With no F1 for four weeks everyone at Badger has been suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms. So severe in fact that we’ve spent hours- okay, several days- pouring over stats from every session so far in 2010 to bring to very geeky look at the season so far. Anoraks at the ready, folks.
With these facts you’ll be able to amaze your family, friends, and complete strangers you stop on the street. Got a date this Saturday and in need of some engaging conversation? Wow your potential life-partner by telling them which team has performed the most pitstops this season! Job interview? Tell your boss-to-be Tonio Liuzzi’s average qualifying position. Due in court for a crime you actually committed? Just tell the jury the total number of kilometres completed by Sebastien Buemi in 2010- you’ll be in the clear for sure.
So let’s waste no more time and delve in to part one, where we’ll be looking at distance covered in 2010. Did you know that at 310.408km the Malaysian Grand Prix is the longest race of the 2010 season, whilst Monaco is the shortest at 260.520km? If you did then please, shut down your computer and go get some fresh air. You can keep reading once you’ve said hello to the real world.
Okay, let’s get going. Completing a full race distance is a basic necessity in any form of motorsport, but for various reasons it’s not always possible. A driver may suffer mechanical problems; they might have an accident, either their fault or someone else’s; or they might drive a Hispania, which tends to result in the loss of four laps per race.
But amazingly, one driver has lost just one lap all season, meaning he’s completed 736 from a possible 737. So who’s gone furthest in 2010?
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa became the outright lap leader for 2010 at the German Grand Prix. He may have had to hand victory to Alonso that day, but Felipe is probably happy enough with the fact that he leads the lap count standings entering the summer break, with Fernando currently second and a lap down on 735. Well, maybe he’s happy. Probably not, actually.
Still, it’s impressive. Felipe’s dropped only one lap this year (in Canada, where he had a troubled run to 15th) and so has done just over 2,260 racing miles. Unfortunately it’s not got him particularly near the top of the driver’s standings.
What should be said is well done Ferrari for building such a solid car. They’ve suffered just one mechanical failure in 2010, and that was just 2 laps from home in Malaysia. Not a bad record.
And the fewest laps completed? Excluding Sakon Yamamoto, who it’s hardly fair to include with him having done just three races, the record falls to Kamui Kobayashi. Incredibly the Sauber driver has completed 10 fewer laps than Bruno Senna, who took no part in the British Grand Prix, and 66 less than Karun Chandhok, who’s now missed two races! Kaumi only managed 18 laps in the first four grand prix of the season, and despite an upturn in form is still having trouble catching up.
2010 Lap Leaders
- Felipe Massa – 736
- Fernando Alonso – 735
- Lewis Hamilton – 688
- Mark Webber – 688
- Michael Schumacher – 687
* * *
Jaime Alguersuari has regularly completed the greatest distance over a weekend (that’s including practice and qualifying) this season. On 5 occasions he’s been the busiest driver, regularly clocking up over 500 miles a weekend. Unlike creepy Scottish folk duo the Proclaimers Jaime might not walk 500 miles (and then walk 500 more), but he will drive them in a Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso
Jaime’s travels have ensured him the 2010 record for the great distance covered over a single weekend. This was achieved in Turkey, where he did a total of 159 laps, meaning he travelled 527 miles in a Formula One car between Friday practice and the end of the race. Good work, Jaime, now stopping driving in to the back of your teammate and it’ll all be golden.
Total Kilometres
- Jaime Alguersuari – 9155 km
- Felipe Massa – 9015 km
- Robert Kubica – 8849 km
- Fernando Alonso – 8748 km
- Sebastian Vettel – 8590 km
* * *
“But what about the new teams?” I hear you mutter unenthusiastically. Oh don’t worry- we haven’t forgotten them.
The great thing about having three new teams enter in the same season is that we can mercilessly compare them with eachother, praising the best to the hilt and pouring angry scorn on the worst (whilst the one in the middle is largely ignored).
Whilst Lotus’ drivers have completed the most racing laps in 2010 (a total of 1049) Hispania actually run them very close. The Spanish squad’s drivers have managed 1043 laps between them (albeit very slowly). Impressive endurance from a team who hadn’t tested their car before F1 arrived in Bahrain. Virgin meanwhile have completed 962 laps, just 82 behind Lotus. This one could change a lot over the remainder of the season.
Driver-wise Heikki Kovalainen has completed the most laps- 545 in total- which means he’s managed more than all the other new team’s drivers, as well Sebastien Buemi and the Sauber pairing of Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa.
New Teams’ Drivers Laps Completed
- Heikki Kovalainen 545
- Jarno Trulli – 504
- Timo Glock – 485
- Karun Chandhok – 479
- Lucas di Grassi – 477
- Bruno Senna – 429
- Sakon Yamamoto – 135
So there you have it: distance x speed = success. Or perhaps not, because title leader Mark Webber doesn’t appear in the top 3 of either the laps or kilometres completed lists for 2010. That’s the beauty of stats: they don’t necessarily mean anything at all. Join us again later this week for more meaningless but fun stat trawling- we’d better be getting back to the archives.
