Post-GP Stats Analysis: Australia

Ferrari Disaster

In Melbourne we witnessed the first double retirement from Ferrari in two years. The last time both red cars were not running at the end was in Australia 2006, with both Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa out due to race accidents.

Officially, both Raikkonen and Massa retired this time due to mechanical failures, and it's the first time in eleven years (180 races) that this has happened to Ferrari. The last time was in the 1997 British Grand Prix, when a bearing failed on Michael Schumacher's car while Eddie Irvine broke a halfshaft when exiting the pits.

Furthermore, both Ferrari engines failed - a first since Belgium 1994 (227 races ago), when both Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger were out due to engine failure.

France is Back

Despite his retirement, Sebastien Bourdais managed to score his first points on his debut and put France back in the points for the first time in three years (58 races). The last time a French driver scored points was back in Belgium 2004, when Olivier Panis ended eighth in his Toyota.

BMW Sauber at their best

BMW Sauber equalled their best result with the second place scored by Nick Heidfeld. The previous occasion as in Canada last year, again with Heidfeld. The Melbourne race was also the first visit to the podium for the German since Hungary last year.

Nickethe Second

Heidfeld also recorded in Melbourne his fourth second-place finish and with that, he joins Stefan Johansson at the top spot of an unpleasant classification: the driver that scored the highest number of second places without a win.

Nico & Williams

Nico Rosberg scored his first F1 podium at his 36th attempt, and put Williams back on the podium for the first time since Canada last year (Alexander Wurz, third).

Since Kazuki Nakajima ended sixth, gaining his first points, it's the first time that both Williams are in the points since Bahrain 2006, when Mark Webber was sixth and Nico Rosberg was seventh.

Same Fate

A curious note about Nelsinho Piquet Jr's debut race, compared to his father: 30 years apart, they qualified on their F1 debut in the same place, 21st, and both retired almost at the same time: Piquet Sr was out on the 32nd lap of the German Grand Prix when he was 12th (engine failure), while Nelsinho retired on the 31st lap while he was 13th, due to a race accident.

Note to Junior: Father Piquet saw the chequered flag for the first time at his fourth race.

Retirements

Only eight cars were classified in Australia, with the bottom two - Bourdais and Raikkonen - not running at the finish. It's the first time in exactly six years since there were so few cars classified. However, last time, in Melbourne 2002, all eight cars were running at the end of the race.

Excluding Indy 2005, when only six cars started and finished the race, the last time only six cars made it to the end was in the rain-soaked 1996 Spanish GP, when the same number of cars was running at the chequered flag.

Qualifying Notes

• Lewis Hamilton scored his seventh pole, going alongside Jacques Laffite at the 32nd spot all-time;

• Robert Kubica scored his first front row F1 start at his 23rd attempt. It's only the second time that a BMW Sauber qualified on the front row, the first being Nick Heidfeld in Hungary last year. That was the only non-McLaren/Ferrari front spot of the whole 2007 Championship;

• Heikki Kovalainen scored his best qualifying performance of his F1 career, third. His previous best was sixth;

• the first Ferrari on the grid in Australia was Felipe Massa in fourth place. The last time the best-performing Ferrari qualified in fourth was in Canada last year, when Raikkonen was fourth and Massa fifth. The first time that Ferrari fared worse was in China 2006, when Michael Schumacher was sixth and Massa 20th. The fourth position is the best performance by Felipe in Australia;

• Nick Heidfeld was beaten for the first time by his teammate in qualifying since Turkey 2007, when Robert Kubica was fifth and Heidfeld sixth;

• Best qualifying position for Jarno Trulli since Spain 2007;

• Worst qualifying position for Mark Webber since Spain 2007;

• For the first time since he joined Red Bull in 2005, David Coulthard was able to qualify for the third straight time inside the top 10, since he was fifth in China and ninth in Brazil last year. The last time Coulthard scored three back-to-back starts inside the top-10 was in 2004, from France to Germany;

• Fernando Alonso suffered from differential problems and ended up 11th. He didn't qualify in such a lowly position since Hungary 2006, when he was 15th. That position however was influenced by the penalty he was given after weaving in front of Robert Doornbos during free practice.

To find another lowly start not influenced by rule infringements we have to go back to Japan 2005, when Alonso was again 15th, on a single-lap qualifying session influenced by rain.

The last time Fernando qualified so low down the grid under normal circumstances was in Bahrain 2004, when he was 16th;

• A worse fate than Alonso's hit Kimi Raikkonen, who stopped at the end of Q1 due to a fuel pressure problem that prevented him from taking part in Q2. The last time the Finn qualified so low down the grid was in Monaco last year (16th), when he hit the barriers and damaged his car. Before that he was 22nd in the 2006 Bahrain GP, but he suffered mechanical problems and didn't post a time.

Race Notes

• Lewis Hamilton scores his fifth win, going at the 40th all-time spot alongside Farina, Regazzoni, Watson, Alboreto, Keke Rosberg and Massa;

• Heikki Kovalainen becomes the 111th driver that scores a fastest lap in Formula One.