Post-GP Statistical Analysis: Japan

Hamilton second only to Fangio

Lewis Hamilton scored his fifth pole of the career, and the first one for McLaren in Japan since 1991.

The young Briton is achieving his milestones with an impressive speed. Among the 44 drivers who obtained at least five pole positions in the history of Formula One, Lewis is second only to Juan Manuel Fangio for the time span he needed to obtain these poles.

Fangio obtained his fifth pole in the 1951 Swiss Grand Prix, at the Bremgarten track, when he was only in his eighth participation. Hamilton obtained his fifth pole at his 15th attempt, just ahead of Alberto Ascari and Jacques Villeneuve (18 each).

Other notable drivers present in this list are Ayrton Senna (27 races), Michael Schumacher (50) and, last among the drivers that obtained at least five pole position, Riccardo Patrese, who needed 215 races to score his fifth pole.

Hamilton also obtained his fourth F1 win and his 12th podium of the season. With this achievement, Hamilton sets the new record for podium places for a rookie - the previous belonging to Jacques Villeneuve, who had 11 podium finishes in 1996. The absolute record for podiums in a season belongs to Michael Schumacher, with 17 in 2002.

There's always a first

Heikki Kovalainen scored his first Formula One podium at his 15th race. Remarkably, though, with Kovalainen joining Hamilton on the podium, this is the first time (bar 1950) in F1 history when two rookies finish 1-2.

Moreover, with Kimi Raikkonen also present on the Japanese Grand Prix podium, this is the first time two Finnish drivers end up on the rostrum together.

Kovalainen is the sixth Finn to climb on the podium out of eight that entered an F1 race. He joins his countrymen Keke Rosberg, JJ Lehto, Mika Hakkinen, Mika Salo and Raikkonen.

The only two Finn drivers who weren't able to score a podium finish are Leo Kinnunen, that ran with the Surtees team in 1974, and was able to qualify only in one race retiring for an engine failure, and Mikko Kozarowitzky that failed to qualify two times in 1977 with a March/Ford.

So close...

The gap separating Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at the end of the qualifying session, 0.070 seconds, is not the closest in Formula One history, as three drivers obtained the same lap time at Jerez in qualifying for the 1997 European Grand Prix: Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz Harald Frentzen.

There is an interesting string going on, though, as this is the fourth consecutive Grand Prix where a gap of less than one tenth of a second is recorded between the two front-row drivers.

In the whole history of Formula One, this is the second longest sequence - the first lasted from Italy 1997 to Australia 1998. On that occasion, for six straight races a gap of less than 0.1 seconds was recorded between the first two drivers on the starting grid.

Rubens Barrichello © XPB/LAT

Honda drivers on their way up

Jenson Button was seventh fastest in qualifying, which then became a sixth place on the grid due to Nico Rosberg's penalty for an unscheduled engine change.

This is the best qualifying performance for the Honda team this year, as prior to Japan their best result was a ninth, set by Rubens Barrichello in Monaco.

The average grid position for the Honda drivers in 2007 before Japan was 15.0 for Barrichello and 14.4 for Button.

But while Button improved his qualifying average for this season, Barrichello progressed on a different, all-time record list - the Brazilian has now passed Michael Schumacher in the total GP presences.

Barrichello now has 251 Grand Prix presences, which puts him second to only Riccardo Patrese, with 257 Grands Prix.

However, it will only be in Brazil this year that Barrichello will also pass Schumacher on the all-time list of Grand Prix starts. Barrichello currently has 247 starts compared to Schumacher's 248 and Patrese's 256 starts.

Fisichella on his way down

Giancarlo Fisichella qualified 10th or worse for the sixth straight time, his lowest performance slump since 2004, when he drove for Sauber and was outside the top 10 in qualifying from Australia to Germany, for a total of 12 races.

The Italian recovered in the race, however, scoring points again after a break of five races.

Vettel makes history for Toro Rosso

Sebastien Vettel qualified eighth for the Japanese Grand Prix - the best qualifying result ever for Toro Rosso, who in their two-year history have never made it into the top 10.

In 2006, the best result in qualifying for a Toro Rosso car was 11th for Scott Speed in China, and this year Vitantonio Liuzzi qualifying 12th in both Monaco and Canada.

In the race, Vettel was able to lead the Grand Prix from lap 29 to 31, making him the youngest driver ever to lead a Grand Prix, at the age of 20 years, two months and 27 days. Prior to that, Fernando Alonso held the record of youngest Grand Prix leader, having led the 2003 Malaysian GP for 13 laps at the age of 21 years, seven months and 22 days.

Vettel's lead of the Japanese GP was also the first time ever that a Toro Rosso car was in the race lead.

All this ended in tears when Vettel rammed into the back of Mark Webber (with the safety car on track) on lap 46, ending the race for both drivers.

They were respectively third and second at that moment, a result that both Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing have never achieved.

Sebastian Vettel knocks Fernando Alonso into a spin © XPB/LAT

The best result for Toro Rosso is eighth, recorded three times and always by Vitantonio Liuzzi; and the best result for Red Bull Racing is a third place, recorded by David Coulthard in Monaco 2006 and by Mark Webber in the Nurburgring this year.

Quick notes on the Japanese Grand Prix

• David Coulthard's fourth place is his best result since he scored a podium finish (3rd) in Monaco 2006;

• After finishing 17 straight races in the points, Fernando Alonso failed to score - and also recorded the first retirement for McLaren in 2007.

The Spaniard thus puts an end to the third longest sequence of points-finishes in Formula One history. Michael Schumacher's record of 24 (Hungary 2001-Malaysia 2003) remains untouched, since the longest active sequence right now is Heikki Kovalainen's seven races in the points.

• Adrian Sutil and the Spyker team scored the first point of their respective career. For Spyker the timing is ironic, given that the team has been scheduled to assume new owners the day after the Japanese Grand Prix...

• Ferrari scored points for the 30th time in a row and Renault for the 20th. Both are running the third and sixth sequence of all times respectively.

• Heikki Kovalainen became the second driver this season - after Nick Heidfeld in Canada - to score a second place without driving a Ferrari or a McLaren.