JOURNEY TO THE TOP
Between them , that trio account for 12 of the last 24 drivers ’ championships . Before Schumacher , Germany hadn ’ t won any of the previous 43 championships .
Germany now have three F1 world champions – the joint-second most in history , level with Brazil ( Emerson Fittipaldi , Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna ) and Finland ( Keke Rosberg , Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen ).
Speaking of Keke , Nico ’ s title triumph is only the second time in history that a father and son have been world champions . In total 13 driver-son combinations have raced in F1 , but the only other duo to achieve the feat are Graham and Damon Hill .
Incidentally Keke , like Nico , won his title with the number 6 on his car just like his son .
Nico had to wait for his title breakthrough moment : his record of 11 consecutive seasons before becoming champion is the second longest in history , behind only Britain ’ s Nigel Mansell , whose crowning triumph came during his 12th full year in the sport .
Nico has contested 206 Grands Prix in total – the highest number of career starts before becoming champion . Next up on the list is Mansell , with 176 . Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen also feature in the top four in this category , achieving their first championship crowns after 169 and 120 starts respectively .
The Mercedes driver ’ s performance this season has been remarkable . Of 1,268 racing laps , he has spent 957 – or 75 percent of his season – inside the top three .