By winning in Mexico, Lewis Hamilton tied with Alain Prost on 51 wins to make them jointly the drivers with the second greatest number of wins after Michael Schumacher's seemingly impregnable score of 91. Lewis achieved his tally after 186 races while Prost took 199.
The start/win ratio excited some statisticians, at least in Britain, because it suggested that Hamilton was more successful than Prost. After Austin, the BBC website had Lewis equal with Jackie Stewart on 27% each, when Stewart's ratio was actually better at 27.27%. After Mexico. Hamilton shaded Stewart with 27.41%. Depending on circumstance, Hamilton's percentage could rise or fall whereas Stewart's is set.
When Michael Schumacher retired from Ferrari, his start/win ratio was 38.2%, the third highest in history, His return to spend three years with Mercedes F1 knocked that back to 29.55%. Michael missed Formula One, he did not need the money and the start/win ratio probably never crossed his mind.
Using the start/win ratio, Hamilton moves into fifth place behind Fangio (46.15), Ascari (39.39), Clark (34.25) and Schumacher (29.55).
Every one of us has our favourites, and I do not want to mess with that. Here are some historical facts, however, to help assess the figures.
When the World Championship began, Fangio and Ascari were established Grand Prix drivers so had done their learning before points were awarded. Some have criticised Fangio for hopping teams, but much of that was due to circumstance. Alfa Romeo withdrew from F1, as did Mercedes-Benz. His one year with Ferrari was unhappy, though he won his fourth World Championship with the Scuderia. He won his fifth title with Maserati, who then withdrew, which left him with no team to go to.
Fangio was out through injury for much of 1952 and, ironically, that improved his start/win ratio because it reduced the number of times he would have been trailing the Ferraris.
Both Fangio and Ascari were Number One drivers in the days when everything was hand-made so they got the best equipment: the truest chassis, the most powerful engine, and so on. It was Williams in 1979 that became the first team to provide two drivers with equal cars.
Jim Clark spent his entire F1 career with Team Lotus, but only became Number One in 1962, his third season. It took Lotus time to become a winning team even while making superior cars. Stirling Moss had won four Grands Prix in private Lotus, 1960-61, before Team Lotus scored its first win. That was in the 1961 US GP with Innes Ireland, a win undermined by the fact that the otherwise dominant Ferrari team was absent. Enzo was having one of his sulks so did not enter despite the fact that Phil Hill had just become the first American World Champion.
Clark became Number One at Lotus and so had very competitive machinery, but he also had the best finishing rate of any driver using Coventry Climax V8 engines because he was so light on them. There were times when Dan Gurney, in a Brabham was quicker, and Jimmy acknowledged that Dan was the only driver whose speed he feared.
Brabham, Cooper and Lotus had the use of the Coventry Climax V8 series of engines which won 24 Grands Prix, 1961-65. Jim Clark won 20 of the 24; Gurney won two and Bruce McLaren and Ireland took one apiece. Clark was the only driver to win with a BRM H-16 engine and, in 1967, he took all four wins that the Cosworth DFV scored.
Jimmy finished seven times from nine races, every time in the points. His team-mate, Graham Hill, finished just twice yet Graham was sympathetic with his machinery.
Jackie Stewart was quick out of the box for BRM in 1965 and won his eighth Grand Prix start. He also won the opening round of the 1966 Championship and then had a bleak time as he served his contract with BRM as it played with its H-16 and V12 3-litre units. Only Jim Clark was to win a GP with a BRM H-16 engine and that was with Team Lotus.
Stewart then signed with Ken Tyrrell with whom he won three Championships and 25 Grands Prix. The 'Autocourse' rating of the top drivers is only opinion, but it is informed opinion and has been respected since it first appeared in 1966. One writer puts his name to it, but the opinion is canvassed throughout the paddock.
Stewart headed the list for six successive seasons, only Schumacher has headed the list more often (eight times) but not even he topped the poll for six consecutive years. That is a fact, not a statistic, but it is a fact that should leaven statistics.
Some drivers, like Prost (25.25%) and Senna (25.31%), had to spend a season with an uncompetitive team as they forged their reputations. Sebastian Vettel spent a season and a half with Toro Rosso. He also gave the team its only win to date. Few would dispute that his win at Monza in 2008 was a drive touched by greatness, but statistics measure only quantity, not quality.
Vettel's start/win ratio is currently 23.7, a figure depressed by two years with Ferrari.
Hamilton began his F1 career with a top team, but there was a very good reason why Ron Dennis signed him rather than you or I even though we would have been cheaper. Lewis is not the only F1 driver to have begun his career with a top drive: Michael Andretti, David Coulthard, Emerson Fittipaldi, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell and Jacques Villeneuve are among those who have.
Some thrive, but there have been any number of drivers who, given a top seat, have wilted under the responsibility. There have been drivers who have gone slower when teamed with a faster man. There have also been drivers who have been in a top team at the wrong time, ask Jean Alesi and Fernando Alonso about their time at Ferrari.
What I have tried to do is apply an historian's perspective to statistics because they are not as simple as some sections of the media would have them to be.
Nothing, however, should spoil the pub debate whether it is Ascari vs Fangio, Prost vs Senna, Alonso vs Vettel, or whoever.
Mike Lawrence.
Learn more about Mike and check out his previous features, here
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