ATLAS F1   Volume 6, Issue 37 Email to Friend   Printable Version

Atlas F1   History in the Making
Schumacher's Drive to the Top of the Stats

  by Barry Kalb, Hong Kong

Statistical Tables: The Greatest of All in Numbers

The five achievement columns - number of wins, poles, podiums, points and fastest laps - are straightforward. Achievements-per-race show the percentage of starts in which a driver achieved a specific result. For example, Fangio won 47.06% of the championship races he started.

Points scored means just that: the actual number of points a driver has racked up during his career, whether or not all those points eventually counted towards the championship. (In some years, only a certain number of races counted, the rest were discarded.) "Theoretical points" show approximately what the top drivers would have scored had the scoring system always been as it is now: 10 points for first place, 1 point for sixth place, no points for fastest lap. (A fuller explanation is below.)

Note: These tables rely on many sources, primarily the exhaustive statistics found on FORIX. Different sources often differ on the statistics of individual drivers, and in such cases, every effort has been made to determine the the correct figure.

TABLE 1: THE RECORD HOLDERS

Rank Name, country   Total
  Most starts    
1st Riccardo Patrese, Italy   256
2nd Gerhard Berger, Austria   210
3rd Andrea de Cesaris, Italy   208
4th Nelson Piquet, Brazil   204
5th Alain Prost, France   199
6th Michele Alboreto, Italy   194
7th Nigel Mansell, England   187
8th Jean Alesi, France   181
9th Graham Hill, England   176
9th Jacques Lafitte, France   176
  Most wins    
1st Prost     51
2nd Ayrton Senna, Brazil   41
2nd Michael Schumacher, Germany 41
4th Mansell     31
5th Jackie Stewart, Scotland   27
6th Jim Clark, Scotland   25
6th Lauda     25
8th Juan Fangio, Argentina   24
9th Piquet     23
10th Damon Hill, England   22
  Most poles    
1st Senna     65
2nd Clark     33
2nd Prost     33
4th Mansell     32
5th Fangio     29
5th M. Schumacher   29
7th Mika Hakkinen   26
8th Piquet     24
8th Lauda     24
10th D. Hill     20
  Most podium finishes    
1st Prost     106
2nd Senna     80
2nd M. Schumacher   80
4th Piquet     60
5th Mansell     59
6th Lauda     54
7th Berger     48
8th Hakkinen     47
9th Carlos Reutemann, Argentina   45
10th Stewart     43
  Most points scored    
1st Prost     798.5
2nd M. Schumacher   648
3rd Senna     614
4th Piquet     485.5
5th Mansell     482
6th Lauda     420.5
7th Berger     385
8th Hakkinen     372
9th Stewart     360
9th D. Hill     360
  Most theoretical points scored *  
1st Prost     842.5
2nd M. Schumacher   648
3rd Senna     640
4th Piquet     507.5
5th Mansell     498
6th Lauda     446
7th Berger     393
8th Stewart     387
9th Hakkinen     372
10th D. Hill     360
  Most fastest laps    
1st Prost     41
1st M. Schumacher   41
3rd Mansell     30
4th Clark     28
5th Lauda     24
6th Fangio     23
6th Piquet     23
8th Berger     21
9th Hakkinen     20
10th Senna     19
10th D. Hill     19
  Most wins per start    
1st Juan Fangio, Argentina   47.06%
2nd Alberto Ascari, Italy   40.60%
3rd Clark     34.72%
4th M. Schumacher   29.29%
5th Stewart     27.27%
6th Prost     25.63%
7th Senna     25.47%
8th Moss     24.24%
9th D.Hill     19.13%
10th Mansell     16.58%
  Most poles per start    
1st Fangio     56.86%
2nd Clark     45.83%
3rd Ascari     45.16%
4th Senna     40.37%
5th Moss     24.24%
6th M. Schumacher   20.71%
7th Hakkinen     18.31%
8th D. Hill     17.39%
9th Stewart     17.17%
10th Mansell     17.11%
  Most podiums per start    
1st Fangio     68.63%
2nd Giuseppe Farina, Italy   60.61%
3rd M. Schumacher   57.14%
4th Ascari     54.84%
5th Prost     53.27%
6th Senna     49.69%
7th Clark     44.44%
8th Stewart     43.43%
9th Mike Hawthorn   40.00%
10th David Coulthard   37.50%
  Most points per start    
1st Fangio     5.44
2nd M. Schumacher   4.63
3rd Ascari     4.52
4th Prost     4.01
5th Farina     3.86
6th Senna     3.814
7th Clark     3.806
8th Stewart     3.64
9th D. Hill     3.13
10th Mike Hawthorn, England   2.84
  Most theoretical points per start  
1st Fangio     5.95
2nd Ascari     5.03
3rd M. Schumacher   4.63
4th Prost     4.23
5th Clark     4.15
6th Farina     4.04
7th Senna     3.98
8th Stewart     3.91
9th D. Hill     3.13
10th Moss     3.02
  Most fastest laps per start  
1st Fangio     45.10%
2nd Clark     38.89%
3rd Ascari     38.71%
4th M. Schumacher   29.29%
5th Moss     27.27%
6th Prost     20.60%
7th D. Hill     16.52%
8th Mansell     16.04%
9th Stewart     15.15%
9th Farina     15.15%


Barry Kalb© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
Send comments to: barkalb@asiaonline.net Terms & Conditions

Barry Kalb is a veteran journalist of 20 years' experience (the Washington Star, CBS News, Time Magazine) and a motor racing fan - especially Formula One - for almost 40 years. He currently resides in Hong Kong.

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