Williams end second-longest F1 victory drought

112 comments on “Williams end second-longest F1 victory drought”

1. 

   thejudge13+
   14th May 2012, 12:40

   Fantastic for Williiams.

   A few more stats to add – for those who think tyres a ruining the racing

   Up to and including Barcelona last year and this year, the pole sitter has (9 races)

   5 wins
   1 2nd
   2 3rds
   1 4th
   1. 

      themanwiththechequeredflag
      14th May 2012, 15:30

      Clearly fast cars qualify well and win races – even with Pirelli’s
2. 

   tmax (@tmax)
   14th May 2012, 12:44

   Nice stats… Feel sorry for Lewis who has a nice car and is in good form too….
3. 

   thatscienceguy
   14th May 2012, 12:46

   Interesting, who are the 8 drivers to have won races but never scored a pole?
   Olivier Panis would be one, Innes Ireland too, I’m assuming the rest are also people who only won once? I guess the Indianapolis 500 might throw the stats out a bit.
   1. 

      thatscienceguy
      14th May 2012, 12:49

      actually I just realised the folly of my question – the 96 who have scored pole probably aren’t all represented in the 104 who have won races, so it may well be more than 8 people who have won but never scored a pole.
      1. 

         Enigma (@enigma)
         14th May 2012, 14:44

         Exactly, Hulkenberg and Heidfeld have achieved poles without any wins (not yet at least).
         1. 

            Enigma (@enigma)
            14th May 2012, 15:25

            For example…
   2. 

      andae23 (@andae23)
      14th May 2012, 16:50

      Among others:

      Bruce McLaren
      Eddie Irvine
      Peter Collins
      Johnny Herbert
      Maurice Trintignant
      Pedro Rodriguez
      Francois Cevert
      Jean-Pierre Beltoise
      Jochen Mass
      Gunnar Nilsson
      Alessandro Nannini
      1. 

         thatscienceguy
         15th May 2012, 2:06

         Surprised by Bruce and Peter Collins. And Eddie Irvine to an extent.
4. 

   Dougie MacDonald
   14th May 2012, 12:52

   In this year of really unusual stats I was intrigued to find out that the last time Williams, Ferrari and Lotus were on the podium together was Monaco 1987!
   1. 

      Andrew81 (@andrew81)
      14th May 2012, 13:03

      I was wondering about this stat, but didn’t feel like trawling through every race so thanks for that! It’s actually more recent than I thought it would be.
   2. 

      andae23 (@andae23)
      14th May 2012, 17:32

      The last time Williams, Ferrari and Lotus were on the podium in the same order as the Spanish GP, was the 1984 Dallas GP: Rosberg, Arnoux, de Angelis.
      1. 

         US_Peter (@us_peter)
         14th May 2012, 23:39

         But in any order the last time all three were on the podium was the 1987 Monaco GP with Senna for Lotus, Piquet for Williams, and Alboreto for Ferrari.
         1. 

            US_Peter (@us_peter)
            14th May 2012, 23:40

            Whoops, I see that was already posted above. Guess I need to look at all comments more carefully before posting.
   3. 

      Mark (@marlarkey)
      14th May 2012, 22:07

      Hmmm… yes but is this really “Lotus” ?

      If “Lotus” win a race this season then does it count against Team Lotus results ?
      1. 

         US_Peter (@us_peter)
         14th May 2012, 23:41

         Yes. Constructors are listed and recorded in stats by the chassis name, which is Lotus, not Renault, Benneton, Enstone or what have you.
         1. 

            Mark (@marlarkey)
            15th May 2012, 0:09

            But this “Lotus” isn’t anything at all to do with Team Lotus…. my point is that this “Lotus” team stats should not be added to the “Team Lotus” stats from previous years as they are different constructors (not the same constructor returning to racing).

            They can be recorded as “Lotus” but it needs to be clear that it is a different “Lotus”.
            1. 

               Polishboy808 (@polishboy808)
               15th May 2012, 1:44

               Not sure what your getting at here. Yes, its built in Enstone, but it is funded by THE Lotus that builds current Lotus road cars and that also built the old Lotus road cars, which was the same Lotus that funded the old Lotus race team that were built not in Hornsey, like the original Lotus road and race cars, but in another factory built specifically for their race cars in Hethel (which now currently produces Lotus’ road cars). So even though Enstone was not built by Lotus, it is funded by Lotus in the same way that Lotus funded the Team Lotus race team back in the 60’s – 90’s. Thats the way I understood it at least.
            2. 

               BasCB (@bascb)
               15th May 2012, 9:56

               Ehm, @polishboy808, In general I agree a lot with the what you want to say here, but since LotusGP and Group Lotus informed the world a couple of weeks ago that in fact they ended that sponsorship contract, your argument is not true anymore. And it seems part of the reason was that the money was not forthcoming easily even last year, although probably money from Lotus Cars did finance part of the development of this years’ car.
            3. 

               Mark (@marlarkey)
               16th May 2012, 13:10

               I’m just curious as to what the criteria has to be for it to count as the same team. Is simply carrying the name enough (ie a sponsorship deal) ? Or is it ownership ? Or where the factory is ?

               I’m not sure there is any clear criteria… and it leads to inconsistencies and anomolies.

               1. Case one… Lets say for instance that Ford entered F1 under the Ford name… does that mean that they should inherit the results of Jaguar or that it would count as a new “Ford” set of results.

               2. Case two… If Tata entered F1 under the Tata name, would it be a new team or could they claim the old Jaguar results ?

               3. Case three… what if Tata entered F1 using the Jaguar name (given that they now own Jaguar) would that count as a new team or again could they claim the old Jaguar results ?

               4. If Benneton results count as Benneton, why didn’t Renault inherit the Benneton results when the team became Renault – it was still the same team, only the ownership and funding that changed. OTOH the ex-Benneton Renault team’s results are counted with the Renault Renault results even though the two teams were not physically the same – only the ownership was the same.

               Personally, unless there is some form of continuity then a line should be drawn and it should count as a separate team.
            4. 

               BasCB (@bascb)
               16th May 2012, 13:18

               I guess there are two parallell views there @markarkey

               One is the view of the official statistics, who go by chassis name (Benneton was ditched when they went to Renault, and now it was exchanged for Lotus, therefore it now gets counted together with the results for the original Team Lotus and the Lotus Racing/Team Lotus of Fernandes )

               Another view is the one used to determine success payments (and past success Bonus) under the Concorde Agreement, this goes by company registration number (with a few provisions limiting changes made to the onwership and chassis name, as far as is known)
5. 

   Lin1876 (@lin1876)
   14th May 2012, 12:53

   A quick correction: Williams won the 2001 San Marino GP, not 2003. The figure of 54 races without a win looks right, as the team failed to win at all in 1998, 1999 or 2000.

   Epic once again Keith, still my favourite article of the weekend!
6. 

   MaroonJack (@maroonjack)
   14th May 2012, 12:55

   I noticed a typo: “The yfailed” instead of “they failed”.
7. 

   Deflated Tyre
   14th May 2012, 12:57

   Am I right in Saying Maldonado is the first person since Emerson Fittipaldi to score their first podium and race win at the same race?
   1. 

      McLarenJB2009 (@mclarenjb2009)
      14th May 2012, 13:01

      Actually Vettel did that in Monza 2008
   2. 

      Karthikeyan (@ridiculous)
      14th May 2012, 14:40

      to score their

      ?
      1. 

         ajokay (@)
         14th May 2012, 16:27

         Well it certainly isn’t “to score there” or “to score they’re”.
   3. 

      Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
      15th May 2012, 5:07

      Nico Rosberg scored his first pole and win earlier this year at Sanghai.
      1. 

         Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
         15th May 2012, 5:08

         *Shanghai
   4. 

      topdowntoedown (@topdowntoedown)
      15th May 2012, 12:06

      And in addition to Vettel and Rosberg mentioned above: Webber in 2010. (I think).
      1. 

         Drop Valencia!
         16th May 2012, 0:47

         no his first podium monaco 05
8. 

   Burnout (@burnout)
   14th May 2012, 13:01

   Should Renault be on the list as fourth longest gap between wins? They weren’t a constructor for most of the years between 1983 and 2003.
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      14th May 2012, 13:04

      Only the races where they competed were counted.
      1. 

         Burnout (@burnout)
         14th May 2012, 13:45

         Right, my mistake. I was under the impression Renault left the sport in ’83 or ’84. Completely forgot about the number of races column.
      2. 

         DFB
         15th May 2012, 1:10

         Keith I was just wondering, this year has the most world champions on the grid. Is it also the year with the most grands prix winners? Theres Webber, Massa, Rosberg, Maldonado and Kovalainen on top of the champs, so nearly half the field.

         I’m new to this website, you do a good job
      3. 

         Loetkoe (@loetkoe)
         15th May 2012, 8:30

         What about Indy 2005? Williams didn’t start that one
         1. 

            BasCB (@bascb)
            15th May 2012, 10:11

            But they did take part in the race weekend. They qualified for the race and did the warm-up lap, that counts as having taken part.
      4. 

         Joao Pitol (@)
         16th May 2012, 20:53

         What was the gap for Toleman/ Benetton / Renault from Berger’s last win in ’97 till Alonso’s (?) first for neo-Renault?
   2. 

      Lin1876 (@lin1876)
      14th May 2012, 13:06

      64 shounds right. They went 3 seasons as a constructor (1984, 1985 and 2002) without a win, plus Hungary was closer to the end of the season in 2003 than it is now, so you have to account for about 11 races there, and around the 5 left in 1983.
   3. 

      Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
      14th May 2012, 13:16

      but the gap is measured in races not time, so yes :)
9. 

   Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
   14th May 2012, 13:04

   I quite enjoyed the fact that last time Williams won a race, Kimi was also on the podium!
   1. 

      Helio (@helio)
      14th May 2012, 18:32

      Not only that, but the last time the other man on the podium was a Ferrari driver, too (now Alonso, then Barrichello)! Talk about coincidence, huh?
      1. 

         BasCB (@bascb)
         15th May 2012, 10:11

         :-)
      2. 

         AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
         15th May 2012, 13:20

         Well spotted at @helio I feel bad for not spotting that myself!
10. 

    Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
    14th May 2012, 13:16

    When was the last time Williams, Ferrari and Lotus were on the podium together?
    1. 

       Dougie MacDonald
       14th May 2012, 14:58

       Monaco 1987!
    2. 

       Mark (@marlarkey)
       14th May 2012, 22:01

       Hmmm… yes but is this really “Lotus” ?

       If “Lotus” win a race this season then does it count against Team Lotus results ?
       1. 

          Joao Pitol (@)
          16th May 2012, 21:00

          If you think not, would you agree that that team’s previous victories shouldn’t count as “Renault” either? And, of course, that the Brackley team isn’t really “Mercedes”?
11. 

    Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
    14th May 2012, 13:19

    I’m rusty on my lineages, anyone care to say who Brabham sort-of-became now, and who Red Bull sort-of-came from in 1983? Renault, too, for that matter: did the ’83 team go through various generations and turn back into the modern Lotus, or something else?
    1. 

       safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
       14th May 2012, 13:26

       Brabham as a team died in 1992. Red Bull bought out Jaguar, which came from Stewart whose first season was 1997, so a long time in the future from 1983.

       The 83′ Renault and 21st century Renault are not the same team originally. The modern incarnation of Lotus comes from Renault, which was formerly Benetton from 1986 to 2001. Before Benetton the team was called Toleman whose first season was 1981. Hope that answers your question.
       1. 

          Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
          14th May 2012, 13:33

          that’s perfect, thank you. I’m surprised no-one bought out Brabham, the rest confirms what I thought I knew. Shame though, I was hoping there might be one or two more hidden parallels between the recent run of 5 teams & drivers winning races ;)
          Cheers!
          1. 

             Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
             14th May 2012, 13:38

             having said I was surprised Brabham wasn’t bought out, clearly they were rubbish in the later years and it looks like there wasn’t a market for team entries as there is now. Not such a surprise then
             1. 

                safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
                14th May 2012, 14:31

                Yeah Brabham faded into obscurity in the end, the only noteworthy thing they really did in later years was give Damon Hill his debut before he went to Williams the next year.
             2. 

                BasCB (@bascb)
                15th May 2012, 10:14

                Wasn’t that about Bernie quitting being a team owner when he became fully engaged with the sports rights, and not wanting to sell to anyone (he probably did not need the money anymore by then)?

                He still owns a lot of the cars from the glory days.
       2. 

          Joao Pitol (@)
          16th May 2012, 21:04

          +1, hence my question about where the ’97-’03 Toleman drought would fall in those rankings.
    2. 

       Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
       14th May 2012, 13:35

       @picasso-19d-ftw – Red Bull can trace its lineage back to Stewart GP, which was founded in 1997. Jackie Stewart didn’t buy out an existing team – he established his own. Stewart became Jaguar in 2000, which in turn became Red Bull in 2005.

       As for Brabham, they were established in 1962, and continued using the name until 1992, when they were sold to a Japanese engineering firm and promptly collapsed. The case was so bad that it was referred to the Serious Fraud Office. There was an attempt to revive the Brabham name for a 2010 grid entry, but the bid never progressed beyond the first round of the selection process.

       Renault is a bit harder to pin down. They started racing in 1997, and continued to 1985, and which point they were shut down. At the same time, they supplied Toleman – the team that gave Senna his start – starting in 1981. Toleman was sold to the Benetton Group, who raced as Benetton until 2002, when they changed their name to Renault (though Renault had actually been funding the team since 2000). They continued competing as Renault until 2009, at which point they withdrew and Genii Captial took control of the team. Genii continued to use the Renault name in 2010 and 2011, before they became Lotus this year.
       1. 

          Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
          14th May 2012, 14:46

          thanks PM, it’s fascinating stuff. The merry-go-round of names is almost as frantic and incestuous as the merry-go-round of staff.
          So in short there is a (somewhat slim) case to say that ’83 Renault is an ancestor of the 2012 Lotus. Another reason it would be fun to see Raikonnen or Grosjean make it onto the top step at Monaco.
          1. 

             US_Peter (@us_peter)
             14th May 2012, 23:47

             No, the ’83 Renault team has no lineage to the recent Renault team that is now Lotus.
             1. 

                Joao Pitol (@)
                16th May 2012, 21:19

                Although the 2005-6 championship winning “Renault” team is the same team as today’s “Lotus”
       2. 

          BasCB (@bascb)
          15th May 2012, 10:16

          A slight typo there @prisoner-monkeys

          They started racing in 1997, and continued to 1985

          making the dates a bit strange!
       3. 

          Joao Pitol (@)
          16th May 2012, 21:14

          “At the same time, they [Renault] supplied Toleman…starting in 1981”

          I don’t think so. From 1980 (in F2) till the end of ’85, Toleman used Hart engines, switching to BMW as Benetton for ’86, then Ford till the end of ’94. Renault did supply Benetton with engines from ’95, and the team was still using them (under Mecachrome and Playlife branding) until the Renault takeover and the switch to the new wide angle V10.

          If by “supplied”‘ you meant something else than engine supply, I’m not aware of any relationship. What were you thinking of?
          1. 

             Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
             16th May 2012, 21:27

             At that time, Toleman were racing against both Lotus and Renault…
             1. 

                Joao Pitol (@)
                17th May 2012, 20:39

                Indeed. And at the end of ’83, their #1 driver left to join Renault. And at the end of ’84, their new #1 left to join Lotus.
12. 

    Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
    14th May 2012, 13:21

    And I managed to miss such an exciting race. :P
    Good thing I have Internet. :D
13. 

    bananaramarepublic
    14th May 2012, 13:29

    2001 Imola,not 2003
14. 

    alexf1man (@alexf1man)
    14th May 2012, 13:37

    The last Williams win from pole was by Juan Pablo Montoya in the 2003 German Grand Prix.
    Those teams were last in the top 3 together in the 2005 European Grand Prix (when Lotus was Renault).
    First Williams podium since the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
15. 

    Carlitox (@carlitox)
    14th May 2012, 13:44

    First win for a South American driver since 2009 (Barrichello, Brawn GP, Monza), Also first time an engine manufacturer wins with two different teams since 2009 (McLaren and Brawn GP), that was actually achieved with Rosberg’s win, but it’s the first time for Renault since 1995 (when four different Renault-powered cars won races: Hill, Coulthard, Schumacher and Herbert). Please correct me if I made a boo-boo :)
    1. 

       Burnout (@burnout)
       14th May 2012, 13:51

       You’re right. Four different Renault powered cars won races in 1995, but only two teams (Williams and Benetton). Considering Lotus’s form this season, we might have wins being taken by three different Teams running the same engines.
       I guess we’d have to go back to the DFV era to find the last time three constructors using the same engine won races in one season.
       1. 

          Andrew81 (@andrew81)
          14th May 2012, 14:20

          Force India came close to making it three for Mercedes engines in 2009. Could it be 1982 for the Cosworth engines?
       2. 

          Carlitox (@carlitox)
          14th May 2012, 17:29

          That’s right. After a quick research your answer is 1983: Ford won three races (USA west, east and Monaco) with three different teams (McLaren, Williams and Tyrrell) and three different drivers (Watson, Keke Rosberg and Alboreto)
16. 

    Lachie (@lachie)
    14th May 2012, 14:00

    One strange fact I noticed after looking at the points table is that there are more winners in the rest of the table than there are in the top 5. Can’t expect that’s a regular occurrence. Indicative of consistency being key this year methinks.
17. 

    Dan Brown (@danbrown180)
    14th May 2012, 14:08

    Well, I never knew F1Fanatic was this old. I like the retro designs :)
    http://web.archive.org/web/20051123185549/https://www.racefans.net/
    1. 

       AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
       14th May 2012, 15:17

       Looks a lot like 2012-gpupdate.net :-)
    2. 

       Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
       14th May 2012, 15:30

       @danbrown180 Oh dear, it’s like looking at a picture of myself from high school. That hair! Those glasses!

       Also, I predict a healthy future for the A1 Grand Prix and Grand Prix Masters spin-off sites. In fact, by 2008 I reckon they’ll both have eclipsed F1…
       1. 

          Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
          14th May 2012, 16:52

          @keithcollantine Boy, that site looks so old!

          You should do a feature article explaining the evolution of the site! For someone like me who chose this site as main source of F1 information, it’d be interesting to read about its history! how it started and all :)
       2. 

          BasCB (@bascb)
          15th May 2012, 10:44

          But I saw the excellent Race Calendar is a feature you added right from the beginning of the site @keithcollantine!
       3. 

          AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
          15th May 2012, 13:27

          @keithcollantine Aw, gotta love the Wayback machine. I’ve used it a few times for sites I did in the past. Unfortunately it didn’t save the (hurrendous) Flash animations I put together.
18. 

    Andrew81 (@andrew81)
    14th May 2012, 14:14

    This season is definitely throwing up a lot of stats. I have a few that are related to those in the article:
    – Keith mentions that if a new driver/team wins in Monaco it will set the record for most different winners at the start of the season, just to clarify, the driver record can be broken even if it is a different driver from the same team, such as Hamilton, Webber or Schumacher, because both the driver and team record stand at 5.
    – The ‘number of consecutive different winners’ stat is missing the 9-race streak from Monaco-Switzerland 1982. In addition to the 8-race streak Keith mentions, another 8-race and 7-race streak can be derived from that 1982-3 period, while there was also a 7-race streak from Monaco-Austria 1977.
    – You could also add the 5-race streak of different constructors winning, which has only been beaten twice, with 7-race and 6-race streaks in the 1982-3 period, though there have been nine other 5-race streaks.
    – To continue the race leader stats… Maldonado became the fourth driver to lead his first lap in 2012, after Perez, di Resta and Grosjean. Only four seasons outside the 1950s have seen more drivers do this. We have had 10 drivers from 8 teams lead laps so far; while 10 drivers isn’t rare (the record is 15, reached 6 times including 2008), only three seasons have seen more than 8 teams lead, with 10 in 1975 and 9 in 2003 and 2008. The only established team not to have led a lap yet is Toro Rosso; the highest they have run is third (Vergne for one lap in Malaysia).
    – And fastest lap stats… five drivers from four teams is fairly average over a whole season, but it looks like they could go to anyone this year, so expect this number to end up among the highest. 2009 holds the joint record of 10 different drivers in a season, but only in 1975 have as many as 8 teams got the accolade. We’ve also had two drivers set their first fastest laps so far, but this is fairly common over a season.

    A few other stats:
    – Not only is Brazil 2004 the last time Williams won a race, but also the last time that Williams and Ferrari appeared together on the front row, with Barrichello heading Montoya on the grid that day
    – As well as the different winners streak, we now have a 4-race streak of different polesitters. I’m not sure of the record, but this streak is the longest since Britain-Belgium 2009 (5 races).
    – And an unrelated bonus that I found while compiling these, 5 different teams led the 2008 Canadian GP at various points, while only 5 different teams led every lap of the races from Abu Dhabi 2009-Australia 2012 inclusive, and the fifth team (other than McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes) was Toro Rosso, who led only one lap in Canada 2010 (who are, coincidentally, the only established team not to have led a lap this year). The mixed up grid this year really did end a two-year domination by a select few teams.
    1. 

       Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
       14th May 2012, 15:35

       @andrew81 Regarding the 1982 one I didn’t want to include overlapping streaks. Great work though!
    2. 

       ledzep4pm (@ledzep4pm)
       14th May 2012, 22:10

       With regards to 5 teams leading every lap from Abu Dhabi 09 to Australia 2012, it’s very suprising if true, I would have said that surely a Renault/Lotus lead at least one lap, with a few podiums you would have thought they lead at some point during a pit stop phase
19. 

    Montas
    14th May 2012, 15:04

    This is the tenth year of Williams-Renault partnership (1989-1997, 2012) and Williams has managed to win at least one race each year.
20. 

    sumedh
    14th May 2012, 15:36

    A Red Bull driver was lapped in the Barcelona race.
    When was the last time this happened? I think Australia 2009 when Vettel crashed on the last lap but was a classified finisher might count as one.
    1. 

       Toro Stevo (@toro-stevo)
       15th May 2012, 0:28

       I think it was Japan in 2009 where Webber started in the pits but kept having to come back in for various car failures and ailments.
21. 

    Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
    14th May 2012, 16:37

    Only Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have scored points at all races so far.

    At this time last year, 5 drivers (Vettel, Webber, Button, Hamilton and Alonso) had scored points at all 5 races, which shows how unpredictable this season have been.

    It’s also interesting to note that last year 16 drivers scored points in the first 5 races which was a lot in it’s own right, while this year 18 drivers (all teams bar the newer ones) have done so. So rather than variation within the top 10 places, it’s more of a question of how much a team drops in performance relative to previous races…
    1. 

       MW (@)
       14th May 2012, 16:56

       Ya got there ahead of me @Fer no.65 !

       It does go to show what a treat we’re getting this year in terms of an unpredictable and very even points battle.
22. 

    MW (@)
    14th May 2012, 16:45

    Both Hamilton and Alonso are the only drivers to have finished in the points in every race so far.
    It was down to just the two of them after Bahrain…

    It’s hard to know who’s going to win this one..
23. 

    Darmanos
    14th May 2012, 17:05

    Fantastic article F1F, you just helped me get 15 minutes closer to the time I’m supposed to leave the office! (not proud of it)
24. 

    michaeldobson13 (@michaeldobson13)
    14th May 2012, 17:14

    Of the 15 podium spots, there have been 9 different people on the podium, 3 of whom have never been on the podium before. The only teams to have had both drivers on the podium are Lotus and McLaren
25. 

    andae23 (@andae23)
    14th May 2012, 17:15

    Though hosting the Spanish GP since 1991, Maldonado was the first driver ever to get his first victory at the Circuit de Catalunya.

    It’s the first time since 1975 the Spanish GP welcomed a new GP winner: at Jarama 1975, Jochen Mass won his first and sole GP for McLaren. (At least since 1950) it has never happened before that a driver took his first ever pole and win during the Spanish GP.
    1. 

       JorgeGarcia1987
       14th May 2012, 18:17

       Just a little correction: the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix was held at Montjuic, not in Jarama.
       1. 

          andae23 (@andae23)
          14th May 2012, 22:01

          whoops!
26. 

    MattB (@mattb)
    14th May 2012, 18:00

    Interestingly, Hamilton’s fastest lap was slower than both Caterhams’ fastest laps. Probably to do with tyres, but that’s not a stat I was expecting!
    1. 

       JennaB
       14th May 2012, 19:23

       Mmm.
    2. 

       Joao Pitol (@)
       16th May 2012, 21:26

       Because he did a 2-stopper.

       With no refuelling, fastest race lap is easy if you just stick new boots on in the last few laps (cf Grosjean, Barcelona).

       Running a long final stint, Hamilton’s tyres were very old by the time the car had lightened up and the fuel had burnt off, so his fastest lap didn’t reflect his average race pace.
27. 

    Adrian J (@adrian-j)
    14th May 2012, 18:20

    In 1983 the sixth round was won by Prost. If a different driver or team wins the next race it will set a new record for most consecutive winners at the start of the season. Given Lotus and Sauber’s strong start to the year, it is not out of the question.

    I have a good feeling about Lewis’ chances in Monaco. I also wouldn’t rule out a Schumacher resurgence or Kimi finally coming good…

    Is it 2 weeks time yet??

    Loving this F1 2012!!
28. 

    Casanova (@casanova)
    14th May 2012, 18:20

    Apologies if some or all of this has already been pointed out – at William’s last win in 2004, the victor was also a South American, who shared the podium with Raikkonen and a Ferrari driver chasing a win at his home race. All three podium finishers led the race at some point (Alonso and Raikkonen led both races but won neither). Both races had the victorious Williams and the Ferrari on the front row.

    I dug a bit further… in the 2004 race, Button retired early and Schumacher fought back from a poor grid position to take 2 points. In the 2012 race, Schumacher retired early and Button fought back from a poor grid position to take 2 points.

    Red Bull might be sore from having to replace the front wings of both drivers in Spain 2012, but in Brazil 2004 they fared even worse (in their previous guise as Jaguar), as their two cars collided with each other. Mark Webber was with the squad on both occasions.

    Both races had 9 finishers on the lead lap, and team-mates finishing together in 8th/9th and 12th/13th. Both races had drivers from 11 different nations finish the race, with the first 6 drivers all being of different nationalities on both occasions. In each race, the 2nd-highest German finisher finished 7th, and was in a tight battle for position right to the flag. The reigning champion received a penalty in both race weekends (in fact, so did Michael Schumacher himself).
    1. 

       Lin1876 (@lin1876)
       14th May 2012, 21:50

       Goodness that’s one heck of a list. Well done!
29. 

    JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
    14th May 2012, 19:09

    I don’t know if these stats have been mentioned, but:

    – The last time Williams won, both a Ferrari and Raikkonen were on the podium, as happened yesterday :)
    – I believe, the only driver to have been in the points every race is Lewis Hamilton.
    1. 

       ledzep4pm (@ledzep4pm)
       14th May 2012, 22:11

       Alonso and Hamilton are the only ones to have scored every race
       1. 

          JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
          15th May 2012, 7:08

          Ahh yes, for some reason I thought he did worse in China than he actually did lol. Still very interesting though.
30. 

    cjpdk (@cjpdk)
    14th May 2012, 19:51

    Question – isn’t it the “Caeser’s Palace Grand Prix”, rather than the “Las Vegas Grand Prix”?
31. 

    Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
    14th May 2012, 20:38

    He’s won his 24th Grand Prix I think, that must be quite high up the list of “least races before winning”.

    Montoya, Villeneuve, Coulthard and Hill won sooner – but they all started off in a winning Williams, whereas Pastor got a rubbish one. Same applies to Hamilton’s McLaren. Schumacher won exactly a year after his debut, but I think it took Vettel, Alonso and Kovalainen more than 24 GPs to win one.
    1. 

       Overwatch (@overwatch)
       14th May 2012, 21:05

       He’s in the middle…
       http://www.statsf1.com/en/statistiques/pilote/victoire/gp-avant.aspx
32. 

    paulgilb (@paulgilb)
    14th May 2012, 22:20

    Random stat: this is the first Spanish GP since 1998 in which the driver who started 2nd also finished 2nd.

    How many other drivers had not led a lap prior to the race in which they scored their first win? Obviously Nino Farina, Johnnie Parsons, and Giancarlo Baghetti managed it.
33. 

    Polishboy808 (@polishboy808)
    15th May 2012, 2:10

    Some more Facts:

    -Michael Schumacher has finished on the podium in the Spanish GP more than any other current driver, a total of 12 times, half of those (6) being wins. Fernando Alonso is in second place with half the amount of podiums that Michael has (6), podiums, but he has only won his home race once.
    -This is the first time that Raikkonen finished on the podium in Spain but didn’t win the race. His other two podiums in Spain were both wins in 2008 and 2005.

    Thats all I got lol.
34. 

    James Robertson (@mclarenboy0310)
    15th May 2012, 2:28

    That is immensely interesting to know that if it hadn’t been for gearbox penalties and stripping of pole position Hamilton would have started on pole for every single race so far.
    1. 

       plushpile (@plushpile)
       15th May 2012, 4:38

       Pole? I think you meant the front row.

       He set the second fastest time in Q3 at Bahrain and China…
35. 

    xivizmath (@xivizmath)
    15th May 2012, 7:28

    Kamui Kobayashi came 5th in this race. Last time we had a Japanese in the top 5 was 2004 Grand Prix of Japan. It was Takuma Sato for BAR-Honda.
    1. 

       andae23 (@andae23)
       15th May 2012, 8:49

       I believe Kamui also became fifth in last year’s Monaco GP.
36. 

    McLarenJB2009 (@mclarenjb2009)
    15th May 2012, 11:35

    Also we have 4 consecutive races that a driver scores either his maiden win or his maiden podium.
    Malaysia – Perez 1st podium
    China – Rosberg 1st win
    Bahrain – Grojsean 1st podium
    Spain – Maldonado 1st win
37. 

    AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
    15th May 2012, 13:29

    I always think ‘I bet the race winners would love to see this article’, surely it can only compound how good they feel about winning a race, having your name mentioned in the same sentence as F1 legends.
38. 

    Andrew81 (@andrew81)
    20th May 2012, 21:13

    I’ve just unearthed another stat from this unusual Grand Prix. Maldonado ended another victory drought, that of the number 18, which hadn’t won since Peter Gethin triumphed in the the fantastic Italian Grand Prix of 1971. This was actually the longest victory drought of any number used in F1 today. That record now lies with the number 21, which has only Jackie Stewart’s victory in Argentina 1972 to its name (back when drivers changed numbers during the year).

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