He may not have sat on pole position since Magny-Cours, and he may not have won a race now since the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona all the way back in April, but
Kimi Raikkonen is officially the fastest man in
Formula 1 in 2008.
After crashing out of fifth place in the closing stages of the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix night race last weekend, the Finn all-but kissed a terminal goodbye to his hopes of defending his hard-won drivers' crown from last year, as he heads into the final three events on the calendar trailing McLaren-Mercedes' rival and
F1 World Championship leader
Lewis Hamilton by 27 points in the title standings, and his own
Ferrari team-mate
Felipe Massa by 20.
Nonetheless, in setting his tenth fastest lap in 15 grands prix this year under the spotlights of the Far Eastern city-state, the 28-year-old equalled both his own record with
McLaren in 2005 and
Michael Schumacher's 2004 tally with the
Scuderia – and now all he needs is one more fastest lap before season's end to make the achievement his own.
Raikkonen's fastest laps to-date this year have come in Spain, Turkey, Monaco, Canada, France, Britain, Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Singapore. The other five have been shared out between
Heikki Kovalainen,
Nick Heidfeld (two apiece) and Massa (one).
However, the 17-time grand prix winner's one-lap pace in the races has been somewhat at odds with his qualifying form in 2008, managing just two pole positions to Massa's five, with an average starting spot of 4.8 to the Brazilian's 2.9, as the list below details.
Top ten average qualifying positions in 2008 up to and including Singapore Grand Prix:
1. Felipe Massa 2.8
2. Lewis Hamilton 3.2
3. Heikki Kovalainen 3.8
4. Kimi Raikkonen 4.8
5. Robert Kubica 5.2
6. Fernando Alonso 7.6
7. Jarno Trulli 8.2
8. Mark Webber 8.6
9. Nick Heidfeld 8.7
10. Timo Glock 10.9
