Sebastian Vettel’s first victory in Germany was his 30th Formula 1 win overall. As much as we enjoy portraying him as the pantomime villain to Mark Webber’s hero, it’s easy to forget that Vettel’s career achievements to date are quite remarkable.
Of course, the three world championships headline his feats, but he could be on track to chase down the one stat we never thought could be beaten; Michael Schumacher’s 91 wins. That’s a long way off yet, although it’s only taken Vettel one more race than Michael to notch up 30 wins.
Vettel has just turned 26 and if he races into his 40s, as Michael did, there’s the potential to add another 300-plus race starts to his tally. With a current winning percentage of 27% that could mean another 80-odd wins ahead for Vettel.
Well, that’s enough baseless speculation, here’s the list of the six drivers to reach 30 grand prix wins and the number of races it took them:
Race starts taken to reach 30 F1 wins
- Michael Schumacher – 109
- Sebastian Vettel – 110
- Ayrton Senna – 114
- Alain Prost – 124
- Nigel Mansell – 179
- Fernando Alonso – 186
[Source: Motor Sports Talk | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]