Ascari, Fangio and Clark in the Records - Wins
I’ve been looking over the Drivers Records when it comes to F1 and there’s something I’ve noticed that amuses me quite a bit, to the point that I’m going to be really sad and do a series on it.
What am I talking about?
How often Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio and Jim Clark pop up in the records.
Now a huuuuuuge chunk of this is to do with perspective. So here’s the basic facts: In their entire F1 career Ascari entered 33 races, Fangio 52 and Clark 73.
Not a lot really, in fact by the early 70s, 14+ races were becoming the norm before the 80s onwards where there’s at least 16 races, peaking at 20 races this year. In just three seasons most current drivers will have out done Fangio for total number of races. And then you get Lewis, after five years, becoming the most loyal driver to race for one team when he went into his 74th race for McLaren at China in 2011. The previous record holder? Clark who had only won the first race of his ninth year in F1 before his fatal crash at Hockenheim.
Now, with this in mind, lets look at the stats again?
The first part means nothing to us as it’s about the total number of races taken part and the youngest and oldest entrants.
The next part is wins and here’s where it starts to get interesting. First is Total Wins and there’s Clark (who is equal with Niki Lauda who did 177 races) and Fangio in the top ten but near the bottom. Look at it in percentages and, not only do those to go up to the top but there’s Ascari.
Next is Wins in a Season, not a lot here as everyone competed in seasons consisting of at least 16 races here and six of them is Michael Schumacher (he’ll be popping up a lot actually) but go to percentages and there’s Ascari, Fangio and Clark all there twice. The other four? Why they’re the top four from the original list of Wins in a Season and two of that is Schumacher.
Consecutive Wins and up top with Schumacher is Ascari. Consecutive Wins from the First Race and Fangio managed two before Indianapolis shows up and is a non start like it generally was until they took it off the calendar. Most wins in First Championship Season and there’s Fangio in joint second on three.
Then it petters off a bit, nothing for Youngest Winner (half of them are from the 2000s), Fangio’s in the Oldest Winner (seven in total are from the 50s actually if you want to note the change of age range as motorsport has evolved), nothing in Fewest Races Before First Win, Most Races Before First Win (this is were longer seasons play a part again), Most Races Without a Win, Most Points Without a Win, Wins from Furtherest Back and Most Wins at the Same Grand Prix which is near enough all Schumacher.
Despite how it ended there, all three managed several appearances despite those few races they did compared to those around them.
Next time Ascari takes a rest as we look at Pole Positions.
(Source: Wikipedia)
