Stats: McLaren has had it worse than this

In the two editions of Formula 1's Indian Grand Prix there has been only one polesitter, race leader, and winner: Sebastian Vettel.

He recorded the 'grand slam' of pole, fastest lap, leading every lap and victory two years ago, and last year he missed it only because Jenson Button stole the fastest lap on the final tour of the race.

It's fitting that Button is the only man other than Vettel to appear on the Buddh F1 roll of honour because, with four grands prix to go, McLaren is running out of time to get some morale-boosting results in what has been an dire season.

Not that Woking folk are too downcast: with Honda engines on the horizon for 2015 along with some major technical recruitments headlined by Red Bull aero ace Peter Prodromou, the future is bright and this written-off season can be used for experimentation.

But. as these facts and figures show, 2013 stands comparison with some of the multiple champion team's gloomiest years.

McLaren's first winless season was in 1970. Here's Peter Gethin in Canada © LAT

NO WINS

This is set to be the 10th winless full season in McLaren's F1 history.

After Bruce: There were no McLaren wins in the year of its founder Bruce McLaren's death in 1970, nor in '71.

The then-Teddy-Mayer-run team still managed five podium finishes in 1970, one with McLaren before his death, but chassis issues in '71 meant its only top-three that year came from the customer Penske-White car of Mark Donohue.

Late-'70s slump: Following its 1976 title success with James Hunt, McLaren went into a decline that set in with a three-year winless spell from 1978-80. There were no poles, only two podiums in those three seasons, and constructors' championship finishes of eighth, seventh and ninth respectively.

The 1977-vintage McLaren M26 was rendered obsolete by the ground-effect Lotus 79 the following year, though Hunt did manage a third place behind Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson in France.

McLaren's subsequent ground-effect car was inadequate, and John Watson's podium in the 1979 opener in Argentina would be McLaren's last rostrum appearance until 1981.

Even the recruitment of future legend Alain Prost, then the European Formula 3 champion, in 1980 made no difference.

Between Senna and Newey: A single-year dalliance with Peugeot in McLaren's first year without Ayrton Senna did at least bring eight podiums and consistent top-10 qualifying pace, but the following season's unconventional Mercedes-powered MP4-10 is best remembered for being too small to fit new signing Nigel Mansell, who only managed two races before quitting. Mika Hakkinen's two late-season podiums were McLaren's only comfort.

The revival began in 1996; Coulthard leading Hakkinen at Spa © LAT

But in 1996 the car kept on improving and David Coulthard and Hakkinen were able to record six podiums, before the 'Silver Arrows' era kicked off.

The 2006 anomaly: The 2006 McLaren was a solid 'third-best' car as Renault and Ferrari fought for the title. It achieved nine podium finishes, but none was on the top step.

NO TOP-FOUR FINISHES

Right now, McLaren's best result of 2013 is Button's fifth place in China. The only time in the team's history that it hasn't had a top-four finish all season was in its maiden year in 1966, when it only entered six rounds.

Bruce McLaren still managed a fifth in America, which was the only race won by the huge BRM H16 engine, fitted to Jim Clark's Lotus 43. McLaren finished three laps down.

GAP TO THE TOP

McLaren is currently 362 points behind constructors' championship leader Red Bull, so has 19 per cent of the top team's tally.

Although the changes in points system skew this statistic a little, it's worth noting that there are only four other occasions when McLaren had less than 20 per cent of the constructors' champion's final score. The uncompetitive 1971/78-80 periods account for all of them, with 1980's nine per cent the most painful.

FIFTH IN THE CONSTRUCTORS'

With a 21-point cushion over the struggling Force India in the standings, McLaren looks set to retain fifth place. Most of the occasions it has missed the championship top-five are accounted for in its winless years discussed above, with the exception of 1981.

De Cesaris's six crashes didn't help matters in 1981 © LAT

That was the start of the Ron Dennis/John Barnard-driven renaissance, and featured a gradual increase in competitiveness - and a famous British GP win for Watson. There was a little luck involved, as four cars retired while ahead of him, but he had also dropped back early on dodging a spinning Gilles Villeneuve.

Watson also threw in three other podiums, so did his bit for the constructors' assault, but team-mate Andrea de Cesaris contributed just one point while crashing out of six of the 15 rounds, earning his nickname 'de Crasheris'.

NO POLES

McLaren's last season without a pole is 2002, when Ferrari blitzed F1 with 10 poles and 15 wins from the 17 races. The powerful Williams-BMWs were often the reference point in qualifying as they took seven poles - every one that Ferrari didn't.

But despite the lack of Saturday headlines, the 2002 McLaren only once missed out on a top-10 grid spot, when Kimi Raikkonen could only manage 11th in Hungary.

NO TOP-FIVES IN QUALIFYING

McLaren has yet to break into the top five in qualifying in 2013.

The last year that happened is 1983, but that year it still won a race with the most remarkable comeback in F1 history. Watson and Niki Lauda only qualified 22nd and 23rd on the streets of Long Beach, yet charged through to first and second, with Lauda victorious.

A GLORIOUS RECOVERY

Raikkonen's Silverstone pole kicked off revival after disastrous 2004 start © LAT

It's probably too long for a surge in 2013, but in 2004 McLaren recovered from a disastrous start - including having to abandon a new car and revert to a revised '03 design - to take a Spa race win, a Silverstone pole, three other podiums and fifth in the standings.

That was quite a contrast to its mid-season point, when McLaren had only managed one top-five finish and had only 12 per cent of championship-leader Ferrari's score.

SOME OTHER BUDDH STATS HIGHLIGHTS

With Buddh only on its third (and maybe last) F1 race and Vettel having been so dominant, the track hasn't had much chance to build up any quirky records yet. But here are some points of interest.

• Red Bull has swept both Indian GP front rows so far, with Mark Webber backing up Vettel in qualifying each time, but it hasn't had a one-two there yet as Webber could only manage fourth and third in the races.

• Fernando Alonso is the only man other than Vettel to stand on a Buddh podium twice. He was second last year and third two years ago. He had to work his way to that second place last year, as he passed Lewis Hamilton at the first turn, Button on the fourth lap and Webber when the Australian's KERS failed later in the race.

• Sergio Perez holds the record for the best comeback recorded at this track. Two years ago he finished 10th after starting 20th.

• Buddh is one of only two tracks on this year's calendar at which Raikkonen hasn't had a podium. But the other is Austin, and he's only raced once at each due to his World Rally Championship sabbatical.

Hamilton is chasing a maiden Indian podium finish this weekend © LAT

• The Indian venue is the last gap on Hamilton's list of podium finishes. His best result is a fourth, scored last year, while two years ago he was seventh after contact with Felipe Massa.

• Paul di Resta has represented 'home' team Force India in both Indian GPs, but hasn't scored points there, taking 13th in 2011 and 12th last year. On both occasions he's been outqualified by team-mates (Adrian Sutil and Nico Hulkenberg), who then took points in the race.

• Pastor Maldonado has had two crashes in two Indian GPs, though neither ended his race. Two years ago he was hit by Williams team-mate Rubens Barrichello at the first turn and then broke his gearbox, last year he had a puncture after a clash with Perez and finished 16th.

• Williams and Sauber have both had cars involved in accidents in both Indian GPs they have contested.