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I've just realised what a sea change next year will represent in terms of driver eras and ages. With Rubens, Trulli et al quietly departing in the last couple of years, and dlR and Schumi now gone too, isn't Button going to be the most experienced F1 driver on the grid? I have a habit of forgetting something obvious in these situations but, short of an unexpected signing or correction, there are a couple of stats that stand out for me:

Nobody will have entered an F1 race in the last millenium.
Button will be the only driver with more than 200 starts.
Hamilton & Vettel will be the 6th & 7th most experienced guys on the grid.

And I'd just like to thank Mark Webber, who guarantees not every f1 driver is now younger than me.

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Klaus Kinski: making me question my heroes since January 2013

Yup.

This guy,









, is going to be the most experienced driver on the grid next year. Crazy.

I believe there will be no drivers on the grid who drove in the 90's either thanks to Schumacher retiring and De La Rosa losing his HRT seat for obvious reasons. All 00's boys.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Makes you feel old when you remember all the talk about this young buck coming into F1.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Too right. I can still remember where I was when I saw Williams' announcement, in the newsagent next to my student house. Glanced down and saw Button on the front page of a tabloid with his then girlfriend. He was talking about how he wouldn't change and they'd stay together forever. Think it lasted another month or two! Hamilton as the 6th most experienced is just as scary in a way, to me it really feels like he and Vettel are still quite new.

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Klaus Kinski: making me question my heroes since January 2013

Well, that would be dependent of your definition of a millennium.

Yes, I know, I'm being annoying.

Very true, athough PDLR wouldn't be as experienced as Button if he was still on the grid because he missed so many seasons. He was a part timer from 2003-2009 and drove half a season in 2010. This season was the most races he drive in a decade!

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Official Kamui Kobayashi Fanboy

Benetton's 2001 car launch. It was a complete dog, I blame the test drivers.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

Strange to think none of those lot had won a race yet, two hadn't even entered one, two would go on to be WDC's and the other two pretty much number 2's to their team mates in blue cars.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Getting old, aren't we?

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

Nah I'm only turning 22 next month.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Weird.. That feels like ages ago, and yet when thinking about those Ferrari's racing with the black nose in tribute of 9/11 it feels like yesterday for me..

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Signature created by Adaemus

I meant Button

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

Oh, yeah he's ancient...

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

steady!!

Ok maybe geratric.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

With Schumacher leaving at the end of last race was the last link from F1 with Prost and Senna leaving.

wow thats quite funny he looks so young.

Oh, I wish I could say the same. Considering I was/am older than Schumi when he first started racing in F1/when he has retired for the 2nd time, I do feel old but also, at the same time, feel really fortunate that I was lucky enough to watch some of the best drivers in F1 fight it out on track e.g. Senna & Prost.

GOD! he didn't even have facial hair back then!

I had the same feeling...

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-Ayrton Senna fan-

2013 follower of :

Fernando Alonso

I can't believe Hamilton and Vettel will be the 6th/7th most expereinced! They still seem like rookies to me! Shows what a shift there has been as the mid ninety's generation slowly bow out.

About Vettel and Hamilton: I think they're 7th and 8th.
Button, Raikkonen, Alonso, Massa, Webber, Rosberg. Right?

Depends what you're looking at. In terms of races completed, Raikkonen loses places as he missed out the last three years.

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I also have one of these.

True, that would drop Raikkonen behind Alonso and Webber, but he still has way more starts than Vettel and Hamilton.
Order would then be Button > Alonso > Webber > Raikkonen > Massa > Rosberg > Hamilton > Vettel.

Yeah I didn't work it all out exactly, just enough to make the point that shocked me: these kids aren't kids anymore! Same with de la Rosa, he wasn't more experienced than Button but he'd been around longer and was still a sort of link to the pre-Button days.

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Klaus Kinski: making me question my heroes since January 2013

Button and Heidfield roughly came in the same time.

Raikkonen, Alonso, Webber were both around at that time but got their chances later on. Massa too

Webber has more races than Alonso, who didn't race in 2002 as he went back to being Renault TD before replacing Jenson for 2003.

Massa missed a year and a half. He was test driver in 2003 for Ferrari and missed half of 2009. Kimi of course missed 2 years.

Also Glock made his debut before Rosberg in 2004 but hasn't been a regular driver.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

So basically we only have a small handful of drivers on the grid who were even part of Schuey's last championship win. Kimi, Alonso, Button, Webber, Massa and Glock should he stay with Marussia next year.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Don't forget Barrichello could return with Caterham next year! Anyway jokes aside, Button is also the 3rd oldest on the grid, behind Raikkonen and Webber.

Button the most experienced driver on the grid... now that makes me feel old, and I'm only 25!!! I still remember him coming in and thinking "playboy sh*tebag..." and writing off any hope of him winning a world title, only to eat my words haha. Looks like he's got a good amount of years left in him as well, for some reason i can see him getting up towards Rubens' race starts record. Keep it up Jense!

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"You are the universe expressing itself as a Human for a little while..."

Which makes me wonder, what would be the age that fans start considering whether the drivers are too old for it or not? with age it is assumed that the drivers lose a bit of speed, mental ability and reflexes.

In football that is 33, at that age it is normally questionable whether the player is still up for it or not and normally change their playing style to suite their abilities (like Giggs and Scholes at Man Utd).

so what is it for F1? Mark is 36, Kimi 33, Jenson nearly 33 as well, Alonso 31 and Massa 31.

How long should they have left at the top end of Motorsport?

Most of the grid next year = actual or relative rookies, and world champions...with very few in between. Ought to make things quite interesting.

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Button's on 228 and Barrichello hit 326. IIRC 2012 was the first of a four year contract with McLaren, which should take him to almost 290. So all he'd need would be two more seasons, at the end of which he'd be 37ish, easily conceivable.

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Klaus Kinski: making me question my heroes since January 2013

Thats what I was thinking, so he could be heading right up to Rubens/Schumi territory!

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"You are the universe expressing itself as a Human for a little while..."

Off the 18 drivers currently signed up for next season...

Only half were on the grid when Button won WDC in 2009.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

If Kobayashi does make it, he will probably be in the more experienced half of the grid.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

I remember thinking WTF are williams playing at taking on someone with such little experience. They're a big team they don't take on total rookies.

Then during the whole playboy era, contract disputes and when his then bird was on Fame academy. What a wanker.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Not according to wikipedia... Alonso 197 starts from 198 races, Webber 196 starts from 198 races.

The order I posted is taken from the number wikipedia mentions.

Been a long time for Jenson, and hes still only 32 years old. Id say 6-7 years more racing left in him perhaps? Longevity in F1 is really apparent. A lot of drivers in this era will get 300 race starts I think.

Depends how his form holds up but MSC raced until 42 to a pretty high standard so another 10 years isn't out of the question!

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Official Kamui Kobayashi Fanboy