Kontraband Know It All

How many races has Sebastian Vettel won? How many podium places & pole positions has he had?
Sebastian Vettel has had an amazing Formula One career since he made his debut in 2006. At the age of 25 he has just been crowned the 2012 F1 world champion, his third title in a row. Since moving from Scuderia Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing in 2009 Vettel has enjoyed win after win thanks to skilful driving and a Renault RS27 2.4 V8 engine. He has won 26 races, 1 for Toro Rosso and the rest for Red Bull Racing.
Amongst his 101 Grands Prix Vettel has been on the podium on 43 occasions and had 36 pole positions. If you were to count just his 3 world championship winning years the statistics would be 58 races, 21 wins and 37 podium places. In 2011 his worst finish (apart from retiring in Abu Dhabi) was a 4th place at the German Grand Prix. If Vettel was a football team, he would be Barcelona. If he was a rugby team he would be the All Blacks; and if he was a beer, he would be Carlsberg.

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What F1 records does Sebastian Vettel currently hold? Where did he compete before F1?
Unsurprisingly Sebastian Vettel holds numerous F1 world records. These include important records such as most championship points in a season (392), youngest GP winner (21 years, 73 days) and youngest Formula One World Drivers' Champion (23 years, 135 days). Most of Vettel's records are based on his considerably young age, but he also has the record for most laps at the lead in a season, an incredible 739 laps in 2011.
Before becoming a Formula One triple world champion Vettel was in Formula BMW ADAC, which he won in his second season, then he moved his way up to Formula Three whilst performing as a test driver for the BMW Williams F1 team in 2005 and then as a test driver for the BMW Sauber F1 team in 2006. He came 2nd in the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2006 and 2nd in the F1 season of 2009. It is rumoured he was disqualified from a go-kart race when he was 7 for carrying too little fuel, but this just ignited his passion to keep racing.

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What was the closest F1 championship on record? Which drivers have the most titles?
The closest F1 season was in 1984, which was won by Niki Lauda by just half a point over the French maestro Alain Prost (72 points to 71.5 points). Prost actually won 7 races that season, with Lauda winning 5, but a 7th place in ironically the French Grand Prix that year left Prost struggling. Although Prost won the Monaco Grand Prix, torrential rain halted the race before it was 75% completed, which meant only half the normal points were awarded. As Prost had been leading he was awarded victory, but just 4.5 points. If he had been given the full 9 points he would have won the world championship that year.
Many drivers have multiple titles. Heading the leaderboard is Michael Schumacher who has 7 titles. In second place is the Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio with 5 and in third is Alain Prost with 4 titles. A group of drivers follow these with 3 crowns: Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Sebastian Vettel and the most successful British driver, Jackie Stewart. The most successful countries are the UK with 14 titles and Germany with 10, which means although autobahns might be great for fast driving you can't beat the 3pm mad dash/school run for really honing driving skills.

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Who was the most controversial F1 champion? Who was oldest champion? Who was the greatest?
James Hunt was arguably the most controversial F1 champion. The British racer was not afraid of voicing his opinion about the other drivers and was known for his playboy personality. It is believed he slept with 33 British Airways stewardesses and numerous Japanese women in a 2 week period before the 1976 Japanese GP and that he bedded over 5,000 women in his lifetime. He was careless and carefree; he urinated in full view of spectators at the Japanese GP circuit and was awarded a round of applause when he finished. He had issues with drugs and alcohol and died in 1993 at the age of 45, from a heart attack.
The oldest F1 world champion was the great Juan Manuel Fangio, who secured his final title at the age of 46 years and 41 days. As Sebastian Vettel is only 25, he could have at least another 10 years of driving in him, which means he could become the greatest driver ever if he continues his winning streak. Statistically speaking, Michael Schumacher is clearly the greatest champion with 7 titles and 91 GP wins. If taking into account percentage wins, then Fangio is the greatest, winning 46.15% of his races (Schumacher managed 29.55%). In the end, Schumacher, for all his records and accomplishments, has to sit in second place in the greatest list, because the greatest F1 champion was Ayrton Senna. He was renowned for his wet weather driving skills, was happy to take risks, had a legendary rivalry with Alain Prost and was beloved for his devotion to the sport. He was killed in a crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, aged 34. Also in Senna's favour was the fact he never rammed Damon Hill off a GP circuit to win the F1 crown and never sported an atypical German short back and sides.

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