Lewis Hamilton scored his 19th career win in the Hungarian Grand Prix, giving him one more than Kimi Raikkonen and one fewer than Mika Hakkinen. The latter, like Hamilton, scored all of his wins at the wheel of a McLaren-Mercedes.
Hamilton has now won three times at the Hungaroring, giving him as many as Ayrton Senna. Only Michael Schumacher has scored more wins at this track – four.
Hamilton’s 22nd pole position puts him level with Fernando Alonso again. It was his first win from pole since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix.
McLaren bolstered their excellent record at the Hungaroring with their sixth win at the circuit in the last eight years.
They were also finally able to celebrate their 150th pole position. The team thought they had achieved this at the Spanish Grand Prix, only for Hamilton to be penalised after stopping on the track during the session.
Martin Whitmarsh said: “For all you trainspotters out there, our first was scored by Peter Revson, at Mosport Park, in Canada, on September 23rd 1972, in a McLaren M19C, with a lap-time of 1’13.6.
“Oh, and, by the way, I haven?óÔé¼Ôäót forgotten the 1968 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, where we also got the pole, but that was a non-championship Formula 1 race!”
Ferrari have already passed the 200 pole positions mark, with 207.
Lotus: close to victory
Both Lotus drivers took turns leading the race and both finished on the podium – yet that breakthrough victory still eludes them. Kimi Raikkonen scored his third second-place finish of the season.
Romain Grosjean started on the front row for the first time in his F1 career. The last French driver to do so was Jean Alesi when he started second for Sauber in the 1999 French Grand Prix.
Lotus and McLaren have the most podium finishes this season – eight – with Ferrari on six (all courtesy of Alonso, of course) and Red Bull five. For comparison, after 11 races last year Red Bull had racked up 16 podium appearances.
Sebastian Vettel set fastest lap for the third time this year. This was the 12th fastest lap of his career, giving him as many as fellow multiple champions Alberto Ascari and Jack Brabham, plus Rene Arnoux and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Alonso and McLaren rack up the points
Alonso missed out on the chance to score his 31st Grand Prix victory on his 31st birthday – and deprived me of an easy headline!
However he did score his 23rd consecutive points finish which means he needs just one more to equal Michael Schumacher’s record. As noted here earlier, the change in the points system has helped his cause somewhat.
The same also goes for McLaren, who can reach 50 consecutive races in the points at the next Grand Prix. Since Jenson Button joined Hamilton at the team at least one of them has scored in every race.
The record for most consecutive points finishes for a team is held by Ferrari, with 55 between the 1999 and 2003 Malaysian Grands Prix. Ferrari are also on a run of 39 consecutive points finishes.
Mercedes had their worst combined starting positions since last year’s Japanese Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg 13th and Schumacher 17th.
Pastor Maldonado collected his sixth penalty of 2012, one more than he had last year. These include three gearbox change penalties incurred in Bahrain, Monaco and Canada.
Kovalainen’s 100th start
Finally, Heikki Kovalainen started his 100th Grand Prix. As we did for Lewis Hamilton last week, here are his top ten finishes to date:
| Position | Races |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 4 |
| 5 | 7 |
| 6 | 3 |
| 7 | 5 |
| 8 | 6 |
| 9 | 3 |
| 10 | 3 |
Kovalainen has had a single pole position in the 2008 British Grand Prix. His hundred starts have come with Renault (17), McLaren (35), Lotus (37, plus one failure to start) and Caterham (11).
Review the year so far in statistics here:
- 2012 F1 championship points
- 2012 F1 season records
- 2012 F1 race data
- 2012 F1 qualifying data
- 2012 F1 retirements and penalties
- 2012 F1 strategy and pit stops
- 2012 F1 driver form guides
Spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Hungarian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
2012 Hungarian Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Bridgestone, Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
Stormbreak (@stormbreak)
30th July 2012, 11:35
Raikkonen has come 2nd to Hamilton at Hungary for the third time!
alexf1man (@alexf1man)
30th July 2012, 12:06
I mentioned that in one of yesterday’s articles, along with a “spot the difference” feature :P
cocacola
30th July 2012, 12:06
The three flags on the podium contained only three colours (red, blue and white) which must be a record.
MJ4
30th July 2012, 12:37
You don’t say we haven’t had a Polish-Austrian-Indonesian podium yet… :-)
Alfie (@alfie)
30th July 2012, 21:34
Or Poland-Monaco-Indonesia!
Eggry (@eggry)
31st July 2012, 8:43
You shouldn’t forget Japan!
matt90 (@matt90)
30th July 2012, 12:40
Except that there have likely been plenty of combinations of French, British, American, and New Zealand drivers on the podium. Including all-British podiums I believe.
matt90 (@matt90)
30th July 2012, 12:42
Plus Australia of course. And Canada and Finland.
BasCB (@bascb)
31st July 2012, 10:42
Not to forget about French and Swiss (and Dutch, but we never got a podium :-) )
And it would be the same for Russians, Czechs, Slovaks, Croatians, Swiss … not that hard then.
sato113 (@sato113)
30th July 2012, 13:15
new zealand have gold stars on their flags though.
matt90 (@matt90)
30th July 2012, 13:24
They’re red. The actual number of red, white and blue countries is pretty huge, with many of them happening to be the most successful F1 nationalities (Austria being the most notable one I hadn’t mentioned). Plus countries such as Belgium and Germany have surely made up other podiums, and all-Italian podiums would have given another combination of colours…
jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
31st July 2012, 2:29
No, they are 4 red stars which represent the southern cross as seen from New Zealand, Australia’s 5 also represent the southern cross but as seen from Australia. In New Zealand we can’t see the full cross.
Incidentely, I was at the Nurburgring last month and noticed that on their wall of winners they have Denny Hulme next to an Australian flag, i’ve sent them an email about it but not got any response yet.
matt90 (@matt90)
30th July 2012, 13:17
I couldn’t find any examples of only two colours featuring, although there have been a number of 1-2 finishes where the flags only have 2 colours- Villeneuve and Berger in 96, and twice in both 74 and 76 with Lauda and Regazzoni. I also found one 2-3-4 finish in 79, with Lauda, Regazzoni and Villeneuve.
Joey-Poey (@joey-poey)
31st July 2012, 18:45
There could’ve easily been an American/French/British podium.
zimkazimka (@zimkazimka)
30th July 2012, 12:54
OT: just look at that McLaren pic at the top… man, cars used to look so much better…
coefficient (@coefficient)
30th July 2012, 14:00
No way, this years Mcalren is much nicer than the one pictured at the top. Granted, the Mclaren is the only truly good looking car this year because of the broken nose on the rest of the field but generally speaking I prefer the cars of today because I never liked the low, wide rear wings of the old regs.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
30th July 2012, 14:34
@coefficient respecting opinions, but yes the old Mc Laren Hakkinen drove looked much nicer IMHO… lots of comments say the “mirrored” McL nowadays is so garish
coefficient (@coefficient)
30th July 2012, 14:43
I thought we were referring to shape. The paint job is less of a concern to me.
Mclaren have made my favourite F1 cars over the years, I own a copy of “Mclaren – The Cars”. I don’t dislike the Hakka Maccas, I just like the more refined curves of the modern era.
You don’t have to go back too far before the cars start to seem boxy and bulky by comparison to the svelt lines of the MP4 27. Admittedly this has something to do with the smaller dimensions of the V8 but even so, there is real elegance in the design of this years car I feel and it is a closer rival to MP4 4 in terms of aesthetics than anything that has come in between.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
30th July 2012, 15:35
Ooo yes,, now I got it. +1
F1_Americana (@f1americana)
31st July 2012, 2:18
+1
The West McLaren Mercedes will always be the sexiest car in my mind… Particularly with the tri-blue helmet of Mika Pauli Hakkinen!
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
31st July 2012, 12:17
I also prefer the more simplistic, manly design of the West McLaren. There is beauty in its simplicity (as illustrated by the front wing). Love it!
coefficient (@coefficient)
1st August 2012, 10:01
I feel that the FIA mandated grooved rubber of the Hakkinen era made the cars look cumbersome, like they were wearing the race car equivalent of wellington boots.
I too appreciate simple design but I also appreciate formula 1 and at its very heart is a quest for constant refinement in the quest for performance. A pursuit which in itself is beautiful as it is the personification of human endeavour reflected in the ultimate machine.
I get nostalgic when I see older cars because especially with Mclaren you can see their lineage clearly. The DNA of MP4 27 is clearly rooted in MP4 18 and before that the 17D owed its handsome features to the MP4 12.
It is story of beautiful design in relentless progression.
See the whole journey and not just the individual cars and then you will realise the true beauty of F1 design!
Dimitris 1395 (@)
30th July 2012, 13:21
McLaren’s 7th podium at the last 8 races in Hungary and Button and 1st time a car stalled in the start since Sebastian Bourdais in 2008 Italian Grand Prix…
sato113 (@sato113)
1st August 2012, 10:45
but he didnt stall. must be first time someone turned off their engine on the grid though!
also when was the last aborted start?
coefficient (@coefficient)
6th August 2012, 12:11
I remember Sato hitting the off button on his way to the grid at Silverston when he was Button’s Team mate. Can’t remember what year it was, maybe 2004. Keith?
91jb12 (@91jb12)
30th July 2012, 13:31
Vettel has never won the 10th or the 11th race of the championship, in 5 full seasons. Coincides with never having won in July.
7 without a win is his least productive win streak since the first 21 races of his career, which yielded 0 wins.
91jb12 (@91jb12)
30th July 2012, 13:32
Also his 5th straight Hungarian GP where his race esult has been worse than his qualy result. Only his STR debut in 2007 (Qualy 20 Race 16) has this been avoided
Gridl0k
30th July 2012, 14:22
Surprising that it’s been so long since Hamilton won from pole but then given all the action behind him it’s easy to forget how dominant Vettel was last year.
Still no podium with the ‘best 3’ drivers (HAM-ALO-VET) on.
My hypothetical dual-Massa Ferrari team has 50 points and is just ahead of Force India. I no longer think they’ll bin him over the summer break but I do think his contract renewal option has not been exercised. I have a sneaking suspicion Grosjean is on the radar, not Kimi.
Dave (@davea86)
30th July 2012, 15:45
Shame for Ferrari they don’t have a hypothetical dual-Alonso team. They’d be on 328 points and dominating the constructors by 82 points.
Gridlock (@gridlock)
30th July 2012, 17:07
Which is why I’m surprised they couldn’t offer Webber enough. I’m sure there’s a number they could swallow that would let him give up what he’s got at RBR.
Hallard (@hallard)
30th July 2012, 22:45
Can you imagine the turmoil with 2 Alonsos in one team?! It would make the fireworks at McLaren in ’07 seem like a picnic at the beach…
“Fernando is faster than himself. Can you confirm Fernando understood this message?”
I am all for it!
BasCB (@bascb)
31st July 2012, 10:45
:-)
jpowell (@jpowell)
30th July 2012, 14:56
Great to have the ever cheerfull Romain to offset Kimi I seem to remember even when he wins a smile is as rare as a win in WRC was ever going to be. But is it possible to refer to RG. as Swiss not French, he may race under a French Flag but as yet I can see no Tricolour flying over his home town of Geneva..Even less of a chance of that than a big smile frm Kimi. Good race from Lewis ,no chance given to the Lotus for an overtake .But still the patient shows little sign of recovery,two or three dramatic overtaking attempts by Alonso and Button ,other than that cars running around at 90% .
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
30th July 2012, 15:17
He’s technically Franco-Swiss, as he holds dual nationalities. People just refer to him as French because of the links with Bouilier, Renault et al and the Swiss ‘don’t like motor cars’ :)
Gridlock (@gridlock)
30th July 2012, 17:18
…and because he is entered under a French-issued superlicence, which I think determines your flag etc (otherwise we’d have Monegasque victories most races)
J
30th July 2012, 23:35
If you look back over the earlier races of this years championship, you will notice that they actually his name listed with the Swiss flag. It wasn’t till a few races ago that it changed to the French. Anyone know why that was?
Drop Valencia!
31st July 2012, 2:29
I noticed Kovalienen had a weird nationality listed, it wasn’t correct, a glitch, it was a few weeks ago. Mistakes happen.
Drop Valencia!
31st July 2012, 2:38
FIA sporting regs say your passport defines your nationality, most drivers have duel nationalities but choose their preferred one over Switzerland. I belive that when Hamilton’s lawyers faced court in Melbourne for doing burnouts, he was Swiss.
Kimi4WDC
1st August 2012, 3:57
As long as you talk to Kimi about anything but racing he is very cheerful :D
DaveW (@dmw)
30th July 2012, 15:19
Hamilton stands one behind Alonso in career pole positions now. Interesting battle for legacy between them as active drivers. They have gained six of the season’s poles between them already, so it looks like the battle is on. Raikkonen is not far behind either, Alonso however is a somewhat staggering 10 behind Vettel. Yes I’m paying Schumacher no mind here. But even ignoring Schumacher its a testiment to the amazing talent we have on the grid now and all of these guys have many years ahead in their careers.
Dimitris 1395 (@)
30th July 2012, 15:46
Something else. With the 11th round completed no driver has been replaced. Is that a record?
McLarenJB2009 (@mclarenjb2009)
30th July 2012, 16:13
The record is 2008 when no driver was replaced the whole season.
Andrew81 (@andrew81)
30th July 2012, 17:46
As someone said above, this was the seventh race without a win for Vettel, which is his longest spell without a win since his first win at Monza 2008.
Mark Webber topped a practice session for the first time since FP1 in Brazil last year. He was the ninth driver to top a practice session this year.
Lotus’ 2-3 finish was the fifth double-podium finish for a team this season. McLaren had a 1-3 in Australia and a 2-3 in China, Red Bull had a 1-3 in Britain and Lotus had a 2-3 in Bahrain. There hasn’t been a 1-2 finish this season.
Lotus have scored more points over the last five races than any other team, with 106.
The woes for drivers starting on the second row this year continued, with Vettel and Button finishing fourth and sixth. Drivers starting third are still yet to get onto the podium and have scored just 70 points, which is less than those starting fifth (111 points and 3 podiums) and sixth (83 points and 2 podiums). You have to go down to thirteenth to find the next grid position that hasn’t yielded a podium. Drivers starting fourth fare even worse than those in third, with just 58 points (including two third places) to their name. Drivers starting seventh, ninth and eleventh have all scored more points (66, 66 and 59 respectively).
There have been as many retirements in the last three races as there were in Valencia alone (6).
The length of the race (1:41:05.503) was within a tenth of a second of the 2010 race (1:41:05.571). I can’t find any two races closer than that going back to 2005, so there’s a challenge for you!
Venkman
30th July 2012, 22:03
Awesome work!
Dave In NZL (now Aus).
2nd August 2012, 1:57
Great work – interesting to see how close the race time was, considering the 2010 Q3 qualy time was 2 seconds faster than in 2012.
andae23 (@andae23)
30th July 2012, 20:16
Just one that should have been written last week: Kamui Kobayashi has scored 98 points without a podium finish. With his 4th place last week he passed Sutil’s 95 points without a podium. In the list of most points without victory, Kobi now is second, tied with Martin Brundle. But he has still a long way to go to beat Heidfeld’s 259 points without a victory! (by the way, I dunno if this was mentioned last week, but anyway)
andae23 (@andae23)
30th July 2012, 20:27
Here’s the list:
1 Kobayashi 98 (best 4th)
2 Sutil 95 (4)
3 Di Resta 54 (6)
4 Hulkenberg 41 (5)
5 Alguersuari 31 (7)
andae23 (@andae23)
30th July 2012, 20:35
And points without win:
1 Heidfeld 259 (2)
2 Kobayashi 98 (4)
2 Brundle 98 (2)
4 Sutil 95 (4)
5 Johansson 88 (2)
6 Amon 83 (2)
7 Grosjean 76 (2)
8 Warwick 71 (2)
9 Cheever 70 (2)
10 Perez 64 (2)
OOliver
31st July 2012, 8:56
But with the increase in the amount of points per weekend, this statistic is not a good representation. Kobayashi is only 3 seasons old in F1, Brundle was?
Bleu (@bleu)
30th July 2012, 21:14
Regarding 3rd Hungaroring Hamilton-Räikkönen 1-2, I tried to looks other circuits where they have been at least three:
Senna-Prost at Spa (1988, 1989, 1990)
Häkkinen-Coulthard at Barcelona (1998, 1999, 2000)
Schumacher-Barrichello at Indianapolis (2000, 2004, 2005)
Are there more?
Hallard (@hallard)
30th July 2012, 22:54
Nice stats! Interesting to note that the other 3 examples you gave were decided between teammates…
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
30th July 2012, 22:10
4th race in a row that Maldonado has started inside the top 8 and not scored (despite finishing).
If Alonso scores points in the next 2 races, he will break Schumacher’s record of consecutive points finishes – and he will do so at Monza (Ferrari’s home circuit) in Schumacher’s 300th start (assuming he starts the next 2 races!). Belgium will be Schumacher’s 300th entry.
This is only the 2nd time this year that neither Caterham has started ahead of a driver from one of the ‘established’ teams (the other being Malaysia). Note that Schumacher is still deemed to have started ahead of the Caterhams in Hungary, as his grid slot was not filled in by those behind.
And it’s definitely been a long time since we had an aborted start after the formation lap – I know Australia 2006 had one, but has there been another one since?
F1_Americana (@f1americana)
31st July 2012, 2:16
I first started watching F1 in 2000 after a dear friend of mine introduced me to the sport, and attended my first GP that year (inaugural USGP @ Indy). There is just something about rooting for Mika, the very personable Finn that will always hold a dear place in my heart. I was lucky enough to see a win of his at the 2001 USGP when I didn’t think a win was in the cards for Hakkinen that weekend. Mika always seemed to me to be a very natural talent in the sport without having to impose dirty tactics, or a stern personality. He’s a very stark contrast to countryman Kimi Raikkonen, whom I was also a big fan of. Though I’m admittedly a big Hamilton fan, it does sadden me a bit to see this McLaren win record fall. Time moves on, but I’ll never forget my favorite Flying Finn. Mika, always.
John H (@john-h)
31st July 2012, 12:38
It’s perhaps not the best comparison to make, but whenever I’ve attempted a 100% race distance on Grand Prix 4, as opposed to most races I always seem to crash at some point in the race at the Hungaroring – it’s a real challenge of concentration.
It’s not a great one to watch on the TV, but it’s a hit with the drivers (I believe they all find it quite fun to drive) as it rewards aggressive driving combined with skill and control. Ok, it doesn’t test their overtaking skills but I think it is a place where the driver can make a difference. In this sense, the Hungaroring is much like Monaco and Montreal in that it rewards the ‘pointy’ loose end drivers more such as Senna, Schumacher (in his day) and Hamilton and not so much the guys that prefer more understeer.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
31st July 2012, 13:48
48, so almost half of those races have been spent at Caterham/Team Lotus for Heikki. McLaren seems a distant memory!