F1 Stat Attack Part I: Most Wins

Over the past few weeks, I have been doing some trawling of the Formula One record books. In particular, I have looked at most wins, most starts, and most points, all of which I will be covering in a three-part series.

The all-time win list as it stands, as of the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend, makes for very interesting reading:

1. Michael Schumacher – 91 wins (1994-2006)

2. Alain Prost – 51 wins (1981-1993)

3. Ayrton Senna – 41 wins (1985-1993)

4. Fernando Alonso – 32 wins (2003-present)

5. Nigel Mansell – 31 wins (1985-1994)

6. Sebastian Vettel – 28 wins (2008-present)

7. Jackie Stewart – 27 wins (1965-1973)

8. Jim Clark – 25 wins (1962-1968)

9. Niki Lauda – 25 wins (1974-1985)

10. Juan Manuel Fangio – 23 wins (1950-1957)

Also knocking of the door of the top ten are Lewis Hamilton (21 wins), Kimi Raikkonen (20 wins) and Jenson Button (15 wins), with Felipe Massa (11 wins) and Mark Webber (9 wins) a little further down the order.

The most striking thing about the list is the sheer lead Schumacher holds over his closest opposition. It seems unlikely however that the German’s mighty total of 91 wins will ever be surpassed, given the unique advantages, other than his incredible talent, he possessed in his pomp.

These days, more or less perfect reliability for every team bar Caterham and Marussia is the norm, but the Schumacher-Todt-Brawn era Ferrari team were the first to achieve this in the early 2000s with the help of a virtually limitless budget and endless testing at Fiorano. Between 2002 and 2004, Schumacher retired just twice (Brazil 2003 and Monaco 2004), neither of which were caused by any mechanical issues.

It took the likes of McLaren, Williams and Renault a few seasons longer to get to this state, providing Schumacher with many more opportunities than his rivals to rack up the wins.  In addition, between 1994 and 2006, there were only two seasons when Schumacher lacked a ’top’ car (1996 and 2005); that's no coincidence when you consider his role in developing the machinery at his disposal.

Compare that to Damon Hill (22 wins), who had four seasons in a very competitive Williams before being shuffled away to Arrows in 1997, Mika Hakkinen (20 wins), who only enjoyed three seasons in a fully competitive McLaren (1998-2000), and Jacques Villeneuve (11 wins), who had just two seasons with Williams in which to squeeze an entire career’s worth of wins.

Moving on to the next generation of drivers against whom Schumacher fought, before this year, Raikkonen has had two seasons in a McLaren (2003 and 2005) and a further two with Ferrari (2007-08) to do most of his winning. Alonso meanwhile has so far had his two title-winning years with Renault, one with McLaren and two with Ferrari (2010 and 2012) in addition to 2013.

Alonso now sits fourth in the winners’ list with 32 wins, the highest of any active driver. Assuming the Spaniard remains with a competitive Ferrari team until his contract expires at the end of 2016, it’s not unrealistic to think he can surpass Senna’s total of 41 wins fairly easily, or perhaps trouble Prost’s tally of 51. There nonetheless simply aren’t enough years however, even with 19 or 20 races on the calendar, for Alonso to catch Schumacher.

Vettel is the second highest active driver on the list in sixth position, reaching such heady heights at just 25 years of age. By way of comparison, Schumacher was 28 when he broke into the top six in 1997, whilst Prost, Senna and Alonso were all 29.

Assuming Vettel remains in competitive machinery for the bulk of his career, it’s not hard to imagine him surpassing Senna and Prost. But, securing a 92^nd victory will be a far taller order – if we assume, for the sake of argument, Vettel remains in F1 for another dozen years, he has to win an average of 5.3 races per year in order to overhaul his compatriot.

Lewis Hamilton probably has another decade to run in his career (assuming he doesn’t defect to NASCAR to spend more time with girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger), and thus will need an average of two wins per year to beat Senna’s record, which seems entirely feasible, or three to overtake Prost, which is still doable if he is able to remain in a top car for the majority of that period.

As for Raikkonen, it seems the Finn is unlikely to remain in F1 for more than a couple more years, meaning passing Stewart for seventh in the list may be about as far as he goes. Button meanwhile needs another eight wins to level with Fangio and breach the top ten; if the Briton can achieve that in the remainder of his career, he can retire a very happy man indeed.

It comes as little surprise that the top six in the all-time winners list are dominated by drivers of the ‘Bernie’ era, i.e. since 16 or more races a year have been de rigeur. Though such a state of affairs will be short-lived, it is fitting that the remainder of the top ten are made up by, arguably, the greatest drivers of their respective eras.

Fangio took over as top dog at the start of 1955 from Alberto Ascari, and El Maestro’s record of 24 victories (in an era when there were as few as six to eight races per season) remained untouched until Clark notched up a 25^th in his last ever F1 start before his death in 1968.

Five years later, and another Scot took over at the top of the leaderboard in the form of Stewart. Lauda came close, drawing level with Clark, but it wouldn’t be until 1987 that Stewart’s record would be toppled as Prost took his 28^th win.

As the Frenchman retired from the sport at the end of 1993, it seemed probable that Senna would take the 11 extra victories necessary to surpass his great rival, but the tragic events of Imola ‘94 put paid to any such hopes. Had Senna survived, something about which I’ve written in the past, he may have reached 60 wins, and perhaps Schumacher’s record would only stand around the 80 mark instead of the present 91.

Schumacher’s success was the perfect storm of a number of factors, not least of which was the immense investment made by the manufacturers and the tobacco firms in the early 2000s. It’s hard to see such a state of affairs ever being replicated, meaning in turn that it will extremely difficult for any team achieving the kind of sustained dominance required to propel a driver beyond 91 wins. Even Red Bull appears to be faltering somewhat in this tyre-dominated 2013 season.

Seven titles may well be equalled, as may be 68 pole positions – after all, Vettel only needs a further 31 to break that record. But, of all Schumacher’s many records (unless, of course, the F1 calendar is dramatically expanded in the future), 91 career victories appears to be the most untouchable.

To obey or not to obey?

At the legendary Imola circuit in 1982, Ferrari were gifted victory. A boycott of the San Marino Grand Prix by the majority of the FOCA aligned teams - including McLaren, Lotus, Williams and Brabham - meant that just 14 cars would take the start, and the dominant Renaults both suffered mechanical problems.

With the race in the bag, Ferrari ordered its drivers, Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi, to slow down and preserve their cars; Villeneuve believed this also implied an instruction to not overtake. When Pironi did so on the final lap, taking victory as a result, Villeneuve was so incensed that he vowed to never speak to his teammate again. Two weeks later, at Zolder, he suffered a fatal accident whilst trying to better Pironi's qualifying time.

21 years later, a similar situation unfolded at Sepang. Red Bull issued the 'Multi 21' instruction to Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, ordering their drivers to go into car preservation mode and bring the cars home in their current order - car 2 ahead of car 1, hence '21'. Had the situation been reversed, the order would have been 'Multi 12'.

Vettel had other ideas, however. On a day when Fernando Alonso ended his race in the gravel, the reigning champion simply couldn't resist the temptation to  ignore his team's wishes and seize the opportunity before him to win. In doing so, Vettel revealed a steely, ruthless determination to succeed at any cost that is reminiscent of his compatriot Michael Schumacher before him.

Some would argue it's exactly that which makes him one of the greatest drivers in the sport and sets him apart from the likes of Webber, who had turned down his engine in response to the team's instruction and thus left himself completely exposed to attack. The fact remains however that, just like Pironi did to Villeneuve all those years ago, Vettel stabbed his visibly enraged teammate in the back.

Relations have always been frosty between the Red Bull teammates since their infamous clash at Istanbul back in 2010. But this newly opened divide could come to cost the team one or both titles this season if not swiftly healed. The trouble is that Vettel, as Malaysia proved, is now a law unto himself. Team principal Christian Horner didn't even attempt instruct Vettel to fall back behind Webber after the pass was made, as if he felt powerless to overrule his driver's decision.

Similarly, a disillusioned Webber can no longer be counted upon to obey team instructions, or indeed to support his teammate's title bid. That's not a problem Alonso is going to face at Ferrari, as the Scuderia operate a transparent policy of having a clear number one driver and a subservient teammate, which, providing the latter is happy to play second fiddle, works well.

Red Bull, on the other hand, maintain a pretence of driver equality, whilst discreetly favouring Vettel, who is a product of Helmut Marko's Red Bull Junior Team and has enjoyed the team's backing and support since the very early days of his career. Marko groomed Vettel to become world champion, and during the past three years Red Bull have reaped the rewards.

It should come as little surprise that, with so much nurturing and protection throughout his career, Vettel feels entitled to be the team's number one. That's clearly not compatible with the philosophy of driver equality that Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz claims to subscribe to, and it's Marko's clandestine favouritism towards Vettel that is at the root of his decision to ignore 'Multi 21' and Webber's subsequent frustration.

Mateschitz needs to have a long, hard think about the way his team is run. How will Horner re-gain his authority, which has been so badly undermined by the Marko-Vettel alliance? Horner needs to re-establish himself as the one in charge, and it could be argued that Vettel should have been dealt some kind of punishment to prevent a similar situation recurring later in the year.

Where does all of this leave Webber? It should be noted that, at the point at which Vettel took the lead around the outside at turn 4, the Aussie could have followed the racing line and forced his teammate off the road, sending a firm signal to Vettel. The fact he chose not to do so, and failed to give chase thereafter, unwittingly affirmed his number two status within the team.

At 36, Webber is the elder statesmen of the grid, and if retirement wasn't on his mind before, it must surely be now. Webber is only in it to win it; that's why he turned down an offer last year to join Ferrari, where he would have had to give best to Alonso. If Red Bull is Vettel's team, which events last weekend suggest it very much is, what chance does Webber have of winning whilst remaining at Milton Keynes?

Outside of Red Bull, Webber's options as far as competitive seats are concerned appear limited. Ferrari would probably still have him, and you could argue that a season of being number two to Alonso is far from a bad way to round off one's F1 career. Lotus may be able to find space for him in their line-up, with Kimi Raikkonen having given scant indication of whether he wishes to continue into 2014, but how long their strong form will continue is uncertain.

Webber may therefore calculate that he is best off remaining at Red Bull - if nothing else, he can be fairly certain of having a competitive car. But, if the team cannot issue orders (at least with any optimism that they will be followed) while Vettel and Webber both remain on board, it follows that one - almost certainly the latter - will have to give way. If this is the case, it may well be that Webber feels the time is right to hang up his helmet.

As for Vettel, he may be seven crucial points further up on Alonso and the rest of his adversaries than he may have been, but at the expense of his honour. Just as the legacies of Ayrton Senna and Schumacher will always be tainted because of the choices they made in the relentless pursuit of victory, Vettel runs the risk of having the same asterisk placed by his name.

There's no denying Vettel is a stickler for statistics, but what he seemingly fails to realise is how you win is just as important as whether you do so. His obvious lack of respect for Webber, whom he dismissed as "too slow" during the race, is a far cry from the likes of Peter Collins and Stirling Moss, who sacrificed their chances of winning titles in the name of sportsmanship and are revered all the more for it.

Perhaps the hardest thing of all to swallow was the false 'apology' that followed. In many ways, it would have been better to see Vettel unapologetic for his actions, much like Schumacher was following some of his more controversial stunts. Instead, it appears the sport's youngest ever champion is more concerned about maintaining his easy-going, good-humoured façade than being honest to the public.

Vettel is unquestionably one of the most talented drivers the sport has seen in recent years, and perhaps it's his insatiable desire to win that makes him so. I can't help but feel however that, had Alonso or Lewis Hamilton been in a similar situation, they would have taken the honourable option - both appear to have considerable respect, even affection, for their respective teammates.

Vettel on the other hand has chosen, at least for now, just like Senna and Schumacher before him, the 'win at all costs' path. He may well enjoy more success because of it, but ironically at the expense of the likeable persona he seems so intent on preserving.