Ferrari suffer worst race finish since 1978 (British Grand Prix facts and stats)

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You have to go back to the days of Gilles Villeneuve and Carlos Reutemann (pictured) to find a worse result for Ferrari than their 14th and 15th in yesterday’s British Grand Prix.

Red Bull, meanwhile, have led twice as many laps as everyone else put together this year – yet still aren’t leading the world championships.

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

Red Bull dominance

Red Bull continue to dominate qualifying in 2010 with their RB6. They’ve now had nine pole positions and five one-twos from ten attempts.

Record-breaking beckons. We’ve seen teams score 15 pole positions in 16-race seasons three times before: Williams in 1992 and 1993 – also with Adrian Newey-designed cars – and McLaren in 1988. Can Red Bull raise the bar over the 19 races of 2010?

They headed every session in Silverstone – all three practice sessions, all three parts of qualifying and the race.

Sebastian Vettel’s tenth career pole position was surely his most controversial. However he’s matched Jochen Rindt’s tally of first-placed starts.

Mark Webber became the first driver this year to score three wins, giving him a career total of five, matching world champions Giuseppe Farina and Keke Rosberg as well as Clay Regazzoni, John Watson and Michele Alboreto.

The last Australian to win the British Grand Prix was Alan Jones at Brands Hatch 30 years ago. This was also the first time Red Bull have won twice at the same venue.

Ferrari’s worst finish in 32 years

Fastest lap went to Fernando Alonso after his late change of tyres. It was the 15th of his career, putting him level with Jackie Stewart and Clay Regazzoni. He is the sixth different driver to set fastest lap in as many races, and established a new lap record for the revised Silverstone Circuit.

But Ferrari suffered their worst two-car finish since the 1978 French Grand Prix, when Gilles Villeneuve and Carlos Reutemann finished 12th and 18th respectively.

After Luca di Montezemolo’s tirades against the new teams Ferrari should have been grateful for them at Silverstone – without the likes of Lotus, Virgin and HRT, Ferrari’s 14th and 15th places would have left them last of the classified runners.

Fast laps

The fastest lap of the new circuit during the weekend was Vettel’s pole position lap of 1’29.615. His average speed of 236.52kph was fractionally slower than what the cars managed on the old track last year – 236.92kph.

Sharp-eyed readers will note those figures don’t correspond exactly with those quoted last week – that’s because the official length of the revised track was given as being ten metres shorter than what was previously declared.

Sakon Yamamoto made his first F1 start since the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix. He started and finished last of the runners, but to be fair his HRT wasn’t up to much more than that.

Pedro de la Rosa enjoyed his best qualifying performance of the year, starting ninth.

Read more: British Grand Prix fastest laps

Laps led

Webber was in front for all 52 laps of the British Grand Prix. Red Bull have led 433 of 600 laps in 2010.

DriverLaps led
Mark Webber259
Sebastian Vettel174
Jenson Button74
Lewis Hamilton56
Fernando Alonso20
Nico Rosberg16
Sebastien Buemi1

Podium finishes

Consistent top-three finishes are aiding Hamilton’s quest for the championship. Had it not been for his wheel failure in Spain he’d have seven from ten starts this year.

Nico Rosberg also looks good on this list, with as many podium finishes as Fernando Alonso and more than Felipe Massa.

DriverPodiums
Lewis Hamilton6
Jenson Button5
Mark Webber5
Sebastian Vettel4
Fernando Alonso3
Nico Rosberg3
Felipe Massa2
Robert Kubica2

Qualifying

Hamilton is increasingly pressing home his advantage in qualifying too. He’s started ahead of Jenson Button in the last six races:

PosDriverTimes out-qualified team mate
1Robert Kubica10
2Timo Glock9
2Sebastien Buemi9
4Adrian Sutil8
4Nico Rosberg8
6Rubens Barrichello7
6Fernando Alonso7
6Lewis Hamilton7
9Bruno Senna6
9Pedro de la Rosa6
11Mark Webber5
11Jarno Trulli5
11Heikki Kovalainen5
11Sebastian Vettel5
15Kamui Kobayashi4
15Karun Chandhok4
17Jenson Button3
17Felipe Massa3
19Nico Hulkenberg2
19Michael Schumacher2
19Vitantonio Liuzzi2
22Jaime Alguersuari1
22Lucas di Grassi1
24Vitaly Petrov0
24Sakon Yamamoto0

Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the British Grand Prix? Post them in the comments below.

2010 British Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    71 comments on “Ferrari suffer worst race finish since 1978 (British Grand Prix facts and stats)”

    1. Does this average speed mean Silverstone failed to become the fastest track in F1 calendar or do we have to wait for Monza’s average speed to determine that?

      This was Williams first double points finish since Singapore 2008. Nothing ”hidden” in it, I just like saying that :)

      1. Nope it’ll stay third behind Monza and Spa.

        1. What the new layout is badly lacking, is a more interesting (i.e. faster) way of getting to the start/finish line and Copse section. Simply turning onto the unchanged, boring old Luffield turn, from the old national circuit straight, was terrible. Get rid of that awful Luffield and have a new faster, wider turn into the start/finish section.

          That might have done it for them. But obviously it’s too late, it won’t happen now.

          1. miguelF1O (@)
            12th July 2010, 12:44

            next year after the new pits complex gets finished the british gp will start from the new straight

            1. I’ll turn woodcote into a sharp right hander and miss out brooklands and luffield. It will mean a longer village straight and more passing opportunities.

      2. But the race was essentially slowed by a safety car period…

        1. Fastest lap mentioned in the article was from qualifying

    2. It’s not often that Lotus are going to be able to say they finished just behind both Ferrari’s this season.

      1. You can see the future?

    3. They where never going to be faster than Monza.

      I just wondered about those fastest laps.
      Do the drivers really care about them? Like in canada where vettel wanted to set the fastest lap in the end.
      I wondered why? I doesn’t bring prestige or points, or am I missing something?

      1. There is a trophy for most fastest laps in a season, Vettel won it last year.

        1. Fastest laps aren’t so prestigious this year, seeing as any driver can set a fastest lap if they happen to change tyres near the end of the race, such as Petrov in Turkey.

        2. Is that sarcasm or are you being for real? If it is real, whats the name of the cup? Do I sound stupid right now?

          1. It’s the DHL Fastest Lap Trophy, or something like that.

        3. More often than not, its the drivers behind who are setting the fastest lap times. Once you have established a sizable lead, you can just sit back, relax and watch the other drivers on the screen.

      2. basically – bragging rights. Kimi was often called ”fastest driver on the grid” because he had biggest number of fastest laps.

        1. Well in those days it still actually meant something. Not much, but at least something. Nowadays it’s decided by “who made a pit stop last”.

    4. Important milestone if my calculations are right.

      Because it was 100th safety car deployment for Bernd Mayländer.

      2000 AUS, AUT, 2xGER, BEL, ITA, MAL = 7
      2001 AUS, MAL, BRA, AUT, GER, BEL = 6/13
      2002 2xAUS, 2xAUT, CAN = 5/18
      2003 2xAUS, 5xBRA, AUT, 2xGBR, GER =11/29
      2004 2xMON, 2xUSA, GBR, 3xBEL = 8/37
      2005 ESP, MON, CAN, GBR, BEL, BRA, JPN, 2xCHN = 9/46
      2006 4xAUS, RSM, EUR, MON, GBR, 2xCAN, USA, HUN, TUR, BRA = 14/60
      2007 BRN, 4xCAN, EUR, ITA, 2xJPN = 9/69
      2008 3xAUS, 2xESP, 2xMON, CAN, GER, ITA, BRA = 11/80
      2009 2xAUS, MAL, 2xCHN, ESP, BEL, ITA, SIN, JPN, BRA = 11/91
      2010 AUS, 2xCHN, 4xMON, EUR, GBR = 9/100

      1. Nice stat Bleu!

        1. I wonder if he got an award? :-)

          1. Eddie Irvine
            12th July 2010, 13:03

            I think we are getting far too many safety cars than we should have. The use of doubled wave yellows should be used more often to cover an accident, i think.

            1. Valid Edward, but this is the day and age of political correctness and the cotton wool generation. How boring the world is these days.

            2. Hamish/Eddie: would you rather see a marshal get hit by a car at 99% racing speed while he’s collecting debris off the racing line?

              There have been a few spurious safety car calls, but at Silverstone for example it was the right thing to do.

            3. The safety car is a great thing, it’s just the the rules about how the drivers react or interact with it have always been dodgy.

            4. Totally agree that double waved yellows should be used more. Throwing out the safety car can ruin a race if, as Alonso showed, you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.

              You could implement a temporary speed limiter for certain sections of the track – the GPS tech exists to make the cars go-slow in a certain sector. That means that the safety of the marshals isn’t compromised and the distribution of the field around the track isn’t affected.

            5. They could have had a safety car to clear Alguersuari’s car away and they didn’t. The thing with the bits of PDLR’s car was, I assume, that the debris was in two very fast places – the pit straight and the Hangar Straight – so presumably drivers would find it harder to react in time and avoid the debris, potentially causing punctures, or worse, causing pieces to be flicked up into the path of following drivers.

      2. If this is correct than Bleu definitely deserves a special Stat of the Day award!

        1. MacademiaNut
          12th July 2010, 16:46

          Agree. Took me by surprise that someone even looked into this.

    5. It was a very poor weekend for Ferrari but it was all down to circumstance rather than poor car performance. Massa’s race was ruined by the 1st lap contact with Alonso and 3rd was taken away by poor judgement by the team. Alonso asked if he had to give the position back and Kubica retired next lap. The car was quick all weekend and things are not as black as are being made out. 225 points still up for grabs this year with less than 2 wins between Ham and Alo. I am not saying he will win the title but this is not like last year where the car was the problem.

      1. The penalty does seem harsh, but Alonso should have had the sense to have given the position nack immeadiately, then there wouldn’t have been a problem.

        The points gap for Alonso to make up certainly isn’t too big to recover, but I don’t think they have the car to manage it. Despite their recent improvements, they’re still well off the pace of the Red Bull’s, and once McLaren sort out their diffuser presumably Ferrari will only be the 3rd quickest team again

    6. Robert Kubica’s retirement means that there are no drivers left who have driven 100% of the laps. Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa remain as drivers who have finished every race, but both have one race (Rosberg/Barcelona, Massa/Montreal) where they have finished one lap behind the winner. Alonso and Hamilton have driven all but two due to their retirements in the end of Malaysian and Spanish GPs. Jaime Alguersuari also had his first retirement of the season.

    7. I knew it!! As early as practice one it seemed that the track is infact slower than last year’s. Dunno why everyone thought it was faster.

      BTW, late time for this stat. But has this season set some sort of record for 1-2 finishes by teams?

      Bahrain, Malaysia, China, Monaco, Turkey, Canada. That is 6 out of the first 7 races!!

    8. Webber’s 150th Grand Prix, his 5th career win.

      Laps led;
      Webber…..259
      The Rest…341

    9. Considering each event as having 7 sessions (FP1, FP2, FP3, Q1, Q2, Q3 and the race itself) – only Red Bull have had both drivers in every one of the 70 sessions in 2010.

      In sessions where BOTH (main) team drivers have participated, the following are the number of times each has been the faster:

      Jenson Button – 18 / Lewis Hamilton – 48
      Michael Schumacher – 20 / Nico Rosberg – 48
      Sebastian Vettel – 40 / Mark Webber – 30
      Felipe Massa – 11 / Fernando Alonso – 52
      Rubens Barrichello – 34 / Nico Hulkenberg – 25
      Robert Kubica – 53 / Vitaly Petrov – 8
      Adrian Sutil – 41 / Vitantonio Liuzzi – 11
      Sebastien Buemi – 40 / Jaime Alguersuari – 14
      Jarno Trulli – 15 / Heikki Kovalainen – 31
      Karun Chandhok – 15 / Bruno Senna – 20
      Pedro de la Rosa – 29 / Kamui Kobayashi – 24
      Timo Glock – 34 / Lucas di Grassi – 10

      Comparing just the 30 qualifying sessions (where the only objective is to be fastest!?), we get:

      Jenson Button – 8 / Lewis Hamilton – 18
      Michael Schumacher – 5 / Nico Rosberg – 23
      Sebastian Vettel – 18 / Mark Webber – 12
      Felipe Massa – 3 / Fernando Alonso – 21
      Rubens Barrichello – 14 / Nico Hulkenberg – 7
      Robert Kubica – 18 / Vitaly Petrov – 3
      Adrian Sutil – 15 / Vitantonio Liuzzi – 5
      Sebastien Buemi – 12 / Jaime Alguersuari – 6
      Jarno Trulli – 5 / Heikki Kovalainen – 5
      Karun Chandhok – 3 / Bruno Senna – 6
      Pedro de la Rosa – 13 / Kamui Kobayashi – 5
      Timo Glock – 9 / Lucas di Grassi – 1

      Random – but interesting. :)

      1. Great work! This is a great way to compare the drivers. It’s interesting that only the Lotus pair and RBR are truly very close in performance.

        When you look at Button’s deficiency, and compare it to the sitution of other drivers being similarly dominated in pace, it’s amazing that he is 2nd in points right behind Hamilton.

        1. The top 8 drivers seem to be paired with rookies. :-)

          1. Webber isn’t exactly a rookie, even though his attack on Kovi could make You think so.

        2. Well Button stayed close on points mostly because of 2 races where he took a gamble on the tyres which turned out right (and Hamilton’s wheel falling off while in P2 in Spain).

          Also he benefits a lot from cars and drivers ahead of him failing while Hamilton tends to be battling for the lead on his own strength.

          It just shows how the current points favor consistency more than true “racers”.

      2. Great stat there. Shocking to see the Schu/Rosberg and Massa/Alonso comparisons. Who’d’ve thunk it?

        1. What strikes me is how everyone seems to have overlooked the fact that De la Rosa has been faster overall than Kobayashi, thanks to the latter’s more striking race-day performances…

        2. Alonso over Massa yes, but not Rosberg so much over Schumi.

      3. Hey clever one. Seems to match pretty much with the feeling we have of who is faster too.

    10. Each time an Aussie has won the British Grand Prix, he has gone on to win the World Championship that same year! Happened for Brahbam in 59, 60 and 66; aswell as for Jones in 1980! Hope he continues this trend!

      Cmon Mark, GO AUSSIE!

      1. miguelF1O (@)
        12th July 2010, 12:52

        and since 08 the winner of the monaco gp becames the world champ

        1. Don’t forget about “winner of Australia” has just about always gone on to win, so Button looks good ;)

        2. Since 08? So that’s two seasons then.

        3. that’s great, it means alonso won’t be winning this year :)

      2. Mark Webber is the only Australian to have won a Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix but not the Championship itself.

        1. The only thing worse than if Mark’s luck turns sour, is if everything goes well and he wins, Can you imagine what the stupid Aus commentators will be like? Oh the pain! *groan*

      3. That’s the best stat I’ve seen all season, and I’m Greek!

    11. It was the first time since the controvertial Singapore 2008 that both Williams scored points!

    12. That’s the first time after Europe 2007 (Raikkonen) that a driver made a mistake in the last corner that made him go to the pits or miss the pits.

      1. What about Kubica ending up in the pits after riding up over Trulli in China last year?

    13. Ferrari is getting their just rewards, by the law of universal justice, for their contempt of the new teams and the tirades of Lou diMonty. Lou sounds like Mussolini after a couple of glasses of wine.
      All these new teams are putting limited resources and hope and a lot of work, and Lou looks over his shoulder with contempt.
      Until Lou shuts up, Ferari will continue to suffer from the resulting bad karma.

      1. We bow down to your statistic-crunching greatness.

    14. Lewis is currently only 3 points away from the championship record of Michael Schumacher’s 148. (Due to the new point system obviously)

      1. its tragic isn’t it. there is now now way to compare points across different eras now its been so distorted, the title contenders will score more points this year than most drivers did in their entire careers

        1. It hasn’t been possible to make a meaningful comparison on points since they first changed the points system back in 1960:

          Every F1 points system 1950 – 2010

          At least having had such a major change makes it more obvious why trying to make such comparisons are pointless.

    15. Once Massa fixes his qualifying troubles he should be OK. He has to figure out a way to turn on his tyres faster with the current car configuration. He’s generally good once he starts from up near the front of the grid. Only when he has to battle through the midfield does he have problems in the race. This has always been true for him.

      Alonso is much quicker at the moment, but the type of problems/errors he’s making is a little more concerning. The errors seem to be different at every race, so much harder to nail down a specific cause and fix it. It seems like a mindset problem, but sometime those are fixed automatically if he can string a couple of good results in a row.

      We’ll see how it all plays out. The whole team is due for a change in fortune.

    16. Webber was driving Vettel’s old chassis – I wonder when was the last time that a particular chassis has won in the hands of two different drivers?

      1. Good statistics-themed question. It might go all the way back to ye olde Grands Prix in the 1950s where drivers would occasionally ‘donate’ their car to a teammate. Didn’t Stirling do that for Fangio once? What a nice chap.

        1. Senna and Prost drove the same car to wins in 1988 I think :)

    17. HounslowBusGarage
      12th July 2010, 23:11

      This is 100% guaranteed the first post from and by HounslowBusGarage since the last one.
      Is this a record?

    18. I do think Ferrari have had absolutely appauling luck this season, and their results are not representative of their pace. And this isn’t coming from a Ferrari fan at all. Alonso’s been on the recieving end of enough incidents (yes, he is always involved, somehow) and steward decisions and as for poor old Massa, well everyone just loves running into him. I swear his car is like massively magnetic.

      1. Very good Electro, you write in good expressive english also
        Cheers

      2. How is it “luck” if a driver actually knows the rules or not?

        Massa just keeps fighting hard for positions. He hopes he can dive into a gap and the other will let him past. That’s how he ends up getting hit.

    19. Paul Gilbert
      13th July 2010, 22:41

      I believe McLaren also had 15 poles from 16 races in 1989 (the only non-McLaren pole was Riccardo Patrese driving for Williams in Hungary).

      For the record, the other clean-sweep-denying poles were:

      1988 – Gerhard Berger (Ferrari) in Silverstone
      1992 – Ayrton Senna (McLaren) in Canada
      1993 – Ayrton Senna (McLaren) in Australia (which frustratingly for Williams was the last race of the season!)

      1. You’re dead right – very silly of me to miss that.

    20. Was that the first time 5 Germans scored points in a race?

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