Statistical anomalies in motorsports.

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Is this the only time the Moto GP and F1 titles have been decided on the same day? Edit: no - Schumacher and Rossi in 2003 and Alonso and Rossi in 2005.

I'm sure the F1, Moto GP, WEC, IMSA, and BTCC titles haven't all been finalised on the same weekend before. WTCR, or some form of world touring car competition, too.

Edit 2: spoiler tags can come off now, it's been long enough.
 
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Bottas spun/lost control 6 times today... surely that's got to be a record? Massa had 5 at the 2008 British GP.
 
-Fred-
Bottas spun/lost control 6 times today... surely that's got to be a record? Massa had 5 at the 2008 British GP.
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I don't think you would have to look too far into F1 history to find out for sure.

With the modern circuits resembling artistic car parks, with acres of run-off, spinning/losing control 6 times makes him lucky he didn't eventually hit something.

Not too long ago, spinning/losing control once virtually guaranteed you a walk back to the pit garage with some explaining to do.
 
Pete05
Not too long ago, spinning/losing control once virtually guaranteed you a walk back to the pit garage with some explaining to do.
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In the dry i'm sure you'd be right. But when its wet on an already slippy track spinning's a much less violent affair.
 
In 2013 McLaren became the first team in Formula One to have both of its entries classified at every race. This comes despite three technical "retirements".


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Updating this now that the previous decade is over, and we've more recently gained a few new winners. Updates in bold.

Roo
Ended up going down a maiden-F1GP-victory rabbit hole after a question posted on the Midweek Motorsport Listeners' Collective.

Maiden GP winners per decade:
(Figures in brackets include Indy 500)

1950s: 15 (24)
1960s: 17 (18)
1970s: 22
1980s: 14
1990s: 10
2000s: 14
2010s: 6
2020s: 2 (as at the end of 2020 season)

Track with most maiden GP winners: Monaco (9 - Fangio, Trintignant, Brabham, Hulme, Beltoise, Depailler, Patrese, Panis, Trulli). Indy 500 has 10.

Longest gap between maiden victories:
Alessandro Nannini, 1989 Japanese GP -> Michael Schumacher, 1992 Belgian GP: 2 years 10 months 8 days
Mark Webber, 2009 German GP -> Nico Rosberg, 2012 Chinese GP: 2 years 9 months 3 days
Michele Alboreto, 1982 Caesars Palace GP -> Ayrton Senna, 1985 Portuguese GP: 2 years 6 months 26 days
Current streak come Sunday's Hungarian GP: 2 years 3 months 5 days since Valtteri Bottas won the 2017 Russian GP. (Streak ended by Charles Leclerc at the 2019 Belgian GP: 2 years 4 months 2 days.)

Most maiden GP victories in a season: 1982 (5 - Patrese, Tambay, de Angelis, Keke Rosberg, Alboreto)
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2012 was the last season to have more than 1 new winner (Rosberg and Maldonado).

2009 was the last season to have more than 1 "new" winning constructor (Brawn and Red Bull).

Yes, I went ahead and assumed we weren't getting a new winner in Abu Dhabi.
 
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2020s has 1/3rd of the new winners of the previous dedade after just one season.

Long may it continue.
 
Found another F1 stat rabbit hole, this time podium finishers.

13 drivers have had a podium this year, including 3 drivers who scored their maiden podium finish (Norris, Albon, Ocon). This equals 2009 and 2012; the last season with more was 2008.

2020: 13, 3 maiden podium finishers (Norris, Albon, Ocon)
2019: 8, 3 maiden podium finishers (Leclerc, Gasly, Sainz)
2018: 7, no maiden podium finishers
2017: 7, 1 maiden podium finish (Stroll)
2016: 9, no maiden podium finishers
2015: 10, 1 maiden podium finish (Kvyat)
2014: 10, 3 maiden podium finishers (Magnussen, Ricciardo, Bottas)
2013: 8, no maiden podium finishers
2012: 13, 4 maiden podium finishers (Perez, Grosjean, Maldonado, Kobayashi)
2011: 7, 1 maiden podium finish (Petrov)
2010: 8, no maiden podium finishers
2009: 13, no maiden podium finishers
2008: 14, 4 maiden podium finishers (Rosberg, Piquet Jr, Glock, Vettel)
2007: 8, 2 maiden podium finishers (Hamilton, Kovalainen).
 
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Roo
Found another F1 stat rabbit hole, this time podium finishers.

13 drivers have had a podium this year, including 3 drivers who scored their maiden podium finish (Norris, Albon, Ocon). This equals 2009 and 2012; the last season with more was 2008.

2020: 13, 3 maiden podium finishers (Norris, Albon, Ocon)
2019: 8, 3 maiden podium finishers (Leclerc, Gasly, Sainz)
2018: 7, no maiden podium finishers
2017: 7, 1 maiden podium finish (Stroll)
2016: 9, no maiden podium finishers
2015: 10, 1 maiden podium finish (Kvyat)
2014: 10, 3 maiden podium finishers (Magnussen, Ricciardo, Bottas)
2013: 8, no maiden podium finishers
2012: 13, 4 maiden podium finishers (Perez, Grosjean, Maldonado, Kobayashi)
2011: 7, 1 maiden podium finish (Petrov)
2010: 8, no maiden podium finishers
2009: 13, no maiden podium finishers
2008: 14, 4 maiden podium finishers (Rosberg, Piquet Jr, Glock, Vettel)
2007: 8, 2 maiden podium finishers (Hamilton, Kovalainen).
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Related to that, Giovinazzi is now the active driver with the most races without a podium.
Only 3 of the 2020 drivers (exluding the replacement drivers) have never had a podium: Giovinazzi, Latifi and Russell
 
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1994 is the most recent Formula One season to not have a world champion on the grid. Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell were the only world champions in the sport at the time; Senna raced in the first three GPs and Mansell one race mid-season and the final three races.

This leaves the Grands Prix in Monaco, Spain, Canada, Britain, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Portugal having no world champions on the grid.
 
PaMu1337
Related to that, Giovinazzi is now the active driver with the most races without a podium.
Only 3 of the 2020 drivers (exluding the replacement drivers) have never had a podium: Giovinazzi, Latifi and Russell
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Latifi and Giovinazzi will never see the podium. I thing they're doomed in the back half of the grid.
 
Here's a Formula One anomaly:

It was close to happening in 1996 and 1998.
It was very close to happening in 2000 and 2012.
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It happened for the first time in 2018.

What do you think it is?

Every F1 driver raced at every event.

There were no driver changes, no temporary substitutions, no missed or skipped events and no team withdrawals.

It also happened in 2019 but Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon did swap teams.
 
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In ten instances the F1 world champion was not driving the car that won the constructors championship. Do you remember any particularly? Several stand out to me, mainly the six that took place over an eleven year period. If we look at the years 1950 through 1957 when there was no constructors championship, and apply the same criteria that generally applied from 1958-1979, I think we can add two more instances to the list of ten. So it is somewhat anomalous and definitely interesting for the champion not to be in the championship (presumably the best) car.
 
Dotini
In ten instances the F1 world champion was not driving the car that won the constructors championship. Do you remember any particularly? Several stand out to me, mainly the six that took place over an eleven year period. If we look at the years 1950 through 1957 when there was no constructors championship, and apply the same criteria that generally applied from 1958-1979, I think we can add two more instances to the list of ten. So it is somewhat anomalous and definitely interesting for the champion not to be in the championship (presumably the best) car.
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Just off the top of my head, I would imagine it comes down to a more balanced two-car team beating a favoured one-car team to the constructors but the favoured one-car team beating the balanced two-car team to the drivers championship.
 
Dotini
In ten instances the F1 world champion was not driving the car that won the constructors championship. Do you remember any particularly? Several stand out to me, mainly the six that took place over an eleven year period. If we look at the years 1950 through 1957 when there was no constructors championship, and apply the same criteria that generally applied from 1958-1979, I think we can add two more instances to the list of ten. So it is somewhat anomalous and definitely interesting for the champion not to be in the championship (presumably the best) car.
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Prost in '86 immediately springs to mind.
 
  • Mike Hawthorn drove for Ferrari in 1958 while Vanwall were the winning constructor.
  • Jackie Stewart drove for Tyrrell in 1973 while Lotus were the winning constructor.
  • James Hunt drove for McLaren in 1976 while Ferrari were the winning constructor.
  • Nelson Piquet drove for Brabham in 1981 while Williams were the winning constructor.
  • Keke Rosberg drove for Williams in 1982 while Ferrari were the winning constructor.
  • Nelson Piquet drove for Brabham in 1983 while Ferrari were the winning constructor.
  • Alain Prost drove for McLaren in 1986 while Williams were the winning constructor.
  • Michael Schumacher drove for Benetton in 1994 while Williams were the winning constructor.
  • Mika Hakkinen drove for McLaren in 1999 while Ferrari were the winning constructor.
  • Lewis Hamilton drove for McLaren in 2008 while Ferrari were the winning constructor.
Not 100% confident about all of those though. The cluster in the early 1980s stands out as particularly interesting.
 
Liquid
Just off the top of my head, I would imagine it comes down to a more balanced two-car team beating a favoured one-car team to the constructors but the favoured one-car team beating the balanced two-car team to the drivers championship.
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I do not know all the rules of all the years of how the constructors championship was decided. But prior to '79 I think only the highest scoring driver of a particular constructor would count, So in '51 Fangio would win the driver's title in an Alfa, but Ferrari seems to have won the would-be constructors' title. Same deal in '54, except Fangio was in a Mercedes apart from the race in a Maserati.
 
Giuseppe Farina is the only driver to secure the Formula One championship at, and by winning, his home Grand Prix; the 1950 Italian Grand Prix was the final race of the season and Farina won the race and the title.
 
Philippe Alliot, who raced in Formula One from 1984-1990, 1993 and 1994, had 109 Grand Prix starts. Even though he scored points on six occasions, amongst other finishes, he never finished on the lead lap. Ever.

Running him close, Pierluigi Martini had 118 starts and only finished on the lead lap once, when he finished 4th at the 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix.
 
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Speaking of finishing on the lead lap...When Benny Parsons won the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship in 1973, he finished on the lead lap one time all season. That finish happened to be his only win all year. Granted in that time period, a race probably averaged about two to three lead lap finishers each week. Still, it's an interesting stat considering he won the title.
 
Dolph Drago
Speaking of finishing on the lead lap...When Benny Parsons won the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship in 1973, he finished on the lead lap one time all season. That finish happened to be his only win all year. Granted in that time period, a race probably averaged about two to three lead lap finishers each week. Still, it's an interesting stat considering he won the title.
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Liquid
And yet won the title? That is strange.
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Add to that the number of races that made up NASCAR championship at the time & that's a damn miracle.
 
Pete05
Add to that the number of races that made up NASCAR championship at the time & that's a damn miracle.
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Well starting in ‘72, NASCAR moved away from the 40-50 race seasons. 1973 had only 28 races. But Parsons 15 top-5’s and 21 top-10’s was the precursor to Matt Kenseths 1 win title 30 years later.
 
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Liquid
And yet won the title? That is strange.
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BP had one win that year, so he obviously finished on the lead lap. However, there is one driver who ran 600+ races, had 12 top 5 finishes, 106 top 10 finishes and had a grand total of zero lead lap finishes (J.D. McDuffie). Another driver started 449 races, had 29 top 5 finishes, 111 top 10s and finished in the top 10 in points 7 times (the top 5 3 straight years) and also had zero lead lap finishes in his career (Cecil Gordon). That's how much of a drop there was between first and 2nd back in the day.
 
Blitz24
BP had one win that year, so he obviously finished on the lead lap. However, there is one driver who ran 600+ races, had 12 top 5 finishes, 106 top 10 finishes and had a grand total of zero lead lap finishes (J.D. McDuffie). Another driver started 449 races, had 29 top 5 finishes, 111 top 10s and finished in the top 10 in points 7 times (the top 5 3 straight years) and also had zero lead lap finishes in his career (Cecil Gordon). That's how much of a drop there was between first and 2nd back in the day.
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I didn't realize those two never finished on the lead lap. And now that you bring up McDuffie's stats, what's even more amazing is his top 5 to top 10 finish ratio. And even crazier to think that of all those top 5's between the two of them, neither actually won a single race. And combined they had a grand total of 1 pole. Ok, the more I look at these two guys' stats, the odder they get. Gordon led a total of 23 laps in his career. McDuffie only led 162, 111 of those in one RACE.
 

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