Rate it!

2 votes

Some Formula One statistics for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. plus a look back at previous races.

WINS

Britain's Jenson Button has won three of the first four races of the season for the Brawn GP team.

Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso has 21 grand prix wins to his credit, more than any other current driver. Ferrari's 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen has 17 and Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa 11. McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton has nine.

Button's fourth career win lifted him alongside the late New Zealander Bruce McLaren and American Dan Gurney in the all-time lists.

-

SPAIN

The Circuit de Catalunya holds the record for the longest run of successive winners from pole position - eight in a row dating back to 2001.

Of the 18 races held there since 1991, 14 have been won by the driver on pole.

McLaren's now-retired Mika Hakkinen, in 2000, is the only driver since 1996 to have won without starting on pole.

Michael Schumacher, with Ferrari in 1996, is the only driver to have won in Barcelona without starting on the front row.

Alonso is the only Spanish driver to have won his home race.

Ferrari have won the last two Spanish Grands Prix and six of the last eight.

This year's race is the 39th Spanish Grand Prix.

-

QUALIFYING

Ferrari and last year's runners-up McLaren have yet to qualify on the front row this season.

The last time Formula One went four successive races without either a McLaren or Ferrari on the front row was 1996-97. Williams shut out the rest from the Belgian Grand Prix of August 1996 until Brazil in March 1997, a run of five consecutive races.

Button's win in Bahrain was the first by a driver not on pole position since Alonso in Japan last October.

-

PODIUMS

The last four races have ended without a Ferrari or McLaren driver on the podium. The last time that happened in Formula One was in 1993 (Canada/France/Britain/Germany).

Between January 1980 and May 1981, Formula One went for 19 successive races without a Ferrari or McLaren driver on the podium.

-

POINTS

Champions Ferrari scored their first points of the season in Bahrain, with Kimi Raikkonen finishing sixth. That still ranks as their worst start to a season.

Toyota's Timo Glock has finished his last six races in the points.

-

FINISHES

BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld has been classified in his last 32 races, a Formula One record. The German's last retirement was in the United States in June 2007.

HISTORY

The circuit, in the hills north of the city, is a demanding one for drivers and engineers but races have often been processional. The teams have tested there pre-season so the circuit holds no surprises, although wind can be a factor.

The circuit has hosted the Spanish GP since 1991. It was modified after the 2006 season, with a chicane replacing the final two quick bends for safety reasons and to help overtaking.

2008 - Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari

Raikkonen, on pole, extended his lead to nine points with Ferrari's second successive one-two and third win in a row. This remains his last win to date. McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen crashed heavily while leading after the frontrunners pitted.

2007 - Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari

Massa's second win in a row and fourth of his career. Hamilton went top as Formula One's youngest championship leader, eclipsing McLaren team mate Fernando Alonso in front of the Spaniard's home crowd. Alonso had collided with Massa at the first corner and finished third.

2006 - Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault

Alonso started from pole position and became the first Spaniard to win his home grand prix, beating Ferrari's Michael Schumacher by 18.5 seconds in front of 130,000 spectators.

2005 - Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren

Raikkonen ran away with the race, beating Alonso by 27 seconds. Briton Jenson Button's BAR team were absent after being suspended for two races.

2004 - Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari

Schumacher's fifth win in five races, equalling Nigel Mansell's 1992 record start to a season, in his 200th grand prix. Team mate Rubens Barrichello was runner-up.

Reuters