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Vital Statistics: The 2014 season in numbers

Did you know that McLaren's Jenson Button completed more laps than any other driver in 2014 or that Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo had the most consecutive points finishes?

As the year draws to a close, we look back over some of the amazing facts and figures that helped make this season one of the most exciting on record...

HEADLINE STATS

Number of races: 19 (in 19 different countries, across five different continents)

Total number of drivers who raced: 24 (of which four were rookies and five were world champions) 

Average age of the grid: 27 years 4 months

Longest race: Great Britain (2h 26m52.094s)

Shortest race: Italy (1h 19m10.236s)

Number of wins from pole: Nine from 19 races

Lowest winning grid position: Sixth (Daniel Ricciardo in Canada and Lewis Hamilton in Britain)

Record breakers (drivers): Lewis Hamilton's six-year gap between titles equals the second longest such period in F1 history. Niki Lauda holds the record: he clinched his third drivers' crown in 1984, seven years after his second championship triumph. 

Hamilton became Mercedes' first F1 champion since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955, and the first British multiple champion since Jackie Stewart in 1971.He also moved on to 33 Grand Prix triumphs, overhauling previous British record holder Nigel Mansell's long-standing tally.

Daniil Kvyat, meanwhile, became the youngest points scorer in F1 history when he finished tenth in Australia at the age of 19 years and 322 days.

Record breakers (teams):Mercedes secured 16 victories over a single season, breaking a record previously held by McLaren (1988) and Ferrari (2002 and '04). The Silver Arrows also claimed a record 11 one-two finishes over a single year, breaking McLaren's 1988 record.

QUALIFYING STATS

Most pole positions (driver): 11 - Nico Rosberg; 7 - Lewis Hamilton; 1 - Felipe Massa

Most pole positions (team): 18 - Mercedes; 1 - Williams

Front-row starts: 15 - Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton; 3 - Sebastian Vettel; 2 - Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas; 1 - Felipe Massa

Q3 appearances: 19 - Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo; 18 - Fernando Alonso; 17 - Lewis Hamilton; 16 - Valtteri Bottas; 15 - Kevin Magnussen, Felipe Massa; 14 - Sebastian Vettel; 13 - Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen; 8 - Daniil Kvyat, Jean-Eric Vergne; 7 - Nico Hulkenberg; 5 - Sergio Perez; 2 - Romain Grosjean; 1 - Adrian Sutil

Biggest pole margin: 1.620s (Great Britain, Nico Rosberg over Sebastian Vettel)

Smallest pole margin: 0.007s (Singapore, Lewis Hamilton over Nico Rosberg)

Best team mate head-to-head record: Fernando Alonso, Ferrari - out-qualified Kimi Raikkonen 16-3 over the season

RACE STATS

Most wins (driver): 11 - Lewis Hamilton; 5 - Nico Rosberg; 3 - Daniel Ricciardo

Most wins (team): 16 - Mercedes; 3 - Red Bull

Most podiums (driver): 16 - Lewis Hamilton; 15 - Nico Rosberg; 8 - Daniel Ricciardo; 6 - Valtteri Bottas; 4 - Sebastian Vettel; 3 - Felipe Massa; 2 - Fernando Alonso; 1 - Kevin Magnussen, Jenson Button, Sergio Perez

Most podiums (team): 31 - Mercedes; 12 - Red Bull; 9 - Williams; 2 - McLaren, Ferrari; 1 - Force India

Biggest winning margin: 30.135s (Great Britain, Lewis Hamilton over Valtteri Bottas)

Smallest winning margin: 0.636s (Spain, Lewis Hamilton over Nico Rosberg)

Most points finishes: 17 - Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso

Most consecutive races in the points: 15 – Daniel Ricciardo

Most laps completed (driver): Jenson Button, 1,120 (98.8 percent of the season)

Most laps completed (team): McLaren, 2,231 (98.4 percent)

Fewest laps completed (driver)*: Pastor Maldonado, 847 (74.7 percent)
*Only taken from those who contested every Grand Prix

Fewest laps completed (team)*: Sauber, 1,790 (78.9 percent)
*Only taken from those who contested every Grand Prix

Most laps led: 495 - Lewis Hamilton; 483 - Nico Rosberg; 72 - Daniel Ricciardo; 32 - Fernando Alonso; 30 - Felipe Massa; 11 - Sergio Perez; 5 - Nico Hulkenberg; 4 - Valtteri Bottas; 1 - Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel

Number of lead changes: 61 (based on official lap chart with lead changes taken at the end of each lap)

Best team mate head-to-head record: Fernando Alonso, Ferrari - beat Kimi Raikkonen 16-3 over the season, with DNFs included

Most places gained from Saturday to Sunday: 56 - Pastor Maldonado

Most penalty points: 5 - Pastor Maldonado, Marcus Ericsson

Sets of tyres used during races: 1,101

Most used tyre compound: Soft (463 sets)

Longest stint on one set of tyres: 304 kilometres (Nico Rosberg, medium compound, Russia)

Average stops per Grand Prix*: 44 (down from 51 in 2013)
*Dry races only

Race with the most pit stops: Bahrain, 58

Race with the fewest pit stops: Monza, 23

MILESTONES

- On top of claiming his breakthrough Grand Prix win (and three in total), Daniel Ricciardo earned Red Bull their 50th Formula One triumph in Belgium

- Nico Rosberg became the first German to win the German Grand Prix driving for a German team and powered by a German engine

- Marussia scored their first points when Jules Bianchi finished ninth at Monaco

- Jenson Button reached 250 Grand Prix starts in Bahrain, and moved into third in the all-time appearances list on 266 starts - behind only Rubens Barrichello (322) and Michael Schumacher (306). Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massameanwhile reached their 200th Grand Prix starts in Austria and Britain respectively.

- Kevin Magnussen became the second youngest driver in history to score a podium in F1 when he finished second in the season-opening race in Australia, at the age of 21 years and 162 days.

- Lewis Hamilton's tally of 11 wins equals the second highest number scored over a single season. Only Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, both with 13, have more.

- Susie Wolff became the first female driver to take part in a world championship event since Giovanna Amati in 1992.

DID YOU KNOW…

- This was the first season since 1980 that neither Ferrari nor McLaren won a Grand Prix.

- Daniel Ricciardo's victory in Canada gave Renault their first turbocharged victory since Ayrton Senna triumphed in Detroit in 1986.

(source: f1.com)

CVC appoints Directors to the Board of the Formula One Group

CVC, the controlling shareholder of the Formula One Group, today announces three appointments to the Board of the Formula One Group.

Luca di Montezemolo and Paul Walsh have been appointed as Non Executive Directors, with effect from 1st January 2015.

Luca di Montezemolo was previously Chairman of Ferrari, a position he held from 1991 until 2014. Mr di Montezemolo previously served as a Non Executive Director of the Formula One Group between 2012 and 2014 in his prior capacity as the representative of Ferrari.

Paul Walsh was formerly CEO of Diageo plc, the global leading drinks business, from 2000 to 2013. He is currently Chairman of Compass Group, as well as a Non Executive Director of FedEx Corporation and Unilever plc.

Bernie Ecclestone has been reappointed to the Board and will continue as CEO of the Formula One Group.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board.

(source: f1.com)

Fry and Tombazis exit amid Ferrari restructure

New Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has announced a shake-up of the Italian squad’s management, designed to provide ‘a flat structure and clear assignment of responsibilities’. The changes include the departure of engineering director Pat Fry and chief designer Nikolas Tombazis.

Fry joined Ferrari from McLaren in mid-2010, becoming technical director (chassis) in 2011 and taking up his present position when fellow Englishman James Allison joined the team as technical director last year. Tombazis’ Ferrari career dates back to 1994 and he started his present stint in 2006.

Allison retains his current role, with Italian engineers Simone Resta and Mattia Binotto reporting to him as chief designer and power unit director respectively, the latter supported by chief designer power unit Lorenzo Sassi.

Allison will also direct track engineering activities on an interim basis, while the Scuderia’s Formula One activities will be managed by Massimo Rivola.

Ferrari subsequently announced that Hirohide Hamashima, charged with the team's tyre performance analysis, will also leave the Scuderia at the end of the year.

Hamashima, a former director of Bridgestone's tyre development, took up that role at Ferrari ahead of the 2012 season.

(source: f1.com)

McLaren: No fears of 2007 repeat with Alonso

McLaren Group chairman and CEO Ron Dennis insists there will be no recurrence of the acrimony and tension that drove a wedge between Fernando Alonso and the team in 2007.

With Alonso returning to McLaren seven years after that split, Dennis admitted questions over team harmony were inevitable, but said different approaches and a wider culture change would ensure past mistakes will not be repeated.

"I know the media will be looking for any kind of fracture in any part of the team's relationship, especially between Fernando and I, to immediately get a wedge in," Dennis reflected. "But I can tell you, they'll be wasting their time. 

"The reality is that in F1 seven weeks is a lifetime; seven years is just a huge amount of time. You continue to mature - I have mellowed quite a bit, and I'm much more inclusive. 

"If you go back to that period [2007], if you look at who struck the first blow, I would say Lewis [Hamilton] had his role to play in starting this process which then escalated. This one got away from me. Could I have engineered a way out of it? I could have probably done things better. You regret the mistakes you make in life.

"Of course when we [Dennis and Alonso] started to meet over the last few months, no question there was a bit of circling and discomfort, but there is a friendship that we have re-established. You would be very suspicious of it, or wouldn't think it had any grounds, but we are now focused on the future. 

"We have to succeed together, and we both agree that the core ingredient is to be happy, because the opposite is rubbish. So we will absolutely have our radar on and avoid anything that can escalate in our relationship. I don't anticipate any issues."

Alonso echoed Dennis's sentiments, saying that the disappointment of how the 2007 season evolved was a fundamental part of his desire to rejoin the team.

"I am happy with everything I have done apart from 2007," the Spaniard said of his F1 career. "I didn't achieve, didn't deliver, the best of myself.

"So now seven years later [I am] more mature - you learn things and understand things probably you didn't at 25 years old. Now I arrive to finish this job I started in 2007. This was the first priority to come back.

"I am sitting here, ready for this challenge with McLaren-Honda, because I see no problems at all."

(source: f1.com)

Gutierrez becomes Ferrari test driver

Esteban Gutierrez has been confirmed as Ferrari’s new test and reserve driver. Mexican Gutierrez has spent the past two F1 seasons racing for the Ferrari-powered Sauber team.

“It is an honour to become part of the Scuderia Ferrari family, a team with such an exceptional history,” commented Gutierrez, who lost his Sauber seat at the end of the 2014 season. “It is for me the beginning of a new path for my future and I’m going to do my utmost to contribute to the achievement of the targets set by the Scuderia.

“I want to thank everybody for their belief in my potential; this will bring a great opportunity for me to develop further and get to the top in the near future. With all my passion and dedication, I’m now looking forward to the start of this new venture.”

A former GP3 champion, Gutierrez made his F1 debut in 2013, scoring six points in his rookie season at Sauber, with whom he went on to endure a frustrating 2014 campaign as the Swiss squad failed to trouble the top ten with their uncompetitive C33 car.

“I am pleased to welcome Esteban Gutierrez,” added Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene. “We are pleased to be able to offer this opportunity to Esteban who, although young, has plenty of experience relating to the new generation of Formula One cars. I am sure that, with his experience, he will make an important contribution to the development work of the team in the simulator.

“Welcoming Esteban also means opening the gates of Ferrari to a driver from Mexico, a country where the Scuderia still has a lot of fans, just as was the case 50 years ago in the days of the Rodriguez brothers.”

Gutierrez’s compatriot Pedro Rodriguez made eight F1 starts for Ferrari between 1964 and ’69, while younger sibling Ricardo had five outings with the Scuderia between ’61 and ’62. 

(source: f1.com)