Post-GP Statistical Analysis: China

Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton recorded his sixth pole position, moving up to 33rd on the all-time table. Hamilton has also recorded the highest number of pole positions in 2007, six, ahead of Felipe Massa, with five.

Hamilton's pole was the eighth of the season for McLaren, who did not have as many poles in a season since 1999, when at the end of the year they had a total of 11 poles.

Hamilton failed to capitalise the advantage of starting from pole, when he spun off on the pit-lane entry on lap 31.

It's only the fifth time this year that the pole-sitter didn't win the race.

It happened in Malaysia, when Massa started from pole and was fifth after an erratic race; then in France, when again Massa lost from pole, with Raikkonen taking the lead after the last pit stop; then in Great Britain, when Hamilton lost to Raikkonen; and in Europe, where Alonso won, with the pole being set by Raikkonen.

Three-way championship battle

Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen go to Brazil separated by only 7 points, and they are all in contention for the world title.

The last time Formula One recorded a three-way fight for the championship going into the final race was in 1986, when Nigel Mansell led the standings with 70 points, followed by Alain Prost at 64 and then Nelson Piquet at 63.

The title was decided by tyre performance: first it was Prost's turn to pit for a puncture, then another tyre failure put Keke Rosberg, the race leader, out of the race, leaving Piquet, Mansell and Prost fighting for the lead.

One lap later, though, the left rear tyre of Mansell's Williams exploded, putting an end to his race and leaving Prost and Piquet in contention. The Williams team called in Piquet to change tyres, and Prost was then able to win the race and the title. The final classification was Prost 72 points, Mansell 70 and Piquet 69.

The other years when there were at least three drivers in contention for the championship at the last race of the season were: 1950, 1951, 1959, 1964, 1968, 1974, 1981 and 1983. Interestingly, only three of these cases have seen the driver leading the championship before the final race go on to become champion...

14x14

Kimi Raikkonen recorded his 14th Formula One win, moving up into the 14th all-time spot alongside world champions Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, and Emerson Fittipaldi. On the winners chart, the only driver in front of Raikkonen to have more wins but no championship is Stirling Moss, with 16 wins.

An important day for Ferrari

Ferrari recorded for the first time in Formula one history two important milestones. First, Kimi Raikkonen's win was their 200th Formula One victory, and with Raikkonen and Massa on the podium, Ferrari now have 601 podium places.

3X100

It's the first time in F1 history that three drivers (Hamilton, Alonso and Raikkonen) are able to score at least 100 points in a season. In the last three seasons there were two drivers that managed to score at least 100 points: in 2004 the Ferrari duo of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello; in 2005 Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen; and in 2006 Alonso and Schumacher again.

The first time a driver recorded more than 100 points in a season was in 1992, when Nigel Mansell had a dominating year.

Alonso also became the second driver after Michael Schumacher (2000, 2001 and 2002) to have three straight seasons with more than 100 points scored.

Teammates fighting for the title

Both McLaren drivers, Hamilton and Alonso, are still in contention for the title going into the last race. The last time there was a battle between teammates for the title at the last race was in 1996, when Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve arrived at Japan separated by nine points, with the title going to Hill after a bad start followed by a wheel failure for Villeneuve.

The McLaren duo must be aware of the 1986 situation, though, when the Williams pair (Mansell and Piquet) was outscored at the last race by a driver from a different team, Alain Prost (McLaren).

Kimi Raikkonen © Reuters

Wins aren't enough

Kimi Raikkonen has the most wins in 2007, but he is only third in the championship standings. In 2005, almost exactly the same happened, with Raikkonen going into the final round with seven wins to Alonso's six and the Spaniard leading by 19 points and with the title already in the bag.

In 1999 the two drivers battling for the title, Hakkinen and Irvine, came to the last race with the same number of wins - four - and Irvine leading by four points. The title went to Hakkinen after an impressive display in Suzuka that gave him his fifth win.

The last time that a driver lost the championship despite counting the highest number of wins was in 1989, when Ayrton Senna at the end of the season had six wins to Prost's four, with the title going to the French.

Another last note about wins: both in 2005 (Alonso and Raikkonen) and 2006 (Alonso and M.Schumacher) the title contenders at the end of the year counted seven wins each, and this will be the first year since 2003 when the world champion will count six wins or less.

The best day for Toro Rosso

For the first time, both Toro Rosso drivers finished in the points, and in only one race scored more points than the sum of all the races run so far in their brief history. This race also accounts for the best performances by their drivers: Vettel (4th) and Liuzzi (6th) recorded their best Formula One result to date.

The best season for rookies

This year, four rookies have scored points so far: Lewis Hamilton (107), Heikki Kovalainen (30), Sebastian Vettel (6) and Adrian Sutil (1), for a total of 144 points.

Excluding 1950, where all the drivers accounted as rookies, the best season for the newcomers up to now was 1996, when the total points from the rookies were 78... but scored only by one driver, Jacques Villeneuve.

To find another season where several rookies scored a significant number of points we have to go back to 1970, when Clay Regazzoni (33), Emerson Fittipaldi (12), Reine Wisell (4), Ignazio Giunti (3) and Peter Gethin (1) totalled 53 points.

Race notes

• Rubens Barrichello started his 248th race in China, equalling Michael Schumacher on the all-time records. Furthermore, with the kilometers run in the race, Barrichello is now also second on the all-time table - after Michael Schumacher - to break the 60,000km raced. The Brazilian has amassed a total of 60,087km so far;

• Jenson Button scores his best result of the season, a fifth place;

Qualifying notes

• If we exclude the French Grand Prix (where Alonso had gearbox problems in the final part of qualifying and was tenth) and Hungary (where he was demoted to sixth position from pole), the fourth place Alonso took in qualifying at Shanghai is the worst result of the Spaniard's in qualifying in the 2007 season, a result he also set in Bahrain and Turkey, where he finished the race respectively in fifth and in third;

• Fisichella set his worst qualifying result the 2004 British Grand Prix, when he was 20th. This year in Belgium he was 22nd, but only after an engine change;

• The gap between pole-sitter Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen was 0.136 seconds, putting an end to the four-race string of gaps of less than one tenth of a second between pole-sitter and second qualifier. The absolute record of six races straight (Italy 1997-Australia 1998) remains unbeaten.

• The average speed recorded in qualifying, 204.608 km/h, is the fifth lowest this season, and four times out of five, when the average speeds are low, the pole went to McLaren:

Race      Average speed      Make on pole
Monaco        158,782          McLaren
Japan         192,423          McLaren (rain)
Hungary       197,686          McLaren
Europe        202,655          Ferrari
China         204,608          McLaren