Qualifying Statistics #1 - Melbourne

Firstly, thanks to Brogan for the invitation to post my F1 stats in this forum.

I have been posting most of them on Usenet for many years. They have been formatted with that
destination in mind, and I'm not planning on reformatting them for this location, although
I've preserved the format of any table to try and ensure readability.

Rather than starting with a quarter of the season gone, I'm going to rewind to Melbourne
and post all of them. This is the first of five regular topics, the others are Best Laps, Top
Speeds, Engine/Gearbox usage and Overtaking.

All comments are welcome and I'll try and answer any questions as we go. Please bear in
mind though that although I am retired, I do have a life, and sometimes it gets in the way.


Average Starting Position 2009 - after Melbourne, Qualifying #1

2009     2009                 2008     2007     2006     2005    2004    2003
Pos. ASP Pos. ASP Pos. ASP Pos. ASP Pos ASP Pos ASP Pos ASP
===============================================================================
1. 1.00 J Button 16 14.72 14 13.94 3 7.78 4 5.9 3 5.5 13 11.3
2. 2.00 R Barrichello 17 14.83 16 15.00 6 7.61 13 10.5 2 4.6 1 3.6
3. 3.00 S Vettel 10 11.00 15 14.38 - - - - - - - -
4. 4.00 R Kubica 5 5.83 6 7.00 9 8.83 - - - - - -
5. 5.00 N Rosberg 12 12.11 9 9.88 12 13.33 - - - - - -
6. 6.00 F Massa 1 2.94 4 4.24 2 6.67 17 11.9 18 13.5 - -
7. 7.00 K Räikkönen =3 4.39 3 3.53 4 5.83 2 5.7 9 8.2 6 6.8
8. 8.00 M Webber 9 9.17 7 9.06 7 11.06 8 8.0 13 9.7 11 9.9
9. 9.00 N Heidfeld 8 9.00 5 5.41 10 10.17 12 9.6 21 16.0 15 12.3
10. 10.00 F Alonso 6 6.89 2 3.18 1 4.28 1 4.0 7 7.6 8 7.9
11. 11.00 S Nakajima 18 15.11 22 19.00 - - - - - - - -
12. 12.00 H Kovalainen =3 4.39 10 10.71 - - - - - - - -
13. 13.00 S Buemi - - - - - - - - - - - -
14. 14.00 N Piquet 14 13.50 - - - - - - - - - -
15. 15.00 G Fisichella 19 18.33 11 10.82 3 5.61 3 5.7 17 12.3 19 13.9
16. 16.00 A Sutil 20 18.94 23 20.29 - - - - - - - -
17. 17.00 S Bourdais 15 13.67 - - - - - - - - - -
18. 18.00 L Hamilton 2 3.89 1 2.59 - - - - - - - -
19. 19.00 J Trulli 7 7.61 8 9.24 14 10.28 5 6.1 6 6.7 7 7.3
20. 20.00 T Glock 11 11.11 - - - - - - 22 16.5 - -

Average positions include all demotions such as engine/gearbox change penalties,
but not last-minute changes such as pitlane starts.


Average Team Starting Position 2009 - after Melbourne, Qualifying #1

2009                     2008      2007      2006     2005      2004      2003
Pos. ASP Pos. ASP Pos. ASP Pos. ASP Pos. ASP Pos. ASP Pos. ASP
=====================================================================================
1. 1.50 Brawn 9. 14.78 8. 14.47 4. 7.75 4. 8.53 3. 6.78 6. 11.48*
2. 5.50 Red Bull 6. 11.00 6. 11.21 8. 14.65 7. 11.24 6. 11.69 7. 11.84*
3. 6.50 Ferrari 1. 3.67 2. 3.88 2. 6.06 6. 9.37 1. 4.25 1. 3.94
6.50 BMW-Sauber 3. 7.42 3. 6.18 6. 10.81 8. 11.95 8. 12.92 8. 12.81*
5. 8.00 Williams 8. 13.58 7. 12.65 7. 12.19 5. 9.32 2. 6.39 2. 5.03
6. 12.00 Renault 5. 10.19 5. 10.82 1. 4.94 1. 4.84 4. 7.47 3. 7.59
7. 15.00 McLaren 2. 4.11 1. 2.88 3. 6.89 2. 6.61 5. 8.81 4. 7.66
15.00 T Rosso 7. 12.33 9. 16.21 9. 15.83 10. 17.50 10. 18.53 10. 18.66*
9. 15.50 F India 10. 18.61 11. 20.82 10. 18.06 9. 16.97 9. 16.36 9. 15.53*
10. 19.50 Toyota 4. 9.36 4. 10.79 5. 10.11 3. 7.47 7. 11.81 5. 10.09

* Red Bull = Jaguar (03-04), Brawn = Honda (06-08) / BAR (03-05), BMW-Sauber = Sauber
(03-05), Force India = Spyker (07) / Midland (06) / Jordan (03-05), Toro Rosso =
Minardi (03-05)


Team-mates Head-to-Head 2009 - after Melbourne, Qualifying #1

Team        Driver-1          Driver-2     Posn.
================================================
McLaren Kovalainen 1-0 Hamilton +6
Williams Rosberg 1-0 Nakajima +6
BMW-Sauber Kubica 1-0 Heidfeld +5
Red Bull Vettel 1-0 Webber +5
Renault Alonso 1-0 Piquet +4
Toro Rosso Buemi 1-0 Bourdais +4
Brawn Button 1-0 Barrichello +1
Ferrari Massa 1-0 Räikkönen +1
F India Fisichella 1-0 Sutil +1
Toyota Trulli 1-0 Glock +1

Note: "Posn." shows the advantage in qualifying positions to date. A
positive number shows the driver on the left has the advantage and a
negative number the driver on the right.


2009 Grid Penalties

Qual  Penalty (reason)
=========================================================================
01 AUS Timo Glock 6th pit lane start (rear wing flexing)
01 AUS Jarno Trulli 8th pit lane start (rear wing flexing)
01 AUS Lewis Hamilton 15th 5-place penalty (changed gearbox)


Appearances in Each Qualifying Session

Q-1  Q-2  Q-3
=============================
J Button 1 1 1
R Barrichello 1 1 1
S Vettel 1 1 1
R Kubica 1 1 1
N Rosberg 1 1 1
T Glock 1 1 1
F Massa 1 1 1
J Trulli 1 1 1
K Räikkönen 1 1 1
M Webber 1 1 1
N Heidfeld        1    1    0
F Alonso 1 1 0
K Nakajima 1 1 0
H Kovalainen 1 1 0
L Hamilton 1 1* 0 AUS (0 laps)
S Buemi           1    0    0
N Piquet 1 0 0
G Fisichella 1 0 0
A Sutil 1 0 0
S Bourdais 1 0 0

* Set no time in one or more sessions.

Best Qualifying Performances (Current Drivers)

[size=1]
Best in 2009 Best in Best in Best in Best before 2006
Driver Posn.(#) GP(s) 2008 (#) 2007 (#) 2006 (#) Posn. (#) First - Last
=======================================================================================
J Button Pole (1) AUS 9th (1) 6th (1) Pole (1) Pole (2) RSM 04 - CDN 05
R Barrichello  2nd  (1) AUS     9th  (1)  9th  (1)  3rd  (2)  Pole (13) BEL 94 - BRA 04
S Vettel 3rd (1) AUS Pole (1) 7th (1) --- ---
R Kubica 4th (1) AUS Pole (1) 4th (1) 6th (1) ---
N Rosberg 5th (1) AUS 5th (2) 4th (1) 3rd (1) ---
F Massa 6th (1) AUS Pole (6) Pole (6) Pole (3) 4th (3) AUT 02 - BRA 04
K Räikkönen 7th (1) AUS Pole (2) Pole (3) Pole (3) Pole (8) Eur 03 - TUR 05
M Webber 8th (1) AUS 2nd (1) 5th (1) 2nd (1) 2nd (2) MAL 04 - ESP 05
N Heidfeld 9th (1) AUS 5th (4) 2nd (1) 3rd (1) Pole (1) Eur 05
F Alonso 10th (1) AUS 2nd (1) Pole (2) Pole (6) Pole (9) MAL 03 - CHN 05
K Nakajima     11th (1) AUS     10th (1)  19th (1)  ---       ---
H Kovalainen 12th (1) AUS Pole (1) 6th (2) --- ---
S Buemi 13th (1) AUS --- --- --- ---
N Piquet 14th (1) AUS 7th (1) --- --- ---
G Fisichella 15th (1) AUS 12th (1) 4th (1) Pole (1) Pole (2) AUT 98 - AUS 05
A Sutil 16th (1) AUS 16th (1) 19th (3) --- ---
S Bourdais 17th (1) AUS 4th (1) --- --- ---
L Hamilton 18th (1) AUS Pole (7) Pole (6) --- ---
J Trulli 19th (1) AUS 2nd (1) 6th (1) 3rd (1) Pole (3) MON 04 - USA 05
T Glock 20th (1) AUS 5th (1) --- --- 16th (2) CDN 04 - CHN 04
[/size]

Personal Bests set at Melbourne 2009

Career
==================
Pole J Button (4)
13th S Buemi
16th A Sutil (2)

All 20 drivers achieved their best starting position of 2009.


Most Pole Positions

1950-2002 (Top 25)                Since 2003 (Top 10)
========================= ========================
1 Ayrton Senna 65 1 Michael Schumacher 18 +
2 Michael Schumacher 50 + 2 Fernando Alonso 17
3 Jim Clark 33 3 Kimi Räikkönen 16
Alain Prost 33 4 Felipe Massa 15
5 Nigel Mansell 32 5 Lewis Hamilton 13
6 Juan Manuel Fangio 29 6 Rubens Barrichello 7 +
7 Mika Häkkinen 26 7 Ralf Schumacher 5 +
8 Niki Lauda 24 8 Jenson Button 4
Nelson Piquet 24 9 Juan Pablo Montoya 3 +
10 Damon Hill 20 Jarno Trulli 3
11 Mario Andretti 18
René Arnoux 18
13 Jackie Stewart 17
14 Stirling Moss 16 + also achieved poles in other era
15 Alberto Ascari 14
Ronnie Peterson 14
James Hunt 14
18 Graham Hill 13
Jack Brabham 13
Jacky Ickx 13
Jacques Villeneuve 13
21 David Coulthard 12
Gerhard Berger 12
24 Jochen Rindt 10
Juan Pablo Montoya 10 +

Since 2003 we have had:

* Single lap qualifying (2003-05, except for AUS-MON 2005)
* Two single-lap sessions aggregated (AUS-MON 2005 only)
* Knockout, 3-period, race fuel (from EUR 2005)[/pre]

Note: In my opinion the systems in use since 2003 are sufficiently different
to list the pre-2003 totals separately. OK, partly that preserves Senna's
status as the number one qualifier, but the modern systems, while not 'easy'
are dependant on different driver skills.


The Recent Record of Pole Position Holders at Melbourne

Year  Time      Driver        Chassis         Rslt Winner      Grid
====================================================================
2000 1'30.556 M Häkkinen McLaren MP4/15 DNF M Schumacher 3rd
2001 1'26.892 M Schumacher Ferrari F2001 1st
2002 1'25.843 R Barrichello Ferrari F2001 DNF M Schumacher 2nd
2003 1'27.173 M Schumacher Ferrari F2002 4th Coulthard 11th
2004 1'24.408 M Schumacher Ferrari F2004 1st
2005 [3'01.460] G Fisichella Renault R25 1st
2006 1'25.229 J Button Honda RA106 10th Alonso 3rd
2007 1'26.072 K Räikkönen Ferrari F2007 1st
2008 1'26.714 L Hamilton McLaren MP4/23 1st
2009 1'26.202 J Button Brawn BGP 001 1st

Note: Since 2006 the grid has been decided on a three-period knockout system.
The 'pole time' is no longer necessarily the fastest time set during qualifying.

There have been fourteen Grands Prix at Melbourne,
7 have been won from pole position (last was Button in 2009),
2 have been won from second (M Schumacher in 2002),
2 have been won from third (Alonso in 2006),
and 3 have been won from lower positions (Coulthard 4th/1997; Irvine 6th/1999,
and Coulthard (11th/2003).

Average starting position of winners = 2.714.
 
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