Vettel closes in on more records

Sebastian Vettel's domination of the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship was not only verified by the German wrapping up his second title in Japan last weekend, but it is also fast becoming one of the best overall performances in the history of the sport.

Right from his victory in Australia, the die was cast as the Red Bull driver became the 32nd driver to take the title having begun the year with a win and the fifth in the last six years (only Fernando Alonso bucking the trend last season).

After the sixth GP of 2011 at Monaco, Vettel was already more than two wins' worth of points clear of the driver in second place in the championship. The last time that happened was in 1976, although Niki Lauda infamously managed to lose the world championship on that occasion.

By the time the European Grand Prix - the eighth race of the year - was done, he had more than three wins' worth of points in hand over the second placed man, having won six times already. Significantly, nobody has failed to win the title with such an advantage at that stage.

Additionally, nobody has lost the championship having won eight times in a single season. Monza provided Vettel with the magical eighth victory.

At 24 years and 98 days of age, Vettel is the youngest double world champion in F1 history. Lewis Hamilton is the only other driver to have even won a single title by the same age. Comparison with most of the sport's greats is impossible, however as Michael Schumacher had just one win at that age, Alain Prost had not even made his grand prix debut and Juan Manuel Fangio was still 14 years away from his first world championship appearance!

By contrast, the man currently second in the world championship - Jenson Button - had contested nearly 70 grands prix by the same age, but had not won.

Vettel's stats just keep getting better - mostly...

• Vettel's Japanese GP pole was his 12th of the season, which puts him third in the all-time list. Nigel Mansell holds the record with 14 in 1992, while Alain Prost managed 13 the following season.

• The German has had 14 front-row starts this year, matching his total from 2010. The record is 16 in a season, shared by Ayrton Senna (1989), Alain Prost (1993) and Damon Hill (1996). However, as they had 100 per cent records in their respective seasons, Vettel missed out on the front two in Germany.

• His third place in Japan was Vettel's 14th podium finish of 2011. This is the third highest tally of all time, equalling Fernando Alonso's achievement in 2006. A 15th podium would match Michael Schumacher's total from 2004 and Alonso's from '05. Schumacher holds the all-time record for podiums in a season with 17 from 2002.

• Having led for 16 laps at Suzuka, Vettel's percentage for laps at the front in a season fropped from 69.8 per cent to 67.2 per cent. Jim Clark's 72 per cent from his dominant 1963 campaign is still the best in history.

Damon Hill had a record-equalling 16th front row start in Japan in '96 © LAT

• Only two drivers have scored more consecutive points finishes than Vettel. His podium finish in Japan was his 17th in a row - and his lowest finish during the run has been fourth in Germany this year. Michael Schumacher holds the record on 24 (Hungary 2001-Malaysia 2003), and also amassed 18 in a row from San Marino 2003-Spain 2004). Alonso has also had a streak of 18 points finishes, from France 2005-Germany 2006.

Suzuka race notes

• Jenson Button scored his 12th grand prix win, drawing level with Mario Andretti, Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann. Button has also matched his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton for podium finishes, with 40, to lie equal 16th in the all-time list. He has finished on the podium at the past five races; in that time Hamilton has not made it to the podium. The race marked Button's 204th GP start - the same number as triple world champion Nelson Piquet (9th in all-time time).

• For the eighth consecutive time Fernando Alonso improved on his grid position in the race - scoring his sixth podium in that time.

• It was the 33rd career podium for Sebastian Vettel, which puts him 22nd in the all-time list, tied with Denny Hulme, Jody Scheckter and Felipe Massa (who hasn't been on the podium since last year's Korean GP).

• There were 10 lead changes at Suzuka, the same number recorded at the 2008 race at Fuji. Not since the 1971 Italian GP at Monza have there been more (25).

• Among the five race leaders was Michael Schumacher, who ran at the front for 142nd time - and the first since his comeback. The last time he led a race was at the same track in 2006, when an engine failure handed the title to Alonso.

• Schumacher is the first driver in history to have scored more than 1500 points: his tally after Suzuka standing 1501. Alonso is next on the list with 1031. With the new points system. The changing points systems of the last decade makes this a flawed statistic, however as Vettel has more career points (705) than Rubens Barrichello (658) or Ayrton Senna (614).

• At 42 years and 9 months, Schumacher has surpassed the record of oldest race leader held since 1986, when Jacques Laffite led the Detroit GP aged 42 years and 7 months. To find older race leaders, you must go back to Jack Brabham (44 years old at the 1970 British GP), or take the time machine back to the 1950s, when drivers aged 40 or over were commonplace. Giuseppe Farina won the first F1 championship in 1950 aged 43 years and 10 months.

Schumacher broke record of oldest race leader held by Laffite since '86 © LAT

• For the first time in his F1 career Sergio Perez scored points in back-to-back races, while his Sauber team-mate Kamui Kobayashi has failed to score in the past five grands prix, his second-worst streak after the start of the 2010 season, during which he went six races without points.

Suzuka qualifying notes

• Button qualified second at Suzuka by 0.009s, the smallest gap between first and second on the grid since the 2010 German GP. On that occasion, Vettel pipped Alonso by 0.002s.

• For the second race in succession Button outqualified his team-mate Hamilton, with the latter only managing third on the grid.

• Kobayashi secured the best starting spot of his F1 career with seventh, despite not setting a time in Q3. His previous best was eighth at Silverstone this year. Sauber (including its BMW Sauber period) hadn't as high since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when Robert Kubica occupied the same spot.

• Perez didn't enjoy the same luck, a mechanical failure meaning he was beaten by Kobayashi in qualifying for the first time in five races and recorded his worst F1 starting spot; 17th.

• Jerome d'Ambrosio took his best career qualifying spot with 20th, beating his Virgin team-mate Timo Glock for only the second time this year. Suzuka is Glock's bogey track - he crashed heavily in qualifying in 2009, and was beaten twice (by two rookie team-mates) in the following years.

• Nico Rosberg suffered a mechanical problem in qualifying and suffered his worst career grid position; 23rd. It brought an end to 15 straight top-10 qualifying spots for the German. His previous worst starting position was 22nd - in the 2006 European GP - following an engine change, but he went on to score points by finishing seventh. He scored in Japan, too, by taking 10th. Rosberg has always raced well after poor qualifying showings: P9 from 20th on the grid at the 2008 British GP and P9 from 21st at the 2006 US GP being evidence of that.