2006 German GP: Facts & Stats

Just over a month ago, Fernando Alonso was marching inexorably toward becoming the eighth driver in history to record back-to-back world championship successes. His win in Canada was his fourth in a row, and it came from his fifth successive pole position.

Although F1 is so often maligned for being predictable, Michael Schumacher and Ferrari have thrown the form book out of the window in the last three events, proving to be totally dominant in a way reminiscent of their crushing 2002 and 2004 campaigns, while also hitting statistical highs that even those seasons did not see.

Schumacher and Massa ran 1-2 for the final 56 laps of the German Grand Prix, meaning that 166 of the last 210 racing laps have had the two red cars at the head of the field. The Ferrari 1-2 finish was the 30th that Schumacher has been a part of since his first 1-2 with the team, at the 1998 French Grand Prix.

Amazingly, although Schumacher has taken the "hat-trick" of a win from pole with the fastest lap a record 22 times, Indianapolis and Magny-Cours was the first time ever that he had done it in back-to-back races. If it were not for Kimi Raikkonen's wonder lap to take pole on Saturday, Schumacher would now have a hat-trick of hat-tricks!

Michael's 89th career win is not statistically significant in itself, but even somebody as disinterested in stats as Schumacher would have to be impressed to note that he's now finished first as often as he has finished second (43 times), third (19), fourth (10), fifth (10) and sixth (7) combined.

At mid-distance he became the first driver in history to surpass 5,000 laps in the lead. No other driver has ever led as many as 3,000 in a career. Perhaps of greatest value to him would be the knowledge that every previous time he has won his home race (1995, 2002 and 2004), he has gone on to win the title.

Alonso's win in Canada was Michelin's 100th in F1, and Schumacher drew Bridgestone level with that statistic on Sunday. Fifty six of Bridgestone's victories in the sport have come with Schumacher at the wheel. The Japanese tyre maker can be proud of the role it played in this race - looking at the fastest lap table, four of the top five were Bridgestone-shod, while Christijan Albers' Midland managed to set a best lap just 0.2 seconds slower than that of Rubens Barrichello's Honda, which qualified sixth on the grid.

On the flip side, Fernando Alonso had a very indifferent afternoon, with his best time being just two-tenths better than the similarly-tyred Toro Rossos of Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed.

He's now just 11 points clear of Schumacher in the championship, which wasn't the way he would have wanted to celebrate his 25th birthday, which fell on Saturday. He's just two more races away from tying Schumacher's consecutive finishes record of 24, but Germany was the first race all season in which he failed to lead a lap.

Renault are in danger of becoming the first team in history to win the opening three races of a season and fail to win either the drivers' or constructors' titles. The only time a team didn't capture both titles after winning the first three races came in 1976, when Niki Lauda's Nurburgring crash let in McLaren's James Hunt to take the drivers' crown, although Lauda and Clay Regazzoni did enough to net the team title for Ferrari.

Getting in amongst the championship challengers were Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button. Raikkonen's podium was his first ever finish in a German Grand Prix, but it wasn't enough to prevent slipping behind Massa in the points. His pole position came despite not being the quickest car in any one sector during the session, but it gave McLaren their tenth pole at Hockenheim, breaking a tie with Williams in that category. Good starting positions don't seem to help Kimi as much as the other drivers - four of his nine wins have come when starting outside the top six.

This weekend was heralded as Honda's 300th Grand Prix as an engine supplier and/or constructor, although it was only their 299th start (thanks to Indy 2005). Perhaps the Honda PR department elected to celebrate the milestone in Germany rather than in Hungary, since Honda made their F1 debut in the German Grand Prix of 1964, with Ronnie Bucknum driving the RA271 chassis.

Jenson Button qualified and finished fourth on Sunday, ending a five-race pointless streak for the Englishman. He might have been joined in the points by teammate Rubens Barrichello, but for mechanical woes to strike.

Rubens has had serious problems actually racing other cars in 2006. He's been passed 32 times on the racetrack this year - more than any other driver, at an average of 2.7 times per race. Three of those positions were lost on the opening lap at Hockenheim, and his lap 16 pass of Mark Webber was only the second he's made on any driver since the Australian Grand Prix.

Rubens Barrichello holds on to Fernando Alonso in the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring © XPB/LAT

Webber's story is becoming a familiar one - a great drive ruined by poor reliability. Despite starting outside the top ten, the Australian was in with a shout of a podium finish throughout the latter half of the race.

Williams haven't had a podium since last year's European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, while Cosworth haven't been involved in the rostrum ceremonies in their own name since Eddie Irvine was third for Jaguar Racing at the 2002 Italian GP. However, Giancarlo Fisichella's 2003 Brazilian GP win came with a Ford-badged Cosworth V10.

Jarno Trulli again showed his ability to come through the field. Of the last six times he's started 20th or lower on the grid, he's scored points five times - the only exception was earlier this year at Silverstone, when he was 11th.

Outside of the points, Tonio Liuzzi gave Toro Rosso their fourth successive top ten finish and even managed to beat David Coulthard in the process. Prior to being disqualified for excessive rear wing flex, both of the Midland cars had made it home for the first time since the British GP, although they were the last classified finishers.

Their reliability problems are nothing compared to those suffered by Williams. In addition to Webber's late retirement, Nico Rosberg dropped his FW28 into the barriers entering the stadium on the opening lap, the fourth time in 12 races this year in which a Williams has retired on lap 1, and the fourth race this season in which neither Williams has seen the chequered flag.

BMW-Sauber joined Williams in packing up early at Hockenheim, with both Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld out by lap 30, as they were at Indianapolis. Super Aguri also didn't get either of their new SA06 chassis to the end of the race, on the circuit where Aguri Suzuki scored his last F1 point in 1995. Takuma Sato's last point came at the Hungaroring twelve months ago, so he will hope for better fortunes next weekend.