Alonso is fifth driver to reach 30 wins

2012 German Grand Prix stats and facts

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Fernando Alonso’s German Grand Prix victory made him the fifth driver in F1 history to reach 30 race wins.

Here are the other four drivers who have done so, and how many races it took them to reach the milestone:

Driver30th winAppearances
Michael Schumacher1998 French Grand Prix110
Ayrton Senna1991 Monaco Grand Prix115
Alain Prost1988 Monaco Grand Prix126
Nigel Mansell1992 Portuguese Grand Prix183
Fernando Alonso2012 German Grand Prix188

Alonso also started from the 22nd pole position of his career, giving him one more than Lewis Hamilton.

He continues to edge closer to Schumacher’s record for consecutive points finishes, needing just two more to tie on 24. More on that here.

It was Alonso’s third win at the Hockenheimring, adding to his 2005 and 2010 victories. Only Schumacher has won more times at this track, with four victories in 1995, 2002, 2004 and 2006. The first of those was on the track’s previous high-speed configuration.

Lewis Hamilton’s 100th race

Hamilton did not get the result he was hoping for in his 100th race start. For only the 12th time in his career he was not classified, having pulled off with deteriorating handling, a legacy of his puncture on lap two.

Hamilton has claimed pole position in over a fifth of the races he has started (21), set 11 fastest laps and won 18 times. Here are his top ten placings in his first 100 races:

PositionRaces
1st18
2nd16
3rs12
4th9
5th9
6th4
7th4
8th4
9th2
10th1

It was Heikki Kovalainen’s 100th appearance at an F1 race weekend but not his 100th start: he failed to start the Spanish Grand Prix in 2010 due to a gearbox problem on his Lotus.

Schumacher’s first fastest lap since comeback

Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of the race. This was the first time he had done so since his return to the sport – his last came in his final race for Ferrari at Interlagos in 2006.

He already holds the record for most fastest laps. This was his 77th, increasing his lead over Prost to 36.

Schumacher is the oldest driver to set the fastest lap in a race since Jack Brabham 42 years ago. Only six drivers have set fastest lap at an older age than Schumacher:

DriverRaceAge
Juan Manuel Fangio1958 Argentinian Grand Prix46 years, 209 days
Piero Taruffi1952 Swiss Grand Prix45 years, 219 days
Giuseppe Farina1951 Italian Grand Prix44 years, 321 days
Jack Brabham1970 British Grand Prix44 years, 107 days
Luigi Villoresi1953 Dutch Grand Prix44 years, 22 days
Karl Kling1954 German Grand Prix43 years, 319 days
Michael Schumacher2012 German Grand Prix43 years, 201 days

More German Grand Prix stats and facts

Kamui Kobayashi inherited his best career finish to date following Sebastian Vettel’s penalty, which moved the Sauber driver up to fourth.

Team mate Sergio Perez scored points for the third time in the last four races despite not having started any of them higher than 15th.

It was Mark Webber’s 100th race with Red Bull, who he joined in 2007. He also started 34 races for the team in 2003 and 2004 when they were Jaguar. Webber has made 186 starts so far and should pass his 200th next year with Red Bull, who he recently signed a contract extension with.

Jenson Button qualified ahead of Lewis Hamilton for the first time this year. He had started in front of him in previous races due to penalties.

McLaren were the fastest team in the pits for the third race in a row. They changed Button’s tyres in 2.31 seconds during his final stop, a new record.

Romain Grosjean equalled his worst starting position with 19th. He started their twice during his first F1 races with Renault, at Spa-Francorchamps and Yas Marina during the 2009 season.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

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

2012 German Grand Prix

Browse all 2012 German 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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115 comments on “Alonso is fifth driver to reach 30 wins”

  1. Places 1-7 were occupied by former or current World Champions, and both Saubers. Good company.

    1. Oh, and not to bang a nail into his coffin or anything, but if Massa’s team-mate had scored as many points as him this season Ferrari would be joint-8th in the WCC table with Force India.

      Rumour was always that Massa’s contract allowed for replacement due to to poor performance (traditionally measured as a percentage of team-mate’s points) after 10 races – has patience run out? Who could they bring in to bolster the WCC points and ensure at least 2nd?

      1. Just because they can drop Massa, it doesn’t mean they will drop Massa. While it might help them get some results, it will also be disruptive to the team – and in the time it takes a replacement driver to settle into the team, Massa could have been scoring more points.

        What’s more, there isn’t any really-viable replacement. The team has shown hesitation to take rookies in the past, and have plainly stated that drivers like Sergio Perez are too inexperienced for the team. All of the other potential candidates, like Jaime Algeursuari and Adrian Sutil, have been out of the sport for six months, and have no knowledge or experience of the cars and tyres (even Algeursuari admitted that he hasn’t driven on the final grade of Pirelli tyres).

        Felipe Massa might be under-performing, but he is still the best person for that seat right now.

        1. Nick Heidfeld FTS (for the seat)!! :-D

          Massa CAN get the results for Ferrari (as seen in Silverstone), he just rarely has a qiet weekend without mistakes or bad luck, once that changes he will be okay. Meanwhile, he can drive the improved Ferrari qite fast (sure Alonso is faster than him – no pun intended – but how many people out there could drive that Ferrari faster .. and as Alonso has shown time and again, its not always about going as fast as one could) so lets hope Felipe stabilizes and the rumours will become less intense very quickly.

        2. Rubens Barrichello?

      2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        23rd July 2012, 14:29

        How on Earth ca Massa get AS MANY POINTS as Alonso? That would mean A race can have two first places, for example… :) But I get the point, he should deliver better performances (and to buy a big bunch of good luck).

        1. Quite easily. See Hamilton and Alonso in 2007.

          1. but ferrari dont have Ronn Denis

        2. Read it again – I was pointing out that if both Ferrari drivers performed as well as Felipe the team would be in dire straits. IE, he’s not good enough for Ferrari, sad though it may be.

          1. sid_prasher (@)
            24th July 2012, 18:29

            it is all conjecture...if both mclaren drivers had as many points as button had before Germany they would still be beaten by Alonso alone.. Let us just stick to facts….and the fact is that Felipe is 14th on the points table while Alonso is first. He has not finished on the podium for 2 yrs and needs to do so before he runs out of chances.

    2. Jayfreese (@)
      23rd July 2012, 20:29

      Worst ratio of wins per appearance for Fernando Alonso amongst the only five drivers to have won at least 30 Grand Prix in Formula 1 history. Interesting!

      1. That is interesting, but half of Alonso’s career was in an average car. Unlike the top 4 drivers…

        1. That is interesting, but half of Alonso’s career was in an average car

          Im not so sure about that, that Renault was pretty good back in the day.
          Fernando was getting podiums as early as 2004 and finished 4 in the WDC if I recall, only 1 year after replacing Button at Benetton.
          Certinally not as good a start as LH might have had, but definatly not too shabby.

          1. I think his first win was 2003? I could be wrong though. I think he has had a couple of great cars but some really poor ones as well. Some of those Renaults at his second stint were terrible. The longer seasons kind of compound that statistic however when you compare him to the company he is keeping there isn’t a lot of shame in that.

          2. 2001 Minardi was obviously an unwinnable car.
            If the 2009 Championship was played out ten times, I doubt Alonso would have scored a single victory.
            I would love to see who else on the grid could have done what he did with the 2008 Renault.
            2003-04 Renault were a bit like the 2011 Ferrari, staring down the back of the podium mostly.
            That just leaves 2007McLaren, the best car on the grid.
            2005-06 Renault, two seasons with one of the two best cars on the grid, though only for about half a season each.
            And wherever we consider the 2010 Ferrari.

            Compared to Schumacher, Vettel, Hamilton, or Kimi, that’s a lot of races started with very little possibility of victory.

            Not to mention the number of GPs started Alonso has over Prost, Senna, and Mansell due to championship expansion.

          3. +1 @alonsowdc

            The only car which Fernando has had which is very special is the R26. Even then the Mass Damper controversy and Ferrari’s development program meant the advantage was really only for the first ten races. Because of Indy 05 the Michelins were slower and FA also had an off day. But in those races Alonso finished first 7 times and second 3 times.

            The 2007 Mclaren was speciail but the bridgestones and the brakes (till canada) meant the package wasn’t ideal.

  2. Fastest laps mean nothing now. Anyone can change a set of tyres close to the end and easily set the fastest lap.

    1. Feel free to have a go….

    2. It has always been that way.

    3. As SirCoolbeans notes, a short stint on low fuel and new tires = fastest lap. Always has, refuelling or no refuelling.

  3. Definitely Alonso needs some pole to wins.

  4. Here’s a useless fact.Vettel has never won a race in July.

    1. Great fact! If he doesn’t win in Hungary, that’ll be a pretty amazing stat (considering typically 3 races happen in July).

    2. And yet again, still no podium featuring Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel after 93 possible ones.

      1. That’s interesting.

        1. Very interesting indeed if its correct… I mean how did that not happen with the three best drivers in the grid!!!

          1. @ilovevettel
            They always drove for different teams, and there were not so many races where three different teams could achieve podium, when it was possible, it was Button who have stood beside Alonso and Vettel, on other occasions it was Webber who was on the podium instead of Vettel.

          2. It’s statistically very, very unlikely if you look at their individual odds for a podium on any given weekend and their histories. I mean Hamilton has had podiums in what, 43/100 races? Vettel had his dominant year. Alonso is Alonso.

          3. @bag0

            They always drove for different teams

            To be exact, that’s not true – in 2007, there were 8 races where Hamilton and Alonso were together at McLaren and Vettel was already driving in F1, for Toro Rosso (7 times) and once for BMW Sauber.

            There was a good chance of Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel sharing a podium in Montreal though.

    3. Andy Redden (@andyredden-on-f1)
      24th July 2012, 1:34

      Better fact: Vettel has never won a race from off the front row!!!!

      1. Malaysia 2010

          1. Well, only Senna, Fangio and Clark have started on the front row more often.

  5. Hamilton is the only driver in history who played 100 races
    by the same team since his debut

  6. Is this the first time this year that Rosberg has finished a race ahead of where he started it?

    1. It is indeed.

      1. Wow. Other than his win from pole in China, that is a sad, sad statistic.

        1. @adam-tate – and technically that isn’t even ahead!

  7. Sauber’s best points haul so far this season with 20 points scored.

    1. That’s quite sad, considering Perez’s 18 in Malaysia.

  8. Interesting comparison there between Alonso and Hamilton in qualifying. Goes to show that while Alonso is undoubtedly one of the best drivers on the grid, he does have a bit of a weakness when it comes to qualifying. Although it must be noted that while Hamilton has had access to a car which, arguably, has been good enough to score poles pretty much every single season, the same can’t be said for Alonso. If you ignored the years when Alonso was driving a car which wasn’t competitive, then I’m sure the pole:win:race starts ratio would look a lot more healthy.

    Despite this, I don’t think many would disagree that Alonso is probably the weakest qualifier out of him, Hamilton, and Vettel.

    1. The 2009 McLaren wasn’t really good enough for pole at any point.

      1. Hamilton scored four pole positions in 2009 and won two races. Granted, at the start of the season the MP4-24 was an absolute dog of a thing, but by the middle of the season it had been improved considerably, to the point where Hamilton was able to compete in most races.

        1. The F2012 is now up there with the best, Alonso now has 2 pole positions compared to 0 in 2011 and 1 in 2010.

          1. sorry that should be 2 in 2010*

          2. Exactly. In 2010 Alonso was the strongest driver on the grid after Silverstone. He went on to narrowly miss out on winning the championship. Yet for all his wins and podiums, he scored just one pole position. It’s not to say that he’s a bad qualifier, simply that given roughly equal machinery it’d seem probably that he’d be outqualified slightly by Hamilton and/or Vettel.

            Clearly, since the man is a double world champion, and has been in contention for two further world championships since (not counting this one), it doesn’t seem to hold him back much. It’s just interesting that for a man who most would (quite rightly) consider the strongest and most complete driver on the grid, he does seem to have this one area where he isn’t all-conquering. The difference I guess being that for a lot of the qualifying specialists, their strength on the saturday is often marred by other issues on the sunday.

            It would be interesting to see a comparison of the conversion rate from poles to wins, to see who has managed to capitalise on their qualifying performances. At a guess, after 2011 I’d say it’s most likely to be Vettel.

          3. Well Keith pointed out in the Silverstone stats and facts Alonso has converted all of his pole positions into podiums except for Hungary 2009 where he had a mechanical failure. That’s a pretty impressive record.

    2. The 2008 and 2009 Renault’s werent much to write home about though. Although it must be said that Hamilton’s hit rate for qualifying and points scored in races isnt impressive.

      1. Alonso would have for poles, but look at the qualifying specialists he has been up against in his career: Kimi, Vettel, Hamilton, 3 of the fastest drivers over a single lap that F1 has ever had. Not to mention others with lots of pole positions like Schumacher, Montoya, and Massa. What Alonso does better than the others is that he ensures his pole positions translate to podiums and strong points finishes nearly every time.

        1. Dont forget Trulli and Fischi from that list.

          1. Good point! Even more qualifying stars. The 2000’s really was a decade full of drivers who could nail it for one lap, but couldn’t put it all together as well as the Schumacher and Alonso.

    3. What are you talking about?? Hamilton biased fan. Hamilton has had the 1-2 fastest car in all but one season , while Alonso has had the third fastest car in Ferrari and just take at look at the 2010-2011-2012 standing. He finished ahead of Hamilton in all those years having a inferior car.

      1. F that was in response to my original comment then I think you have misread what I was saying, since you’ve basically agreed with me. So not sure why you’re saying I’m a biased Hamilton fan, especially since I don’t especially think of myself as a fan of any particular driver; I love F1 as a sport, and simply make observations about drivers based on their performance.

  9. While not exactly relevant to Germany, I pulled together some stats about the drivers, after hearing the commentary mention the various champions on the grid (Di Resta taking the DTM line for example):

    http://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/x0bch/champions_in_formula_1/

    Posted them there. Basically, every driver on the grid has won some sort of championship in their time, if not in F1 then earlier in their careers. The only person not to is Charles Pic. De La Rosa has won in 8 different disciplines.

    1. Great work!!

      Very interesting stuff there, sure is a shame for De La Rosa, the guy obviously has the talent and experience, he just never got a real shot at it with a top team, his couple races for McLaren showed promise.

  10. All twenty-four drivers who started the season have now completed all ten rounds (Glock was sick in Valencia, but was given permission to enter the race if he was deemed healthy, so he did enough to take part). 2012 is the first time since 2003 that every driver who started the season has completed the first ten races without a driver change:

    – In 2011, Narain Karthikeyan was dropped by HRT after eight races.
    – In 2010, Bruno Senna was dropped by HRT after nine races (but returned to the car for the eleventh race).
    – In 2009, Toro Rosso replaced Sebastien Bourdais after nine races.
    – In 2008, Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson completed the first four races before Super Aguri collapsed.
    – in 2007, Robert Kubica was replaced at BMW Sauber after six races, but returned for the eighth.
    – In 2006, Yuji Ide was stripped of his superlicence after four races.
    – In 2005, Takuma Sato was ill and missed the second race, but returned for the third.
    – In 2004, Ralf Schumacher was injured in the ninth race, but returned for the sixteenth.

    But in 2003, the first driver change was Minardi dropping Justin Wilson after the British Grand Prix, which means that 2012 is the first time since 2003 that every driver who started the season has completed the first ten races.

    1. Nice statistic there!
      A small correction though. Kubica was not “replaced” in 2007. Rather, he was injured for the US Grand Prix.

    2. @prisoner-monkeys

      All twenty-four drivers who started the season have now completed all ten rounds

      well i still dont believe Glock should count as he didnt even start the race.
      and Petrov never started at silverstone. he pulled into the pits on the formation lap with egine problems.

  11. I Love the Pope
    23rd July 2012, 13:14

    I love the job Sauber did on Sunday. A question though from a relative F1 rookie:

    Did Sauber use a dry set up during qualifying in expectation of a dry race? If so, would that explain why they were slow in qualifying but fast in the race?

    Thanks!

    1. It’s probably a moot point. The differences between ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ set-ups are far less drastic now than they used to be, due to things like the 2009 aero regulations change and the parc ferme restriction in force after qualifying.

      Also the spare car is not sitting around ready-built waiting for use at short notice, so for example we don’t have drivers having one car set for dry conditions and one set for wet, and opting for whichever is best suited to the conditions moments before the race starts.

      Furthermore dry weather was expected on Sunday right from the off, which would have discouraged teams from using compromise set-ups.

      So I doubt there were many significant differences.

      1. I believe the teams were also given permission to change the set ups on the cars because the change in the conditions was so drastic. At least I’m sure one of the drivers mentioned this on the grid to Brundle at the weekend.

      2. I Love the Pope
        23rd July 2012, 19:17

        Thank you, Keith. That makes me even more impressed with the job Sauber did on Sunday. Remarkable work from the whole team!

    2. Also notice Sauber’s gear ratio was considerably higher, they were doing 315 while Red Bulls and a like were bouncing on 308.

      1. I Love the Pope
        24th July 2012, 3:53

        Forgive me, but what is a gear ratio?

  12. So if you subtract Hamilton’s 12 non classified finishes, under the current points system he has finished in the points in 79 out of 88 races. That is pretty impressive. I wonder how that compares as a statistic to the other drivers?

    1. Hamilton was in a top team from the start and has been during his entire career, how many times has that happened before?

      1. A fair point. Closest I can think of is Vettel’s career. One appearance in a competitive BMW, one season in an Adrian newey designed torro rosso. Then the rest of his career at red bull.

  13. ANIMAL FACT: The Fox is considered to be the ‘most’ persistent animal when it comes to hunting( but mostly scavenging ) food, and hence said to have the best lunch to attempt ratio.

    F1 FACT: Our very own F1 Fox, Fernando Alonso, also boasts of the highest Podium to Pole ratio.

    Not the fastest driver unlike Kimi/lewis/vettel, nor the most aggressive like schumi/montoya/mad-donado, nor the best wet weather driver like alesi/schumi/hammy, nor the media darling, never the ‘good’ teammate to share data, nor the charismatic overtaking specialist like Hamilton/Kimi/Hakkinen….but a driver that has an above-90% score in each of the said sector, the most complete driver today, will never give up his pursuit, a la the Fox, even when he is a mile behind his nearest car or if he would in no way seemingly score a point. That as many as 15 races have been won for being persistent is testimony to his ‘Fox Avatar”!

    I rest my case, now time for the naysayers to counter-argue! And for the record, my fav drivers are Kimi, Lewis, Rosberg and in that order!

    1. +1 and my order goes HAM, ROS, RAI WEB, ALO

    2. The man just got two consecutive poles for Pete’s sake, so he is the fastest driver when required. The wet weather specialist Hammy was nowhere to be see in the Wet races this season and Alonso won Malaysia in a dog of a car in wet conditions. Valencia was proof enough that he is a overtake specialist.

      His starts show us that he is aggressive when needed. Media darling? he would have been if he was not in a certain British team for a year in his career.

      He has various avatars which he uses when the situation demands, that why he is the most complete driver on the grid currently.

      1. remember during his time at renault he was constantly on itv doing interviews and little specials. At the time he lived in oxford and was used regularly.

        I remember many card tricks between 03-06

  14. Button was fastest in FP1 and slowest in FP3, has that ever happened before?

    1. Maybe with a BAR

  15. I’ve got a question.

    Looking at the wikipedia, if I’m seeing it right this seems to be the 10th time Sauber (as independent) had both cars in top 6 – ”in points” by the 1960-2002 system. The last time they’ve done it was at Spa in 2004 with Massa and Fisi taking 4th and 5th. That was 8 years ago (granted they were married to BMW for 4 out of those 8 years, but still….) and 70 GPs ago (as independent and not counting 2005 USA).

    Does anyone know the longest spell a team went between having both cars in top 6?

    1. Cant say for sure, but it has to be the Ferrari in its golden 2000-2004 seasons! And why top 6, it might well have been top 3 for the longest time!

      1. I’m looking for the longest time between having both cars in the top 6.

        The longest both Ferrari cars weren’t in the top 6 during 2000-2004 was probably 1 or 2 GPs. That’s hardly the longest “between”….. :)

        1. Minardi had a 14 year gap, although that only counts if you include Indy 2005…

          1. !6 year I mean.

          2. *16
            And Tyrrell beat Sauber in number of races, if you discount their 1984 season when they were disqualified.

          3. Thank you!

            I didn’t count 2005 Indy for Sauber since they didn’t start it. But it’s more then valid for Minardi. I didn’t even thought that they had both cars in the points besides that event!

            I should have thought that some team like Tyrrell who was once a powerhouse, but then spent years in the midfield would pass it also.

            Thanks again!

          4. No problem, cheers for the interesting stat in the first place. That might not be everything though- I probably missed some other similar teams, I only checked a few that sprang to mind!

    2. If you were to go by Keith’s system of measuring team history, then Mercedes didn’t have a car in the top six between 1955 and 2010. A total of 55 years.

      1. @mazdachris Wherever you’re getting this crazy idea that I think Mercedes had an F1 team from 1956 to 2009 from, it’s complete nonsense and I’ve never said anything of the sort.

        1. Heheh, come on, let’s not have this argument again! But you can’t deny that you do consider the current Mercedes F1 team to be a continuation of the lineage of the original silver arrows team, in terms of results.

          But yes, of course I wasn’t being serious, when they didn’t have a car to enter. It’d also be a bit of a moot point since Mercedes entered 4 cars in 1955 and only two of them finished in Monza that year. Obviously these days a double retirement wouldn’t be able to occur alongside a win!

          1. @mazdachris

            you do consider the current Mercedes F1 team to be a continuation of the lineage of the original silver arrows team, in terms of results

            Of course I do. That does not mean I believe they entered every race from 1956 to 2009 but never scored a top six finish.

          2. My reply was in response to your original reply, which you edited. hence my point about you considering it a continuation of the lineage. I never implied that you thought they had entered cars, that would be ridiculous. I’m sorry that you’ve taken my light hearted comment so seriously. I will take care in future to make it clearer when I’m making a joke.

          3. @mazdachris Apologies, I should use my comment editing privileges more carefully, especially considering I’m the only person who has them. Justly chastened.

            Though I must say there was no way for me to tell your original comment wasn’t serious.

  16. Wow! Lewis has been on podium for 46 of his 100 races! It doesn’t seem as if he is on podium that often though.

    Two more wins will put Alonso beyond Nigel and the only people ahead of him would be the big 3 – Prost, Senna, Schumi.

    Off-topic, this was the first race where Fernando’s new girl-friend made an appearance ;)

  17. A little one that I heard some time ago: First time in the year that the current championship leader wins a race. That tendency last occured in 2010.

    1. I think you are forgetting the Sebastian Vettel show that was 2011. He lead the championship the entire season.

  18. Schumacher became the eighth different driver to set a fastest lap in the ten races this year. The record for most different drivers in a season is ten, which has happened six times including 2009. With Webber, Alonso and Hamilton yet to set fastest laps, we could easily see this record toppled.

    Rosberg finished higher than he started for the first time this season.

    Hamilton is now the only driver to have made Q3 every time this season.

  19. I believe this is the first round of the season where the championship leader going into the race has gone on to win. I think someone else mentioned that streak in the stats article of the last round but this is the first result to break that streak.

  20. Could someone do a statistic about drivers’ 100th race start? It seems no-one does particularly well in their celebratory race.

    1. Fernando Alonso wins his 100th race, at Monza, in 2007.

      1. Maxbe, at 100th but BUT won on his 200th

    2. Massa won his 100th race (Europe ’08).

  21. As has been alluded to elsewhere, Vettel’s penalty meant that Raikkonen scored a podium finish without having to face the media. I believe the last driver to manage this was Alex Wurz in San Marino 2005 (when Button was DSQ’d from 3rd).

    It also gives Raikkonen a small piece of good fortune in a country where he has notoriously lacked it e.g. engine failure whilst leading in Nurburgring 2003, first-lap crash in Hockenheim 2003, rear-wing failure in Hockenheim 2004, last-lap suspension failure whilst leading in Nurburgring 2005, hydraulics failure whilst leading in Hockenheim 2005, hydraulics failure in Nurburgring 2007, radiator failure in Hockenheim 2009.

    And this is Alonso’s 5th win in Germany, but the first to come from pole (Heidfeld, Raikkonen x 2 and Vettel were the previous polesitters). 2 of his previous wins came after Raikkonen retired from the lead (both in 2005), and 2 came after a pass on Massa (Nurburgring 2007 and Hockenheim 2010). Alonso did however start on pole in Nurburgring 2006, but Schumacher beat him.

    Conversely, Raikkonen has been on pole 4 times in Germany but never won – in addition to Nurburgring 2003, Hockenheim 2005 and Nurburgring 2007, he was also on pole for Hockenheim 2006 (after he was under-fuelled in Q3 IIRC).

    1. Wow, poor Kimi, those unreliable McLaren’s really cost him back in the day. He could probably be a 2 time WDC with 30 wins like Alonso if it weren’t for all those car failures.

      Seems like he and Massa suffer the most misfortune when Alonso wins!

      1. Wow, poor Kimi

        ha ha…poor kimi indeed!

        2005 was a heart wrenching season for me, but not anymore than the 2003 Japanese GP, missed the WC by a hair’s breadth!

        Seems like he and Massa suffer the most misfortune when Alonso wins!

        FACT!!!

        But i guess that one incredible win at 2005 suzuka makes up for all the loss!

        1. But i guess that one incredible win at 2005 suzuka makes up for all the loss!

          I don’t know if it makes up for all the loss. Norbert Haug once went on record saying the Mercedes owed Kimi a couple championships after all their engine failures costing him so dearly in 03 and 05.

          Poor Massa sure hasn’t had anything to make up for it either, 2008 was his year, the mistakes that lost him the championship were the mistakes of the team, whereas most of Lewis’ mistakes that year were mistakes of his own accord.

          Still, none of that takes away from the incredible things Alonso continues to keep doing. He just picks up the pieces when the other drivers falter, and he does it better than anyone else.

  22. Schumacher and Alonso both scored their 3oth win in their 3rd seasons of driving for Ferrari. Whereas it was Alonso’s 188th start in his 11th season, Schumacher did it as his 110th start in his 8th season.

    Still, very interesting. Alonso is a bit behind the win rate curve of Michael, but his career is still emulating the 7 time champs in many ways.

    1. @sdam tbh I agree with everything you say but obviously we should be careful as these kind of statistics are difficult to read into until the drivers career is finished.

      For example, Prost won 33 poles in his career which is very impressive. However, 13 of these were in an all conquering car. That means that he was only on pole 20 times in 12 seasons (183 starts) a far poorer record but much easier to believe since Prost was a notorious genius in the races. An it was in the Senna era.

      Another example is Mansell. 0 wins in his first 5 full seasons and two wins towards the tail end of 1985. Then 2 seasons of dominating Williams. This led to a move to Ferrari where he had poor results. A return to Willams gave him the best car again for a season and a half. So a total of 31 wins, which is great, but his wins were not as consistent as the other greats around him.

  23. A more straight-forward, but hitherto unmentioned fact….

    Mercedes/Schumacher pairing is the first time, that both former championship winners featuring as a Constructor-Driver pair, has made a simultaneous comeback into F1!

    And from a strict technical angle, Lotus-Raikkonen are the second such pair!

    aaaah! why do i still have the feeling that I’ve goofed up somewhere!!!

    1. Only the Lotus name returned a couple of years before Raikkonen, be it with a different team at the time

  24. matt90 (@matt90) said on 23rd July 2012, 19:37

    *16
    And Tyrrell beat Sauber in number of races, if you discount their 1984 season when they were disqualified.

    funny, i dont recall sauber entering until 1993?

    1. I obviously meant that they had more than the 70 race gap of Sauber.

  25. First back-to-back winner in Alonso, at the new Hockenheimring( post 2001 re-design )!

  26. First time this season that Grosjean has finished a race outside the top 6.

    In both the last 2 races Schumacher has started 3rd and finished 7th.

    Maldonado has been classified outside the points in each of the last 3 races despite starting each one in the top 7.

    Under Bernie’s medal system, Button would be 3rd in the Drivers’ Championship (and Maldonado would be ahead of Raikkonen).

    1. Just goes to show how stupid of an idea that medals system was.

    2. I don’t think that’s right. Didn’t the medal system only count for deciding the winner? And all other placed would still be decided by points? I think that was the case, and was probably the most ridiculous part of the idea that was often overlooked.

  27. Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher)
    23rd July 2012, 22:20

    Fairplay to Schumacher! Whatever u think or say about him, when u think about how old he is people that age have not been that competitive for generations. I think the fastest lap he did in interlargos in 06 was on his final lap of his previous career. That was a cool way to end it, I just hope he can repeat that when he retires for good.

  28. Top class facts as always, particularly like the breakdown about Hamilton’s career.

  29. Daniel Brown (@scuderiaferrarifanatic)
    23rd July 2012, 23:21

    If Ferrari can sort out their pace in the middle stints, which is always when they suffer, and obtain good performance on the prime and options, and sort out getting the tyres up to it in quali, they can wrap this season.

    Fernando needs to stick it to Vettel in qualifying. That, will be the key to his 3rd WDC. If he cant, then Vettel will run away with it from the front. Vettel is useless unless he’s leading; he gets easily frustrated, and cracks under pressure when not in clean air, so bring on more of that.

    1. Ferrari is really on the right track. Vettel and Webber had no answer for Alonso this weekend. If Massa hadn’t shattered his front wing to oblivion at the start I dare say he would have been high in the points as well, considering he made his way back up to 12th from the back of the field.

      The F2012 may still need a little work, Felipe a lot of work and some much better luck, but Alonso already has the edge he needs, he has more than a wins worth of points as a cushion, and he has the edge psychologically over Vettel. Webber doesn’t give a flip about any such thing, but it would still be a big task for him to reel in Fernando.

      Give Kimi’s Lotus a bit more pace, and he might just be the man for the challenge.

      1. @adam-tate He’s got the pace, he just needs more luck, better strategy and some better decisions. Looking at the first 10 races alltogether, the E20 car is as fast as any.

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