The WDC leader never wins the race ...
Brian Lawrence
won a race was at Istanbul last year (27 races ago). Button won that race.
Of course, the 27 races includes Bahrain 2010 when there wasn't a WDC leader.
--
Brian W Lawrence
Wantage,
Oxfordshire, UK
Brian_W_...@msn.com
Alister Ware
> leader.
car number, therefore at Barhain Button was the championship leader (and
the Stat. still holds)
--
Nowlan's Theory:
He who hesitates is not only lost, but several miles from
the next freeway exit.
WebSlave
> Unusual stat mentioned on BBC comms for P1 or P2. The last time the WDC
> leader won a race was at Istanbul last year (27 races ago). Button won that race.
>
> Of course, the 27 races includes Bahrain 2010 when there wasn't a WDC leader.
This was also noticed in the Finnish F1 group I read. I assume this
will be the first season the WDC leader hasn't won a race, unless
Alonso wins in Abu Dhabi. Is it?
Also, has there ever been four title contenders in the last race? I
looked at 1981 and 1982 as strongest candidates, but found only three.
(Of course, in 1982 Pironi was only technically still a contender, but
not racing due to his injuries.)
-Webs-
Brian Lawrence
> Brian Lawrence wrote:
>
>> Unusual stat mentioned on BBC comms for P1 or P2. The last time the WDC
>> leader won a race was at Istanbul last year (27 races ago). Button won that race.
>>
>> Of course, the 27 races includes Bahrain 2010 when there wasn't a WDC leader.
>
> This was also noticed in the Finnish F1 group I read. I assume this
> will be the first season the WDC leader hasn't won a race, unless
> Alonso wins in Abu Dhabi. Is it?
I suspect that it might be the first such season, but I'll need to check.
> Also, has there ever been four title contenders in the last race? I
> looked at 1981 and 1982 as strongest candidates, but found only three.
> (Of course, in 1982 Pironi was only technically still a contender, but
> not racing due to his injuries.)
I'm pretty sure that three is the most that we have had before, but again, I'll
need to check.
--
Brian
Brian Lawrence
> "WebSlave" <websla...@mail.com> wrote:
>
>> Brian Lawrence wrote:
>>
>>> Unusual stat mentioned on BBC comms for P1 or P2. The last time the WDC
>>> leader won a race was at Istanbul last year (27 races ago). Button won that race.
>>>
>>> Of course, the 27 races includes Bahrain 2010 when there wasn't a WDC leader.
>>
>> This was also noticed in the Finnish F1 group I read. I assume this
>> will be the first season the WDC leader hasn't won a race, unless
>> Alonso wins in Abu Dhabi. Is it?
>
> I suspect that it might be the first such season, but I'll need to check.
I'm going to count joint-leaders as well, by which I mean equal on points, I'm not
going to countback to see if one of them had a slightly better record at that
point in the season.
Leader
won
1950 1 G Farina (joint)
1951 1 JM Fangio
1952 5 A Ascari (1 joint)
1953 4 A Ascari (1 joint)
1954 5 JM Fangio (1 joint)
1955 2 JM Fangio
1956 1 P Collins (joint)
1957 3 JM Fangio
1958 0
1959 1 J Brabham
1960 2 J Brabham (2 joint)
1961 0
1962 3 G Hill
1963 5 J Clark
1964 3 J Clark (2, 1 joint), G Hill
1965 4 J Clark
1966 3 J Brabham
1967 1 D Hulme
1968 2 G Hill
1969 5 J Stewart
1970 2 J Rindt
1971 5 J Stewart
1972 4 E Fittipaldi
1973 4 E Fittipaldi (2), J Stewart (2)
1974 1 E Fittipaldi (joint)
1975 3 N Lauda
1976 4 N Lauda
1977 3 J Scheckter (1), N Lauda (2)
1978 4 M Andretti
1979 3 J Laffite (1), J Scheckter (2, 1 joint)
1980 2 A Jones
1981 1 C Reutemann
1982 1 A Prost
1983 2 A Prost
1984 4 A Prost (3), N Lauda (1)
1985 2 M Alboreto (1), A Prost (1)
1986 1 N Mansell
1987 2 N Piquet
1988 5 A Prost (4), A Senna (1, joint)
1989 4 A Prost (3), A Senna (1, joint)
1990 4 A Senna
1991 6 A Senna
1992 8 N Mansell
1993 4 A Senna (1), A Prost (3)
1994 7 M Schumacher
1995 7 M Schumacher
1996 7 D Hill
1997 3 J Villeneuve (1, joint), M Schumacher (2)
1998 7 M Häkkinen (1 joint)
1999 1 M Schumacher
2000 6 M Schumacher
2001 8 M Schumacher (1 joint)
2002 10 M Schumacher
2003 2 M Schumacher
2004 12 M Schumacher
2005 6 F Alonso
2006 6 F Alonso (1 joint)
2007 3 L Hamilton
2008 3 K Räikkönen (1), L Hamilton (2, 1 joint)
2009 5 J Button
2010 0
So unless Alonso wins in Abu Dhabi, 2010 will be the third season where the WDC leader
did not win a race while leading the WDC. 1958 & 1961 being the other two seasons.
--
Brian
Brian Lawrence
>
>> Also, has there ever been four title contenders in the last race? I
>> looked at 1981 and 1982 as strongest candidates, but found only three.
>> (Of course, in 1982 Pironi was only technically still a contender, but
>> not racing due to his injuries.)
>
> I'm pretty sure that three is the most that we have had before, but again, I'll
> need to check.
There were three possible champions at the last race in:
1950 Fangio, Fagioli, Farina [WDC]
1951 Fangio [WDC], Ascari, Gonzalez
1959 Brabham [WDC], Moss, Brooks
1964 G Hill, Surtees [WDC], Clark
1968 G Hill [WDC], Stewart, Hulme
1974 Fittipaldi [WDC], Regazzoni, Scheckter
1981 Reutemann, Piquet [WDC], Laffite
1983 Prost, Piquet [WDC}, Arnoux
1986 Mansell, Prost [WDC}, Piquet
2007 Hamilton, Alonso, Räikkönen [WDC]
10 seasons with 3 contenders - the leader held on to win in only four of
those, the 2nd placed driver came through to win four and the third placed
came through twice.
The other seasons that "went down to the wire", but with only two contenders
were:
1956 Fangio, Collins
1958 Hawthorn, Moss
1962 G Hill, Clark
1967 Hulme, Brabham
1976 Lauda, Hunt [WDC]
1982 Rosberg, Watson [Pironi absent]
1984 Lauda, Prost
1994 M Schumacher, D Hill
1996 D Hill, Villeneuve
1997 M Schumacher, Villeneuve [WDC]
1998 Häkkinen, M Schumacher
1999 Irvine, Häkkinen [WDC]
2003 M Schumacher, Räikkönen
2006 Alonso, M Schumacher
2008 Hamilton, Massa
15 seasons - the 2nd-placed driver only managed to win on 3 occasions
--
Brian
WebSlave
> I'm going to count joint-leaders as well, by which I mean equal on points,
> I'm not going to countback to see if one of them had a slightly better record
> at that point in the season.
> 1974 1 E Fittipaldi (joint)
One person in the Finnish forum said that in fact 1974 was a season
without points leader winning a race either. I checked the results
from Wikipedia, and tend to agree with him. Fittipaldi was the joint
leader after his third win, not coming to that race.
-Webs-
Brian Lawrence
Yeah, mea culpa I'm afraid. I overlaid the WDC leaders with race winners,
and then went through the joint leaders manually. I made a couple of
mistakes but thought I'd caught all of them. Thanks for that.
1974 was also a season with zero wins for the WDC leader.