Ask the F1Statman – Questions Answered Again

The return of Ask the F1Statman! Twelve questions from eight people and a wide variety of questions, going from safety cars to snails at Spa.

Peter Santamaria-Woods

Which F1 race has had the most safety car appearances?

Six times at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.

Fear

-Who’s the driver to enter the most GPs and not finish any of them?

-Which driver has the most seasons in a row to win at least one GP or get at least one pole or score at least one fastest lap in ever single one of them? Although I presume it’s MSC

-What’s the record of the GPs to be led from start to finish in a row?

-Which driver had the most DNFs in his championship season?

-What’s the record of the most DNFs in a row?

1. Going by the most entered it would be Pierre-Henri Raphanel (one start) and Beppe Gabbiani (three starts), both retired in all starts. If you go by race starts then it is Alex Soler-Roig, he entered 10 and started six GPs.

2. Yeah that would be Michael Schumacher, he did it 15 seasons in a row.

3. I can’t be certain on this because such data is very hard to find, but I think it’s Alberto Ascari. He led the entire 52 French, British, German and Dutch grands prix.

4. Niki Lauda in 1984 with six retirements.

5. I think that is Ivan Capelli, 14 consecutive retirements from the 1990 Italian GP to the 1991 German GP.

Magnus Asplund @AsplundMagnus

How many drivers have left before their contract expired?

Did a little research, but I can’t really find anything, all I can think of is Barrichello, I believe he left for Honda while still under contract at Ferrari. There is also Raikkonen and Liuzzi, but they were both replaced rather than leaving willingly.

Ashley Menezes @AshDaCash

who has the max number of #2 finishes, (a) with winning a race; and (b) without winning a race. Similar questions for max podiums

With winning a race, Michael Schumacher, 43 second place finishes and 155 podiums. Without winning it’s Nick Heidfeld, eight second place finishes and 13 podiums.

Magnus Asplund @AsplundMagnus

how many engine suppliers have been in F1?

I count 73, but that does include various teams with rebadged engines, such as the Mechachrome engines that Williams used in 1998 that were actually Renault.

Magnus Asplund @AsplundMagnus

What year was the highest average age on drivers?

I’m not really sure, guessing it would be in the 50s or 60s but it would just take so long to calculate, maybe one day I’ll get around to working it out.

Fran @svsvve

What was the average speed on the old Spa circuit? How many wet starts did we have on the modern version of it?

The average speed of the lap record at the old 14km Spa circuit was 245kph or 152mph, set by Chris Amon’s March at the final race there in 1970.

Fran @svsvve

Which year could we see the most overtakings on the modern Spa circuit? Who did the most overtakings ever on this circuit? Thanks

Honestly no idea, overtaking stats are something that I can never find. All I do know is that the 2011 Turkish GP holds the record for the most overtakes in a dry race with 126 and 2012 Brazil as the most in a wet race with 144.

Ian Tomlinson @intomlinson

how long would it take a snail to slither around spa?

1751 hours. That is 72 days, 10 weeks, 105,060 minutes.

Peter Santamaria-Woods

Here’s a hard one for you:

How many crashes was David Coulthard involved with in his career, and how many of them were his fault?

(Seem to remember him crashing loads in his final season!)

Hard to say accurately, but he retired 21 times from collisions and accidents. I’m not really sure how many of those were his fault but I’d guess at between five and ten.

Richard Eastaugh @rjpeastaugh

who has had most wins in their maiden season? Hamilton?

Hamilton and Jacques Villeneuve. Both won four races in their first season.

F1 @F0RMULA_ONE

I always wondered, how do they fit all those horses into the cars to make them so powerful?

They use a shrink ray and then feed the shrunken horses with lots of petrol.