Which drivers share the highest points rate percentage in Shanghai? Which driver set the only fastest lap of their F1 career in China? And which strange coincidence happened in 2006 and 2017? Here’s the Chinese Grand Prix in numbers!
1
Kamui Kobayashi recorded just one Fastest Lap during his Formula 1 career. That came at the Chinese Grand Prix in 2012.
2
In the history of the Chinese Grand Prix, the Drivers’ Championship has been tied twice after the Grand Prix. It first happened in 2006 when, as a result of his win, Michael Schumacher was tied at the top of the standings with Fernando Alonso. More recently, Sebastian Vettel was tied at the top of the title battle with Lewis Hamilton after the 2017 race. On both of these occasions, the Constructors’ Championship was being led by just one point too – Renault led by one point after the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix, while Mercedes led by a solitary point after the 2017 event.
4
Lewis Hamilton is the only driver to have set the fastest lap of a Chinese Grand Prix more than once. In fact, he’s done it four times – in 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2017.
5
Adrian Sutil is the driver who has suffered the most DNFs at the Shanghai International Circuit, having retired from the Grand Prix five times. From his seven entries, he only reached the finish of the race twice, in 2010 and 2011. The German driver never scored points at the track, but came close in 2010 when he finished eleventh for Force India, coming home just a second behind tenth-placed Michael Schumacher. Sutil is tied with Jarno Trulli for the most Chinese Grand Prix entries without scoring a point.
6
British and German drivers are currently tied on six poles each in China. The same two nations are also tied for the most number of podiums here with twelve each.
15
No driver has entered more Chinese Grands Prix than Fernando Alonso. This season will mark the first F1 race in Shanghai to not feature him on the grid.
16
Sixteen different drivers have finished on the podium at the Shanghai International Circuit. Half of those drivers have had only one top three appearance at the track.
18
The furthest back podium finish in Shanghai came from eighteenth on the grid. That happened in 2011, when Mark Webber recovered from a Saturday which was curtailed by electrical problems to finish in the final podium spot.
37.776
The largest win margin at the Chinese Grand Prix is 37.776 seconds. That was in 2016, when Nico Rosberg won the race ahead of Sebastian Vettel. The second largest win margin at the track, 20.626 seconds, was also achieved by Rosberg when he took his maiden F1 victory back in 2012.
51
Lewis Hamilton has scored 51 more points at this track than any other driver. With eight podium finishes and eleven points scoring races in Shanghai, it’s no surprise that Hamilton has scored the most points of the 41 drivers who’ve collected points at the circuit. The Mercedes driver has scored 179 points in total, compared to closest competitor Sebastian Vettel’s 128. Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso are the only other drivers to have scored more than 100 points at this track.
91.67
Both Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have finished in the points on 91.67% of their Chinese Grand Prix appearances – the highest points rate of any drivers at this track. Both have entered twelve races at the circuit, and both have only failed to score points on one occasion. Hamilton’s infamous pit entry cost him the chance to score in 2007, while Vettel’s ninth place finish for Toro Rosso in 2009 is the only time he’s failed to pick up points in Shanghai.
100
The 2016 Chinese Grand Prix is the only time every driver who started the race in Shanghai crossed the finish line. All 22 starters reached the chequered flag with 22nd placed Jolyon Palmer finishing just a lap down on the leader.
838
There have been 840 racing laps at the Shanghai International Circuit since F1’s first visit in 2004, but only 838 of them have counted towards the official race results. That’s because the chequered flag was shown a lap early in 2014. As a consequence of the rules, the result was taken from the order at the end of the 54th lap of the race, meaning laps 55 and 56 counted for nothing.
2009
2009 was the last season where Ferrari failed to score in the Chinese Grand Prix. Since 2013, every podium at the track has featured one Ferrari driver and at least one Mercedes driver. The latter team have never failed to score points here, and the only time the Brackley-based team has failed to score here under any guise was as Honda in 2008.