Mercedes raise the bar with record-smashing 2015 season

2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix stats and facts

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Following Mercedes’ domination of the 2014 championship, few would have expected them to pull even further ahead of the opposition in 2014. But the results indicate they did exactly that.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was their 12 one-two finish this year, beating the record of 11 they set in 2014. They also managed one more podium than last year, breaking another record, and equalled the record of 16 wins in a season they set last year.

Mercedes therefore ended the season on 703 points – two more than last year over the same number of races, despite the abolition of the double points finale. The highest possible score available to them this year was 817 points, of which they scored 86% – another record.

The W06s locked out the front row of the grid for the 15th time this year, three more than last year and further new record for the books.

Number 44 is still waiting for his 44th win
While Lewis Hamilton held sway for much of the year, after he clinched the title Nico Rosberg ran the table. He won the final three races in a row from pole position – something Hamilton didn’t manage all year long – and as the season closed took his sixth consecutive pole position. The all-time record stands at eight – Hamilton came within one of it earlier this year.

Despite Rosberg’s resurgence Hamilton beat him 11-7 in pole positions this year – an exact reversal of last year’s outcome.

Rosberg also took his 14th career win, giving him as many victories as world champions Jack Brabham, Emerson Fittipaldi and Graham Hill. Coincidentally, Rosberg equalled Hill’s wins tally on the 40th anniversary of his death in a plane crash.

He therefore denied his team mate in car number 44 from claiming his 44th win at a race where the 44th anniversary of the United Arab Emirates’ independence was being celebrated. However Hamilton did take the fastest lap on the 44th tour (and on the same lap Rosberg completed the middle sector in 44.444 seconds). That was Hamilton’s 28th fastest lap, giving him as many as Jim Clark.

Sebastian Vettel was eliminated in Q1 yet recovered in the race to finish one place behind his team mate – just as he did after his only other Q1 exit this year in Canada.

Kimi Raikkonen moved up to fourth place in the drivers’ championship at the last race of the season and avoided ending the year with less than half of his team mate’s points for the second season in the row. However his tally of 150 is 11 points less than Fernando Alonso managed with last year’s uncompetitive SF14-T.

Finally, by relegating Valtteri Bottas to fifth place, Raikkonen ensured the top ten drivers in the championship were neatly grouped by team: two Mercedes, two Ferraris, two Williamses, two Red Bulls and two Force Indias.

Review the year in statistics here:

There’s more post-season stats coming in the 2015 F1 Season Review, but in the meantime if you’ve spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix do share them in the comments.

2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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85 comments on “Mercedes raise the bar with record-smashing 2015 season”

  1. The German National Anthem was played on the podium at every race this season. Has this every happened before with any nation?

    1. @tommyb89 That would have been the case in 1992 and 1993 as well (only British teams won races) but I don’t know if it happened after or before then.

      1. 1991 too, I think (Williams, Benetton, and McLaren).

      2. Did they play the anthem in 1950 (let’s not count the Indy 500 and we get all Italian-won races, or no??)?

      3. In those years Benetton won two races (Spa ’92 and Estoril ’93), though I think despite being an Italian team, the British anthem was played since the team was based in Enstone. Nowadays it doesn’t matter, apparently, as whenever a Red Bull won the Austrian anthem was played despite RBR being based in Milton Keynes (I recall Mateschitz complaining after China ’09, RBR’s first win, that the British anthem was played and from then on, they played the Austrian one). And after all, officially Mercedes is still based in Brackley.

        1. It depends on how the team registers, Benneton was a continuation of Toleman which was a brittish team, they didn’t change the registry to italian until … 97 if i remember correctly. So benneton wins before that would result in an english anthem, after that in an italian one

    2. Why, oh why can’t “The Rat” wear a uniform like the other team members ?
      He looks totally out of place there and has done all season for the same reason !!!

      1. He can wear a mankini and beer helmet if he wants, he’s earned it.

      2. Because he’s been under contract with German broadcaster RTL as their main TV pundit for over 20 years and he still does that job. He could hardly do that in full team gear.

  2. UAE would not have cared for their 44th anniversary if Hamilton’a car # was not #44. Fact.

    1. In other fairyland news: UAE paid Rosberg to make the middle sector timing of lap 44 to be 44.444s

      1. And off course they wrote the cheque to have Hamilton do a fastest lap on that lap too

    2. Fudge Ahmed (@)
      30th November 2015, 12:10

      Have you ever been there? UAE National Day is a huge deal. There were 43’s plastered all over the place last year so you are quite wrong there.

      1. Yes, I have been there. Interesting/odd country.

        I can’t remember it being mentioned in the build up/during previous Abu Dhabi GP. Just this one. Perhaps I should have worded it better, in that it would not have been mentioned in the build up if Hamilton’s car number was, say, 67. I imagine the UAE people do care about their anniversary.

        1. It won’t have fallen on race day before and I can’t imagine they would make a big deal about it during a qualifying session.

          The press obviously only made a big deal because of the number this year.

    3. Yes, bbc was keen to underline that it makes a lot of sense to celebrate an odd number anniversary this enthusiastically.

  3. However his tally of 150 is 11 points less than Fernando Alonso managed with last year’s uncompetitive SF14-T

    This says a lot about Kimi’s year. Last year, Ferrari was, at best, the 4th best car to have, sometimes even relegated by McLaren and Force India, yet Kim not even managed to score the amount of points Alonso did last year. That borders the pathetic. With a car this good… such a shame.

    1. It’s not that straight forward. Kimi has had a lot of bad luck this season. He lost points in Australia (10-12), Malaysia (3-6), Monaco (2-4), Hungary (18), Belgium (6-9) due to unfortunate situations. So he should’ve had at least 39 and could’ve had 49 points more on the board.
      I agree that Kimi’s performances in the past two years weren’t his best, but to call it pathetic is just rude and disrespectful to a world champion.
      2014 was probably the worst year in his entire career, including his time in WRC. I think he’s recovered pretty well this season in terms of his pace, especially in the races. He’s just making too many mistakes and that’s the difference between him and Vettel.

      1. @srga91

        I agree that Kimi’s performances in the past two years weren’t his best, but to call it pathetic is just rude and disrespectful to a world champion.

        While it may be rude, you can’t deny that if a driver who wasn’t a world champion performed like that two seasons on the trot we would all be calling for that driver to get the sack.

        Few would deny that Raikkonen was one of the quickest men of his generation. I remember his performances in 2003, 2005 and 2007 really vividly, his drive at Suzuka in 2005 is in the top 5 drives I have ever witnessed in 25 years watcging the sport, but when you measure him against those he has been utterly woeful these last two seasons. While his carefree, lackadaisical, “if the car is quick I’ll win but if its a dog I can’t be bothered” attitude was charming and endearing a few seasons back, it has no place in f1 in an era when there is such limited testing and the team need their drivers to deliver their best every single time they sit in the car. I’d like to think that he is still a far better driver than he is showing at the moment and it is a shame that he will see out what has been a remarkable career pottering about as Ferrari’s de facto number 2.

      2. It’s not just mistakes. Lots of time we also saw that Vettel could pull a gap to him if he wanted. He had slightly more reliability issues, but whenever people start counting things that cost him points, they don’t care to do the same thing for Vettel. I mean people have been saying Kimi would have finished on podium in Malaysia, he would have finished 4th/5th in Australia, Austria, or Mexico, or Belgium and so on. If that’s how we are gonna give more points to him, maybe we should say Vettel could have won Canada, he would have finished on podium in Belgium, definitely would have finished on podium in Austria and Abu Dhabi etc. That doesn’t make much sense, especially when the driver has a part in that mistake and it’s not just reliability…

      3. @srga91 I agree I think the worst tenure in his career started when Pirelli was forced to introduce new/old tyres at Hungary 2013, I guess, after this stage he has been beaten regularly by his teammates, Romain, Fernando and Sebastian. I guess it’s no excuse but we know how peculiar his driving style is, he can’t get the hang off either the new tyres or the cars.

  4. Kimi Raikkonen secured all of his podiums this season in races which featured racing in the night.

    Sergio Perez had his best season to date, finishing higher and with more points than he did in 2012. I felt that he drove far better than he has done in any season too.

    Daniel Ricciardo finished behind his team mate(s) for the third time in five seasons.

    Lewis Hamilton equalled the record for most podium finishes in a season (although Michael Schumacher’s incredible record of 100% still stands). For the second time in his career, he has finished second in three consecutive races.

    For the first time since 2006, every race win was taken by a manufacturer team. Unlike 2006, every pole position was also taken by a manufacturer team. However manufacturer teams missed out on three fastest laps – all taken by Daniel Ricciardo.

    Nico Hulkenberg has finished in the top ten in the championship for three consecutive seasons.

    For the first time in his career, Fernando Alonso has finished a season with fewer points than a team mate. However, he finished behind Lewis Hamilton and Tarso Marques on countback in 2007 and 2001 respectively, and scored fewer points than Jarno Trulli before the latter was sacked in 2004.

    Marcus Ericsson improved on his championship position from 2014 by only one place, despite scoring considerably more points.

    Finally well done to Manor-Marussia on being the second most reliable team, only just behind the mighty Mercedes, and tied with Williams.

    1. Finally well done to Manor-Marussia on being the second most reliable team

      It’s easy to be rude and say that’s because they were never quick enough to trouble the mechanicals, but that would be unfair. They’ve clearly put a lot of effort into ensuring they finish races; hopefully, they can build on this and start to move up the field next year.

    2. Kimi has been on the podium in all night races this year, not sure but I think he also hasn’t had any champagne on the podium too

      1. I’m pretty sure that they had champagne in Singapore

        1. Singapore had Champagne. That was the only time Kimi got to taste some though. It was rose water on the other occasions.

  5. What are the chances of three consecutively-numbered cars clunking into each other? Has this been achieved before – or even a 4 or 5-car cannon?

    “Car 14 caused a collision with car 13 in turn one, in moving across in front of car 12.”

    (from the stewards’ report on the first-corner crash)

    1. Spa ’98. Cars numbered 11, 12, 14 and 15. Since there was no car numbered 13, that’s 4 consecutive numbers

      1. Since there was no car numbered 13, that’s 4 consecutive numbers

        And if there was a #13 then it would be Maldonado! Surely he would be involved in such a mishap ;-)
        @bullfrog, @mattds

        1. Nice one! Made me laugh.

      2. Important to note in Spa, most of the field was wiped out, in this one it was exclusively those cars.

      3. Haha, should’ve thought of that Spa race! Turns out cars 15 to 22 were all involved in that wreck, which is surely unbeatable. But number 23 made it through – probably Esteban Tuero’s greatest achievement in F1.

        1. He was so slow he came too late to be involved in the crash. ;)

    2. @bullfrog took my stat there :'( Love this one, and it is indeed unlikely due to the number 13 not featuring until last year.

  6. Jelle van der Meer
    30th November 2015, 11:51

    If you would measure F1 excitement based on the # of different drivers or teams to win, the last 2 years have been the most boring in F1 history.

    For the 8th time only 2 teams shared all the wins however till now it never happened in consecutive years and with more races in a year. Same for the drivers, for the 7th time only 3 drivers shared all the wins also here it never happened in consecutive years.

    Looking over a 2 year period only 3 teams shared all 38 wins which is the 8th time compared to 9 teams in 1976-1977 season. For the drivers there were only 4 drivers that shared all wins which is sadly a new record in F1 history (previous low of 5 happened 5 times) compared to 15 drivers in 1981-1982 season.

    Mercedes won 32 races (21 Hamilton and 11 Rosberg), Red Bull won 3 races (all Ricciardo) and Ferrari won 3 races (all Vettel).

    In the last 72 races there has only been 1 new winner, which was Ricciardo at Canada in June last year.

    Probably already pointed out in stats of Australia but Lewis Hamilton had another winning season, his 9th consecutive season with at least 1 win putting him joined 3rd with Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost is 2nd with 10 and Schumacher leads with 15. Hamilton is the only one that has won a race in every season he was active.

    1. Hamilton is the only one that has won a race in every season he was active.

      That’s a nice stat. I hope he will continue that, and eventually retires with this record still alive!

      1. You have to put it in perspective though. He’s never had a car that wasn’t at least the 2nd or 3rd fastest on the grid, while other greats (Alonso Minardi, Senna Toleman, Vettel Torro Rosso, Schumacher ’96 Ferrari etc) had to make do with midfield or backmarker machinery at least once in their career.

        1. We know who you are so we won’t bother pointing out that the 09 Macca spent half the season at the back of the grid. Given it did not spend the rest of it at the front, that makes it a less than mid field car…

        2. I don’t think Hamilton’s cars in 2009 and 2013 were much worse than plenty driven by Alonso through his career or Schumacher’s 1996 Ferrari.

          The only full season Vettel completed without winning a race was in a team which had won the last four constructors championships and in a car which won 3 races in the hands of his team mate.

          Similarly, Alonso has many seasons without a win excluding his Minardi year, including three of F1’s top teams and in a car which won in his teammate’s hands.

          Senna and Schumacher could perhaps be more fairly compared. In his only complete non-winning season Senna did finish 2nd in a shortened Monaco race and Schumacher’s record was only spoiled by a disappointing comeback.

          The best drivers always find their way into top cars, in the case of Hamilton, Schumacher and Vettel this happened very quickly because of their obvious talent and therefore their statistics and records are very well deserved.

    2. For the first time Lewis equaled a stat with Senna and didn’t feel honored or humbled or reminiscent of his childhood.

      #banter XD

  7. For the first time since 1989, the McLaren drivers ended the year occupying the top two places in driver’s rooster.
    When ordered by alphabet, that is.

    1. Ooops. Forgot about Bottas. Sorry.

      1. Just when you thought McLaren’s season couldn’t get any worse!

        I don’t think this has ever actually happened. Alesi and Berger came close in 1997 as teammates at Benetton, but Barrichello slotted in between them. Alboreto and Alesi both drove for Tyrrell in 1989, but not as teammates!

        Alliot and Arnoux were 2nd and 3rd on the list for Ligier in 1986 but Alboreto in the Ferrari took the top spot on the roster. Earlier Alboreto and Arnoux had teamed up at Ferrari, and would have taken the top spots in 1984 and 1985 if not for the ill-fated RAM-Hart team and its drivers Acheson and Alliot.

        In the 1950s, 60s and 70s there were a couple of times where the top spots on the alphabetical roster drove the same car, though not for the same team (Amon and Andretti drove a March in 1970, Amon and Anderson drove a Brabham in 1965, Abate and Arundell drove a Lotus in 1962, and Allison and Ashmore drove a Lotus in 1961. Various people used Kurtis Kraft cars throughout the 1950s, but as far as I know the same applies there).

  8. I think this is the second time that Abu Dhabi polesitter win the grand prix, there is 4 times in a row (2011-2014) that Abu Dhabi GP isn’t won by polesitter. Vettel score more points than in 2010 season which is his first championship and this year is his first year in Ferrari, the team that have most constructors hampionship so far.
    Coincidentally, he score the exact same points as Alonso, 3 wins and 13 podiums, a guy who he replaced at Ferrari. That was in 2012 season, a season which considered by many is Alonso finest season in Ferrari.
    Despiter Mercedes dominance, they got two races which none of their drivers are in the podium, last races there is always one driver that finish on the podium at every race. In Mercedes 2 seasons dominance so far, only Red Bull current driver and ex- driver that able to get a win, Ricciardo and Vettel and both got 3 wins in 2014 and 2015. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first time Hamtilton got beaten 3 qualifyings and races in a row by his teammate.

  9. Kimi got his 80th podium equalling Senna, and 5th in all-time.

    1. @alexanderfin Ah, that’s a good one I missed. Thanks for that!

  10. Despite Rosberg’s resurgence Hamilton beat him 11-7 in qualifying this year – an exact reversal of last year’s outcome.

    This is in terms of pole positions
    Hamilton beat Rosberg 12-7 this year, while Nico beat Lewis 12-7 last year

    1. @bigraces Thanks I’ve cleared that up in the text.

      1. @keithcollantine … You get to edit while we don’t (get to edit our comments). Not fair :|

    2. remind me, when did another car get pole this year?

      1. Seb in Singapore

  11. Rosberg have 6 poles in row only, Senna (8), and Hamilton,Prost, Senna and Schumacher (7), have more.

    1. Even more amazing are the names missing on this list.
      Vettel had 15 poles in 2011 (out of 19 races) but never more than 5 poles in a row!
      Mansell did even better by having all but 2 poles in 1992 (14/16), but never managing more than 6 in a row.
      (if only he could’ve stayed at Williams in ’93)

      1. Vettel could have gotten 9 poles in a row if it wasn’t for his malfunctioning KERS in Spain 2011. Despite that he qualified 2nd behind his teammate, and then won the race while Webber finished 4th.

        1. If webbers kers worked in qualy more than once in the first half of 2011 vettel would not have got 9 poles…

  12. Rosberg is the fourth driver non-champion taking six pole positions in a row.
    Lauda (1974) would be champion the following year.
    senna (1988) and Mansell (1992) would be champions in the same year.

    2000 race starts for Ferrari car (Kimi RAIKKONEN)

    first time in history three consecutive races features the same driver winning starting from pole and the same driver finishing second starting from 2nd

  13. 86.05% of all possible WCC points this year by Merc!. This is a record, all right. McL 1988 is usually considered as the most dominant team in F1 history but they “only” got 199 of 240 possible points, i.e. 82.92%. The problem is, the scoring systems were different. Does it make a difference?
    It doesn’t change much if we apply the modern scoring system to 1988, comes to (if I reckon it right) 576 from 688 possible points, i.e. 83.72%.
    And if we use the 1988 point system for the 2015 season? Then, Merc would have (again, if I reckon it right) 238/285 points, i.e 83.51%.
    So, only if we count the modern scoring for the 1988 season and the 1988 scoring for the present season (which doesn’t make much sense, does it?) the 1988 McL stats come (minimally) on top.
    All this regardless of the weird system that made only the 11 best results in the year count (it was only for the WDC, not the WCC, IIRC).
    But % of all possible WCC points is only a way of measuring dominance. For example, 15/16 victories (McL 1988) sounds better than 16/19 (Merc 2015). So many people will still consider McL 1988 the most dominant team in F1 history (I, for one, do so).
    Which btw is not the same as considering the McL/Honda MP4/4 as the most dominant car. The pilots also count, don’t they? And the 1988 McL lineup (Prost/Senna) was quite strong, arguably much better than their rivals. It’s always hard to assess the relative merits of pilots and machines, but I would volunteer that the 2015 Merc is a more dominant car than the MP4/4 was. Which doesn’t means the most dominant ever (my vote goes to the 1961 Ferrari “Sharknose”).

    1. Regarding the 1961 Ferrari as being the most dominant ever, F1Metrics agrees with you:

        1. I will take f1metrics with a pinch of salt.

          Being a data analyst myself, it is imperative that one looks at the assumptions being made before engaging in such a mathematical exercise.
          https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/a-reconstructed-history-of-formula-1/
          For example, in this article; it predicts Alonso and Schumacher to be 10-time WDCs!! Senna to be a 2-time WDC and Prost to be a 7-time WDC.

          The analysis probably looks at the team mate difference to determine which driver was most dominant and hence would perform the best in equal machinery. Which is probably why the model almost always predicts the Ferrari driver of that year to be winning the WDC (as Ferrari have the most extreme 1-2 driver policy).

          1. I simply view f1metrics as entertainment, and found the most dominant teams article to be fun reading. A pinch of salt, indeed.

          2. Amazing how few people consider the driver comparison assumptions used by F1metrics. To also exclude all DNFs regardless of team, driver, car, crashes, punctures will always scew output data as well. As will for example Ferraris incredible reliability records but in the other direction.

          3. The f1metrics model has of course flaws but it’s based on objective data and avoids the (usually huge) subjective flaws we all have. The assumptions in f1metrics are not perfect but apply equally to all.
            It’s not as simple as you put it. Regularly beating your teammate won’t give you much in the model if your teammate is a nobody who has not ever beaten other teammates. On the contrary, beating a teammate with a winning history scores big points for you. One of the biggest problems with the f1metrics model is that it doesn’t account for the loss of ability many pilots have at the end of their career. For example Nico Rosberg gets overrated because he regularly beat Schumacher at Merc, when Schuey was far from his top form. Also Alonso got big points last year from dominating Kimi.
            All this has little to do with the relative dominance of cars. Alonso’s years in Ferrari were highly rated by the model but the Ferraris themselves weren’t. The model does not account for team orders, which can surely boost the N1 pilot rating artificially, but the car doesn’t benefit; what the N1 pilot adds the N2 pilots detracts.
            And let’s not forget that most (if not all) teams issue TO on occasion, it’s not just a Ferrari policy. There are a few well-known/infamous cases of Ferrari TO but I wouldn’t say it’s much worse than in other teams. Whatever their fame, Ferrari has often let its pilots race. Last year Alonso and this year Vettel crushed Kimi with very little help from the Ferrari management. And in 1961, von Trips and Phil Hill jolly well raced each other (there’s a great book about the season, “The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit” by Michael Cannell, I fully recommend it). But if they hadn’t, it wouldn’t have increased the Sharknose rating.
            So I believe that the f1metrics rating of the Sharknose as the most dominant car ever is right. but as I explain in another post I have my own reasons for that. The great Stirling Moss could only beat the Ferraris in Monaco and in the original Nordschleife, two tracks where raw power counts for less than driver ability, but was hopelessly outclassed in the rest. Two pretty much average pilots, Hill and von Trips, dominated the season in their Sharknoses while Moss, Jim Clark etc, saw them going past. And Giancarlo Baghetti, a rookie who couldn’t get a podium in six more years of F1 racing, won his maiden F1 race (and two other non-championship F1 races) in an unofficial Sharknose (Scuderia St. Ambrose). Enough said.

      1. My vote for the Ferrari Sharknose is not based in a model. If F1metrics agrees, fine. But check the story:
        The title was disputed between the 2 official Ferrari drivers, Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips. None of them was WDC material and both were regularly beaten by their teammates, before and (for Hill) after 1961 (sadly there was no after 1961 for von Trips) while some of the all-time greats, like Jim Clark or Stirling Moss, didn’t have a chance. And remember Giancarlo Baghetti, the rookie who won his first three F1 races (although 2 of them didn’t count for the championship) in a Sharknose of course! He ran for 6 more seasons but never got a podium.

        As far as I can tell, never in F1 history a mediocre pilot had it so easy to win races and titles against top-class pilots like Clark, Moss or Ireland as in 1961 driving a Sharknose. The 1988 story is different, the MP4/4 was surely the best car of the year, but Prost and Senna were the best pilots also (3rd, 4th and 5th were Gerhard Berger, Thierry Boutsen and Michele Alboreto, not exactly all-time greats) and most likely would have won also if all the field had MP4/4s to drive, although maybe by a lesser margin.

  14. It’s funny that only 4 teams managed to set faster lap times than last year (Mercedes, Ferrari, Lotus, Sauber). Williams & Red Bull got even considerably slower than in 2014.

    Kimi managed to improve by 2,8 sec compared to last season, while Massa got slower by 2,1 sec.
    That’s very weird, because there haven’t been any major regulation changes for 2015 (apart from PU development).

  15. Surprised this hasn’t been mentioned yet: Rosberg has matched Alonso’s pole tally (22).

    Rosberg has also surpassed 1,000 laps in the lead, the only non-WDC bar Stirling Moss to achieve that.

    Vettel has matched Alonso’s best season with Ferrari (2012) with 3 wins, 278 points, and 13 podiums

    1. Rosberg has matched Alonso’s pole tally (22)

      having 44 poles between them.

      Rosberg has also surpassed 1,000 laps in the lead,

      to be exact it is 1044 laps by now.

      Vettel has matched Alonso’s best season with Ferrari (2012) with 3 wins, 278 points, and 13 podiums

      (2012 – 278)/3/13 = 44

      Feels like this darn number is chasing us @kingshark
      previous sentence has 44 characters – as has this one

      1. @coldfly I feel like this #44 thingy is getting out of hand :D

      2. COTD right there people.

  16. Race:
    * Rosberg’s six poles in a row is more than any other driver who hasn’t won the title has achieved. Granted, Lauda, Senna and Mansell achieved six poles in a row before their titles (latter two in their championship years)

    * Similarly, Rosberg’s third consecutive win equals Stirling Moss in non-champion category. Mansell had five, Clark, Rindt, Senna, Schumacher and D.Hill (with one being 1995 final race) four on the road to their first titles. Jones, Mansell and D.Hill (twice) won three races in a row and won title in later years.

    Season:
    * First time as Russian driver has outscored his team-mate with both drivers having driven entire season.

  17. I don’t want to go against the stats but I feel as if the 2014 car was more dominant than the 2015. The 2014 car had better handling, worse reliability and better opposition. This year RB and especially Renault really got off the boil, RB managed to come back by Spain though and Merc I feel solved the handling after Singapore, where both drivers started to run much closer to each other.

    1. The stats are right, Merc was more successful by the numbers. But last year they only failed when they broke down. This year they lost close fights to Ferrari when they couldn’t get the best from the tires. So the gains were from reliability not speed.

      Last year it seem certain that 2015 would be like 2014. I’m not sure about next year. I could see a real challenge for the WDC if Hamilton and Roseberg fight whIle Ferrari favors Vettel.

      1. @slotopen I wrote yesterday that I think Merc got the handling right after Singapore and today Lewis says Mercedes got the handling “terrible” after Singapore. Hamilton’s dominance surely has decreased after Singapore, that said the car looks better to me, especially on Nico’s hands, at least both drivers seem to pace similarly, as in 2014. This is an old theory but I have the impression that Lewis does unwillingly make his cars slower, as he has the chance to put his marker on his cars, they tend to suit him but overall go slower.

  18. “Raikkonen ensured the top ten drivers in the championship were neatly grouped by team: two Mercedes, two Ferraris, two Williamses, two Red Bulls and two Force Indias”

    Has this happened before with 10 cars / 5 teams ? Can’t recall any year !

    1. Me neither. You might be onto something, from the top of my head I can only recall 2002 as year likely to produce that outcome. On further analysis, in 02 the top 8 was in tandem. As you need to have good reliability and a stable rulebook, we might not ever had had this scenario happen before.

  19. 18 poles from 19 races this season for Mercedes – equals last year as well as Red Bull in 2011. Also, McLaren in 1988 and 1989 and Williams in 1992 and 1993 only missed pole once (and in 1993 it was only in the last race), with all those seasons having 16 races. There has arguably been a 100% record – Ferrari in 1952 managed pole in every race apart from the Indy 500 (7 poles in total).

    Hamilton has managed 2 poles, 2 fastest laps, and 2 wins at Abu Dhabi – all of them in different races. His fastest laps came in the only 2 years that the race has been won from pole (2010, 2015).

    32 podiums for Mercedes this year (out of a possible 38), beats last year’s 31.

    Rosberg’s win means that he has scored more points in 2015 than in 2014 (322 vs 317). Hamilton has managed 3 points fewer than in 2014 (but that is skewed by the double-points).

    Alonso’s first season without a podium since 2001 (and 2002 in which he did not compete), and also the first season since 2001/02 that he has not led a lap.

    Each of the last 12 races has seen Hulkenberg either finish 6th, finish 7th, or not finish at all.

    4th season in a row in which Grosjean has taken part in exactly 19 races.

    2nd race in a row that the only DNF has occurred on lap 1.

    Every points-scoring driver (which was all the drivers except Magnussen and the Marussias) managed at least 1 top 8 finish in 2015.

    9th non-mechanical DNF for Lotus this season – no other team has had more than 3.

    Verstappen’s first no-score since Belgium – Hamilton now has the longest unbroken streak (6).

    First season without a Red Bull win since 2008.

    First season since 1980 in which McLaren have not led a lap.

    Every race this season has seen at least 1 German driver on the podium.

    And some from magnetimarelli.com:

    103 front-row starts for Mercedes – same as Red Bull.

    18 front-row starts this year for Hamilton – equals Vettel in 2011.

    First time since Brazil 2009 that Vettel has gone out in Q1 without a mechanical issue (first time in a dry qualifying session since Monaco 2008). He finished in the top 5 in both of those races, as well as in this one.

    Rosberg is the only driver to have managed 15 podiums in one season without winning the Championship that season – and he has now done it twice.

    First time a team has officially seen its drivers finish 1st and 2nd in the Championship since Williams in 1996-97 – however, Schumacher was stripped of 2nd place in 1997. The last time before that was McLaren in 1988-89.

    Out of the 17 times that Rosberg has started on pole with Hamilton in P2, each driver has won 7 races.

    Raikkonen’s 80 podiums consist of 3 round figures – 20 wins, 30 2nds, and 30 3rds.

    15 out of 19 races were won by the driver leading at the end of lap 1 – only 1965 (8/10) has a higher percentage.

    1. Didn’t Ferrari finish 1-2 in 2002 with Rubens and Schuey?

      1. Also Shumacher and Barrichello in 2004

    2. First time a team has officially seen its drivers finish 1st and 2nd in the Championship since Williams in 1996-97

      I don’t get this stat. Do you mean first time a team has a 1-2 in 2 consecutive years since Williams in 1996-97?

  20. Lehonard Euler
    1st December 2015, 3:01

    Remember that crushing 2002 season stat that Ferrari, as a team, had amassed as much points as all the other teams added together? That was tied at 221 points.
    Fast forward to 2015: Change this season’s points system to that of 2002, and for Mercedes would be as much as 254 points to 240 of all other teams added together.
    Ferrari had an average of 13 points per race, whereas Mercedes would have had 13.37.

    1. Lehonard Euler
      1st December 2015, 3:15

      To sum up:
      In 2002 points system, Ferrari grabbed 50% of the points total, whereas Merc would’ve grabbed 51.42%
      And in 2015 points system, Ferrari would’ve grabbed 35.9% to Merc’s 36.6% of the points total (not to be confused with the maximum achieveable points that Keith mentioned)

  21. 2015 is the first season in which Fernando Alonso’s team mate(s) scored more points than him.

  22. Now that Toto has made sure Nico got his confidence back (which might have been disastrous next year) I’m curious to see if he’ll make sure he wins the championship next year. ;-)

    1. BTW, I like Toto. He’s got a great sense of humour.

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