Lewis Hamilton took his 28th career win at Monza. It was his sixth win of the year – the most races he has ever won in a season.
Team mate Nico Rosberg has won four times yet retains a 22-point lead in the drivers’ championship with 175 left to be won. Hamilton still has a good chance of winning the championship, but he can ill-afford another setback.
There remains a strong possibility Hamilton could end the year with more wins than Rosberg but fewer points. This has happened on 12 previous occasions in F1 history, but only once in the last two decades.
On that occasion, in 2008, Hamilton was the beneficiary, pipping Felipe Massa to the title by a single point despite having won one race fewer than his rival. However Hamilton controversially stripped of a victory at Spa that year, which was handed to Massa.
| Year | Champion | Wins | Points | Most victories | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Mike Hawthorn | 1 | 42 | Stirling Moss | 4 | 41 |
| 1964 | John Surtees | 2 | 40 | Jim Clark | 3 | 32 |
| 1967 | Denny Hulme | 2 | 51 | Jim Clark | 4 | 41 |
| 1977 | Niki Lauda | 3 | 72 | Mario Andretti | 4 | 47 |
| 1979 | Jody Scheckter | 3 | 51 | Alan Jones | 4 | 40 |
| 1982 | Keke Rosberg | 1 | 44 | Didier Pironi, John Watson* | 2 | 39 |
| 1983 | Nelson Piquet | 3 | 59 | Alain Prost | 4 | 57 |
| 1984 | Niki Lauda | 5 | 72 | Alain Prost | 7 | 71.5 |
| 1986 | Alain Prost | 4 | 72 | Nigel Mansell | 5 | 70 |
| 1987 | Nelson Piquet | 3 | 73 | Nigel Mansell | 6 | 61 |
| 1989 | Alain Prost | 4 | 76 | Ayrton Senna | 6 | 60 |
| 2008 | Lewis Hamilton | 5 | 98 | Felipe Massa | 6 | 97 |
*Alain Prost, Niki Lauda and Rene Arnoux also won two races each, but scored fewer points.
Hamilton was in strong form all weekend, setting his 36th pole position and 17th fastest lap – the latter giving him as many as Rubens Barrichello. This was the fourth pole, fastest lap and win ‘hat trick’ of his career.
Rosberg followed him home for Mercedes’ seventh one-two of the season. They have six races left to beat the all-time record of ten set by McLaren in 1988.
As Mercedes clearly are capable of scoring one-two finishes in all the remaining races, it’s revealing to look at how this could determine the championship. Heading into this weekend’s race there were 128 permutations for how Hamilton and Rosberg could finish first and second, and in only seven of them (5.5%) would Hamilton win the title.
Now there are 64 different ways they could finish one-two in the six remaining rounds. Six of these would result in Hamilton winning the title (9.4%). Note that Hamilton could lead Rosberg home in the next five consecutive races, but still lose the title by finishing second to him at Abu Dhabi, thanks to double points.
You can see how all the scenarios could play out using the points calculator:
This was Mercedes’ 23rd win of all time, making them the ninth most successful F1 team ever in terms of race victories. They are tied with Tyrrell, who can be traced back in the lineage of the current Mercedes team. Tyrrell’s championship entry was purchased by British American Racing in for their new team in 1999. They built the headquarters at Brackley which Honda took over in 2006. When Honda pulled out it was run for one season as Brawn GP, following which Mercedes took over.
Felipe Massa made his 37th appearance on the podium and his first not wearing Ferrari overalls. His team mate Valtteri Bottas finished fourth and moved up to fourth in the championship, one point ahead of Fernando Alonso.
The Ferrari driver failed to score a point for the first time this year after his Energy Recovery System failed. That’s only the second time out of his 90 starts for Ferrari that a reliability problem has forced him out of a race. His last such failure was 86 races ago, when his engine failed in the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix.
It ended Alonso’s streak of 15 consecutive points finishes. Daniel Ricciardo now has the longest running streak having scored in the last 11 rounds. Kimi Raikkonen upheld Ferrari honours with ninth place which extended their record streak of consecutive races in the points to 80.
Finally, the penalty points table has a new leader. Marcus Ericsson was given three penalty points for failing to observe double waved yellow flags during final practice, moving him up to five.
Review the year so far in statistics here:
- 2014 F1 championship points
- 2014 F1 season records
- 2014 F1 race data
- 2014 F1 qualifying data
- 2014 F1 retirements and penalties
- 2014 F1 strategy and pit stops
- 2014 F1 driver form guides
Spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Italian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
2014 Italian Grand Prix
Images © Daimler/Hoch Zwei, Caterham/LAT
Formula Indonesia (@)
8th September 2014, 12:16
Rosberg also enjoying his best season ever in his career, anyway, top 6 finished with 3 teams and consecutively (Merc 1-2 Williams 3-4 Rbr 5-6) when is the last time this happen in F1 before
Bleu (@bleu)
8th September 2014, 12:38
I think Chinese GP 2009: Red Bull 1-2, Brawn 3-4, McLaren 5-6.
Wil-Liam (@wil-liam)
8th September 2014, 12:18
Hamilton becomes the first driver since mark webber in 2010 to win another race after Sliverstone in the same year .(the Sliverstone curse )2011 Alonso didn’t win another race that year 2012 webber didn’t 2013,rosberg didn’t
Formula Indonesia (@)
8th September 2014, 12:20
Remember a year before tht Vettel did it (win in silverstone and in season finale)
Wil-Liam (@wil-liam)
8th September 2014, 12:24
That’s why I said SINCE MARK WEBBER in 2010!!!
Formula Indonesia (@)
8th September 2014, 12:26
But you don’t say consecutively in 2009 and 2010
matt90 (@matt90)
12th September 2014, 11:52
Why would you?
Deej92 (@deej92)
8th September 2014, 17:59
That’s a nice stat, I was thinking this after he won the British Grand Prix.
Lewis McMurray (@celicadion23)
8th September 2014, 12:39
This is the second consecutive Italian Grand Prix where a German has been booed on the podium
Formula Indonesia (@)
8th September 2014, 12:45
Thats an unwanted record, I wonder if Rosberg booed for 3rd time in a row in Singapore, will the team react?? Because its really made me sick
vjm
8th September 2014, 12:49
The Boo Bus is on the move. They are on the tour again as Vettel said.
Sam Andrew
8th September 2014, 16:26
The drivers shouldn’t take it personally, there will always be fans who want to treat it like it’s WWF with the “good guy” and the “villain”
N
8th September 2014, 20:32
Nonsense.
If people are allowed to cheer for something they like, they are equally allowed to boo for something they don’t.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
8th September 2014, 17:06
But Rosberg isn’t really German. He’s Finnish/Monegasque/German.
Mehtab Ahmed (@t4bb3)
8th September 2014, 18:11
Darell Waltrip was also booed when he was successful in NASCAR, although he stopped it by saying to the crowd: “Booo if you love D.W.!”
Why does no F1 driver does that on the podium interviews?!
BasCB (@bascb)
9th September 2014, 6:47
I guess Rosberg saying how great an atmosphere the fans created in Italian is pretty much in the same vein. Although it were likely the same group of fans that booed Vettel last year, while the Italians cheered for Massa on the podium
Erivaldo moreira (@erivaldonin)
8th September 2014, 12:44
The three drivers on the podium represents the three countries with more titles and victories in F1.
the last time it happened was in 2008 Belgium GP
first time since the 1999 European GP , the car #19 claims a podium
Massa’s 100th GP since his last win.
He is the fourth multiple GP winner which reaches 100 GP in a row without a single win.The others were D Coulthard (104 ), M Alboreto (128), ) and J Villeneuve (132)
If mass win one more race, he will become the driver with the largest gap between two wins. The current record is 99 by Ricardo Patrese.
Some centenary stats
100th GP since Brawn GP’s last fastest lap
200th GP since Alonso’s first win
300th GP since Mika HAKKINEN’s First fastest lap and Jean ALESI’s last pole position
400th GP since Bertrand GACHOT’s first and only fastest lap
500th GP since Nelson PIQUET’s 100th Grand Prix
600th GP since Lotus’s last title, Mario ANDRETTI’s last win and Ronnie PETERSON’s last podium
Formula Indonesia (@)
8th September 2014, 12:47
+5 Excellent spot mate
pSynrg (@psynrg)
8th September 2014, 13:17
@erivaldonin How on earth do you compile such figures, do you literally spend hours pouring over the historical records to find such coincidences?
Whatever your methods, great work!
petebaldwin (@)
8th September 2014, 13:36
@psynrg – either that’s just taken him hours or he’s just found a similar article from 100 races ago! :D
Formula Indonesia (@)
8th September 2014, 13:28
Anyway did you count Indy gate
Bleu (@bleu)
8th September 2014, 13:12
* First race where Max Chilton completed at least a lap but failed to finish.
* First time Nico Hülkenberg finished outside of points since Abu Dhabi last year.
petebaldwin (@)
8th September 2014, 13:33
@bleu – It was interesting to see Chilton make a mistake and go off. Almost like he’s been driving a bit too carefully which has resulted in a large amount of incident-free races.
Now there’s a risk to his seat, he’s under pressure and is having to decrease the gap to Bianchi and boom – off he goes.
Who knows…….
Retired (@jeff1s)
8th September 2014, 13:45
Except Hungary 2014, I guess…@bleu
Bleu (@bleu)
8th September 2014, 13:58
He did not finish in Hungary.
Neil Brady (@westy)
8th September 2014, 13:13
With double points for the last race there are still 175 points available… Wasn’t the new point system brought in after Lewis won in 2008 with less wins (after Spa was taken off him) than Massa?
sato113 (@sato113)
8th September 2014, 13:23
no it was brought in after 2009 in order to make a win worth more value than before and thus make drivers fight harder for a win rather than settle for 2nd place. (something rosberg is doing now though…)
Patrickl (@patrickl)
8th September 2014, 13:49
It changed for the 2010 season, perhaps as a result of Ecclestone and the FIA not liking that Hamilton won in 2008 though.
The current scoring system is ridiculously clumsy though. In the old system (9,6,4 …) the points were reduced by a third between positions. Later they added a point for the win (10,6,4…). Seems ok, but then Bernie wanted to improve “the show” and the gap between positions was reduced to about 20% points reduction for every position you lose.
The idea was to keep the points closer so the final race would be of influence for longer (mathematically at least). Of course this made racing even more boring because it then became more important to finish rather than to fight for position.
So they “fixed” it by adding a few scores at the top end with a higher drop off. Trouble is that the majority of the scoring is still too close apart. It doesn’t promote fighting for position. Only the gap between 1st and 2nd is quite big (almost a third again). Between 2nd and 5th it’s on average even less than the 20% drop of the old conservative driving rewarding system.
Really not sure why there can’t be a scoring system with a similar slope for the entire range. Preferably something with a higher slope too.
Sam Andrew
8th September 2014, 16:30
The gold medal system was proposed for 2009 if iirc
Neil Brady (@westy)
8th September 2014, 17:14
I thought the changes put forward were mainly in response to Lewis winning and having less wins, the medal system being one of them and the points change being the compromise.
Bleu (@bleu)
8th September 2014, 13:21
After Fernando Alonso retired from the race, no driver has 100% finishing record this year. Jenson Button has been classified every time, but he retired in Bahrain.
This year, the streak lasted 12 races, which is the same as in 2006 (also by Alonso). Previous time as 100% finishing record was shorter from the start of the season, was in 2003, when Ralf Schumacher finished first 11 races. Since then, the streaks have been: 16 by Barrichello, 16 by Monteiro, 12 by Alonso, 15 by Hamilton, 18 by Heidfeld (all), 15 by Rosberg, 15 by Massa, 17 by Vettel, 20 by Räikkönen (all) and 19 by Chilton (all).
sato113 (@sato113)
8th September 2014, 13:21
Alonso did have a mechanical failure in Malaysia 2010, however he was still classified as he’d completed more than 90% of the race (he was listed as finishing 13th)
so when was the last time Alonso wasn’t classified in a race due to a mechanical failure?
vjm
8th September 2014, 13:29
Hungry 2009
Jake (@jleigh)
8th September 2014, 15:09
Does a wheel not being attached properly count as a mechanical failure. I wouldn’t say so.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
8th September 2014, 17:55
Indeed but Alonso had a fuel pump problem as well that race which meant he had to retire.
Spinmastermic (@spinmastermic)
8th September 2014, 18:11
Mechanic failure perhaps?
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
8th September 2014, 13:44
Fernando Alonso’s last non-classification due to a technical was all the way back in Hungary in 2009. Back then, these things were all happening:
ING was Renault’s sponsor, Michael Schumacher was considering making a comeback, a KERS car won a race for the first time, Kimi Raikkonen was driving with Ferrari for the first time, Jaime Alguersuari made his debut, Toyota and BMW were both still very much in Formula One, Nico Rosberg drove for Williams, Max Verstappen was 11 and Daniil Kvyat was 15, Nelson Piquet Jr was also still racing and Rubens Barrichello was looking for his first race win of the season whilst team mate Jenson Button was looking for his seventh. Sebastian Vettel had just three wins and four poles to his name and was behind his team mate in the championship. Oh how times change.
In Jj lehto we trust
8th September 2014, 17:59
Raikkonen started driving for Ferrari in 2007
Julien (@jlracing)
8th September 2014, 14:11
– With a 9th place for Raikkonen and a DNF for Alonso, this years Italian GP was the worst for Ferrari since 2005 when Schumacher finished 10th and Barichello 12th.
– Mercedes are on target to beat the record of most podiums in a season. They now have 21 (11 for Rosberg, 10 for Hamilton) and need another 9 to beat the 29 podiums of Ferrari in 2004. With 12 podiums up for grabs for them in the last 6 races, it could happen.
– With a 20th place for Esteban Guttierez, this was the lowest finishing position ever for Sauber. Although this was the result of a 20 sec time penalty afterwards.
– Although the pole time of this year was only 0.4 seconds slower than last year, the fastest race lap of this year was more than 2 seconds slower than last year.
– This is the first time Pastor Maldonado hasn’t scored at least 1 point after 13 races into the season.
– This was the 7th consecutive race where Lotus didn’t score points. The last time that has happened was in 2001 when the team was called Benetton.
– Mercedes are still on target to equal the record of most poles scored in a season. The record is held by Red Bull in 2011 when they scored 18/19 poles. Mclaren scored 15/16 in 1988 and 1989 and Williams also scored 15/16 in 1992 and 1993
Slowhands (@slowhands)
8th September 2014, 15:07
Senna is a hero of mine, but one thing I’ll say about Schumacher is that he had it all: speed over one lap, speed lap after lap over a race distance, great sensitivity to the car and tires, team leadership ability, ability to develop the car, and head and shoulders above nearly all of his peers in terms of mental strength (a la Tiger and MJ). Which I think speaks to why he never was on the short end of the points if he had the most wins. Lewis has the opportunity of a lifetime to match Vettel’s total of championships if he can become less volatile emotionally and approach the weekend the way he did in Monza, thanks to Merc’s huge head start with the new rules. He needs to force himself to be more emotionally even, stop feeling like he is being “tested” by life, and go into mental “Beast mode,” thinking coolly about his strategy, trusting his instincts, and moving on quickly from the disappointment with mechanical and other issues beyond his control. As he just did in Monza. He has every other tool.
Dno101
8th September 2014, 15:36
+1
Patrickl (@patrickl)
8th September 2014, 15:57
So how could Hamilton have done better this season by not being “volatile”?
If anything, Hamilton makes a lot less mistakes than Rosberg does. For instance, Rosberg has spun off twice during qualifying, crashed into his team mate at Spa and he had issues going off track costing him places in Hungary and Monza.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
9th September 2014, 11:49
Well Lewis is.supposed.to.be in a higher league in terms of capability…so technically the fact that Nico makes more mistakes shouldn’t really matter…because Lewis is the better driver and we should expect him to make less mistakes.
matt
9th September 2014, 18:51
but your forgetting all the setbacks lewis has had,australia,hungary,germany,monaco,spa etc.but he’s still managed to win 6 this season,compared to nico’s 4.and get the same amount of points as nico from the last 6 races,despite starting way further back in most races.lewis has only made a few mistakes in quali,but for the most part has driven well in the races.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
8th September 2014, 15:41
I know this is off topic but what the hell happened to Penalty Points? At the first 3 races, the FIA started handing out penalty points like free leaflets and yet we’ve now gone 10 races without any penalty points. How are we expected to be concerned about driver bans if Maldonado is still on 2 penalty points out of 12.
Rylan Ziegler (@torretto1)
8th September 2014, 19:54
Doesn’t make much sense to me either, although worth mentioning Ericsson has received 3 this weekend
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
8th September 2014, 16:01
I agree that Lewis is more emotional but I think that’s what makes him more human and likable in many ways. I think he’s really showing a lot of poise in 2014, not many things have gone his way this year. He was just fantastic yesterday.
Matt (@mattf1f)
8th September 2014, 16:15
Not a stat but a fact. If Mercedes were to win all remaining races and Nico came 2nd on all of them except for the double point finale which he would need to win, Nico would still be world champion by 1 single point. (378-377).
Lewis McMurray (@celicadion23)
8th September 2014, 16:37
Which means that Hamilton would have 11 race wins to Rosberg’s 5….but still lose the title. Mental.
Andre (@lheela)
8th September 2014, 18:17
To be completely honest, I would not mind that at all. By now, I can’t stand neither Hamilton nor Rosberg, and that scenario would just show how dumb the double points are.
It would utterly embarrass F1 in public.
Which I consider to be a good thing, given the ignorance of the fans by governing body.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th September 2014, 21:14
@mattf1f As explained mentioned in the article.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
8th September 2014, 17:54
Rosberg and Hamilton have yet to overtake each other on track succesfully in a normal racing situation.
usukpam
8th September 2014, 18:14
The last time i checked Bahrain was full of on track overtake between the both.
Shrieker (@shrieker)
8th September 2014, 20:14
He did win 6 races before.
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
8th September 2014, 21:06
@shrieker He crossed the line in first place six times in a season once before, but he did not win six races in a single season until now, as it states in the article.
Shrieker (@shrieker)
8th September 2014, 21:21
Hamilton did nothing wrong, and won that race fair and square. They changed the rules after the race claiming he had gained an advantage (which he hadn’t) by cutting the chicane. Mosley had his thing with Ron at the time and it was a purely politically motivated penalty. It was a disgraceful decision for the sport and Hamilton should be credited with that win.
Bruno (@brunes)
9th September 2014, 6:41
Many things do not seem fair. But it would not be fair to go back and start crediting wins and championships that were “unfairly” decided.
How about Singapore 2008? Is there a more unfair race than that?
Enigma (@enigma)
9th September 2014, 11:15
@shrieker He cut the chicane and passed Raikkonen because of that into turn one. He’d given the place back on the pit straight, but passed him shortly after – without cutting the chicane he couldn’t have made that pass.
Technically he didn’t break the rules as he gave the place back, but it wasn’t really fair in my view. Whether such a penalty was right after Raikkonen retired I don’t know, but it wasn’t a fair pass for me.
Shrieker (@shrieker)
10th September 2014, 11:57
It was completely fair if you judge by how they went into the corner – absolutely side by side. If Raikkonen wasn’t going to squeeze him towards the exit (which he was always going to) Hamilton wouldn’t have thought of cutting the chicane. Kimi wasn’t Hamilton’s chief title rival at the time and being a clever lad he damn well knew Kimi was going to squeeze him in the second part of the chicane either causing damage or forcing him to slow down a lot which would then have stripped him from any chance of attempting an overtake.
That’s not fair racing. It was a political penalty, much like when Senna was stripped of the win in Suzuka ’89.
Enigma (@enigma)
18th September 2014, 21:53
@shrieker Raikkonen was entitled to have the corner and force Hamilton wide. Hamilton was forced off, but that didn’t give him the right to cut the chicane and gain an advantage.
Hamilton took the lead by cutting a corner and didn’t give the place back properly. For me, that’s a just penalty.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
8th September 2014, 20:43
I’m not 100% sure about this statistic, but the last time an engine manufacturer took the top 6 places in qualifying/on the grid was the 1980 Argentine Grand Prix, where the first non-Ford-powered car was the Ferrari of Gilles Villeneuve in P8.
ChrisJ (@chriju0411)
9th September 2014, 2:02
For 27 consecutive races now victory was taken by either Mercedes or Red Bull. There hasn’t ever been a streak of two teams splitting race wins for as many GPs as that in history of Formula 1 championships with second longest being 24 races in a row where either McLaren or Ferrari were victorious starting with the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix until the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix where Robert Kubica took the win for BMW-Sauber. McLaren was also involved in two 22 race streaks where either them or Ferrari (1999-2001) respectively them or Williams (1991-1992) shared race wins.
Julien (@jlracing)
9th September 2014, 12:11
Well if you count out the Indy 500, who counted for the F1 world championship in the 50’s, but were usually the F1 teams would participate in, the first 27 F1 races (1950-1953) were won by either an Alfa Romeo or a Ferrari. So Red Bull and Mercedes have equalled that streak now
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
9th September 2014, 22:34
Massa has scored more points at Monza than at any other venue. After no points in his first 5 visits, in his last 6 visits he has managed 2 each of 3rd, 4th and 6th.
First mechanical DNF for Ferrari this year – all teams have now had at least 1.
And a couple more from magnetimarelli.com:
Mercedes managed to lock out the front row, lead every lap, score fastest lap, have their other driver score the next fastest lap, and finish 1-2 in the race. Last team to manage this – Ferrari in France 2008.
7th 2nd-place finish for Rosberg this season – equals Piquet (1987), Prost (1988), Hakkinen (2000), Raikkonen (2003), Barrichello (2004) and Alonso (2006).