Britain vs Brazil

[teabagyokel]

Yet again, the Formula One World Drivers' Championship has come down to a battle between a British driver and a Brazilian.

So how have such battles gone in the past?

1972 [color=#008000]E. Fittipaldi(L)[/color] beat [color=#000080]J. Stewart(T)[/color] by 61-45 after 12 races*

1973 [color=#000080]J. Stewart(T)[/color] beat [color=#008000]E. Fittipaldi(L)[/color] by 71-55 after 15 races*

1987 [color=#008000]N. Piquet(W)[/color] beat [color=#000080]N. Mansell(W)[/color] by 73-61 after 16 races*

1991 [color=#008000]A. Senna(McL)[/color] beat [color=#000080]N. Mansell(W)[/color] by 96-72 after 16 races

2008 [color=#000080]L. Hamilton(McL)[/color] beat [color=#008000]F. Massa(F)[/color] by 98-97 after 18 races



*Not all results counted for Championship purposes

Most Championships with a Brazilian and a Briton as 1 & 2 have gone the way of the South Americans.

So how do the nations compare generally?

Britain	206	200	186	13	9
Brazil	101	124	84	8	3

[td]Nation[/td][td]Wins[/td][td]Poles[/td][td]Fastest Laps[/td][td]World Championships[/td][td]World Champions[/td]

One of the most marked things is the amount of British drivers who have a single World Championship. Whilst Lewis Hamilton may add more titles to his collection, it is notable that Britain has Hawthorn, Surtees, Hunt, Mansell and Damon Hill who failed to add to their sole World Championship. Brazil has never had a single World Champion and Rubens Barrichello is unlikely to add a second Championship should he take this years' title.

It is also true (spookily) that Barrichello has twice led a one-two at Monza before, both times he finished second in the WDC to the team-mate he led home! Since 1991, only Michael Schumacher has won both the Drivers' Championship and Italian GP in the same year, whilst Button has won the opening race which is a good omen as discussed elsewhere on the site.

So do the omens point to Button? Who knows, but his 14 point lead will take some beating. Britain vs Brazil VI is underway, let us hope there is as good a finish as Britain vs Brazil V!

 

[Brogan]

I've seen it mentioned elsewhere (I think Button himself said it) that it's basically a 4 race championship and he has a 14 point lead.

Rubens needs to take 4 points per race off Button to win the WDC but if they both continue to finish and score as they have done all season then I can't see that happening.

A couple of other stat's up to and including Monza:
The average qualifying position for Jenson is 4.38 and for Rubens it's 4.46.
The average finish position (including retirements in brackets) is 3 (4.08) for Jenson and 4 (5.15) for Rubens.

Barring a disaster of 2007 style proportions ( ) you would have to say that it's Jenson's to lose.

Interesting stat's BTW

 

[teabagyokel]

Button vs Barrichello

Jenson Button	56	6	3
Rubens Barrichello	30	0	11

[td]Driver[/td][td]2006[/td][td]2007[/td][td]2008[/td]

[u][b]BUTTON[/b][/u]



166 Grand Prix + 2 no-starts + 2 races entered but excluded

7 wins (Hu 06; Au, My, Bh, Es, Mc, Tu 09)

7 poles (Sm 04; Ca 05; Au 06; Au, My, Es, Mc 09)

2 Fastest Laps (My, Tu 09)

312 points



[u][b]BARRICHELLO[/b][/u]



281 Grand Prix + 3 no-starts

11 wins (Ge 00; Eu, Hu, It, Us 02; Gb, Ja 03; It, Ch 04; Eu, It 09)

13 poles (Be 94; Fr 99; Gb 00; Au, At, Hu 02; Br, Gb, Ja 03; Us, It, Ch, Br 04)

17 Fastest Laps (Au, Ge, Be 00; Sm, Mc, Gb, It, Us 02; Br, Es, Gb 03; Ca, Us, It, Ja 04; Ch, Es 09)

596 points

All stats courtesy of Stats F1

Best Championship Position: Button 3 (2004), Barrichello 2 (2002, 04)

Laps Led: Button 384, Barrichello 834

Races Led World Championship: Button 13, Barrichello 0

Podiums: Button 23 (7, 5, 11) Barrichello 68 (11, 29, 28)

Started at BAR/Honda/Brawn: Button 2003, Barrichello 2006

Any other comparisons?

 

[Brogan]

I prefer to do it this way

 

[teabagyokel]

I've noticed a discrepancy. Where is Button's 3rd no-start?

 

[Brogan]

This is one of those cases where it comes down to interpretation.

The 3rd DNS is from the 2007 Canadian GP when he had a gearbox problem and stalled on the grid.
As he didn't actually drive a single metre I have recorded it as a DNS.

Other databases also have it down as a DNS whereas others have it as a RET.

 

[RickD]

The only problem with this comparison is that for all those years Barrichello had loads of podiums, he was a bit of a Couthard figure, i.e a championship winning car, but not quite good enough (OK, maybe some team orders came into it now and again, but you get my drift).

Jense (up until this year), has never had a car capable of winning the championship and the only car capable of winning a race was the Renault (at least, the other chassis was capable of winning [one of the reasons i'm so over the moon now that that greasy italian terd has gone]). The 2004 BAR would have been a race winning car if it wasn't for the Ferraris (guess who was in the second Ferrari that year).

I therefore think your comparsions are pointless in this coming battle and in more ways than one distort the true picture.

Come Singapore, either the Brawns will be useless, or Jense will be up there next to Ruebens, remember, Jense only has to finish near his team mate for the WDC to start looking to be out of the reach of Ruebens, especially if they don't finish in the top 2.

 

[teabagyokel]

Thats why I included where and when the wins, poles and fastest laps came from in the comparison. When you discount 2002 and 2004 for Barrichello the comparison is slightly better.

I think it is unhelpful, however, to talk of Jenson needing only to finish behind Barrichello in each race, because anything catastrophic can happen. And it is close enough this year that an off-day could send you way back on the grid whilst your team-mate gets to the podium. The best way to win any Championship is to beat your competitor, look at the mess needing to come 5th nearly got Lewis Hamilton in last year!

 

[RickD]

I agree totally, i'm just talking about the minimum he needs to do. I think if he does finish ahead of Ruebens in Singapore, the championship is near enough over.