Lewis Hamilton could equal a record which has stood for 45 years at the next round of the championship.
Hamilton’s victory in Canada means he has now led 16 races in a row, beginning with the Hungarian Grand Prix last year. He needs one more to match the record of 17 set by Jackie Stewart between the 1968 United States and 1970 Belgian Grands Prix.
The championship leader led all bar one of the 70 laps at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. His career total now stands at 2,143, moving him ahead of Nigel Mansell. Only four drivers have led more laps: Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel.
Along with his 37th win Hamilton took his 44th career pole position – appropriately for the driver of car number 44 – which moved him within one of the driver in third place on the all-time record list. That is Sebastian Vettel, who with 45 pole positions has the most of any driver currently competing.
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Hamilton also equalled Vettel’s best run of consecutive front row starts with his 14th. But he needs to keep going for ten more races to equal the record set by Ayrton Senna. That would take Hamilton until the Mexican Grand Prix in November.
Hamilton’s victory gave Mercedes their first win in Canada and their 35th win in total. That puts them level with Renault and Brabham in sixth place on the all-time winners’ list. Second place for Nico Rosberg gave Mercedes their 20 one-two finish.
Third on the grid for Kimi Raikkonen was his best in over two years, when he was second for Lotus at Shanghai in 2013. Lotus also had their best two-car qualifying performance since 2013 – fifth and sixth the highest they’ve seen since Hungary that year. For Pastor Maldonado, sixth was his best since he lined up third at Abu Dhabi in 2012.
Raikkonen also out-qualified Vettel for the first time this year. Roberto Merhi did the same to Will Stevens, which means there are no drivers on the grid who haven’t out-qualified their team mate at least once this year.
In the race, Raikkonen set the fastest lap for the 42nd time in his career. That puts him on his own in second place on the all-time ranking, with one more than Prost and needing 25 more to catch Schumacher.
Valtteri Bottas became the first driver not in a Mercedes or a Ferrari to finish on the podium this year. And Pastor Maldonado scored his first points of the second, leaving only the Manor drivers and Fernando Alonso yet to score.
Review the year so far in statistics here:
- 2015 F1 championship points
- 2015 F1 season records
- 2015 F1 race data
- 2015 F1 qualifying data
- 2015 F1 retirements and penalties
- 2015 F1 strategy and pit stops
- 2015 F1 driver form guides
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Canadian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
2015 Canadian Grand Prix
- Fifth-placed Vettel wins Driver of the Weekend
- Even Montreal can’t lift F1 from its 2015 torpor
- Sponsor watch: Spain, Monaco and Canada 2015
- 2015 Canadian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
8th June 2015, 11:54
Oh dear. What does the samurai have to say about that?!
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
8th June 2015, 12:00
@bullfrog – We keep positive and I believe in the project. I have seen many good things-e for the future that look promising. We will keep pushing.
Or ‘Whuuaha!’
ColdFly F1 (@)
8th June 2015, 16:52
I believe Alonso was 6th in sector 1 during qualifying. I guess that shows the strength of the chassis.
They just need more (reliable) power and less fuel consumption from that thing in the back!
@xtwl, @bullfrog
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
8th June 2015, 19:05
@coldfly – Their chassis has been average at best since 2012…
RV (@zenren)
8th June 2015, 12:09
To add more insult, Alonso was asked yesterday to lift off due to fuel usage!
The only advantage for a car low on horsepower is usually a better fuel efficiency. Looks like Honda is as thirsty as the others even if low on power!
JC
8th June 2015, 14:12
When you’re down on power, you’re sitting at the top of the rev range for longer as you’re slower down the straight. Hence you burn more fuel. On a track like Canada, that’s magnified given how long those straights are.
A better performing PU will use marginally less fuel, as it’ll spend less time at full power along the straight. Multiply that by a race distance and you explain the consumption.
JB gave this reason in an interview with Sky F1 after the race. The Honda engine isn’t thirstier than the others, it’s just needing to work harder for longer.
dex
8th June 2015, 16:17
So says Mr Horner!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
8th June 2015, 14:33
Check Top Gear’s fuel economy test with a Prius vs a M3, https://youtu.be/JmxUsGiGp3w?t=258
The Prius did 10 laps full throttle while the M3 could cruise around following it using a lot less fuel.
Not very scientific, but it’s the same concept here, as JC (and Jeremy Clarkson too, coincidentially) says: being low on power means having to push the engine a lot more to achieve the same speed. Nevermind trying to catch up with the others.
pxcmerc (@)
9th June 2015, 0:15
efficiency is an optimization problem, a prius at full throttle is not inside it’s optimum window, I would bet. Hybrids really are not that great for track driving anyways, unless you are recovering energy, they are just extra weight, and you will get better fuel economy with less weight.
Tommy (@tommy260z)
9th June 2015, 8:32
The only other driver Hamilton is beating right now is Rosberg. His car is doing the rest and these records he’s accumulating shouldn’t count for anything.
Paul
9th June 2015, 10:44
You’re right. In fact, why bother with drivers at all? They basically do nothing anyway.
Kevin Robinson
9th June 2015, 13:42
Yeah, we should totally ignore his stats just because he’s in the best car. Let’s see, we also then have to ignore a lot of Vettel’s, Schumi’s, Senna’s, Prost’s, Mansell’s (1992 in particular), all Lotus stats from the 60s.
Yeah, that is definitely the way to go.
knoxploration
11th June 2015, 17:07
Schumacher’s records *should* be ignored, because they were achieved through rampant cheating. As for the others, if their records were set predominantly because they had a regulated advantage over their rivals — such as, for example, the fact that others cannot catch up with Mercedes because they’re not allowed to update their engine as much as they need to, nor to test upgrades — then those records too are meaningless.
And it’s here that we come to the sad truth of modern F1: Every front-running team has a regulated advantage because they are given an unfair share of the TV money, rather than splitting it evenly between the teams. Frankly, every record set or broken in modern F1 is meaningless, and makes a mockery of what was once a sport.
David-A (@david-a)
11th June 2015, 21:44
Yeah right. Being the best driver isn’t cheating, nor is having the best car (which sometimes he didn’t even have).
gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
12th June 2015, 20:13
David-A: Nope, being the best driver isn’t cheating. Deliberately crashing into another car is, and he was caught doing that multiple times. So is deliberately blocking the track during qualifying, too, and he was caught doing that as well. And those are just the times he was caught cheating *despite* being the best driver — how many times did he get away with it scot free?
Being the best does not make cheating OK. Arguably, it makes it much, much worse. Schumacher was a perpetual cheat, and I say that as somebody who was a fan of his from his first F1 race right up until the second time he was caught undeniably cheating. (Everybody deserves one second chance, if they ‘fess up and show remorse. He got that one second chance, and he squandered it.)
Tim Edwards (@timpey)
9th June 2015, 16:59
That might actually be the stupidest post I’ve seen on here.
DonSimon
10th June 2015, 0:15
Give it 2 weeks.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
9th June 2015, 20:43
Those records do count because all the cars on the grid comply with the current race series regulations. If the other teams aren’t able to produce a car with the same capabilities as that used by Hamilton and Rosberg is that Mercedes fault? No, the onus is on the other teams to bring their “game” up to the Mercedes standard.
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
8th June 2015, 11:57
Those are some very big names that Hamilton is flirting with. I have noticed that out of the last 140 qualifyings (I believe, I’m going back to Canada 07), Hamilton and Vettel has been on pole on 89 occasions between them, and that is despite Brawn back in 2009 and Rosberg’s form last year. They’re definitely two of the greatest of all time across one lap, despite what happened last year.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
8th June 2015, 12:01
@craig-o Vettel is at least on par over one lap with Hamilton, if not better. Suggesting otherwise is nonsense.
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
8th June 2015, 12:10
@xtwl Depends on what kind of form both are in. I thoroughly enjoyed their qualifying duels in 2012 in cars which weren’t far off each other across one lap.
Edgar
8th June 2015, 16:05
Who stole some pole positions from the other on an inferior car?
vtf
8th June 2015, 16:13
You cannot steal pole with an inferior car under normal circumstances really.
ngwe23 (@realstig)
8th June 2015, 18:36
Are you suggesting that Lewis did the impossible?
vtf
10th June 2015, 23:07
No. I’m suggesting either his car was not inferior on that occasion or those were not the normal circumstances.
You don’t need me to tell you that no can do the impossible.
David-A (@david-a)
8th June 2015, 19:45
@Edgar @realstig
In 2011, he managed 1 pole, but Mclaren had the pace for many more, esp. Hungary, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Monaco & Italy all taken by Vettel en route to the pole record.
2012, Mclaren had the fastest car overall, and in 2013 Mercedes had the fastest qualifying pace up to the summer break (every dry session in the first half was either a Rosberg or Hamilton pole).
Polo (@polo)
14th June 2015, 3:45
@david-a I think McLaren’s one-lap advantage over Red Bull in 2012 was exaggerated by the respective form of their drivers.
By his standards, Vettel had a pretty bad year in terms of qualifying – he was almost matched by Webber (he was only ahead 11-9). Meanwhile, Hamilton had one of his best ever years and beat Button 17-3 in qualifying. Vettel took 6 poles, Hamilton took 7 (which could’ve been 8 without the McLaren under-fuelling error in Spain). Red Bull took 8 poles overall (6 Vettel, 2 Webber), McLaren took 8 as well (7 Hamilton, 1 Button).
I think the Red Bull and McLaren were pretty similar over one-lap in 2012.
Tito Bonanza
9th June 2015, 11:54
The funny thing is your statement makes Ricciardo a speed God over one lap last year.
vtf
10th June 2015, 23:08
I heard he’s getting another chassis for the next race since he was 1 sec per lap slower than Kvyat in last race.
Tito Bonanza
11th June 2015, 20:17
And that make my response to previous comment…. what…. invalid???
Jon (@johns23)
10th June 2015, 1:55
We will never know unless they become teammates
Miha (@msc157)
8th June 2015, 12:00
How many races did Schumacher lead in a row?
RL
8th June 2015, 12:21
I can’t say, but Schumi hasn’t had consecutive years of complete domination like Mercedes seem to be having. In 2001 and 2002, the Ferrari took a while to get started, and Mclaren and Williams sneaked in some early season wins. Also there were less races then.
There hasn’t been a team this dominant probably since Mclaren in the late 80s wherein if one of its drivers fails to win, the other one simply picks up the scraps.
Corrado (@)
8th June 2015, 21:37
+1
Also, the cars back in the 2000-2006 period weren’t reliable as the current cars (the engine especially).
vtf
10th June 2015, 23:09
+1
Bleu (@bleu)
8th June 2015, 13:54
@msc157 15 – Australia to Italy in 2004.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
8th June 2015, 12:02
Is this the first time another Spaniard (Sainz) than Alonso is leading a Spaniard (Alonso and Merhi) in the standings?
Tom L. (@tom-l)
8th June 2015, 13:18
Pedro de la Rosa’s mighty 3-point haul in the Jaguar in 2001 put him above Alonso (0 points) in that year’s standings!
Fernando (@fernanzazpi)
9th June 2015, 0:13
@xtwl @tom-l Another cases: PDLR leading Marc Gene in 1999’s season, since he scored one point in the opening race, Australia, driving his Arrows.
And in the late eighties, when Luis Perez Sala was leading team mate Adrian Campos in Minardi… 1989 if i am not mistaken.
Andy
8th June 2015, 12:17
“Raikkonen also out-qualified Vettel for the first time this year.”
Factually correct but should have an asterisk or something – not hard when the other car is broken so hardly an achievement IMO.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
8th June 2015, 12:38
The asterisks we start with we’ll never finish. How do you know KR would not have out-qualified Vettel in Malaysia if not for the strategy blunder in Q2?
Ciaran (@walsh-f1)
8th June 2015, 12:37
As noted by Sean Kelly Mercedes is the first team since Ferrari in 1952 to have two cars on the podium at the first seven grand prix’ of a season.
glue
8th June 2015, 12:56
Is the clickbait headline really necessary?
pSynrg (@psynrg)
8th June 2015, 13:07
How is that click-bait?
It’s an actual fact!
Tiomkin
9th June 2015, 17:16
@glue Click-bait is telling an outright lie or having the article bear little in common to the heading. Saying someone is near to achieving something is both truthful and is what the article is about. You need to read a dictionary.
Woody (@woodyd91)
8th June 2015, 13:14
I’m not sure Keith has ever wrote a headline that at least one person hasn’t claimed it to be click bait.
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
8th June 2015, 16:31
@woodyd91 maybe “glue” means that you can use that headline when the record is actually broken. But it’s not so bad to speculate, as almost everybody does here, don’t we?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th June 2015, 21:48
What exactly is the objection here? ‘How dare you write something which captured my interest?’ What a crime.
These accusations of ‘clickbait’ keep getting more unreasonable.
Bob Steele (@bobwhosaysni)
8th June 2015, 23:57
Keith, I see absolutely nothing wrong with this headline and have no idea why someone would suggest it is ‘clickbait’.
To others, headlines should give a highlight of the most interesting information so you know what you will read about.
Would you prefer each article lead with ‘Stuff about F1’?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
9th June 2015, 11:14
@bobwhosaysni
Well it would save a lot of time!
vtf
10th June 2015, 23:12
LOL
Julien (@jlracing)
8th June 2015, 13:34
– Sergio ,11th place, Perez has scored yet another 11th place. He now has 16 finishes in 11th place. He has to score one more to equal the record of most finishes just outside of the points. Jonny Herbert currently holds the record with 17 7th places. At that time only the first 6 drivers got points.
– With his 6 points scored in Canada. Pastor Maldonado has scored more points in this race alone than he scored together in the last 46 races
– Finally Pastor Maldonado’s total points scored in his F1 career is more than double the amount he scored with his sole win in Spain 2012. Before Canada he had scored 49 points, 25 of those points came from his victory. Now he has 55 points.
– Just like the 2007 Canadian GP we finally had a third team who scored a podium place. In 2007 only McLaren and Ferrari drivers stood on the podium of the first 5 races. In 2015 only Mercedes and Ferrari drivers stood on the podium for the first 6 races.
– If F1 still used the old scoring system before 2003 (10-6-4-3-2-1) then only 9 drivers and 5 teams would have scored points already. With Ferrari, Mercedes and Williams (and on slow tracks Red Bull) almost have a monopoly on scoring top-6 places it is unlikely it’ll change soon.
– Although it seems that the pace of Williams has stagnated since last year, after 7 races Williams have scored 104 points, thats 46 more than last year at this point!
– Mehri’s retirement was the first for Manor in the whole year.
– With 6 retirements this year, McLaren has just as many retirements as in 2013 and 2014 together.
– Fernando Alonso retired for the 4th time this season. This the most amount of retirements for him in one season since 2004 when he retired 5 times in one season. His most was 9 retirements in 2001
BJ (@beejis60)
8th June 2015, 16:41
wat @jlracing
David Goure
9th June 2015, 13:41
He means this is the first time in a LONG time that Alonso has had more than a handful of retirements in a season.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
8th June 2015, 17:05
Out of a possible 13 results (Bottas DNS in Australia) Williams have had 9 top 6 finishes. It would have looked even better without their rather shoddy pace at Monaco. Red Bull, Force India and Mclaren have all fell back on relative pace compared to the start of last year so even with Ferrari’s improvement they have been able to score decent points more easily.
Compare that to last season where they only had 2 top 6 finishes after the first 7 races, both for Bottas. Massa had a pretty ropey start to the year last season, getting caught up in a lot of incidents.
vtf
10th June 2015, 23:15
This season is not the best for him either. In Bahrain he couldn’t start the race from grid and accident caused him to finish barely in the points. In Monaco he got lost I think. In Canada he couldn’t properly qualify. I don’t know what was wrong with him in Spain….
MarkM
8th June 2015, 14:08
when you have a dominating car of the century, any record is possible…
sato113 (@sato113)
8th June 2015, 15:02
Wasn’t the 2011 red bull more dominating (with vettel) than the Mercedes (of Hamilton) of 2014-15?
Mashiat2 (@mashiat2)
8th June 2015, 15:48
@sato13 No. Both had 11 wins for Hamilton and Vettel but Hamilton faced more competition from NR and reliability problems.
rm
9th June 2015, 5:00
That’s an odd way of saying that Mercedes was a lot more dominant than the Red Bull.
vtf
10th June 2015, 23:17
+1 LOL You caught it …. Brilliant!
David-A (@david-a)
8th June 2015, 15:52
Vettel individually did have more points and wins at this point of 2011, but RBR had less points and podiums in total (and only one 1-2), so I’d say no.
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
8th June 2015, 16:40
@sato113 I don’t think so, and as @david-a points out, that could possibly be because:
a. Webber was not so good and was “wasting” a seat at the RedBull (not totally true in my opinion, as RedBull dominance was not so hard, so it was possible for other cars to match at least the “second” driver… and well, Webber was in his final years at F1, so maybe he was really going down a little.
b. This Mercedes is so good that Nico (who may be as skilled as Webber, maybe less skilled actually) can always get second place, and no matter how hard all the others try, they can’t even match him (I’m inclined to this theory).
I hope Ferrari starts to get better. That wouldn’t jeopardize Lewis, but Nico can get a run for his money if Vettel (and Raikkonen, uhm well not so sure about his skills / handling now) get closer again, as in Malaysia.
bola
10th June 2015, 23:33
If you gave Webber another half a second, I’m prett-ty sure he would have started&finished all the races 2nd behind Vettel and finished all the championships 2nd behind Vettel too. So him finishing 3rd most of the time makes you appreciate Mark. Now looking at the results and thinking back, it was quite interesting that Webber finished 6th in 2012 championship within a couple of points of McLaren drivers who had faster cars. Funny how Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen all finished ahead of McLaren duo that year and managed to drag their constructor along with them to the point that the fastest car finished 3rd in the standings. It also shows you how WCC standings are not cut and dry.
russ
8th June 2015, 15:53
Stop it with the facts already ;)
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
8th June 2015, 17:09
No. Compare Vettel’s advantage in qualifying to those the Mercedes had last season. It was closer between Vettel and the other cars. And has been pointed out, only Vettel could get that level of performance out of the car. Both Merc drivers were able to extract a dominant performance out of the Merc.
MarkM
9th June 2015, 14:12
@sato113 I was waiting for a vettel comment, actual NO, Keith even said it earlier last year that Mercedes have a more dominant car then any other car going back to the McLaren/Honda days with Senna Prost.
You fail to see that BOTH mercedes are finish dominantly in a 1-2 position all the time. Yet your comment only mentions Vettel, not Webber.
Im not a vettel fan, nor a hamilton fan, Im just saying how it is, in order to get close to any record you really need to be in a dominant vehicle, hence why Michael and Ferrari set so many records. When you get a World Champion driver in a world champion car the records can rack up.
sato113 (@sato113)
10th June 2015, 8:25
I think rosberg is miles better than Webber though.
vtf
10th June 2015, 23:19
Do you have any data backing that up or is that your sixth sense?
bola
10th June 2015, 23:21
https://www.racefans.net/2014/12/12/mercedes-2014-dominance-outstripped-red-bulls-2010-3/
vabla
10th June 2015, 23:22
Makes you appreciate Vettel more.
vtf
8th June 2015, 16:17
This car is in the same league of dominance with that McLaren and the other Williams. Now Ferrari and RBR dominance sounds mellow really. LOL those periods had some of the most fierce championship battles of recent (maybe all) times.
Bleu (@bleu)
8th June 2015, 14:10
* It was the second time as Lewis Hamilton’s pole position tally equalled his racing number – first being in United States GP 2007.
* Thanks to penalties, Merhi equalled Virgin/Marussia/Manor’s best grid position achieved by someone else than Jules Bianchi. Max Chilton started 16th in Belgian GP 2013. Bianchi started once from 16th, twice from 15th and once from 12th.
* Fastest lap was 1,517 seconds faster than last year – second biggest difference of the year (after Melbourne) but considering shorter lap in Montreal, the best improvement so far this year.
BJ (@beejis60)
8th June 2015, 16:43
I think that’s 1.517 seconds in americanspeak
kpcart
8th June 2015, 14:21
comparing old records to new is pointless in modern f1, the season is so long, and as such one car gets to dominate for longer. how many other drivers have had a car capable of winning a race fair and sqare on performance for so many years in a row like hamilton?
Davej
8th June 2015, 20:11
Vettel had a constructors winning car for four years in a row. So did Schumi. This will only be Hamilton’s 2nd constructors winning car (07 Mclaren was illegal)
George (@george)
8th June 2015, 23:16
You can’t discount 07 while still counting his results from that year…
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
9th June 2015, 6:21
@george On top of that it’s not likley any top team would win the contructors with Heikki on board…
bola
10th June 2015, 23:42
Clearly in 2012 McLaren was the fastest car despite its WCC standings. Same with Mercedes in 2013, but they had tyre issues etc.
Actually it is pretty interesting that McLaren finished behind both RBR and Ferrari in 2012 with the best car. Goes to show you that WCC is not always cut and dry about the fastest car. Like 2007-2008 years. Though you can also argue that it turns out those 2 years both McLaren and Ferrari have been racing with a Ferrari car.
LH44
11th June 2015, 20:26
In 2012 Mclaren was not the fastest car like you are portraying it. It was Hamilton that was making the car look good than it actually was unlike Button who was floundering around in the middle of the pack. It seems that you are blaming Hamilton for the bad pit stops and poor reliability that Mclaren was giving him. Lewis lost a staggering 110 points through no fault of his own that year and in 2013 Mercedes was only fastest over one lap in a couple of races and they were only the fourth fastest when it comes to the most important part when collecting points behind Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus.
David-A (@david-a)
11th June 2015, 21:46
Button underperformed at times, yes, but also won 3 races.
David-A (@david-a)
11th June 2015, 22:41
Up until the summer break the W04 took every (8) dry pole position, including several front row lockouts.
Mashiat2 (@mashiat2)
8th June 2015, 15:52
2015 is even more boring than 2011 and 2013 ever were. I bet Hamilton doesn’t feel like complaining now, whereas I remember his comments in both those years such as: “Vettel isn’t as good as me and Fernando”, “Vettel is making F1 boring” etc. Ask him what he feels about it now.
P.S. I am a Alonso fan, and have a greater grudge towards Vettel than Hamilton, but I just feel as though Hamilton is being quite hypocritical.
vtf
8th June 2015, 16:19
+1
vtf
8th June 2015, 16:22
Yesterday I realized I miss those times Vettel skirmished with Alonso on track for wins and championships. Looked like they were both having fun, there was this glow on their faces after the race.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
8th June 2015, 17:14
Both 2011 and 2013 had a boring championship but a lot of decent racing.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
9th June 2015, 6:22
@debaser91 That’s the big difference between the two. The titles are boring in both but the races itself were still very enjoyable on more than just one occasion.
lockup (@)
8th June 2015, 17:24
I guess you’re thinking of when Lewis said he wouldn’t want to win as dominantly as Seb was at that time, @mashiat2?
It’s not hypocritical though: he’s not choosing how dominant his car is. He can’t detune it or drive it slower. He has to race it to the max, for his team. This is not evidence that he wouldn’t prefer to win after a fight than to cruise. He would rather win after a fight, as probably they all would, being ALL gladiators not trophy collectors.
Of course in his mind in a fight he would always win, just as Nando and Seb also 100% believe they would win in equal cars.
rm
8th June 2015, 18:50
I guess he’s thinking of when Lewis used to constantly claim that Seb only won because he had the best car, a classless assertion by Hamilton and made all the more lame because it is a charge which far more accurately describes Hamilton himself. The only evidence of the greatness of Vettels RB’s was Vettels performances in them, while it is blindingly obvious that anyone could in fact win in the Mercedes.
Tito Bonanza
9th June 2015, 16:52
Btw, this so called Vettel’s greatness apparently is nowhere to be seen last year when Red Bull need it the most. On the contrary, it shows exactly what Hamilton and Alonso suspected long ago.
If you claim that anyone could in fact win in that Mercedes, well say that to Rosberg!
And the funny thing is Vettel in that Ferrari looks good because of how good the Ferrari compare to last year. Just look at Kimi performance this year.
Oh boy, looking how good Kimi is in that Ferrari, I can imagine how close Alonso can push that car to Merc. If only, if only.
David-A (@david-a)
9th June 2015, 17:09
Tito Bonanza – We can continue this all day, as wel can look at Alonso’s “greatness” now, or in 2004 or 2007, or Hamilton’s in 2011. Fact is, one year doesn’t suddenly show what anyone suspected. Vettel’s had 7 years of clearly being a great driver, and Alonso would not suddenly be pushing the Merc when he couldn’t use the equally far behind 2011, 2013 and 2014 Ferrari’s to push the lead car.
Tito Bonanza
10th June 2015, 13:22
@david-a I think you missed my point.
My point is that for someone (and that is rm) who blatantly ignored the fact that Hamilton has won at least once in every season no matter how bad his car is, and yes he has been in worse car than RB10 and won races, and no matter who his team mates is, claiming that Hamilton can only won in perfect car is plain ignorant.
I assume maybe this attitude from Vettel’s fan appears as a defensive stance against any argument that there is someone who actually can drive fast no matter who his teammate is and how good his car is.
But why? Admittedly Vettel’s performance is very influenced on how the car suits his style. And this very much is the same with Kimi and Webber, who unlike Vettel can’t take advantage on EBD. But in all honesty, both Webber and Vettel is basically quite similar. They need time to adapt to new regulation. And they need their “perfect” car.
And this can be seen last season when Ricciardo crush Vettel in his first season with Red Bull. And if you said one season can’t tell enough, well I think last season is quite revealing that indeed Vettel is very difficult to adapt to new regs.
But once again, if you are really a fan of someone, I still can’t grasp the idea why on earth you keep telling something that isn’t true, like Hamilton can’t win in a worse car, while the fact is he did lots of time in the past with fiercer opponent than Webber. Is this make Vettel “unshaken” in your eyes? But maybe, I suspect, you idolize someone for the wrong reason.
David-A (@david-a)
10th June 2015, 22:17
@Tito Bonanza –
Yeah, that’s fair enough about Hamilton, I am aware that he’s a great driver. But still, Vettel’s actually won in a worse car than Hamilton’s ever driven (i.e. a team that has otherwise never won a race in their history). And is the SF15-T “perfect” in your eyes?
Kimi is being beaten despite supposedly feeling much more comfortable with this year’s car than last. Webber lost to Vettel by a huge margin, and even in the Red Bull and Vettel was at Toro Rosso.
I’ll reiterate my point. One bad season isn’t enough to come to that conclusion. Vettel adapted well to 2 different teams as a rookie in 2007. He adapted to new regs in 2009, winning his 3rd race at a new team at 21. He’s adapted well in his first season at Ferrari.
David-A (@david-a)
11th June 2015, 21:49
Tito, he didn’t call Hamilton bad:
rm
8th June 2015, 18:45
In spite of the fact that the Mercedes is MUCH more dominant than the Red Bull’s ever were, there is strangely little mention of that fact in the TV commentary or written coverage. Hmm, I wonder what could account for the disparity?
Mercedes have now put both cars on the podium for seven consecutive races. The previous record was five.
Mercedes also have 15 one-two finishes in the last 26 GP’s. The supposedly “dominant Red Bull’s” managed just 12 one-two finishes in the four years from 2010 – 2013.
Jonjo
8th June 2015, 20:41
Maybe it had something to do with a 2nd pilot who was not up to the task as opposed to Vettel walking on water?
David-A (@david-a)
8th June 2015, 22:17
You never know, but 2010 & 2012 were far more competitive than 2011, 2013 (second half) or 2014.
sonia luff (@sonia54)
8th June 2015, 18:58
Well said
DaveW (@dmw)
8th June 2015, 16:35
Now that Hamilton has ended Rosberg’s qualifying dominance, we need to talk about “next races.” By November Hamilton could be creeping up the half-century and thus on Prost’s win total, Senna’s total being left far behind in the summer. This will not be scintillating to watch, but it is remarkable. To catch Schumacher, Hamilton would need to have basically a second similar career. But if he drives until he is 40, after this year, he would only need about another 4-ish wins per year to become the GOAT. Of course Vettel is in the same situation and has the same arithmetic. (It might seem strange to think Ferrari could get back to domination again, but who would have thought that the RBR juggernaut would collapse so quickly.)
DonSmee (@david-beau)
8th June 2015, 17:51
Schumacher had 5 years of dominance. Hamilton had 2 so far… So If he crushes Nico’s spirit and wins at a rate of 13 per year for the next three years + 8 more wins this year, he will be 37 wins + 47 wins = 84 wins. Then for his following years in a Ferrari, he needs only 8 wins to have the win record. So this fanciful dream has Hamilton as a 7 or 8XWDC with 92 wins at the age of 34 years old.
elio (@elio)
8th June 2015, 22:11
Difference is Michael Schumacher did it without driving such dominant cars in consecutive years. And Ferrari’s competition back then, never had to face such harsh restrictions in car development (namely, the dreaded engine development freeze) and testing.
The W05 of 2014 is statistically the most dominat car in the history of F1 right behind the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 and the W06 of 2015 is probably the most dominant F1 car ever built.
Luke
9th June 2015, 12:47
Groan.
Schuey also was No.1 driver who had the No.2 driver pull over to let him win. Ferrari had infinite money and testing, with tires designed for their car specifically. We can do this all day, with anybody at the top of these lists.
A record is a record.
elio (@elio)
9th June 2015, 18:10
There’s no such thing as “infinite money” but I’m aware “infinite testing” was available to everyone.
As for the rubber, are you conveniently forgetting Michelin and their “expanding” tyres in 2003 or you just didn’t know about that ?
As for the rest, it’s a *FACT* the W05 is statistically, the 2nd most dominant F1 car in the history of F1 and the W06 is en route to snatch that crown from the 1988’s MP4/4.
RL
9th June 2015, 23:46
Difference is Michael Schumacher did it without driving such dominant cars in consecutive years.
2001 to 2002 were pretty dominant years, DC’s early 2001 season challenge and the Williams scoring 1-2s in Malaysia 2002 aside.
Schumi first won in 1992, his last victory being in 2006. He was in the title-hunt in 94-95, 97-98, 2000-2004 and 2006. That’s some serious longevity Hamilton needs to have to be in the hunt for 91 wins. Out of those 16 years (excluding Merc) he was challenging for 10.
Let’s have a look at if Lewis and Seb are going to match that length of being at the pinnacle.
Hamilton’s been in the title challenge in these years: 2007-08, 2010, 2014. I discount 2011-12 as he never threatened for long periods to be a title contender. So that’s 4/8 years. For Vettel it’s 2009-2013, which is 5/7.
My conclusions: both drivers need to spend another decade in F1 to have a chance of being close to Schumacher’s record.
vtf
11th June 2015, 0:12
Both Schumacher and Vettel were 27 years old when they switched cars. Schumacher had 19 wins upto that point whereas Vettel had 39. It is now upto Ferrari…
rm
8th June 2015, 18:38
Yes, in the same sense that Ricciardo “out-qualified” Vettel last year.
Davej
8th June 2015, 20:22
Oh dear. So in each of the 12 times that Vettel was outqualified by RIC he had a mechanical failure?
Jonjo
8th June 2015, 20:53
The fact is, reliability was not the deciding factor between Vettel and Ricciardo last season. It was more to do with Vettel failing to adapt, mistskes (eg Hungary spin), RIC having better tyre management (Belgium GP) and RIC just being plain better. Of course you would rather deny this reality. In any case by my reckoning RIC also had issues that cost him big points- AUS disq being one eg.
rm
9th June 2015, 5:07
The fact is, it was the deciding factor. You might want to brush up on what that word “fact” means. You might also want to acquaint yourself with the distinction between qualifying and the race.
Thanks for that insightful analysis.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
9th June 2015, 9:17
Despite some complaints of fuel and tyre saving, last Sunday was the fastest Canadian Grand Prix since 2004. Race times of previous ‘green’ races between 2004 and 2015 (admittedly not that many):
2004: 1:28:24.803
2015: 1:31:53.145
2013: 1:32:09.143
2012: 1:32:29.586
2010: 1:33:53.456
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
9th June 2015, 9:54
Do not forget the race did not have safety car.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
9th June 2015, 9:54
*a safety car.
LH44
9th June 2015, 10:22
In 2010, 12 and 13 there was no safety car if my memory is correct.
Robbie (@robbie)
9th June 2015, 12:06
Hey, the numbers are the numbers, and kudos to LH…he’s amazing. But when I started reading the article to see whose record the headline refers to, I could not help but think of Jackie Stewart’s experience of such high odds of injury and death, as proven by the number of drivers harmed racing in F1 back then, JS racing in that atmosphere until he could no longer continue seeing so many friends die. The bravery it took back then. The weight there must have been on the mind.
Fast forward to a much much safer setting, thank goodness, but what a shame that going hand in hand with the added safety has been regs that have drivers nor cars able to be pushed to their limits, physically nor mentally. It’s not LH’s fault, and he’s racing in basically apples to apples competition in spite of Mercs domination (all teams had the same opportunity to nail it like they have in this new era), but for me the numbers are just interesting, not amazing. They don’t feel to me like a great feat. The other side of the coin to driving today’s cars is, imho, that drivers cannot be categorized amongst the true Greats while driving around conserving everything and not nearly taxed to their or their car’s limits physically or mentally. There should at least be that while the cars and tracks are so safe.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
9th June 2015, 22:38
4th win for Hamilton in Canada – equals China and Hungary.
Bottas has never started lower than 4th in Canada.
Alonso’s DNF means that he is still yet to finish in any position more than once in Canada (he has finished in every top 7 position once).
Alonso has started the last 3 races from 13th place – and suffered a mechanical DNF in each one!
Perez’s love of the number 11 continues – after finishing 11th in Canada, he remains 11th in the Championship on 11 points.
First time Merhi has started off the back row.
With Ericsson and Maldonado both finishing ahead of their team-mates and Raikkonen outqualifying Vettel, every 2015 driver (except Magnussen) has both started a race ahead of their team mate and finished a race ahead of their team mate.
The first 7 races of 2015 have seen 7 different drivers finish 8th, and 7 different drivers finish 10th. Also, Vettel is the first driver to have finished 5th more than once this year.
And some more from magnetimarelli.com:
First time since 2012 that Maldonado has managed back-to-back Q3 appearances.
Best dry qualifying for Hulkenberg since USA 2013 (4th).
Massa has never started a Canadian GP in front of his team-mate.
3rd time (after 2001 and 2008, so a 7-year pattern) that Button has started 20th in Canada.
Both Hamilton and Mercedes have 77 podiums.
7 consecutive races with 2 Mercedes on the podium – first time since Ferrari in 1952-53.
First time since 2003 that Williams have scored in Canada with both cars.
First race this year in which Maldonado has not made contact with another car.
Ricciardo’s worst result (excluding DNFs) since joining Red Bull, at the track where he scored his first win last year.
3 DNFs in a row for Alonso – first time since 2001.
hermes1650
11th June 2015, 15:32
Thank you for that one after all these comments out of the section stats & facts.
Remember to share them, not to discuss the background.
Keep racing!