planetf1.com

I was browsing wikipedias lists of F1 driver records and went into the driver list to check some people who don't quite make it into the top 10 for ie wins, poles etc and I had a look at number of races started. I was a bit surprised that for example RIC has more starts than GRO, I guess forgetting his season in HRT.

But anyway, I wondered how the number of rookies compared to previous seasons and thought that since a few veterans, and some with quite a few starts like Sutil, have left the sports recently, maybe the total experience of the grid has dropped. But then a lot of the newbies from back when I started watching have been around for a long time themselves by now. So I calculated the number of races started for the entire grid this year, and made an average taking into account the number of entries in 2015 compared to 2014. I might go further back, but to keep it exact you'll need to check for DNS each season, and teams crashing mid season like last year.

Edit: for quick comparison, I'll put the output stats at the top here so you don't have to scroll so much!

2016
Total races entered: 2106
Average Races entered: 95.73


2016 beats out 2011 for most experienced grid on average.

2017 is going to be fun when 3 of the 5 most experienced drivers leave at the same time, about 760 starts between them. Fun note: I was just revisiting this thing for 2017 and had put in the confirmed/suspected drivers when I went to autosport and read the news about Rosberg =).

2015
Total races entered: 1809
Average Races entered: 90.45


2014
Total races entered: 1793
Average Races entered: 81,5

2013
Total races entered: 1649
Average races entered: 74,95454545


2012
Total races entered: 1906
Average races entered: 79,42

2011
Total races entered: 2216
Average races entered: 92,33

2010
Total races entered: 1814
Average races entered: 75,58

2009
Total races entered: 1767
Average races entered: 88,35

2008
Total races entered: 1759
Average races entered: 79,95454545

2007
Total races entered: 1752
Average races entered: 79,64

2006
Total races entered: 1919
Average races entered: 87,22727273

2005
Total races entered: 1604
Average races entered: 80,2

2004
Total races entered: 1364
Average races entered: 68,2

2003
Total races entered: 1460
Average races entered: 73

2002
Total races entered: 1402
Average races entered: 63,73

2001
Total races entered: 1440
Average races entered: 65,45

Number of races started at the START of each season (note, mid-season replacements etc are not included):

2016 21 GPs
Driver Races started
BUT 284
ALO 253
RAI 231
MAS 229
ROS 185
HAM 167
VET 158
HUL 94
PER 93
RIC 88
GRO 83
BOT 56
GUT 38
KVY 37
ERI 35
VES 19
SAI 19
MAG 19
NAS 18
WEH 0
HAR 0
PAL 0

Total races entered: 2106

Average Races entered: 95.73



2015 (Includes Mehri and Stevens even though they didn't participate in the first GP of the season)
Driver Races started
BUT 266
ALO 235
RAI 212
MAS 210
ROS 166
HAM 148
VET 139
MAL 76
HUL 76
PER 74
RIC 69
GRO 64
BOT 38
KVY 19
ERI 16
NAS 0
VES 0
SAI 0
MEH 0
STE 1


Total races entered: 1809

Average Races entered: 90.45



2014
Driver Races started
BUT 247
ALO 216
RAI 193
MAS 191
ROS 147
HAM 129
VET 120
SUT 109
KOB 60
MAL 58
HUL 57
PER 56
RIC 50
GRO 45
VER 39
BOT 19
CHI 19
BIA 19
GUT 19
KVY 0
ERI 0
MAG 0

Total races entered: 1793

Average Races entered: 81,5

Despite a smaller starting grid, the total races started is greater in 2015 than 2014, and hence the average is a lot higher.


2013
Driver Races started
BUT 228
ALO 197
WEB 196
RAI 176
MAS 172
ROS 128
HAM 110
VET 101
SUT 90
DIR 39
MAL 39
HUL 39
PER 37
RIC 31
GRO 26
VER 20
PIC 20
BOT 0
CHI 0
BIA 0
GUT 0
VDG 0

Total races entered: 1649

Average races entered: 74,95454545


Lots of rookies in 2013.


2012
Driver Races started
MSC 287
BUT 208
ALO 177
WEB 176
RAI 156
MAS 152
ROS 108
HAM 90
KOV 89
DLR 87
VET 81
GLO 72
KOB 40
PET 38
KAR 27
SEN 26
DIR 19
MAL 19
HUL 19
PER 17
RIC 11
GRO 7
VER 0
PIC 0

Total races entered: 1906

Average races entered: 79,42



2011
Driver Races started
BAR 303
MSC 268
TRU 234
BUT 189
HEI 172
ALO 158
WEB 157
MAS 133
ROS 89
HAM 71
SUT 71
KOV 70
LIU 63
VET 62
GLO 54
BUE 36
ALG 27
KOB 21
KAR 19
PET 19
DAM 0
DIR 0
MAL 0
PER 0

Total races entered: 2216

Average races entered: 92,33

Rubens, The Michael and Pushing like'a hell make this the most experienced grid in recent years. Quick Nick helps out, too.


2010
Driver Races started
BAR 284
MSC 249
TRU 215
BUT 170
ALO 139
WEB 138
MAS 114
DLR 73
ROS 70
KUB 57
HAM 52
SUT 52
KOV 51
LIU 44
VET 43
GLO 36
BUE 17
ALG 8
KOB 2
DGR 0
HUL 0
PET 0
CHA 0
SEN 0

Total races entered: 1814

Average races entered: 75,58


2009
Driver Races started
BAR 267
FIS 212
TRU 198
BUT 153
HEI 150
RAI 139
ALO 122
WEB 121
MAS 105
ROS 53
KUB 40
HAM 35
SUT 35
KOV 34
VET 26
GLO 22
NAK 19
BOU 18
PIQ 18
BUE 0

Total races entered: 1767

Average races entered: 88,35


2008
Driver Races started
BAR 249
COU 228
FIS 194
TRU 180
BUT 135
HEI 132
RAI 121
ALO 104
WEB 103
MAS 87
SAT 86
ROS 35
KUB 22
DAV 20
HAM 17
SUT 17
KOV 16
VET 8
GLO 4
NAK 1
BOU 0
PIQ 0

Total races entered: 1759

Average races entered: 79,95454545


2007
Driver Races started
BAR 232
COU 211
FIS 177
TRU 163
RSC 163
BUT 118
HEI 115
RAI 104
ALO 87
WEB 86
MAS 70
SAT 69
WUR 53
ALB 37
LIU 22
ROS 18
SPE 18
KUB 6
DAV 3
HAM 0
SUT 0
KOV 0

Total races entered: 1752

Average races entered: 79,64


2006
Driver Races started
MSC 231
BAR 214
COU 193
FIS 159
VIL 152
TRU 145
RSC 145
BUT 100
HEI 97
RAI 86
MOY 84
ALO 69
WEB 68
MAS 52
SAT 51
KLI 31
MON 19
ALB 19
LIU 4
ROS 0
SPE 0
IDE 0

Total races entered: 1919

Average races entered: 87,22727273



2005
Driver Races started
MSC 212
BAR 195
COU 175
FIS 141
VIL 134
TRU 127
RSC 127
BUT 84
HEI 84
RAI 68
MOY 68
ALO 51
WEB 50
SAT 36
MAS 34
KLI 18
MON 0
ALB 0
KAR 0
FRI 0

Total races entered: 1604

Average races entered: 80,2

2004
Driver Races started
MSC 194
BAR 177
COU 157
PAN 140
FIS 123
RSC 115
TRU 110
BUT 65
HEI 66
RAI 50
MOY 50
ALO 33
WEB 32
SAT 18
MAS 16
DAM 16
BAU 2
KLI 0
GPA 0
BRU 0

Total races entered: 1364

Average races entered: 68,2

Villeneuve didn't start the season, Frentzen and Verstappen quit and that makes 2004 the least experienced in total races started so far.

2003
Driver Races started
MSC 178
BAR 161
COU 141
FRE 140
PAN 124
VIL 115
FIS 107
RSC 100
TRU 94
VER 91
BUT 49
HEI 50
RAI 34
MOY 34
ALO 17
WEB 16
PIZ 9
DAM 0
WIL 0
FIR 0

Total races entered: 1460

Average races entered: 73


2002
Driver Races started
MSC 161
BAR 146
IRV 130
FRE 128
COU 124
PAN 107
VIL 98
SAL 92
FIS 91
RSC 83
TRU 77
DLR 47
HEI 33
BUT 32
RAI 17
MOY 17
BER 16
YOO 3
WEB 0
SAT 0
MAS 0
MCN 0

Total races entered: 1402

Average races entered: 63,73

11 teams makes 2002 less experienced than 2004 in average races started per driver. Mika and Jean Alesi quit the year before, dropping some 350 races of experience from the grid!


2001
Driver Races started
ALE 184
HAK 145
MSC 144
BAR 129
IRV 113
FRE 113
COU 107
PAN 90
VIL 81
VER 74
FIS 74
RSC 66
TRU 60
MAZ 17
HEI 16
BUT 15
MAR 11
BUR 1
ALO 0
RAI 0
MOY 0
BER 0

Total races entered: 1440

Average races entered: 65,45

This is quite interesting actually, and obviously a lot of work you put into it. It makes sense that the 2015 grid is more experienced than the 2014 grid:
- most experienced drivers stayed
- the drivers that left didn't have too much experience together, the added 19 races for most of the others easily accounting for all experience that left
- Manor and Caterham dropping out (if they actually drop out and don't make a surprise comeback like Marussia is trying) means average experience goes up by a good degree

It would be interesting to know which grid was the most experienced ever, although it might very well be 2015. 2011 ranks lower and as I see, 7 of the 10 most experienced drivers in F1 were driving in the 2011 season. That makes it quite an accomplishment for 2015 and at the same time makes it unlikely that any year is going to score higher. It would take a very homogenous driver field of medium-experienced drivers. Added disadvantage for earlier years is the lower number of races in a year.

_________________
Go Vandoorne - Verstappen - Vettel!

What an incredible amount of work put in to a post. Thanks for that!

I'll continue sometime when I'm bored at work. The only way, seems to me, is to go backward one year at a time! The trickiest part is people like De La Rosa etc who race a few times some years and are gone for several and turn up for a full season, so I try to keep track of those instances and carry them backwards. Also really easy to miss the odd DNS, and with one or two drivers I ended up with 1 race in their rookie season without them having raced before =) Went back and looked for DNS, and corrected. If that happens anyway it shouldn't really skew the results all that much, though. Not like when I forgot to remove Schumacher from 2009!

Put all the totals and averages at the top of OP to ameliorate scrollitis.

Just a hint: maybe the fastest and most reliable way to go about this is to take a given season, look at the drivers' careers (wikipedia has great career summary tables of just about any F1 driver), and draw up an excel table listing the drivers in column A and the years in row 1. This way you can add races per year for each driver, don't lose count and can correct easily.
The "races experience" would then be a rather simple count.

_________________
Go Vandoorne - Verstappen - Vettel!

Updated 2001-2004.

2004 is least experienced in total, 2002 least experienced on average counting back so far.

Hi Liket, I've only just seen your post: a very interesting way of analysing F1 driver seasons. Huge amount of work. Hope you continue the exercise back to 1950.

As you say, de la Rosa and other part-timers make it so complicated. Perhaps leave out drivers who competed in less than a certain percentage of races?

_________________
http://grandprixratings.blogspot.com

I will probably continue at some point, but right now I've got 4 more months of paternal leave to look forward to before I'll even look at that file =)

I should probably add that my source for all of this is wikipedia and it all relies on some of those pages being correct, mainly list of formula one drivers and each individual season's page.

Updated 2015 to include Mehri and Stevens though they missed the first GP.

2016 beats out 2011 for most experienced grid on average.

2017 is going to be fun when 3 of the 5 most experienced drivers leave at the same time, about 760 starts between them. Fun note: I was just revisiting this thing for 2017 and had put in the confirmed/suspected drivers when I went to autosport and read the news about Rosberg =).

Will post 2017 once all the seats are confirmed.