Based on Autosport, using the data obtained from Mercedes GP PETRONAS team, Michael Schumacher ended the 2011 season as the overall top overtaker with 116 passess.
In the season where the DRS allow the car shoot pass the car ahead with the aid and benefit of higher straight line speed, Schumacher record was actually aided by tha fact that he made most of his overtaking on the opening lap. This is because he usually qualified lower than what his car is capable of, indicated by his team mate, Nico Rosberg higher grid positioning.
Mercedes GP PETRONAS team however, is more than aware that Michael race pace is not lacking, when compared to his team mate so that he could recover well on Sunday's race despite his lower qualifying position. Read more after the jump for full 2011 overtaking statistics.
For the year 2011, there has been 1,486 overtaking moves in total. However, after deducting overtaking in opening lap (150), overtaking damaged car (124), overtaking three slowest team (310) and overtaking team mates (80), the genuine overtaking is reduced to 822 overtakings only. Out of this amount, 45% of the overtaking was aided by the DRS.
In terms of circuit, Turkish Grand Prix recorded the highest number of overtaking with 85 moves took place, where 50 were DRS aided. The season's most prestigious venue, Monaco recorded an unsurprising minimum overtaking with mere 16 moves where only two moves were DRS assisted.
The ranking for driver overtaking moves are listed below:
Pos Driver Passes
1. Michael Schumacher 116
2. Sebastien Buemi 114
3. Kamui Kobayashi 99
4. Jaime Alguersuari 94
5. Pastor Maldonado 91
6. Paul di Resta 90
7. Sergio Perez 87
8. Rubens Barrichello 86
9. Jenson Button 85
10. Felipe Massa 82
Of course Sebastian Vettel did not really have to overtake anybody as he started on pole most of the time. He recorded 27 overtaking moves throughout the season.