Malaysian GP stat attack

Rubens Barrichello might have narrowly prevented an all-Schumacher front row, but the performance of Michael and Ralf still equals the best for brothers in F1. First and third positions on the grid matches their performance in qualifying for the 1997 French GP.

Other than the Schumachers, the best performance in qualifying by brothers was at the 1973 Brazilian GP, where Emerson and Wilson Fittipaldi qualified second and 11th respectively - an average position of 6.5.

In terms of races competed against each other, the Schumachers are also far ahead of the two other brother combinations to have raced against each other at the highest level:

61 races: Michael and Ralf Schumacher
34 races: Emerson and Wilson Fittipaldi
1 race: Peter and Graham Whitehead (half-brothers)

Surprisingly, none of the following raced against each other in F1: Gary and David Brabham, Teo and Corrado Fabi, Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez, Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve (Snr) or Manfred and Joachim Winkelhock. The Villeneuves and Brabhams did attempt to qualify for the same race, however.



Qualifying in Sepang was the worst for McLaren since the 1999 French GP, when Coulthard and Hakkinen qualified in fourth and 14th. However, Mika did finish 2nd in the race, ahead of Michael Schumacher.

And relax...