Formula One: it’s literally a numbers sport. Here are some interesting facts to go with the figures for the season just gone, courtesy of F1 tyre suppliers Pirelli…
349.2...
Sergio Perez finished 16th in this year’s F1 world championship with 14 points for Sauber, who finished down in seventh in the Constructors’ championship. While the 21-year-old Mexican’s best result was seventh at this year’s British GP, he does at least have the distinguished title of fastest man of the year on his Pirelli tyres. He achieved a whopping 349.2kph (217mph) in Italian GP qualifying at Monza. The talented rookie has kept his place at Sauber and gets the chance to do it all over again in 2012.
34,600...
F1 has long tried to inject some green credentials into the sport in the face of criticism from non-fans who say it’s wasteful and harms the environment. Apparently not when it comes to tyres. According to Pirelli, every one of the 28,600 race tyres (24,000 dry and 4,600 wet) and 6,000 test tyres are being recycled. An amazing 10.2 metric tons of rubber comes off the tyres as ‘marbles’ during the season – but you only have to watch the drivers re-acquiring them to gain weight at the end of a grand prix to realise they probably get recycled too…
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1,111...
There were 1,111 pitstops in F1 this year, 26 of which were penalties (22 drivethroughs, four stop-goes) and some for new nosecones after first-corner incidents – which still leaves well over 1,000 tyre stops, the fastest of which was Mercedes’ amazing mark of just 2.82 seconds in China.
5:13...
Obviously, with the number of tyres needed, there are literally pile up upon pile of wheels at every race, the like of which you see in the background of the pitlane and paddock, and it means somebody pretty nifty has to put the tyres on the rims, inflate them and balance them. It only takes one of Pirelli’s 20 pro fitters an average of two minutes and 30 seconds to do this, but it took world champion Sebastian Vettel five minutes and 13 seconds when he tried it out at the Indian Grand Prix. So if they ever decide you need to put your own tyres on before a qualifying lap, we might well see a Pirelli mechanic on pole, provided they can do a lap of the Buddh International Circuit in under three minutes and six seconds – but not Paul Hembery. When Vettel set his 5:13 time in India in October, it took the Pirelli boss 5:44…
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43,250...
Keeping F1 moving is an energy-sapping business, and when it takes six people 18 hours of every race weekend just to put up Pirelli’s hospitality suite – and presumably about the same for all the teams, other suppliers and the sponsors – it’s not surprising that these outlets provide valuable energy and nutrition. No fewer than 43,250 cups of espresso coffee got the paddock people who visited the Pirelli motorhome through this season, not to mention 1,220kg of pasta cooked by their chef. That’s about the same weight as a Porsche 911 GT3, but probably costs a bit less to make. 1.22 tons of pasta contains 870kg of carbohydrates and a whopping 4.3 million calories. Wash that down with the 4,325,000mg – so that equates to more than 4.3kg – of caffeine from the espressos, and is it any wonder everyone in F1 is wired all the time?
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