Stat Attack: China
Michele Merlino investigates the records and compiles the stats ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix
China personal scoreboard
• Jenson Button stood on the podium on his first and last Chinese Grand Prix appearances, second in 2004 and third in '09. He has scored points in China every year except '08 and is currently the driver with the longest streak of consecutive points finishes (8, dating back to Monza '09).
• Michael Schumacher's last F1 victory was at Shanghai in 2006. In his first two Chinese GPs he spun off in qualifying and in the race (in 2004), and had a crash with Christijan Albers on the way to the grid and then spun out of the race behind the safety car (in 2005).
• Nico Rosberg has never finished in the top 10 in China and has only once qualified in the first five rows (seventh last year).
• Sebastian Vettel scored his first pole and win for Red Bull in China last year, and finished fourth for Toro Rosso in 2007.
• Mark Webber's second place last year was his best in China. Before that he had only scored points twice (seventh in 2005 and eighth in '06).
• Felipe Massa finished third in 2007 and second in '08. Last year he climbed from 13th on the grid to third, but retired with an electrical failure in the first race that Ferrari ran without KERS.
• Fernando Alonso scored points in China every year from 2004 to '08, winning in '05 from pole, taking pole again in '06 and finishing second in '07.
• Rubens Barrichello won the inaugural Chinese GP in 2004, after Michael Schumacher had already clinched the title. It was his only podium at Shanghai, with fourth place last year his best result since.
• Robert Kubica has only scored points once in China, with sixth place in 2008.
• Adrian Sutil is yet to finish the Chinese GP and has not qualified higher than 18th. He was running sixth last year when he spun off in the wet just five laps from the end.
• Sebastien Buemi scored a point on his debut in China last year.
• Jarno Trulli is yet to have a good weekend in China. So far he has had two accidents, an engine failure and 13th and 15th place finishes.
• Heikki Kovalainen has only scored points once in three visits to Shanghai, with fifth place last year.
• Pedro de la Rosa raced in place of Juan Pablo Montoya in China in 2005, finishing fifth.
• Timo Glock has finished seventh in the last two Chinese GPs and also finished 15th with Jordan in 2004.
Team performances in China
• Ferrari has won three times at Shanghai, 2004, '06 and '07 but had both cars outside the points last season.
• McLaren won in 2008 and has had at least one car in the point every year.
• Renault won the 2005 race but has failed to score points twice in the last three years.
• Williams has not scored a point in China since the inaugural event in 2004.
Share Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.