2009 Turkish Grand Prix facts and stats

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Kovalainen finished 14th - McLaren's season goes from bad to worse
Kovalainen finished 14th - McLaren's season goes from bad to worse

Four consecutive wins for Jenson Button – three consecutive no-scores for McLaren. Here’s the Turkish Grand Prix in numbers.

Jenson Button’s winning streak continues – he’s now won four in a row – the last person to do that was Fernando Alonso in the 2006 Spanish, Monaco, British and French Grands Prix:

Button scored his seventh Grand Prix victory, giving him as many wins as Rene Arnoux and Juan Pablo Montoya. He also set the fastest lap for only the second time in his career.

Sebastian Vettel was on pole position for the third time in his career. It was the first time he’d done so in a dry qualifying session and the first time he didn’t go on to win the race. It was also the first time the Turkish Grand Prix was won by a driver other than the pole sitter.

Mark Webber was on the podium for the fifth time, matching his career-best finish of second from this year’s Chinese Grand Prix. The record for most podium finishes without a win is 12, jointly held by Nick Heidfeld and Stefan Johansson.

Webber has closed the gap to Vettel for third in the championship having beaten him in the last three races:

Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship Top 4 (click to enlarge)
Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship Top 4 (click to enlarge)

McLaren haven’t scored in the last three races. That hasn’t happened since 2004, when David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen finshed out of the top eight in the Spanish, Monaco and European rounds.

It almost goes without saying that Heidfeld extended his run of consecutive finishes – he’s now on 35.

Nico Rosberg scored his best result of the season so far with fifth, and Robert Kubica finished in the points for the first time this year. Kubica ended a seven-race streak without finishing in the points, the longest of his career.

One stat we overlooked after Monaco was Rubens Barrichello becoming the driver to have completed the most F1 race laps. He has now raced 13,988, surpassing Michael Schumacher’s 13,909.

Spot any more interesting facts and stats from the Turkish Grand Prix? Post them below…

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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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63 comments on “2009 Turkish Grand Prix facts and stats”

  1. keepF1technical
    8th June 2009, 8:41

    i noticed once again a brit on the top spot for a british team. When was the last time a british driver won with a NON british team? (when two national anthems would have played out?)

    what other nation of drivers have won with a team of the same nationality?

    1. SonyJunkie
      8th June 2009, 9:15

      Could it be as far back as Nigel Mansell for Ferrari in Brazil 1989?

      1. Lustigson
        8th June 2009, 9:19

        Hardly. How about Jenson Button for Honda at Hungary 2006, and Eddie Irvine for Ferrari in Australia, Austria, Germany and Malaysia in 1999?

        1. MrRossBrawn
          8th June 2009, 12:58

          For the Jenson Button for Honda at Hungary 2006 win only the British National Anthem would have played because the car is MADE in BRITAIN – even though the parent company is Japanese.

          Rumour has it that Ferrari moved from the UK, in the John Barnard days, lock stock, barrel and the kitchen sink to Italy because they were sick of hearing the British National Anthem being played when a Ferrari won – because the cars were in fact MADE in BRITAIN back in those days :)

          1. Lustigson
            8th June 2009, 13:19

            The Ferrari bit is nonsense, because the anthem is played of the country from which the constructor has received its competition licence. Ferrari has always had an Italian licence, even though John Barnard designed (not built) (part of) the cars in the UK.

            I’m not 100% positive about Honda in 2006, but I gather they raced on a Japanese licence, even though the team was based in the UK. Same goes for Toyota: it works from Germany, but has a Japanese licence; and Force India: based in the UK, but running an Indian licence.

          2. persempre
            8th June 2009, 14:45

            If you listen hard to the anthems in the background of this video (don`t watch or you`ll get sea sick ;) ) you will just about make out the British National Anthem which is then followed by the Japanese.

            The Ferrari part is total rubbish but par for the course for the sort of dumb rumours spread about Ferrari in the UK.
            Ferrari offered Barnard his own design office in Surrey (Ferrari Design and Development) which he bought from Ferrari when he left the company & was where he based his B3 Technologies.

        2. Karol
          8th June 2009, 14:20

          Eddie Irvine a brit? News to me.

          1. Lustigson
            8th June 2009, 14:35

            It’s complicated. Read this.

  2. schumi the greatest
    8th June 2009, 8:55

    Keith, i may be wrong here but didnt vettel take pole in the dry at shanghai?? the race was a monsoon but im pretty sure the qualifying sessions were dry??

    sorry if im wrong on this

    1. zplol
      8th June 2009, 18:36

      you’re right
      http://www.formula1.com/video/

  3. Journeyer
    8th June 2009, 9:07

    Keith, a couple of things I want to note:

    Alonso’s winstreak was Spain, Monaco, Britain, and Canada (not France – Michael Schumacher took that historic 8th win there).

    Also, didn’t both McLarens finish in the points in Canada 2004? I remember it because they were battling with Sauber at that stage of the championship.

  4. Lustigson
    8th June 2009, 9:22

    Something else, regarding British World Champions: the last three Brits to take the title, had a somewhat strange year afterwards: Mansell (1992) wasn’t even there in ’93, Hill (’96) was driving for midfielder Arrows in ’97, while Hamilton (’08) is in the doldrums this season.

    1. Journeyer
      8th June 2009, 9:29

      Good point, Lustigson. From the way things are looking, I think Button is en route to the same fate – with them having less money for 2010, cap or not.

      Heck, you can even include James Hunt in your list – he only finished 5th in 1977, a year after winning the title in 1976.

      Also, no British World Champion has won back-to-back titles since… well, ever.

      1. Lustigson
        8th June 2009, 9:39

        Exactly:

        – Hawthorn (’58) died in a car crash after his title
        – Graham Hill (’62) lost out to a dominant Jim Clark in ‘63
        – Clark (’63) himself had a modestly succesful season in ‘64
        – Surtees (’64) took only 4 podiums a year after his only WDC
        – Clark (’65) had a rather dismall season in ’65, winning only a single GP and finishing 6th in the WDC
        – Hill (’68) fell down to 7th in the WDC in ‘69
        – Stewart (’69) lost his Matra in ’70 and took a single win and 3 podiums in a March
        – Stewart (’71) lost out to Fittipaldi with 2 GPs to go in ‘74
        – Stewart (’73) retired after his third and final WDC
        – Hunt (’76) took 3 GP winst to 5th in ‘77
        – Mansell (’92) joined the IndyCar Series in ‘93
        – Damon Hill (’96) left Williams for Arrows in ‘97
        – Hamilton (’08) found McLaren cought out by new regulations in ‘09

        1. matt
          8th June 2009, 11:29

          Although with Honda financing Brawn this year, the little sponsorship money they’re currently earning may go towards next year, and it’s likely that next year will have a massive amount of sponsorship.

          1. Chris
            8th June 2009, 12:10

            I dont think the money thing is the real issue McLaren has plenty of money.

            I think the real issue is you put all of your effort into winining in one year that you take resources away from the next year (not so much people but wind tunnel time manufacturing any testing time)

            In addition once you win the champonsip you celabrate for a month or so and genarally taken your eye off the ball meaning that the next years car suffers.

            I saw an interview with Sir Jackie Stuart a couple of years ago where he basically said the same thing and it meant that he won the championship missing a year each time in 1969, 1971, 1973

          2. MrRossBrawn
            8th June 2009, 12:51

            Hopefully we’ll have it wrapped up soon so will have plenty of time to focus on next years Car :)

          3. matt
            8th June 2009, 17:01

            I can’t imagine Ross Brawn taking his eye off the ball

  5. James Bolton
    8th June 2009, 9:43

    Jenson must have one of the best starts to a season ever – 6 wins and a 3rd.

    Schumacher bettered this with 6 wins and a 2nd in 1994.
    Fangio comes close with 6 wins and a 4th in 1954 (discounting the Indy 500).
    Mansell also comes close to Jenson with 5 wins, a 2nd and a retirement in 1992.

    I’m not sure if anyone else comes close to these starts?

    1. Lustigson
      8th June 2009, 10:17

      Button’s season to date is indeed one of the most impressive since 1950. The list of most succesful season starts (at the 7 GP point) looks like this:

      1) 1994: Schumacher, 6 wins and a 2nd
      2) 2009: Button, 6 wins and a 3rd
      3) 1954: Fangio, 6 wins and a 4th (Indy 500)
      4) 2004: Schumacher, 6 wins and a DNF
      5) 2002: Schumacher, 5 wins, a 2nd and a 3nd
      6) 1992: Mansell, 5 wins, a 2nd and a DNF

      1. Lustigson
        8th June 2009, 10:42

        3) 1954: Fangio, 6 wins and a 4th (Indy 500)

        I meant to type ‘Indy 500 discarded.

    2. fminas
      8th June 2009, 16:13

      Jim Clark had 6 wins and a 10th in 1965.

      1. Lustigson
        8th June 2009, 16:38

        Actually, he had 6 wins and a DNS from , since he was at the Indy 500 in stead of Monaco, which would have him in 5th behind Schumacher’s 2004 season start.

        1. fminas
          8th June 2009, 17:27

          I didn’t count the DNS. His 10th place was at the italian gp.

  6. ajokay
    8th June 2009, 9:57

    As well at Button’s 7th Win, it Was Brawn’s 6th, which sees the team ahead of Jordan with 4, and behind the next target of 9, jointly held by Ligier, Mantra, Vanwall, maserati and Mercedes Bens.

    1. fminas
      8th June 2009, 16:15

      Brawn is ahead of Kurtis Kraft with 4, not Jordan.

      1. fminas
        8th June 2009, 16:16

        I mean 5.

        1. ajokay
          8th June 2009, 20:21

          Wasn’t really counting them, as they only ever raced in the Indy rounds, but whichever.

  7. James Bolton
    8th June 2009, 9:57

    Car number 22 continues its amazing winning streak, with 11 wins since the beginning of 2008.

    Which also means Jenson has won more races this year than Champion Lewis won last year (6 v 5). Jenson has equalled the number of wins Raikkonen won in 2007 to claim the Championship. Alonso scored 7 wins in both 2005 and 2006, which is well within reach for JB.

  8. James Bolton
    8th June 2009, 10:02

    Lewis is on his longest pointless streak in F1 with a P9, P12 and a P13 in the last three races.

    Seven podiums on the bounce for Jenson is getting close the Hamilton’s British record of 9 podiums in a row. The overall record is held by Michael Schumacher who had 19 on the bounce between 2001 and 2002. So Jenson needs to go some distance before gets close to that record…

    1. fminas
      8th June 2009, 16:19

      Jim Clark had also 9 podiums in a row in 1963.

  9. Kieran
    8th June 2009, 10:09

    according to this both mclarens finished in the top 8 in 2004 at canada.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Canadian_Grand_Prix

    1. James Bolton
      8th June 2009, 10:42

      Ah yeah, it was the race where Williams and Toyota were disqualified for oversize brake calipers.
      So ES, MON and EUR 2004 was the last time McLaren had three pointless races in a row. Canada was after these three.

      Kovalainen has one points finish in 6 races; Raikkonen had one points finish in the first 7 races of 2004 for McLaren.
      Prior to this, Hakkinen had one points finish in 11 in 1997.

    2. Patrickl
      8th June 2009, 10:51

      Keith probably means: Spain, Monaco and the European GP. Canada is the one after that.

      http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2004/2837.html

      1. Patrickl
        8th June 2009, 10:53

        Lol, I guess I should refresh the page before I reply ;)

  10. James Bolton
    8th June 2009, 10:49

    There must be a good stat about the last time there was no Williams, McLaren or Ferrari in the top three of the constructors championship after seven races.

    My guess it would have been around 1970? I don’t have time to look in detail though….

    1. Lobo
      8th June 2009, 16:54

      Off the top of my head: Renault was at top of the charts in 2005/2006, Jordan was top-3 in 1999 … before that Benetton in the mid-nineties when Schumacher was the team-lead.

      1. Michel S.
        8th June 2009, 18:27

        James said “no Williams / McLaren / Ferrari in the top 3”, rather than “a non-Williams/McLaren/Ferrari in the top 3”. The former is much rarer than the latter.

  11. djdaveyp
    8th June 2009, 11:48

    I think this is the first time Vettel has made negative comments, and also the first time he has take his helmet off to reveal anythig other than a smile.

  12. djdaveyp
    8th June 2009, 11:49

    I think this is the first time Vettel has made negative comments, and also the first time he has taken his helmet off to reveal anythig other than a smile.

  13. W-K
    8th June 2009, 12:39

    With reference to ‘taking the eye off the ball’ isn’t it a fact that the ‘big’ teams all had there ‘eyes’ on designing a kers car for this season. And that the rules for this season (weights etc) mean that there was at the start of the season a two tier championship but that nobody realised it.

  14. Yosu
    8th June 2009, 13:06

    Didn’t Nakajima lead a lap, while everyone was doing the first round of pit stops?

    1. Lustigson
      8th June 2009, 13:31

      According to the lap chart, no. He was running as high as 4th, though.
      Rosberg was close to leading the race, but for his pit stop at the same time as then-leader Webber.

  15. MrRossBrawn
    8th June 2009, 13:14

    Did anybody else notice from the TV images available, only Button didn’t need to use the right hand side of his cockpit as a head rest through Turn 8 throughout the entire race ?

    1. Lustigson
      8th June 2009, 13:22

      According to the lap chart, no. He was running as high as 4th, though.

      Rosberg was close to leading the race, but for his pit stop at the same time as then-leader Webber.

      1. Lustigson
        8th June 2009, 13:31

        Sorry, meant to reply to an other post.

    2. Lee
      8th June 2009, 19:33

      Yep, i noticed that too, he’s rock ard is our Jenson.

  16. mp4-19
    8th June 2009, 13:26

    remember the inaugural 2000 US gp at indianapolis? hakkinen’s engine gave way when he was leading both the race & championship.it served as a death blow to hakkinen & mclaren. it took them a long time to recover fron that. in 2003 kimi at one point in time was leading shoemaker by 17 points. kimi lost his lead after the canadian gp. but was set to regain his lead in the next race itself at nurburgring. his merc engine blew when he was leading the race by a comfortable margin. the lesser said about 2004 the better. we all know about thar years car & specifically the engine. brings back bad memories. the chassis was revolutionary, but the engine was crap. in 2005 kimi statrted the french,british,italian gp’s with a 10 place grid penalty due to merc engines blowing up on dynaos & engine simulators! the 2006 engine never had the thump in it. so im right i think in saying mercedes have let down mclaren on innumerable occasions. but now their engines are unflappable on the brawns. ron must be fuming over this i think, cuz imo the only time mclaren failed to provide a bad chassis to mercedes is 1995,1996 & 2009. the rest was due to the failure of mercedes. if mclaren had gone with customer engines in say 2004, i wud say they would have easily won the championship.

    1. mp4-19
      8th June 2009, 13:45

      me sorry too. posted in the wrong forum.

  17. Leon
    8th June 2009, 14:41

    It’s lack of testing through the season that’s hitting Mclaren and Ferrari. Mclaren have had dogcars several times in the past, but such is the muscle of their organisation they can usually get back on terms by mid-season, even if they have to design what is effectively a new car. No possibility of that this season. Reserve and test drivers are largely redundant these days too.

    And though the idea of severely limiting testing during the season has merits if there is a need to reduce F1 costs, the law of unintended consequences has a nasty habit of biting the wrong people at the wrong time.

    Mosley and Ecclestone seem to have a habit of not thinking things through before implimenting radical changes, to the great cost of everyone in F1.

  18. ajokay
    8th June 2009, 14:43

    With Barrichello not finishing the race, every team has now had at least one retirement of some form or another this season.

  19. Damon
    8th June 2009, 16:28

    One thing nobody noticed in the qualifying results:

    1. Sebastian Vettel
    2. Jenson Button
    3. Rubens Barrichello
    4. Mark Webber
    5. Jarno Trulli
    6. Kimi Raikkonen
    7. Felipe Massa

    Is this a world record?? Hehe.

    1. Patrickl
      8th June 2009, 16:47

      Just Heikki and Fisichella missing :)

    2. James G
      8th June 2009, 16:55

      All the podium finishers have surnames that are six letters and follow the same letter arrangement: consonant-vowel-double consonant-vowel-consonant.

    3. carldec
      8th June 2009, 16:55

      8. fernnando alonnso

    4. TommyB
      8th June 2009, 19:46

      Anyone see the autosport article about fast names? It mentioned having double letters gives you a better chance of being an F1 driver. Funny article

      1. James G
        8th June 2009, 20:07

        Sweet! My name’s got double O in it! I’ll phone up Flavio and get him to replace Piquet. Although unlike Piquet, I probably won’t get any points and will just crash all the time…

  20. Eduardo Gigante
    8th June 2009, 18:10

    Which driver took so long to win his first title? Button will win in his tenth season, but I doubt that’s the record. Does anybody know? Mansell maybe?

    1. James G
      8th June 2009, 18:53

      Mansell’s first race was on August 17th 1980 and he clinched the World Championship on August 16th 1992, a total of 4382 days. Andretti is second (3616 days).

      Currently, Button has been an F1 driver since March 12th 2000, a total of 3152 days. So, by my (quite possibly inexact)calculations, he should be third.

      1. Profile Photo

        Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
        8th June 2009, 19:09

        Wow good stats work :-)

    2. fminas
      8th June 2009, 18:54

      It’s Mansell who won his title at his 13th season.

  21. EGC
    8th June 2009, 21:21

    Off topic, why i can’t open the DrVee page? Any change?
    Anyway, a good race for a nap :-)
    Cheers.

  22. Becken
    9th June 2009, 18:00

    Someone should start to count how many times Lewis Hamilton has overtaken Kimi Raikkonen since he arrived at F1.

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