2008 Bahrain GP: Facts and stats

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Here are some of the stats and facts from the Bahrain Grand Prix – post any more you’ve spotted below…

Robert Kubica scored the first pole position for a Polish driver. It was the first time a non-McLaren or Ferrari driver had started from pole position since Fernando Alonso at Shanghai in 2006.

Kubica also finished on the podium for the second race in a row for the first time in his career.

Felipe Massa won the Bahrain Grand Prix for the second year in a row. It was his sixth win, giving him the same number as Tony Brooks, John Surtees (1964 champion), Jochen Rindt (1970 champion), Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Laffite, Riccardo Patrese and Ralf Schumacher.

He is the third different winner this year in three races, and it was also his first victory not scored from pole position.

Kimi Raikkonen has finished on the podium in the last four Bahrain Grands Prix without winning it.

BMW lead the constructors’ championship for the first time ever, despite not having won a race yet.

Sebastian Vettel is the only driver yet to finish a race this year.

It was BMW’s 20th consecutive race in the points and Ferrari’s 35th. It was Raikkonen tenth consecutive points score.

Only three drivers retired, the fewest since last year’s Italian Grand Prix.

There were no British drivers in the top ten for the first time since the 2006 British Grand Prix.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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36 comments on “2008 Bahrain GP: Facts and stats”

  1. You forgot the obvious one, Keith:  Kubica’s 1st pole was also BMW’s 1st pole as a Formula 1 manufacturer.  Also, BMW now is the only team to have been on the podium for every race so far this season.

    Other bits and pieces:  it’s only Lewis’ 3rd time to DNS, and the first time he has missed the podium in back-to-back races.  Meanwhile, it’s also Alonso’s first DNS since Japan last year, and this is Renault’s poorest ever start to a season (at least in this current incarnation from the Benetton franchise).

  2. McLaren also ended their sequence of 19 podiums in a row by missing out.

  3. I’m not sure about when, but it’s a long time since Alonso ended a race out of the points

  4. @frecon I think he did for one race last year, not sure though.

    Its the first time in 4 years that Alonso could not make it to the podium(and win a race) after 3 races…

  5. Haas, see my post above for Alonso’s last DNS.  :)  Good point on this being Alonso’s worst start to a season since his rookie season in 2001.

  6. You got me thinking guys, so I looked into it a bit more.

    The Bahrain Grand Prix was only the third time since Fernando Alonso left Minardi that he has finished a race outside of the points. The other two occasions were the 2004 British Grand Prix, and the 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix.

    That’s quite an exceptional record!

  7. … well at least it would be if you ignored the several races he bungled along the way and simply didn’t finish.

  8. Well, this one is geographical, and a little controversial… Assuming that Turkey is in the Middle East (and not in the "Near East", as it used to be called, neither in Europe), then Felipe Massa won the last four Grand Prix held on that region: 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix, 2007 Turkish Grand Prix, 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix…

    Also its Massa’s fifth win, out of six, outside Europe…

    It’s BMW third consecutive podium…

  9. fourth race in a row without rain :-)

  10. Journeyer, Hamilton was off the Podium in Shanghai and Interlagos last year.

  11. Mark, I think it was Nurburgring and Interlagos. In Shanghai he didn’t finish, so obviously he couldn’t be at the podium.

  12. Good point, mark.  Frecon is right too.  Hmmm.  Come to think of it, Hamilton has now missed the podium in 4 of the last 5 races, and 7 of the last 11, after being on it for for his first 9 races in succession.  A bit of a slump going there?

  13. It was also Raikkonen’s 50th visit to the podium.

  14. Kubica made it to the pole, but it felt like he could not stand the preasure to lead the race. BMW’s threat to Ferrari lasted 300 meters.
    I think he will need to go out of his confort zone (chasing instead of leading) to win a race.

  15. Kaiser Soze
    7th April 2008, 14:58

    Thanks for the article, but its shorter then usual. Please, we want more! :)

  16. At this point (third race), it’s probably the most tight title chase ever, with the fifth placed driver (Kovalainen, 14) only five points behind the leader (Raikkonen, 19)

  17. This is the first time I woke up at 7AM on a Sunday morning (US, Eastern Time Zone)

    I think that is the most impressive record.

  18. Also worth noting, Rubins has yet to score a point for a second straight year.

    Lewis seems to of lost his touch now that the pressure on him is building. I would say that of all the sophomores Kovi, Nico and Kubica have all outpreformed Lewis to this point. Would they have won the Championship last year if they were driving a McLaren?

  19. Dan M, that is really a good question! How would have fared Nico, Kovi, Kubica and perhaps Button (who never had a championship winning car in his hands) or Webber (who never had a reliable car in his hands) ?

    Is Lewis losing is cool when he sees that Mclaren isn’t going to perform? 

    Actually it is the first time that Lewis has a real pressure (and what a pressure) to win. Before, he jumped all the time from Formula to Formula, so, as a rookie, no one expected that much of him. It is another subtle reason for him to have moved to Switzerland? Trying to relief things? A planned move from Hamilton family and Ron Dennis when they saw the first cracks?

    Well, Kovi would have lost it because of that torrid season start and because while he is taking the fight to Lewis he is not quite there yet. Kubica went pretty much anonymous last year and lost to Heidfeld, which is a solid driver but not WDC material (He is like Massa but in a BMW). Nico, on the other side, being a great qualifier, my guess is that he could nail it.
    Now how about Button or Webber? Maybe one day they will have their rightfuly deserved chance…

  20. The first race without Traction Control where Massa has not crashed

  21. DanielPT: Sorry, but even if I agreed that Massa isn’t a potential WDC, I wouldn’t compare him with Heidfeld… Heidfeld is much more like Barrichello… solid, good when tuning the car, but lacks the ultimate pace… Massa, on the other hands, is certainly fast, but sometimes is just too fast, and lacks attention…

  22. "Well, Kovi would have lost it because of that torrid season start and because while he is taking the fight to Lewis he is not quite there yet."

    Did not have to be the case. The other Finn, the one in the red car, also did not have have too good early part of the season last year (except the Australian win) and then he won the title…

  23. That’s pretty funny what Rabi noted about "the first race without Traction Control where Massa has not crashed".

    Anyway, you forgot another important record for Scuderia Ferrari: it was the 100th win under the Direction of Luca di Montezemolo.

  24. @ Milos: The other finn actually won 1 of the first races and did more or less the same as Massa, it was not a bad start, but it was not as expected. We can call it a disappointing start.  Everyone expected him to blast Massa from the spot. Kovi, on the other hand, got badly beaten by his teammate.

    @Daniel: Massa has is good days like every one else and he wins. His problem is that when its an off day it goes very wrong. He can hardly be a contender like this, but if he improves this, maybe then he can be WDC material. For kimi Bahrein was an off day… Heidfeld, yeah, i think you are right, Heidfeld is more like Rubinho. He does what is expected to do. He does not falter, but does not shines.

  25. this one isn’t mine, actually got it from speed tv :  all 3 drivers on the podium were either past or present sauber boys.

  26. Sauber has "0" influence on BMW F1 Team. They just left the name for a respect reason.

  27. verasaki: and adding on it, all drivers on podium are past or current Nick Heidfeld team-mates!

  28. @Horacio This is not true! The car is still build in the same factory by the same guys.
    "0" influence? More like 50% Sauber influence at least…

  29. @Rabi… you’re sooooooooooooooooo damn right!… the most impressive fact…

  30. Vera, not just top 3, make it top 4!  Nick is a longtime Sauber driver.

  31. Daniel PT: Heidfeld is more like Rubinho. He does what is expected to do. He does not falter, but does not shine

    Daniel: Heidfeld is much more like Barrichello… solid, good when tuning the car, but lacks the ultimate pace…

    You guys know who’s the only team mate that blew the socks off of Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi, the guy who’s considered to be the best of the current lot, who also happens to be the reigning champ. The correct answer is Nick Heidfeld(in Sauber, 2001). He was also a Mercedes sponsored driver, but he did not get a drive with them, like Schumacher. Will they(Macca) be sorry again, time will tell.

  32. I wouldn’t say Heidfeld "blew the socks off" Raikkonen. He scored a few more points than him – but remember that was Raikkonen’s debut season.

  33. Yeah it was only Kimi’s First season BUT it was only Nick’s second season.
    He is also the only driver not to get spanked by Mark Webber when he was a teammate.  (Yoong, Pizzonia, Klien, Rosberg and DC)

    I’m with Sri, Nick is a gun!

  34. Yeah it was only Kimi’s First season BUT it was only Nick’s second season.
    He is also the only driver not to get spanked by Mark Webber when he was a teammate.  (Yoong, Pizzonia, Klien, Rosberg and DC)

    And Kimi was properly one of the most inexperienced rookies in recent history, with only 23 car races to his name. Nick was much more experienced. Kimi only lost by 3 points and more retirement then Nick. Kubica lost by a much bigger margin to Nick last year, but it seems like he will properly get the better of Nick this year. It is fair to say that Kimi would have properly also gotten the better of Nick in his second year.

    But Nick is generally a very underrated just like Webber.

  35. Just one correction Melanie, Nick had one more retirement than Kimi in the 1991 season(I guess i think i originally did overstate it, but i think not by much). Do not get me wrong, am a huge Kimi fan. I like it every bit when he fiddles with the mike(he just could not stop himself, but i have not seen him do that in the recent races… sad…) in press conferences, takes a $#it, when Michael was being bid Farewell(well am a huge Michael fan too), monosyllabic speech,  or for that matter has to be woken up before a race or in the pub just being a guy. Also, when he races as James Hunt in a 500 mile skidoo endurance race and to top it off, wins it.

  36. Well, you could also argue that Coulthard "blew the socks off" Raikkonen in his first season at McLaren – he finished with nearly double the points. So, Heidfeld isn’t the only one. 2003 and 2004 turned out different, though…

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