300. Wow.
The 100th post was this one, the 200th post was this one and the 300th post this year is being written now. Unless you are reading it, in which case it was written earlier.
Today, the clocks went back – I hate that as it takes a little while to get back into a normal routine. However, it was doubly annoying today as I had to get up for the Indian Grand Prix. I was up an hour earlier than I wanted to be. Still, it was nice to soak up the atmosphere created by Sky F1 and enjoy the build up which I haven’t always viewed this year. The race itself was reasonable, fairly memorable. Although the location itself has never created great racing (it’s only been on the calendar two years previously) this has to be the best race of the three so far. It’s not on the calendar for next season.
The race was notable for Sebastian Vettel securing his fourth consecutive Driver’s World Championship. Yes he is the driver in the best car at the moment, but there must be something about him to have such staying power. Only Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost are four-times winners of the title – and only Fangio and Schumacher managed four consecutive title victories. The other teams and drivers seriously have to up their game to keep things interesting for the casual viewer next season – people like me will watch regardless.
I’ll organise my points graphs sometime tomorrow.
Vettel started breaking Formula 1 records as soon as he arrived in the sport, immediately becoming the world championship’s youngest ever points scorer when he made his debut as Robert Kubica‘s BMW stand-in at the 2007 United States Grand Prix. Six years on, he has taken control of F1. The list of Vettel numbers, showing where he ranks in every major F1 record at this stage in his staggering career makes for interesting reading (from Autosport).
Vettel's Stats (After the Indian Grand Prix 2013)
| Vettel | Best Rival | |
|---|---|---|
| Races started | 117 | Barrichello, 322 |
| Races with same team | 91 with Red Bull | Schumacher, 179 with Ferrari |
| Championships | 4 | Schumacher, 7 |
| Pole/win/fastest lap hat tricks | 7 | Schumacher, 22 |
| Wins | 36 | Schumacher, 91 |
| Wins in a season | 11 in 2011 | Schumacher, 13 in 2004 |
| Wins with same team | 35 with Red Bull | Schumacher, 72 with Ferrari |
| Wins in same GP | 4 in Japan | Schumacher, 8 in France |
| Sequence of wins | 6 (current) | Schumacher and Ascari, 7 |
| Poles | 43 | Schumacher, 68 |
| Poles in a season | 15 in 2011 | Mansell, 14 in 1992 |
| Poles and win in same GP | 25 | Schumacher, 40 |
| Poles with same team | 42 with Red Bull | Schumacher, 58 with Ferrari |
| Sequence of pole positions | 5 | Senna, 8 in 1988-89 |
| Podiums | 59 | Schumacher, 155 |
| Podiums with same team | 58 with Red Bull | Schumacher 116 with Ferrari |
| Podiums in a season | 17 in 2011 | Schumacher 17 in 2002 |
| Fastest laps | 21 | Schumacher, 77 |
| Fastest laps in a season | 6 in 2002 | Schumacher, 10 in 2004; Raikkonen, 10 in 2005 and 2008 |
| Fastest laps with same team | 21 with Red Bull | Schumacher, 53 with Ferrari |
| Front rows | 61 | Schumacher, 116 |
| Races in points | 88 | Schumacher, 221 |
| Races in points in a season | 18 in 2011 | Raikkonen, 19 in 2012 |
| Races in points with same team | 77 with Red Bull | Schumacher, 145 with Ferrari |
| Points | 1376 | Alonso, 1571 |
| Points with same team | 1335 with Red Bull | Schumacher, 1066 with Ferrari |
| Points in a season | 392 in 2011 | Alonso, 278 in 2012 |
| Kms run | 32001 | Schumacher, 81188 |
| Laps run | 6297 | Schumacher, 16825 |
| Races led | 62 | Schumacher, 142 |
| Races led with same team | 60 with Red Bull | Schumacher, 111 with Ferrari |
| Races led from lights to flag | 10 | Senna, 19 |
| Races led in a season | 17 in 2011 | Schumacher, 16 in 2004 |
| Sequence of races led | 13 in 2010-11 | Stewart, 17 |
| Laps led | 2257 | Schumacher, 5111 |
| Laps led in a season | 739 in 2011 | Mansell, 694 in 1992 |
| Kms led | 11969 | Schumacher, 24144 |
| Kms led with same team | 11672 with Red Bull | Schumacher, 18795 with Ferrari |
| Kms led in a season | 3794 in 2011 | Schumacher, 3356 in 2004 |
| Sequence of Kms led | 1111 | Ascari, 2075 |
| Sequence of podiums | 11 in 2010-11 | Schumacher, 19 in 2001-02 |
| Sequence of races without retirements for mechanical problems | 19 in 2010-11 | Alonso, 71 (current) |
| Grand slams (pole, win, fastest lap, all race in lead) | 4 | Jim Clark, 8 |
| Percent of wins | 30.7% | Fangio, 41.4% |
| Percent of poles | 36.7% | Fangio, 50.0% |
| Percent of podiums | 50.4% | Fangio, 68.6% |
| Percent of races led | 52.9% | Fangio, 74.5% |
| Percent of fastest laps | 17.9% | Fangio, 45.1% |
| Percent of kms led in a season | 65.4% in 2011 | Clark, 72.05% in 1963 |
The rest of the day involved a trip to a farm shop to fill the freezer, and very little else really.
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