One of the oft-cited fears about next season's Formula 1 World Championship (during the achingly-predictable political squabbles and threats of a breakaway series that characterised much of the early part of 2009 season) was that without the big-name teams, the sport would be lacking in credibility. An all-new look F1, led by a vanguard of Williams and Force India and largely powered by Cosworth engines seemed, for a time, to be on the cards. This never particularly bothered me - I'm more interested in historical continuity than following big names like Red Bull Racing (who?) around wherever they go. For some, however, it was a real sticking point, to the point where Ferrari even used its lengthening shadow to gain leverage in the propaganda battle.
With the new Concorde Agreement signed and all the usual suspects still in place, 2010 will nevertheless have a very different make-up. Toyota and BMW are gone and - if strong rumours are to be believed - Renault are about to follow them and be run by and badged as David Richards' Prodrive operation for the next few years. There are already going to be four brand new teams lining up at Bahrain next March. With Prodrive and a probable entry for Sauber, the eponymous Peter having completed negotiations with BMW to buy back his old team earlier this week, it would make six. Serbian team Stefan Grand Prix are also trying to find a way in for 2010, rumours having them putting in an offer for Toyota's entry. Not even last years' Constructors' champions will be on the grid in the same form, of course, now that Brawn are rebadged as Mercedes GP.
That leaves us with a probable field of 26 cars and 13 teams, only six of whom competed in their current form in the 2009 World Championship. However, far from being a sign of a sport battling for credibility, Formula 1 is showing signs of enormous growth. OK, the years of plenty have gone, with big car manufacturers unwilling to plough huge amounts of money into a sport where they'll probably be beaten by a British outfit who built their chassis in a shed in Milton Keynes and then cobbled an old V8 into the back of it. But those garagistes were precisely the people who dominated the boom period of Grand Prix racing's huge growth to worldwide prominence in the 1970s and 1980s and precisely the people who the big car companies had to beat. The fact that they didn't and then chucked in the towel only reflects badly on one of the parties.
The irony of this situation is that it was the outbreak of common sense and unity within FOCA and the FIA which has allowed these developments. Through all the threats, counter-threats and posturing - for all the worries about big-name teams departing - all concerned have contrived to create a sport which, though retaining the thread of its heritage and prestige, is nevertheless an attractive and achievable prospect for newcomers. Indeed, the new regulations are even showing signs of tempting new investment from car companies - Volkswagen are said to be looking in to F1 engine supply for 2012 onwards.
It's also good news for the drivers. More cars means more opportunities to get onto the grid, and more drivers on the grid means more excitement and interest for the spectators. Because, and let's hope that Formula 1 teams never forget this, it's drivers who the majority of people come to see. The only loss to Formula 1 2010, then, is some big-name car companies. And I for one think that the loss is all theirs.
Showing posts with label Engines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engines. Show all posts
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Formula 1 in the noughties, the numbers
Thanks, no doubt, to the thought-numbing and explosive celebrations witnessed nearly ten years ago to mark the change of Millennium, you would perhaps be forgiven for not even having registered the fact that we are now only about 50 days away from the end of the decade. Decades used to be a big deal. Even to this day, 'sixites', 'seventies' or 'eighties' are banded about as terms of social, political or historical shorthand.
Perhaps the real issue is the name: "the noughties", being the best description of our current era, is still fairly lumpen. I daren't think what the next decade will come to be called, though I fear "The Teenies" is imminent as a widely acknowledged term in the English language.
However twee or ridiculous the nomenclature, though, I'm still a big fan of the decade. They are fabulously useful for the general observations of social progress, of developments, and sometimes, of regressions. Over the next few days, +1 Lap will be looking at what the previous ten years has done for, and what it will be remembered for, in the Formula 1 World Championship. We will start today with the collated raw statistics from the period, before hopefully getting a little more loquacious later this week with a look at my choices of the top ten drivers and top ten races, as well as some broader trends. But hey, enough of my yakking. What d'ya say... let's boogie.
F1 2000-2009
The FIA Formula One World Championship in the last decade was contested on 24 circuits in 20 countries. It was comprised of 174 Grands Prix. 71 drivers competed for the ten available world titles, with five men winning the crown and an additional 12 winning Grands Prix. 48 of the 71 drivers scored championship points. In the Constructors' Cup, 22 teams competed for the ten titles. Ferrari dominated with seven championship wins, Renault (twice) and Brawn GP taking the remainder.
Formula 1 World Champions 2000-2009
It was Schumacher's decade. Before 2000, five represented the high watermark in World Championship titles. Afterwards, it has become the record for most consecutive successes.
Michael Schumacher 5 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004)
Fernando Alonso 2 (2005 & 2006)
Jenson Button 1 (2009)
Lewis Hamilton 1 (2008)
Kimi Räikkönen 1 (2007)
Grand Prix winning drivers 2000-2009
In spite of his retirement at the end of 2006, no-one could get near Michael Schumacher's record in the past ten seasons. Indeed, his 56 wins (out of a total of 91) represent five more than the next-highest career total in the all-time list.
Michael Schumacher 56
Fernando Alonso 21
Kimi Räikkönen 18
Rubens Barrichello 11
Lewis Hamilton 11
Felipe Massa 11
Jenson Button 7
David Coulthard 7
Juan Pablo Montoya 7
Mika Häkkinen 6
Ralf Schumacher 6
Sebastian Vettel 5
Giancarlo Fisichella 3
Mark Webber 2
Heikki Kovalainen 1
Robert Kubica 1
Jarno Trulli 1
Grand Prix winning drivers' nationalities 2000-2009
Unsurprisingly enough, Germany lead the way on the back of Michael Schumacher's domination. However, two other countries provided three different winners. Brazil is the most successful country to have not produced a Formula 1 world champion in the past decade.
Germany 67 (3 drivers @ 22.33 wins apiece)
Finland 25 (3 drivers @ 8.33)
United Kingdom 25 (3 drivers @ 8.33)
Brazil 22 (2 drivers @ 11.00)
Spain 21 (1 driver @ 21.00)
Colombia 7 (1 driver @ 7.00)
Italy 4 (2 drivers @ 2.00)
Australia 2 (1 driver @ 2.00)
Poland 1 (1 driver @ 1.00)
Pole position winning drivers 2000-2009
Although he was never the most natural qualifier - Schumacher did not take a single Formula 1 pole until the race after the death of Ayrton Senna - in the best car he was completely devastating. Indeed, in the end his sheer longevity saw him overhaul Senna's record number of poles in his last Grand Prix season. The heir to his crown would appear to be Lewis Hamilton, who racked up the third-highest total in many fewer races than any of his rivals.
Michael Schumacher 45
Fernando Alonso 18
Lewis Hamilton 17
Kimi Räikkönen 16
Felipe Massa 15
Juan Pablo Montoya 13
Rubens Barrichello 12
Jenson Button 7
Mika Häkkinen 5
Ralf Schumacher 5
Sebastian Vettel 5
David Coulthard 4
Giancarlo Fisichella 4
Jarno Trulli 4
Nick Heidfeld 1
Heikki Kovalainen 1
Robert Kubica 1
Mark Webber 1
Fastest lap taking drivers 2000-2009
Fastest lap is an unusual thing. Often, it can display important information about the style and approach of a top racing driver. However, it is also something which will frequently be won out of absolutely nowhere by a midfield runner. Michael Schumacher was a master of the fast race lap, this record being the first of the many marks he went on to beat in his monumental career. However, he is run very close by Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn represents both sides of this equation. Twice in the past decade, Räikkönen took 10 fastest laps in a single season, but although once was in 2005, when he battled Fernando Alonso for the title, the other was in 2008, where he won only two races and ended up as being Felipe Massa's back-up man.
Michael Schumacher 37
Kimi Räikkönen 35
Rubens Barrichello 17
Fernando Alonso 13
Juan Pablo Montoya 13
Mika Häkkinen 12
Felipe Massa 12
David Coulthard 7
Ralf Schumacher 6
Lewis Hamilton 3
Sebastian Vettel 2
Mark Webber 3
Jenson Button 2
Nick Heidfeld 2
Heikki Kovalainen 2
Nico Rosberg 2
Pedro de la Rosa 1
Giancarlo Fisichella 1
Timo Glock 1
Adrian Sutil 1
Jarno Trulli 1
Top ten World Championship points scorers, 2000-2009
Again, no-one can catch Michael Schumacher. However, Alonso and Räikkönen both beat Rubens Barrichello, who raced in a full season more than the Finn and two more than the Spaniard. Everybody else are, relatively speaking nowhere. Particularly notable by their absence are the two other drivers to have entered every Grand Prix of the noughties: Giancarlo Fisichella (12th) and Jarno Trulli (11th).
Michael Schumacher 799
Fernando Alonso 577
Kimi Räikkönen 573
Rubens Barrichello 530
Jenson Button 327
Felipe Massa 320
David Coulthard 314
Juan Pablo Montoya 309
Ralf Schumacher 267
Lewis Hamilton 256
Top ten Grand Prix starting drivers, 2000-2009
Time was when 172 races would be beyond respectable as a Formula 1 career. For the top three drivers here, however, 200 starts is now a distant memory. Rubens Barrichello, who has been a fixture in the sport since 1993, is due to pass 300 next season with Williams. (Number of Grand Prix entries in brackets, years in italics)
Rubens Barrichello 172 (174) 2000-2009
Giancarlo Fisichella 172 (174) 2000-2009
Jarno Trulli 172 (174) 2000-2009
Jenson Button 170 (172) 2000-2009
Nick Heidfeld 168 (171) 2000-2009
David Coulthard 156 (157) 2000-2008
Kimi Räikkönen 156 (157) 2001-2009
Fernando Alonso 139 (140) 2001, 2003-2009
Mark Webber 138 (140) 2002-2009
Ralf Schumacher 131 (133) 2000-2007
Grand Prix starting drivers' nationalities 2000-2009
You may be, as I was, surprised to learn that the most abundant nationality was not German.
Brazil 10
(Barrichello, Bernoldi, Burti, da Matta, Diniz, Marques, Massa, Piquet, Pizzonia, Zonta)
Germany 9
(Frentzen, Glock, Heidfeld, Rosberg, M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Sutil, Vettel, Winkelhock)
United Kingdom 8
(Button, Coulthard, Davidson, Hamilton, Herbert, Irvine, McNish, Wilson)
Italy 6
(Badoer, Bruni, Fisichella, Luizzi, Pantano, Trulli)
France 5
(Alesi, Bourdais, Grosjean, Montagny, Panis)
Japan 5
(Ide, Kobayashi, Nakajima, Sato, Yamamoto)
Finland 4
(Häkkinen, Kovalainen, Räikkönen, Salo)
Spain 4
(Alguersuari, Alonso, de la Rosa, Gené)
Austria 3
(Friesacher, Klien, Wurz)
Netherlands 3
(Albers, Doornbos, Verstappen)
Argentina 1
(Mazzacane)
Australia 1
(Webber)
Canada 1
(Villeneuve)
Colombia 1
(Montoya)
Czech Republic 1
(Enge)
Denmark 1
(Kiesa)
Hungary 1
(Baumgartner)
India 1
(Karthikeyan)
Ireland 1
(Firman)
Malaysia 1
(Yoong)
Poland 1
(Kubica)
Portugal 1
(Monteiro)
Switzerland 1
(Buemi)
United States 1
(Speed)
Grand Prix winning Constructors 2000-2009
The noughties are when Ferrari finally lived up to their potential as the sport's oldest and most famous team. Not even lean years in 2005 and 2009 could stop them beating their nearest rival by more than double.
Ferrari 85
McLaren 38
Renault 20
Williams 13
Brawn 8
Red Bull 6
BMW 1
Honda 1
Jordan 1
Toro Rosso 1
Grand Prix winning engines 2000-2009
Again, Ferrari come out on top, the additional non-works team victory coming for Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso at Monza in 2008. Mercedes are showing strong signs of their increasing dominance of the sport towards the end of the decade. The most noticable absence is Toyota, although Honda will also be taking some pain from a solitary success for all their investment and Formula 1 experience. They'll be back one day.
Ferrari 86
Mercedes-Benz 46
Renault 26
BMW 14
Ford 1
Honda 1
Grand Prix winning tyres 2000-2009
Bridgestone started and ended the decade as the sole supplier of rubber for the field, vanquishing Michelin (2001-2006) along the way. However, in both 2005 and 2006, the French company blew the doors off of their rivals. Had they stayed, it could have been a much closer picture. With Bridgestone pulling out of the sport at the end of next year, the next decade will have a very different look.
Bridgestone 131
Michelin 43
And finally, just for a bit of speculative* fun:
The noughties Formula 1 Super Championship top 20
Drivers are ranked by their points total divided by the number of seasons in which they competed, to give an average. This figure was rounded up or down to the nearest point, so as to be inkeeping with the appearance of a regular Formula 1 standings table. And you'll never guess who the winner is...
1. Michael Schumacher 114 points
2. Lewis Hamilton 85
3. Fernando Alonso 72
4. Kimi Räikkönen 64
5. Mika Häkkinen 63
6. Rubens Barrichello 61
7. Juan Pablo Montoya 51
8. Felipe Massa 46
9. Sebastian Vettel 42
10. Heikki Kovalainen 35
11. David Coulthard 35
12. Robert Kubica 34
13. Ralf Schumacher 33
14. Jenson Button 33
15. Jarno Trulli 24
16. Giancarlo Fisichella 23
17. Nick Heidfeld 22
18. Mark Webber 21
19. Nico Rosberg 19
20. Timo Glock 17
* this does have one fundamental flaw, i.e. the amount of points on offer at each race went up from 26 to 39 from 2003 onwards. This gives drivers who did the majority of their scoring after that point a slight advantage over early bird rivals. However, despite throwing up a number of anomalies - Heikki Kovalainen beating both David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher being perhaps the most obvious - it still gives a broadly accurate flavour of what went down on the track this past ten years.
Perhaps the real issue is the name: "the noughties", being the best description of our current era, is still fairly lumpen. I daren't think what the next decade will come to be called, though I fear "The Teenies" is imminent as a widely acknowledged term in the English language.
However twee or ridiculous the nomenclature, though, I'm still a big fan of the decade. They are fabulously useful for the general observations of social progress, of developments, and sometimes, of regressions. Over the next few days, +1 Lap will be looking at what the previous ten years has done for, and what it will be remembered for, in the Formula 1 World Championship. We will start today with the collated raw statistics from the period, before hopefully getting a little more loquacious later this week with a look at my choices of the top ten drivers and top ten races, as well as some broader trends. But hey, enough of my yakking. What d'ya say... let's boogie.
F1 2000-2009
The FIA Formula One World Championship in the last decade was contested on 24 circuits in 20 countries. It was comprised of 174 Grands Prix. 71 drivers competed for the ten available world titles, with five men winning the crown and an additional 12 winning Grands Prix. 48 of the 71 drivers scored championship points. In the Constructors' Cup, 22 teams competed for the ten titles. Ferrari dominated with seven championship wins, Renault (twice) and Brawn GP taking the remainder.
Formula 1 World Champions 2000-2009
It was Schumacher's decade. Before 2000, five represented the high watermark in World Championship titles. Afterwards, it has become the record for most consecutive successes.
Michael Schumacher 5 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004)
Fernando Alonso 2 (2005 & 2006)
Jenson Button 1 (2009)
Lewis Hamilton 1 (2008)
Kimi Räikkönen 1 (2007)
Grand Prix winning drivers 2000-2009
In spite of his retirement at the end of 2006, no-one could get near Michael Schumacher's record in the past ten seasons. Indeed, his 56 wins (out of a total of 91) represent five more than the next-highest career total in the all-time list.
Michael Schumacher 56
Fernando Alonso 21
Kimi Räikkönen 18
Rubens Barrichello 11
Lewis Hamilton 11
Felipe Massa 11
Jenson Button 7
David Coulthard 7
Juan Pablo Montoya 7
Mika Häkkinen 6
Ralf Schumacher 6
Sebastian Vettel 5
Giancarlo Fisichella 3
Mark Webber 2
Heikki Kovalainen 1
Robert Kubica 1
Jarno Trulli 1
Grand Prix winning drivers' nationalities 2000-2009
Unsurprisingly enough, Germany lead the way on the back of Michael Schumacher's domination. However, two other countries provided three different winners. Brazil is the most successful country to have not produced a Formula 1 world champion in the past decade.
Germany 67 (3 drivers @ 22.33 wins apiece)
Finland 25 (3 drivers @ 8.33)
United Kingdom 25 (3 drivers @ 8.33)
Brazil 22 (2 drivers @ 11.00)
Spain 21 (1 driver @ 21.00)
Colombia 7 (1 driver @ 7.00)
Italy 4 (2 drivers @ 2.00)
Australia 2 (1 driver @ 2.00)
Poland 1 (1 driver @ 1.00)
Pole position winning drivers 2000-2009
Although he was never the most natural qualifier - Schumacher did not take a single Formula 1 pole until the race after the death of Ayrton Senna - in the best car he was completely devastating. Indeed, in the end his sheer longevity saw him overhaul Senna's record number of poles in his last Grand Prix season. The heir to his crown would appear to be Lewis Hamilton, who racked up the third-highest total in many fewer races than any of his rivals.
Michael Schumacher 45
Fernando Alonso 18
Lewis Hamilton 17
Kimi Räikkönen 16
Felipe Massa 15
Juan Pablo Montoya 13
Rubens Barrichello 12
Jenson Button 7
Mika Häkkinen 5
Ralf Schumacher 5
Sebastian Vettel 5
David Coulthard 4
Giancarlo Fisichella 4
Jarno Trulli 4
Nick Heidfeld 1
Heikki Kovalainen 1
Robert Kubica 1
Mark Webber 1
Fastest lap taking drivers 2000-2009
Fastest lap is an unusual thing. Often, it can display important information about the style and approach of a top racing driver. However, it is also something which will frequently be won out of absolutely nowhere by a midfield runner. Michael Schumacher was a master of the fast race lap, this record being the first of the many marks he went on to beat in his monumental career. However, he is run very close by Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn represents both sides of this equation. Twice in the past decade, Räikkönen took 10 fastest laps in a single season, but although once was in 2005, when he battled Fernando Alonso for the title, the other was in 2008, where he won only two races and ended up as being Felipe Massa's back-up man.
Michael Schumacher 37
Kimi Räikkönen 35
Rubens Barrichello 17
Fernando Alonso 13
Juan Pablo Montoya 13
Mika Häkkinen 12
Felipe Massa 12
David Coulthard 7
Ralf Schumacher 6
Lewis Hamilton 3
Sebastian Vettel 2
Mark Webber 3
Jenson Button 2
Nick Heidfeld 2
Heikki Kovalainen 2
Nico Rosberg 2
Pedro de la Rosa 1
Giancarlo Fisichella 1
Timo Glock 1
Adrian Sutil 1
Jarno Trulli 1
Top ten World Championship points scorers, 2000-2009
Again, no-one can catch Michael Schumacher. However, Alonso and Räikkönen both beat Rubens Barrichello, who raced in a full season more than the Finn and two more than the Spaniard. Everybody else are, relatively speaking nowhere. Particularly notable by their absence are the two other drivers to have entered every Grand Prix of the noughties: Giancarlo Fisichella (12th) and Jarno Trulli (11th).
Michael Schumacher 799
Fernando Alonso 577
Kimi Räikkönen 573
Rubens Barrichello 530
Jenson Button 327
Felipe Massa 320
David Coulthard 314
Juan Pablo Montoya 309
Ralf Schumacher 267
Lewis Hamilton 256
Top ten Grand Prix starting drivers, 2000-2009
Time was when 172 races would be beyond respectable as a Formula 1 career. For the top three drivers here, however, 200 starts is now a distant memory. Rubens Barrichello, who has been a fixture in the sport since 1993, is due to pass 300 next season with Williams. (Number of Grand Prix entries in brackets, years in italics)
Rubens Barrichello 172 (174) 2000-2009
Giancarlo Fisichella 172 (174) 2000-2009
Jarno Trulli 172 (174) 2000-2009
Jenson Button 170 (172) 2000-2009
Nick Heidfeld 168 (171) 2000-2009
David Coulthard 156 (157) 2000-2008
Kimi Räikkönen 156 (157) 2001-2009
Fernando Alonso 139 (140) 2001, 2003-2009
Mark Webber 138 (140) 2002-2009
Ralf Schumacher 131 (133) 2000-2007
Grand Prix starting drivers' nationalities 2000-2009
You may be, as I was, surprised to learn that the most abundant nationality was not German.
Brazil 10
(Barrichello, Bernoldi, Burti, da Matta, Diniz, Marques, Massa, Piquet, Pizzonia, Zonta)
Germany 9
(Frentzen, Glock, Heidfeld, Rosberg, M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Sutil, Vettel, Winkelhock)
United Kingdom 8
(Button, Coulthard, Davidson, Hamilton, Herbert, Irvine, McNish, Wilson)
Italy 6
(Badoer, Bruni, Fisichella, Luizzi, Pantano, Trulli)
France 5
(Alesi, Bourdais, Grosjean, Montagny, Panis)
Japan 5
(Ide, Kobayashi, Nakajima, Sato, Yamamoto)
Finland 4
(Häkkinen, Kovalainen, Räikkönen, Salo)
Spain 4
(Alguersuari, Alonso, de la Rosa, Gené)
Austria 3
(Friesacher, Klien, Wurz)
Netherlands 3
(Albers, Doornbos, Verstappen)
Argentina 1
(Mazzacane)
Australia 1
(Webber)
Canada 1
(Villeneuve)
Colombia 1
(Montoya)
Czech Republic 1
(Enge)
Denmark 1
(Kiesa)
Hungary 1
(Baumgartner)
India 1
(Karthikeyan)
Ireland 1
(Firman)
Malaysia 1
(Yoong)
Poland 1
(Kubica)
Portugal 1
(Monteiro)
Switzerland 1
(Buemi)
United States 1
(Speed)
Grand Prix winning Constructors 2000-2009
The noughties are when Ferrari finally lived up to their potential as the sport's oldest and most famous team. Not even lean years in 2005 and 2009 could stop them beating their nearest rival by more than double.
Ferrari 85
McLaren 38
Renault 20
Williams 13
Brawn 8
Red Bull 6
BMW 1
Honda 1
Jordan 1
Toro Rosso 1
Grand Prix winning engines 2000-2009
Again, Ferrari come out on top, the additional non-works team victory coming for Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso at Monza in 2008. Mercedes are showing strong signs of their increasing dominance of the sport towards the end of the decade. The most noticable absence is Toyota, although Honda will also be taking some pain from a solitary success for all their investment and Formula 1 experience. They'll be back one day.
Ferrari 86
Mercedes-Benz 46
Renault 26
BMW 14
Ford 1
Honda 1
Grand Prix winning tyres 2000-2009
Bridgestone started and ended the decade as the sole supplier of rubber for the field, vanquishing Michelin (2001-2006) along the way. However, in both 2005 and 2006, the French company blew the doors off of their rivals. Had they stayed, it could have been a much closer picture. With Bridgestone pulling out of the sport at the end of next year, the next decade will have a very different look.
Bridgestone 131
Michelin 43
And finally, just for a bit of speculative* fun:
The noughties Formula 1 Super Championship top 20
Drivers are ranked by their points total divided by the number of seasons in which they competed, to give an average. This figure was rounded up or down to the nearest point, so as to be inkeeping with the appearance of a regular Formula 1 standings table. And you'll never guess who the winner is...
1. Michael Schumacher 114 points
2. Lewis Hamilton 85
3. Fernando Alonso 72
4. Kimi Räikkönen 64
5. Mika Häkkinen 63
6. Rubens Barrichello 61
7. Juan Pablo Montoya 51
8. Felipe Massa 46
9. Sebastian Vettel 42
10. Heikki Kovalainen 35
11. David Coulthard 35
12. Robert Kubica 34
13. Ralf Schumacher 33
14. Jenson Button 33
15. Jarno Trulli 24
16. Giancarlo Fisichella 23
17. Nick Heidfeld 22
18. Mark Webber 21
19. Nico Rosberg 19
20. Timo Glock 17
* this does have one fundamental flaw, i.e. the amount of points on offer at each race went up from 26 to 39 from 2003 onwards. This gives drivers who did the majority of their scoring after that point a slight advantage over early bird rivals. However, despite throwing up a number of anomalies - Heikki Kovalainen beating both David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher being perhaps the most obvious - it still gives a broadly accurate flavour of what went down on the track this past ten years.
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