Post-GP Stats Analysis: Bahrain

The obvious joke

A Pole on pole. We have waited 25 races to say that, and finally Robert Kubica was able to conquer his first Formula One pole position - and the first one for Poland and BMW Sauber.

At the age of 23 years, 3 months and 30 days, Kubica is the fifth youngest in the all-time age chart, between his two colleagues Lewis Hamilton (22 years, 5 months and 3 days in Canada 2007) and Kimi Raikkonen (23 years 5 months and 6 days in Malaysia 2003). The current record belongs to Fernando Alonso, who at the age of 22 years and 26 days claimed his maiden pole position in Hungary 2003.

Kubica also broke a string of 21 Ferrari-McLaren pole positions, which started at the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix. And 2006 was also the last year that saw three different drivers from three different teams take the first three poles of the season. The trio back then was composed of Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) and Jenson Button (Honda).

As an engine manufacturer, BMW recorded their 33rd pole - the previous one was set by Nick Heidfeld at the European Grand Prix back in 2005.

Felipe's bad luck

Felipe Massa lost the pole position in Bahrain by 29 thousandths of a second. A smaller margin between first and second on the grid was recorded in Belgium last year, when Massa, again, lost pole by 16 thousandths of a second.

In 2006, the smallest margin was recorded in Italy, when Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) was pipped by Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) by only two thousandths of a second, but it was also a close call in France, where Schumacher took pole by 0.023 over... guess who? Felipe Massa. And not to get carried away, but Massa lost that year another pole by a small margin, when teammate Schumacher beat him to the Bahrain pole by 51 thousandths of a second.

McLaren dream sequence is over

For the first time in 20 races, there wasn't a McLaren driver on the podium last Sunday.

That streak of 19 podium finishes by McLaren was the third all-time sequence, which started in Australia last year. The two best sequences were recorded by Ferrari: 53 straight podiums from the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix to the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix, and 22 podiums from the 2003 Italian Grand Prix to the 2005 Australian Grand Prix.

BMW Sauber dream sequence is on

The Bahrain Grand Prix was, however, the 20th straight race to see a BMW Sauber car finish in the points.

In the history of Formula One, only eight times did a team finish in the points in 20 straight races or more:

Team       Races From               Until
Ferrari     55   Malaysia 1999      Malaysia 2003
Ferrari     35   San Marino 2006    (still active)
Ferrari     33   San Marino 2003    Malaysia 2005
Cooper      27   Monaco 1959        Monaco 1962
McLaren     26   San Marino 2000    Great Britain 2001
Ferrari     20   Netherlands 1976   U.S.A. 1977
Renault     20   Turkey 2006        Japan 2007
BMW Sauber  20   Australia 2007     (still active)

That was fast

Heikki Kovalainen recorded his second fastest lap of hi F1 career only 21 days after scoring his maiden one in Australia. This represents the second-shorted time span of all-times.

The fastest drivers in scoring their first two fastest laps are Alberto Ascari, Emerson Fittipaldi and Carlos Pace - each took only 14 days after their first fastest lap to record their second. Kovalainen matched the performances of Clay Regazzoni and Gerhard Berger.

Qualifying notes

• Before Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton obtained seven pole positions, six second places, four fourth places, but this was the first time he qualified third. The only two positions worse than fourth in his short career were ninth (after the five-place penalty) in Malaysia this year, and tenth after his accident at the European Grand Prix last year.

• Jenson Button was back in the top ten for the first time since Japan last year. That was the only placement for the Honda driver inside the top ten of the whole 2007 season. On the other hand, Rubens Barrichello is running his worst qualifying streak of his long career: he is at his fifteenth straight double digit qualifying result.

• This has been the worst qualifying position for David Coulthard since the Italian Grand Prix last year, where he qualified 20th.

• This was the first time since the 2006 Italian Grand Prix that the Super Aguris filled the last row of the starting grid.

Race notes

• For the first time in their history, the BMW Sauber team are leading the constructors standings. They doubled their best combined result obtained in Malaysia, gaining 11 points. It's the first time that a German team is able to score more than 10 points in consecutive races.

• Felipe Massa recorded his sixth win, but more importantly he recorded his first win not starting from pole position.

• Kimi Raikkonen finished his 10th straight race in the points, the 14th all-time sequence and his personal best. The Finn recorded his 50th podium, and he is now at the 10th all-time spot, only one podium short of his countryman Mika Hakkinen.

• Lewis Hamilton recorded in Bahrain his worst finish of his F1 career.

• It was the first time that Fernando Alonso ended a race outside the points since the 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix. In that race, the Spaniard spoiled all his chances by ramming Ralf Schumacher at the first turn and was classified 11th.