Pre-GP Stats Analysis: Spain

4x4?

In the first three races we witnessed three different pole-sitters: Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica. If there will be a fourth different pole-sitter in Spain, it will be the first time since 1983 that the first four races have produced four different drivers on pole. At the time these were Keke Rosberg, Patrick Tambay, Alain Prost and Rene Arnoux.

Ferrari and McLaren

The count of consecutive wins for these two teams, which started at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, needs an update. It reached 21 races in Bahrain, and to find a longer sequence of wins by only two teams we have to go back to 1991-1992, when Williams and McLaren were the only winners between the 1991 Mexican Grand Prix and the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix - a total of 22 races.

The last non-McLaren/Ferrari win was the one scored by Honda in Hungary 2006 with Jenson Button.

Moments to remember in the Spanish Grand Prix

1998 - Domination and dirty tricks

During the winter tests McLaren recorded amazingly fast laps in Barcelona and this without doubt helped the Woking-based team to leave Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) 1.5s behind in qualifying for the race.

On that premise, the race was over before it started and Hakkinen duly won in front of Coulthard. An interesting thing happened behind them though.

During the first stint Eddie Irvine (Ferrari) was in third place, in front of Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton) and Michael Schumacher. In order to help his team-mate, Irvine slowed down after his first pit-stop and waited for Fisichella.

He blocked him for a couple of laps, then when Fisichella tried to overtake him, the Irishman closed the door and they both ended their race on the gravel trap of the first turn. Fisichella came out of his cockpit and shared this thoughts with Irvine. Side effect: Schumacher gained third place.

1999 - Replay

Nothing new under the Spanish sun as Hakkinen and Coulthard (McLaren) walked away with another easy double in front of third-placed Schumacher (Ferrari).

This time however, the German had to sit on the back of the slow BAR of Jacques Villeneuve for the entire first stint. After the first pit stop he showed he was faster than both McLarens, however he was too distant to catch them.

As far as Villeneuve was concerned, he retired due to a gearbox failure after mid-race. It's worth remembering one very unorthodox 'aerodynamic adjustment' he received in the pits: a wing profile was ripped off his rear wing ...

2000 - Ouch! Too soon!

The fight for the championship was at its climax in Barcelona with Schumacher (Ferrari) and Hakkinen (McLaren) sitting on the front row, separated only by 0.078. The German was able to retain the lead at the start and was in front for the entire first stint.

Hakkinen, however, ran longer than him and attacked with a clear track before his first pit-stop, but that was not enough. He fell again behind Schumacher, and became his shadow for the entire second stint.

They came into the pits for their second stop together and the Ferrari mechanics panicked, releasing Schumacher when he was still taking on fuel from his chief mechanic, Nigel Stepney. This resulted in Hakkinen taking the lead, and a broken ankle for Stepney.

It was not over though, because Schumacher's nightmare continued as he picked up a slow puncture. He had to stop in the pits, but in the process he was able to fool his brother. Ralf Schumacher (Williams) came up behind him with Barrichello (Ferrari) on his tail: Michael 'gently' drove on the outside as his brother was trying to pass on that side, leaving the inner lane free for Barrichello, who overtook both.

The final result? For the third straight year, a Hakkinen-Coulthard double.

2001 - Another replay, somewhat

In Spain the races seemed to last for a couple of years and after the photocopies in 1998-1999, 2000 and 2001 also looked very similar. Again Schumacher and Hakkinen were on the front row separated by a whisker (0.085s), and again Hakkinen ran longer the first stint but was not able to take the lead.

But the outcome was very different: in the second stint Hakkinen stopped seven laps after Schumacher and took the lead, quickly pulling away. In the final stages Schumacher had problems with delaminating tyres, and started to slow down. Everything was set for another Hakkinen win when the Finn stopped on the very last lap with clutch problems and Schumacher won in slow motion.

2002 - Schumacher, the spectator

In 2002 there were few tracks where the Ferrari F2002 could be challenged by the other cars, and Barcelona was not one of them.

Schumacher pulled away at the start and the retirement of his team-mate Barrichello enlarged the gap towards his rivals to embarrassing proportions: Michael was almost 30s in front when he pitted for the first time, and when he stopped for the second time he was over a minute ahead.

What to do in these circumstances? Well, Schumacher declared after the race that he enjoyed watching the battle for sixth that was developing in front of him in the final stages ...

2003 - The rise of Alonso

It looked as if it could have been all easy for the two Ferraris on the front row, but after some laps it was clear that Barrichello had problems in keeping Fernando Alonso (Renault) at bay.

They were fighting for second place, while Schumacher in front was a handful of seconds clear. However, that's all he needed: Alonso ran shorter the first stint and overtook Barrichello in the pits.

From that moment on it was a battle over the distance as Schumacher responded every time Alonso tried to increase the pace. They eventually finished in this order, with the German in front.

2004 - Enjoy some laps in the lead, Jarno

Jarno Trulli (Renault) made an amazing start from fourth in the grid and took the lead in front of Schumacher (Ferrari). He was short of fuel though, and stopped after eight laps. Schumacher had some more gas on board, stamped two fastest intermediates and overtook the Italian in the pits.

From that moment on it was a Ferrari cakewalk. Barrichello (Ferrari) had also the luxury of running on a two-stop strategy when all his rivals where on a three-stopper. He came second behind Schumacher.

2005 - Schumacher's double puncture

The race for the win was uneventful, as Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) rocketed away at the start, amassing twenty seconds on second-placed Alonso (Renault) by the time he reached the pits for his first stop.

He continued like that until the chequered flag, and Alonso that duly took second place to score useful points in the championship.

The thing that comes to mind, however, is related to Schumacher (Ferrari): the German tried to beat his rivals with a very long stint (31 laps), which almost worked for him except for a puncture on his rear left tyre. He came to the pits, went out and immediately his front left tyre deflated as well ...

This was the year when Formula 1 cars had to run the entire race on a single set of tyres, and this was one of the race that proved they were not able to do it.

2006 - Fernando, finally

The two Renaults played a game of hide and seek during the race weekend. In the first practice sessions they seemed to be not so fast, but when they set out for qualifying they had no match, conquering the front row and leaving the Ferraris 0.3s behind.

In the race, everything went according to plan for the French team. Alonso in front carved a good gap while his team-mate Fisichella behind him contained Schumacher (Ferrari) for the first stint. As in 2003 - with inverted roles - Alonso had a sufficient margin to control Schumacher in the distance and finally won his home Grand Prix.

2007 - Get out of my way!

This was the period of the year when Felipe Massa (Ferrari) made up for all his mistakes and came to Spain after a hat-trick in Bahrain. He kept momentum, scoring pole position in front of Alonso (McLaren), Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren).

At the start Alonso was able to go alongside Massa, but the latter was having none of it and at the first corner the pair touched. Massa stayed on track, but Alonso was pushed on the outside and on the gravel trap.

He recovered quickly, came back on track (nearly collecting Hamilton) and was able to continue. The order at the first corner (Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso) was maintained until the finish line - except for Raikkonen, who had to retire after nine laps after an electrical problem. Massa scored another hat-trick and was back on track for the title chase.

Spain personal scoreboard

• Kimi Raikkonen's only podium appearance was his dominant win in 2005. He scored points only one other time, with a fifth place in 2006. The Finn retired three times out of seven starts, and has only started on the front row in 2005, when he recorded pole position.

• Similar fate for Raikkonen's team-mate, Felipe Massa. The Brazilian dominated last year's race, but that was his only podium finish. He scored a fourth in 2006 and a fifth in 2002. He has never retired out of five starts.

• Nick Heidfeld scored his best result in Spain back in 2002, when he was fourth. In the last five races contested in Barcelona, he scored only one point in 2006 and retired two times. His best grid position is a seventh place, scored last year.

• Fernando Alonso scored four podiums (one win in 2006) out of six starts. He has also taken one spot in the top three in qualifying since 2005, recording pole in 2006.

• David Coulthard was second three times straight from 1998 to 2000 and then scored another podium finish in 2002. Since then his best result is a fifth place last year.

• Mark Webber was second in grid in 2005, but was able to score only a sixth place at the end of the race. That remains his best result in Barcelona out of five starts.

• Jarno Trulli scored two podiums in 2004 and 2005 out of eleven races contested. The third place in 2005 was his last point-scoring finish in Spain.

• Jenson Button's best result in Barcelona is a sixth place in 2006. He has scored points there only two times (the other one being an eighth in 2004).

• Rubens Barrichello has scored points only five times out of fifteen starts in Spain. He's had three podium finishes, and his best result is a second place in 2004.

• Giancarlo Fisichella scored his only podium in Spain at his eleventh attempt, in 2006. Last year he was ninth. Fisichella scored the fastest lap here twice, in 1997 and 2005. These are also the two fastest laps scored by an Italian driver in Formula 1.

• Lewis Hamilton was second last year and was also second in race one in the GP2 series in 2006.

Anniversaries of the race weekend

The days of the San Marino Grand Prix

The last days of April were traditionally the ones dedicated to the San Marino Grand Prix, run on the Imola track, and several dates point to that race.

On the 24th of April 2004, Saturday, Jenson Button scored his first pole position and the first for BAR.

Only one year later, on the same date, a little scandal broke out in Imola when BAR cars were found to have an additional, hidden, fuel tank that could have allowed them to run underweight. They were disqualified from the race and banned from the next two races.

On the 25th of April 1982 in Imola a depleted field took the start. The FOCA (Formula One Constructors Association) teams refused to take part in the event after Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg were disqualified in Brazil for using illegal brake cooling tanks.

Only 14 cars were present on the grid, and after the retirement of Renè Arnoux (Renault), the two Ferraris had the race in their hands. Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi exchanged positions several times, and it seemed that at the end Villeneuve was the one to take the race, but Pironi overtook the Canadian on the last lap, robbing him of the win.

The cursed podium in Imola was Pironi, Villeneuve and Michele Alboreto (his first podium appearance).

They all died in motorsport-related accidents. On the following race weekend Villeneuve crashed in qualifying in Belgium trying to match his team-mate laptime. Pironi lost his life in a powerboat accident in 1987 and Alboreto was killed when testing the Audi R8 at the Lausitzring, on the same day of the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix: the 25th of April.

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments