The inaugural Singapore Grand Prix was a statistical feast for the anorak-wearer.
The 800th F1 championship race saw Nick Heidfeld break Michael Schumacher’s record for most finishes, a first-time race leader, and the first time a driver has ever won an F1 race from 15th on the grid. Read on for more.
Fernando Alonso’s records
Fernando Alonso scored his first win in over a year, his last victory coming at Monza last season. It was his 20th career victory in his 118th start. Alonso has now scored as many wins as Mika Hakkinen and is tied for 11th on the ‘most career wins’ list with his fellow twice-champion.
Alonso scored his 50th podium finish, one fewer than Hakkinen, and again 11th on the all-time list of most podium finishes.
Alonso is the only driver to have won a race from 15th on the grid. That was previously the highest grid position a race had never been won from. On only seven occasions has a world championship race been won from a lower starting position:
16th – Jackie Stewart, Tyrrell, South Africa, 1973 and Michael Schumacher, Benetton, Spa-Francorchamps, 1995
17th – John Watson, McLaren, Detroit, 1982 and Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren, Suzuka, 2005
18th – Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, Hockenheimring, 2000
19th – Bill Vukovich, Kurtis Kraft, Indianapolis, 1954 (when the Indianapolis 500 counted towards the world championship)
22nd – John Watson, McLaren, Long Beach, 1983
The worst starting position a race has never been won from is now 20th, which with 10 two-car teams in F1 today is last on the grid. (More on this here)
And of course, Alonso is the first person to win a round of the world championship in Singapore. He is also the seventh different driver to win a race this year.
Renault scored its first win since the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, which Alonso also won.
More F1 stats from Singapore
Nico Rosberg scored his second career podium, having scored his first in Melbourne. He also led a race for the first time and is the 158th different driver to do so.
Kimi Raikkonen added another fastest lap to his tally, his 35th. It was his tenth this season matching Michael Schumacher’s record for most fastest laps in a season, set in 2004, which Raikkonen matched in 2005.
However he also failed to score for the fourth race in a row, his longest point-less streak since 2002, when he didn’t score for six consecutive races from Malaysia to Monaco. At that time, points were only scored down to sixth place.
Ferrari failed to score a point for the first time in 46 races, a sequence stretching back to the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix (they didn’t score in the previous race in Melbourne). Those 46 races make the second longest points-scoring streak for a team, bettered only by Ferrari themselves from Malaysia 1999 to Malaysia 2003 (55 races). They also have the third longest points-scoring streak, San Marino 2003 to Malaysia 2005 (33 races) but BMW are one race away from matching that (Australia 2007 to present).
Singapore’s podium was the fifth youngest ever seen in F1: Alonso, Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton having an average age of 24 years, eigth months and 19 days. That means four of the five youngest ever podiums in F1 history were achieved this year, in Italy, Germany, Monaco and Singapore.
Heidfeld beats Schumacher
Nick Heidfeld broke Michael Schumacher’s record for the most consecutive finishes in F1 races, finishing his 25th race in a row since last year’s French Grand Prix.
The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was the 800th race to count towards the F1 world championship. More stats on that to follow later…
Over to you
After Italy Simon C asked: “Is the first night race also going to be the first GP with 12 former race winners on the starting grid?”
Can anyone answer that query?
Haas
29th September 2008, 7:46
When was the last race in which a driver won with a non-tinted visor?
(I have no idea if that can even be checked up :P )
Ps: This was mentioned at the post race press conference I think.
Sumedh
29th September 2008, 8:32
12 driver : Well, 7 this season, apart from those : Fisichella, Button, Barrichello, Coulthard, Trulli have won before..
But, is 12 a record?? I guess; there were more race winners on the starting grid when there weren’t so many rookies..
4 of the 5 youngest podiums are in this season : That is a endearing statistic. BTW, what is the oldest podium ever? My bet : it is Schumi, Barri and DC sometime in 2004..
MarathonMan801
29th September 2008, 8:40
Ummm. No.
A combined age of 24 and a bit years would make them each about 8 years old . . .
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th September 2008, 8:52
I meant average. Fixed now, thanks.
TommyB
29th September 2008, 8:58
When was the last time 5 different teams won an F1 race in a season. I can’t remember ever seeing it since I’ve been watching F1
MartyP
29th September 2008, 8:59
To help answer the question above, the oldest F1 podium was the 1950 Swiss Grand Prix. Nino Farina, Luigi Fagioli, and Louis Rosier made it to the rostrum with an average age of 46 years.
Out of interest, the top twenty oldest F1 podiums were all from Grand Prix races in the 1950’s.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th September 2008, 9:12
TommyB – 2003: Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Renault and Jordan.
MartyP – That’s a record that is not likely to be beaten any time soon!
Jian
29th September 2008, 9:18
Hey when was the last time 5 different drivers have won five races on a trot? ;)
Sumedh
29th September 2008, 9:34
Well, Massa had back-to-back wins in Valencia and Spa ;)
If we discard Spa, and count from Hockenheim, yes 5 different drivers have won 5 races..
SamS
29th September 2008, 9:45
@Hass,
Hamilton won the Monaco GP this year with non tinted visor (because of the rain)
Sush
29th September 2008, 9:51
Ferrari press officer, most stressful job in the world?
most amounts of commentary c*ck ups?, “teat?, i meant seat!”?
“thats shinitero, i mean Nakajima! what am I saying?”
Journeyer
29th September 2008, 10:18
Hey guys! I’m back!
Lemme answer it for you: I read on F1 Racing before that the 1978 Austrian GP was the most talented F1 grid ever.
It contained 13 FORMER winners (Peterson, Depailler, Fittipaldi, Laffite, Brambilla, Watson, Regazzoni, Reutemann, Lauda, Hunt, Jones, Schecker, Andretti). It also had 8 FUTURE race winners (Villeneuve, Arnoux, Rosberg, Tambay, Jabouille, Pironi, Patrese, Piquet).
Smitty
29th September 2008, 10:37
The oldest podium in history was probably in the 50s…not 2004 :P
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th September 2008, 10:51
Journeyer – I knew I’d seen that somewhere! Hope you enjoyed Singapore :-)
Journeyer
29th September 2008, 13:00
Saying I enjoyed it would be an understatement. Milos enjoyed it too! Just 188 days to Sepang 2009, then. :)
Jupiter
29th September 2008, 14:13
How about 4 German drivers in the top 6 positions of the race; is this some kind of record?
Milos
29th September 2008, 14:27
It was rather impossible not to enjoy that race on te track :-)
James B
29th September 2008, 16:05
Williams are the only team not to have a race winner in their current driver line-up.
david
29th September 2008, 18:00
which was the last year to have 7 or more individual race winners?
2008: massa, raikkonenn, heikki, hamilton, vettel, kubica, alonso
dmw
29th September 2008, 19:57
I also think its interesting, and possibly ominous for the red team, that McLaren have not won in four races, and Lewis five, while Ferrari have won twice. All the while Lewis has developed stable lead in the WDC and the team have gone ahead in the WCC.
I think the WDC race turns on whether Kovalainen can qualify ahead of Kimi once and stay ahead through one stint. I foresee Kovy henceforth going into Q3 light as a feather from now on and running as rabbit to force Massa to use revs and tires or risk not getting his 2 point margin, or to drop back and pick for Hamilton if Lewis can start 2nd.
michael counsell
29th September 2008, 20:41
He was going to say Shinji Nakano I’m sure of it, having momentarily forgotton what decade it was.
f1badger
29th September 2008, 20:48
Here’s an interesting fact: The safety car during Singapore was driven by none-other than Alex Wurz! Burt Maylander was taken ill on the Friday.
(Read in the RedBulletin)
Andy
29th September 2008, 21:50
@ f1badger , interesting, i didnt know that
Keith heres a good one for you-
when was the last time four german drivers finished in the top 6 (or 3 in the top 5)??
Bruce Gigolo
29th September 2008, 23:05
Nice race by Nico
Martin
29th September 2008, 23:38
well, is everyone now thoroughly enthused about night-races?
DG
30th September 2008, 8:52
I would like to know from anybody who was there, were there any other support races over the weekend? Either during the day or night? The TV coverage didn’t mention anything, but I’m surprised if the local race series weren’t there.
Journeyer
30th September 2008, 9:17
Hey DG, yup, there were support races there, all but 1 held in the daytime (specifically, afternoon). I didn’t get around to watching them, though: there was shopping to be done! They were:
Aston Martin Asia Cup
Formula BMW Pacific
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
Why’d you ask?
DG
30th September 2008, 9:42
Really becasue with a circuit like that it would have been a shame to only use it for the F1, and I know that normally theres a good mixture, though as I say ITV didn’t even mention it, not even to say ‘the Porsches had lots of fun this afternoon’ as they normally do.
I bet they weren’t allowed to mention the ‘normal’ racing for contractual reasons…..
I think I might have get out there next year!
Fergus Gallas
30th September 2008, 14:09
Keith,
I know that my comment is out of place but i can’t find a place to do it, so it goes.
I’ve seen somewhere that Renault is really up to put Di Grassi on in its cockpit in the 2009 season and has offered Piquet Jnr. to Toro Rosso along with a financial compensation.
Have you heard anything like this?
Wesley
1st October 2008, 23:36
Way to go Quick Nick!Mr.Reliable just needs to find that killer instinct to start reeling them in.
Toby
2nd October 2008, 0:55
19. David – I think 8 drivers won in 2003.
Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Coulthard, Alonso (first victory), Raikkonen (first victory), Fisichella, Barrichello – pretty sure that’s it. Don’t know if there’ve been more than that in a season before, though.
Toby
2nd October 2008, 0:55
Fisichella’s first win too.