Championship record
3
World titles
4
1
Runner-up
3
4
Top-3 finishes
8
P1
Best championship
P1
Career totals
Niki Lauda
Sebastian Vettel
Championships
3
4
Wins
25
53
Poles
24
57
Podiums
54
122
Fastest laps
0
38
Career points
420.5
3,098
Starts
173
300
Rate-adjusted · per start
Niki Lauda
Sebastian Vettel
Win rate
14.5%
17.7%
Podium rate
31.2%
40.7%
Pole rate
13.9%
19%
Points / start
2.4
10.3
Avg grid
P8.4
P6.3
Avg finish
P10.8
P7.1
Finish rate
56.1%
88%
Rates reward peak form; totals reward longevity. Avg grid/finish: lower is better.
On-track overtaking
Niki Lauda
Sebastian Vettel
Overtakes
0
2,126
Overtakes / race
0.0
7.3
Places lost
0
1,897
Sum of lap-by-lap positions gained on track — start lap and own pit laps excluded.
Only races with lap data count, so the per-race figure is the fair comparison across eras.
Why they retired
Niki Lauda
Sebastian Vettel
Mechanical retirements
54
20
Crash retirements
19
15
Classified from the finishing status. Mechanical covers car failures, crash covers accidents, collisions and damage — fewer is better on both.
Retirements with an unclear cause: 3 · 1
Milestones & racecraft
1971
Debut season
2007
1974 · aged 25
First win
2008 · aged 21
1974
First pole
2008
1975 · aged 26
First title
2010 · aged 23
P1
Best finish
P1
-2.3
Avg places gained
-0.7
Season points trajectory
Niki Lauda
Sebastian Vettel
Final points each season — scoring systems changed over the eras.
Track by track
| Circuit | Niki Lauda | Sebastian Vettel |
|---|---|---|
| W · Pod · Best | W · Pod · Best | |
| Autodromo Nazionale di Monza | 2 · 4 · P1 | 3 · 6 · P1 |
| Circuit de Monaco | 2 · 4 · P1 | 2 · 7 · P1 |
| Autódromo José Carlos Pace | 1 · 2 · P1 | 3 · 5 · P1 |
| Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | 0 · 0 · — | 3 · 6 · P1 |
| Circuit Park Zandvoort | 3 · 6 · P1 | 0 · 0 · P13 |
| Circuit Gilles Villeneuve | 0 · 1 · P2 | 2 · 6 · P1 |
| Silverstone Circuit | 0 · 1 · P2 | 2 · 5 · P1 |
| Red Bull Ring | 1 · 2 · P1 | 0 · 2 · P2 |
| Hockenheimring | 1 · 2 · P1 | 0 · 2 · P2 |
| Nürburgring | 0 · 1 · P3 | 1 · 2 · P1 |
| Circuit Paul Ricard | 1 · 1 · P1 | 0 · 0 · P5 |
| Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari | 0 · 0 · P4 | 0 · 0 · P8 |
| Fuji Speedway | 0 · 0 · — | 0 · 0 · P6 |
Team history
Niki Lauda
March-Ford 1971March 1972BRM 1973Ferrari 1974–1977Brabham 1978Brabham-Ford 1979Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1979McLaren 1982–1985
Sebastian Vettel
19712022
Basis
Head-to-head counts races where both drivers were classified, compared by final position (post-penalty). Teammate section counts only seasons in the same car. Career totals mirror the source data. Data: Jolpica-F1 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).