game with a bunch of guys running around for 90 minutes and you might get 1 score—or none, and the game ends in a silly free-kick procedure. At the top levels of that sport, you tend to see less scoring too. And the excuses that you have focus on the flow and strategy and nuances of the sport to “get it” are not availing to us. Yet Europeans, and the rest of the world, find this enthralling. And I don’t hear people calling for the field to be wet down or the ball to be greased. The truth is, as with any sport at its top level, it’s more predictable because the preparation is more complete and competitors more likely to be performing at their maximum. So there will be some boring events from which only hard core fans will get any satsification.

        1. Football games don´t end in “silly free-kick procedures”. Well, maybe in the USA. And at the top levels of that sport you get as much goals as in others. Then again, you got to see professional football, not that sad copy you play in the USA that called soccer…

          1. HounslowBusGarage
            5th April 2010, 20:58

            I totally disagree with you MEmo.
            DMW is quite right to criticise soccer/football for its lack of decisive moments of excitement. Any game that builds fan tension and which then doesn’t allow it a release (in the case of a nil-nil score) needs taking out and shooting.
            I’ve never seen a bigger collection of over-paid, stupid louts with over-inflated egos diving about on the pitch trying to convince the officials that they are angels and that the oppostion are devils as I have seen in high level European soccer. Add in the match fixing, the bribes, the ‘agents fees’ and Football makes Nelson Piquest look clean.
            Give me American Football every time, where there are more scoring opportunities in each game than Premiership Footballers have brain cells. All of them.
            Plus fans of one US team do not hurl missiles or abuse at the fans of another team, or fight with them before or after the game.
            As a born-here Brit, I’m appalled at the state of our ‘national’ game. It stinks and so do all the players.
            Now, where was I? “Dear Daily Mail . . . Yours, Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells”

            1. I´ve seen football games that end 0-0 and have been a complete battle on the pitch. But you must like football. If you want “decisive moments of excitement” watch what-did-you-call-it…american football. There are idiot footballers. Yeah. Then again there you have Schumy, Alonso, Hamilton… Bribes: it´s not common and if it was, I´d tell you “forget football”. Not cool, but not the sport´s fault. And then again you have Briatore, Piquet, overtaking under yellow flags, etc. Fans: what the hell does this have to do with anything? Noone should watch/like a sport because of some idiots? Are you sure you are british…

      2. Yet another arrogant response from someone who thinks they get to decide what ‘real’ motor racing is and that anybody who doesn’t agree with them ‘doesn’t belong here’.

        Nobody wants random qualifying or banana skins thrown onto the track. You’re misrepresenting your opponent’s arguments (it’s known as a Straw Man). We’re all here because we are fans of motor racing and although you would probably prefer otherwise, we’re all entitled to our opinion. So get off your high horse or keep your damn mouth shut.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

        1. But not yet another reply that isn’t constructive and doesn’t address the main points of the argument, but just abuses the arguer?

          1. I have made lots of constructive comments in previous threads, but I’m sick and tired of the self-appointed guardians of F1 telling people what they should and shouldn’t think because they’re not ‘real fans’.

            1. “Self-appointed guardians of f1”

              Fans=Enjoys the sport and wants to know more about the other cars, circuits, drivers and would continue to watch through the decades regardless if it’s “boring”.

              Maybe you should get off your high horse as well since your looking like a class A “guardian” to me.

              P.S, reckon you should stop telling people to “keep your mouth shut.” since I would consider that threatening and bullying.

        2. Nobody wants random qualifying or banana skins thrown onto the track.

          No? People have indeed suggested random qualifying (or worse). And while nobody has suggested banana skins, artificial rain isn’t far off.

          And if you want absurd insults to the sport, how about a series where engine ‘constructors’ have to apply to the governing body for more horsepower? That’s pretty ridiculous – but that’s what F1 has right now.

          Finally – hell, yeah, I reserve the right to say who belongs in racing. When people advocate the outright destruction of 60 years of history, and are essentially spitting on the memories of the drivers who died driving in F1, I have absolutely no qualms about saying flat out that they’re wrong and I’m right.

          We don’t live in happy cloud land where every opinion about the direction the sport should take is equally valid. There is real motor racing, and there is fake motor racing, period – and I don’t want to see F1 turned even more into the latter. And as someone passionate about racing to have started a business based on it, and as someone whose family has been racing for dozens of years, I’m totally fine with saying that, yes, indeed – I know damn well what real racing is and what it isn’t.

          And hell, if my angry tirade can convince one pretender to F1 fandom to give up in disgust at how ‘arrogant’ the fans are, and take his dreams of Death Race 2000 elsewhere, then I’ve succeeded.

      3. I agree that if quali goes as planned then the top cars don’t have much of a chance at passing. You are right about that.

        On the other side, F1 cars seem to be much harder to pass then other series. This does need work, because it is silly when a clearly faster car/driver is stuck behind a slower car.

    33. I’ve also noticed that it’s the first time since 1990 that three different teams win the first three races…

      On the other hand, it’s not uncommon to have three different teams winning consecutive races DURING the season…

      In 2009, we had even FOUR DIFFERENT TEAMS WINNING CONSECUTIVE RACES:

      Germany – Webber (Red Bull)
      Hungary – Hamilton (McLaren)
      Europe – Barrichello (Brawn)
      Belgium – Raikkonen (Ferrari)

      In 2008, three different teams won consecutive races
      TWICE during the season:

      Turkey – Massa (Ferrari)
      Monaco – Hamilton (McLaren)
      Canada – Kubica (BMW)

      Belgium – Massa (Ferrari)
      Italy – Vettel (Toro Rosso)
      Singapore – Alonso (Renault)

      These data confirm an important pattern in Formula 1: usually one or two teams jump ahead the others in the early races, but other ones are able to match their pace during the season, by developing their cars faster than the pacesetters…

      1. No. There’s just simply more chance to find 3 different consecutive winners in the middle of the season like in the start of the season.

        The first three races are always the 1st, 2nd and third, but on the other side, you can find different winners at the 2-3-4, 3-4-5, 4-5-6 …. 17-18-19 rounds.

        I hope I was understandable :)

      2. In 2008 it’s also Monaco-Canada-France, Canada-Frace-Great Britain and Japan-China-Brazil.

        1. Right, but, as you can see, I didn’t use this strategy to ‘multiply’ the three different winners… anyway, I can’t deny your right :D

    34. Useful feature would be an overtaking button, ,like champ car, that would mix and spice up the race.

      Get back 3.0 liter v10, max rev 18000,extra boost +2000(20000)revs, for 1 minute during the race.
      Bigger engine, stable performance, extra revs not overheat the engine.
      Bigger tires,

      1. “Useful feature would be an overtaking button, ,like champ car, that would mix and spice up the race.”

        This is what we called KERS, which was on some of last year’s cars.

        1. First of all, its expensive, second it is not as powerful, third if you do not break so much it does not recharge so quick.
          Its much simpler to just allow extra revs for a short sprint.

          1. From the pit comunication between Massa and his engineer, i understood, that Ferrari does just that to help their drivers in passing.

            1. This is not allowing 500 more revs, that is minute to a few thousand, that would really give a slower car some boost, plus just look at the result to get extra revs to an engine, that already on the limit. Alonso got owned.
              3 liter v10 revving at 18000 would last a long time, and allowing 2000 for 1 min during the race would not compromise it.

      2. Instead we’ll probably get 1.6 liter turbo engines.

        I’m perfectly fine with that.

    35. This is the first time the second row was all German.

      1. really? was there never a Ralf-Michael 2nd row, or Frentzen-Schumacher?

        1. There was MSchumacher-Frentzen in Spa 2001, MSchumacher-RSchumacher in Monza 2001. That just by searching partly through the races where Michael qualified 3rd.

    36. Bit lame but….The last person to finish 3rd in a GP for Mercedes was also German.

      1. Kling or Hermann? I bet no Germans instead these driven Mercedes in F1?

    37. Forgot to mention that the `Lift Shaft Base Jumping` expert came first, they dont build`em like that anymore!

    38. Shows Cosworth engines are real crap

    39. Paul Gilbert
      5th April 2010, 22:25

      The last time that 2 drivers scored their first points in the same race was Australia 2008 (Nakajima and Bourdais).

    40. All kinds of interesting stats. Also, 4 of the top 5 qualifiers were German, and 5 of the 7 fastest laps were from Alonso in his broken car. If all cars were equal in qualifying and race pace, I think Alonso might be the driver to beat this year.

    41. Michael Schumacher didnt want to drive car number 4 (bad number, bad luck) – and he failed to finish the race on 4th day of 4th month; scary what could happen if it was 4th race of the season and he was driving car with no 4 :D

      1. This is now a topic on the stats that did not happen :-)

    42. Have you noticed on when their playing the national anthem?

      The order of the flag should be:
      Australia – Germany – Germany
      (Webber – Vettel – Rosberg)

      But when they raised the flags, it shows (Germany – Germany – Australia)

      Check it out! :)

      1. yer i noticed that, maybe at Malaysia they have second place on the right rather then on the left, unless they were numbered ofc and there was a mix up. Has happened in the past.

      2. I didn’t noticed on Sunday, but I now checked it. Right. :)

        The last time when we saw that something similar happened was (I think) in the 2005 Canadian GP, where Barrichello’s (2nd) and M. Schumacher’s (3rd) flags were changed.

        Correct me if I’m wrong.

    43. Grid: Three of the top four were German; three of the bottom four were Brazilian.

    44. Vettel, Rosberg, Webber, Schumacher, Kubica and Sutil made ti to Q3 in every qualifying session this year, Senna, Chandhok, Trulli and di Grassi never managed to get in Q2.

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