So, the dust has settled, the champagne’s lost its fizz and Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport is full of demob-happy, world-weary F1 personnel heading home after a truly knackering 2013 season.
This, then, is the end, my friend.
However, if 2013 won’t go down as a vintage McLaren season (and, let’s face it, it won’t), we still generated two significant stats at Interlagos that are worth analysing.
The first such is that, at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix, McLaren became the first team in Formula 1 history to have both cars classified at every race during the season.
What does ‘classified’ mean? In Formula 1 parlance, it’s simple: you’re classified as a finisher if you complete more than 90 per cent of the grand prix distance, which we achieved at every race.
Of course, there were a few non-finishes, listed below:
Malaysia
Jenson retired three laps from home with a vibrational issue, he was classified 17th
Monaco
Checo retired six laps from the end after damaging his brakes, he was classified 16th
Canada
Both cars were lapped in Montreal, finishing one lap down
Silverstone
Checo was forced to retire six laps from the finish after a tyre failure – he was classified 20th
Hungary
Checo was lapped, finishing one lap down – he finished ninth
Japan
Checo was lapped, finishing one lap down, finishing 15th
India
Jenson, who was hit on the first lap and had to box to change a punctured tyre, was lapped and finished one lap down in 14th
And, in achieving that level of consistency, we also achieved another significant milestone: we broke the record for completing the highest percentage of possible distance in a single Formula 1 season.
In 2013, McLaren completed 99.17 per cent of the season’s total available mileage, this beat the previous record – set in 2008 by BMW Sauber – of 98.30 per cent. In so doing, we also completed the greatest mileage of any team in a single season – completing 11,488km (7,139 miles) out of a possible 11, 584km (7,198 miles), although the vagaries of the differing calendars mean that the percentage figure is the more significant.
Of course, if you’re a cynic, you’d say this is small beer when compared to the glory of winning races or taking a championship, and we’re not denying that; but it’s a testament to the efforts of our mechanics and engineers that they were able to run the car so faultlessly all season.
It’s a fact that team principal Martin Whitmarsh also felt the need to underline in Brazil on Sunday:
"While 2013 has been a long, hard and disappointing year," he said, "I nonetheless want to take the opportunity to pay particular tribute to our trackside mechanics and engineers, who are without doubt the best in the pit-lane.
"And that’s not only my opinion, by the way; the stats bear it out, too. They constitute compelling proof of the fact that our trackside mechanics and engineers possess the three Ds in impressive abundance: dedication, determination and discipline. Well done, boys, I’m proud of you."
Of course, for 2014, we’ll be hoping for a car that’s both rocket-quick and supremely bulletproof – and we’re already busy working to those aims.
Thanks to our number-crunching friends at FORIX.com (the best grand prix results and stats database on the web) for researching these incredible figures.
