Fenderman
Rooters Reporter
The current debate in the Mark Webber driver's thread had me thinking. In an effort to see just who has been "the best of the number two's" I've looked at the statistics for team mates of the WDC's of the past two decades and distilled those of seven drivers into a table. The seven were all team mates during at least one season when their No.1 took the WDC and are themselves F1 race winners. I've left out points due to the changes to the scoring system over the period. The relative positions in the WDC are good enough reference for this I think.
Here are some thoughts:
Mark Webber has just finished his F1 career having been in the top 6 for five years running. In three of those five seasons he was 3rd in the WDC including 2013, his final season. Prior to 2009 though he had been out of the top 10 for the previous three seasons and only in the top 10 twice in the four seasons before that. Statistically, as a driver, he has had a strong finish to his F1 career.
Felipe Massa as we know is now reborn as a team leader! Out of the top 10 in 2009, 8th in the WDC is his lowest ranking in the last four years. Having bounced back to a 6th and 6th "temporary plateau", he slid gracefully back to 7th and then to this year's 8th. One hopes he can start climbing back up. I'm not sure I should have included Felipe on this list because he's still in F1 with a chance of turning things around. The deciding factor was due to his being team mate to Kimi in 2007!
Eddie Irvine finished his F1 career having been in the top 6 twice in his last five years - 4th in 1998 and 2nd in 1999. Out of the top 10 in 2000 and 2001, he finished up 9th in his final season. Would he have secured 2nd in '99 had Schumacher not missed most of the season? Not sure (in fact I've suggested that he wouldn't on my stat's table).
Rubens Barrichello exited his F1 career having been in the top 10 only twice in his last five years - 3rd in 2009 and 10th in 2010. In 2011, his final season, Rubens dropped to an ignominious 17th. No wonder he chose to get out.
Giancarlo Fischella finished his F1 racing career having been in the top 10 in three of his last five years - 5th in 2005, 4th in 2006 and 8th in 2007. He then did his 3 years as an F1 test driver for Ferrari.
David Coulthard finished his F1 career having only been in the top 10 twice in five years of racing - 10th in 2004 and in 2007. Dropping to 16th in 2008, he finished off his F1 career as Red Bull test driver in 2009.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen's last five years in F1 career saw him 3rd in the 1999 WDC, 9th in 2000 and out of the top 10 for all if his last three years in F1. In the 1997 WDC, Michael Schumacher's antics in Jerez cost him all of his points for the season elevating H-H to 2nd in the WDC.
Jacques Villeneuve's F1 career was pretty well back to front and a fine example of a driver with some talent sat in the wrong car. 2nd in the WDC in his rookie season, WDC in his second and then fell like a stone. Well not quite. 5th in 1998 WDC for Williams (Frentzen was 7th) could have been better maybe. It was his foray with BAR Honda in 1999 with a shocking end to that season in 21st that started the rot. He managed to get into the top 10 (in 7th two years running 2000 to '01) but dropped right out again for his last five years. In terms of the period defined for this exercise JV is the only number two to a concurrent WDC who got a title for himself.
Johnny Herbert – ahem. An also ran but a brave one.
Edit: I have to amend the table to correct a couple of errors. Bear with me I will post it later.
EditL here it is again. If you spot any more errors please let me know
Statistics extracted from http://www.4mula1.ro/statistics/driver
Here are some thoughts:
Mark Webber has just finished his F1 career having been in the top 6 for five years running. In three of those five seasons he was 3rd in the WDC including 2013, his final season. Prior to 2009 though he had been out of the top 10 for the previous three seasons and only in the top 10 twice in the four seasons before that. Statistically, as a driver, he has had a strong finish to his F1 career.
Felipe Massa as we know is now reborn as a team leader! Out of the top 10 in 2009, 8th in the WDC is his lowest ranking in the last four years. Having bounced back to a 6th and 6th "temporary plateau", he slid gracefully back to 7th and then to this year's 8th. One hopes he can start climbing back up. I'm not sure I should have included Felipe on this list because he's still in F1 with a chance of turning things around. The deciding factor was due to his being team mate to Kimi in 2007!
Eddie Irvine finished his F1 career having been in the top 6 twice in his last five years - 4th in 1998 and 2nd in 1999. Out of the top 10 in 2000 and 2001, he finished up 9th in his final season. Would he have secured 2nd in '99 had Schumacher not missed most of the season? Not sure (in fact I've suggested that he wouldn't on my stat's table).
Rubens Barrichello exited his F1 career having been in the top 10 only twice in his last five years - 3rd in 2009 and 10th in 2010. In 2011, his final season, Rubens dropped to an ignominious 17th. No wonder he chose to get out.
Giancarlo Fischella finished his F1 racing career having been in the top 10 in three of his last five years - 5th in 2005, 4th in 2006 and 8th in 2007. He then did his 3 years as an F1 test driver for Ferrari.
David Coulthard finished his F1 career having only been in the top 10 twice in five years of racing - 10th in 2004 and in 2007. Dropping to 16th in 2008, he finished off his F1 career as Red Bull test driver in 2009.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen's last five years in F1 career saw him 3rd in the 1999 WDC, 9th in 2000 and out of the top 10 for all if his last three years in F1. In the 1997 WDC, Michael Schumacher's antics in Jerez cost him all of his points for the season elevating H-H to 2nd in the WDC.
Jacques Villeneuve's F1 career was pretty well back to front and a fine example of a driver with some talent sat in the wrong car. 2nd in the WDC in his rookie season, WDC in his second and then fell like a stone. Well not quite. 5th in 1998 WDC for Williams (Frentzen was 7th) could have been better maybe. It was his foray with BAR Honda in 1999 with a shocking end to that season in 21st that started the rot. He managed to get into the top 10 (in 7th two years running 2000 to '01) but dropped right out again for his last five years. In terms of the period defined for this exercise JV is the only number two to a concurrent WDC who got a title for himself.
Johnny Herbert – ahem. An also ran but a brave one.
Edit: I have to amend the table to correct a couple of errors. Bear with me I will post it later.
EditL here it is again. If you spot any more errors please let me know
Statistics extracted from http://www.4mula1.ro/statistics/driver
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