Button tipped to boost home wins record
From Moss to Clark (above) to Mansell: British fans have seen 21 home wins
Britain has had more home winners of its Grand Prix than any other country.
And with Jenson Button favourite to win again this year, that record could grow even further this weekend.
British winners in the British Grand Prix
Of the 59 British Grands Prix to date, 21 have been won by home drivers:
Stirling Moss – 1955
Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks – 1957
Peter Collins – 1958
Jim Clark – 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967
Jackie Stewart – 1969, 1971
James Hunt – 1977
John Watson – 1981
Nigel Mansell – 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992
Damon Hill – 1994
Johnny Herbert – 1995
David Coulthard – 1999, 2000
Lewis Hamilton – 2008
No other country has made it into double figures – not even Italy, the only other nation to have held a Grand Prix in every year of the world championship:
| Country | Home wins | Home winners | Home races |
| Great Britain | 21 | 12 | 59 |
| Brazil | 9 | 4 | 36 |
| France | 8 | 3 | 58 |
| Germany | 5 | 2 | 55 |
| Argentina | 4 | 1 | 20 |
| Italy | 4 | 3 | 59 |
Other races with home winners: Austria, South Africa, Canada, Spain, USA.
And had James Hunt not been stripped of his win in 1976 the British total would be even higher.
Jenson Button: the 14th winner?
After winning six of the first seven races, it’s no surprise that Jenson Button is the favourite to win again this weekend.
Bookmakers Paddy Power are giving 8/11 odds on Button to win, 9/2 on Sebastian Vettel and 15/2 on Rubens Barrichello. The chances of a repeat win for Lewis Hamilton? A slender 40/1.
But those of you hoping for anything other than another Button win can take heart from this: I’m going to my sixth British Grand Prix this weekend – and I’ve never seen a home win yet.
Whether anyone will get a chance to win the British Grand Prix in 2010 depends on Simon Gillett’s vision of a race at Donington coming true – or Silverstone pulling something spectacular out of the bag. If it doesn’t happen, at least it’ll give the rest a chance to catch up.
More about British drivers and the British Grand Prix
Terrence said on 15th June 2009, 15:33
I like hamsters.
Terrence said on 15th June 2009, 15:34
Hamsters provide me with a source of comfort.
al_amana said on 15th June 2009, 15:36
That’s just racist to Gerbils!
Terrence said on 15th June 2009, 15:34
Hamsters are God’s gift to the world.
Terrence said on 15th June 2009, 15:35
Praise be to hamsters.
Terrence said on 15th June 2009, 15:36
There can be no doubt that hamsters are far superior to the British GP, or even rats, mice or other rodents.
F1Fan said on 16th June 2009, 1:22
Something tells me that Ferrari will be Brawn’s primary threat this weekend, not RBR.
Gman said on 16th June 2009, 1:55
Great info, but I am somewhat suprised that Great Britian had only 154 drivers in F1 history- I would have thought the number would be much higher than that.
Good to see the list of nations with home wins for their drivers. I remember Andretti won at Long Beach one year, but was there another American who won a race on home soil?
mp4-19b said on 16th June 2009, 3:24
pity finland doesn’t host a grand prix, they’ve had 3 world champions & some pretty decent drivers. dunno why they never got a chance to host. matbe its too cold in finland or maybe its in the polar region & never get good sunlight. are there any good racing tracks in finland? i suppose finland would have given a close fight to brazil.
mp4-19b said on 16th June 2009, 3:48
hope barrichello causes some heart-break. cuz the british are always honeymooning with their drivers. the british i think have had enough british home winners.far too many. i don’t think anyone can catch up with Britain. for the next 50 years. please anyone attending the race would do well to carry ant-max mosley posters,banners & placards.
i would also suggest burning down his effigy if its allowed inside the track.
C4 said on 16th June 2009, 5:57
I also hope Rubens scores a victory here but it will still be BRAWN GP, so I guess that’s still a British team.
Dougie said on 16th June 2009, 10:39
My heart tells me that this is the race that Rubens will finish ahead of Jenson, and probably win it. But, I have absolutely no desire to see that happen.
That said, I was at Barcelona this weekend for the MotoGP (awesome it was, F1 will never compete as a sporting spectacle) and my heart said that Lorenzo would be hard to beat and would win it… and hard to beat he was, but Rossi did it as only Rossi can… Awesome!
PJA said on 16th June 2009, 12:55
I watched it on TV and the last few laps were just brilliant. Personally it didn’t beat the last few laps of Brazil 2008 for drama simply because that decided the championship.
I agree that MotoGP is a better sporting spectacle than F1 at the moment, and if I did not already support F1 and came to both sports as a new fan I would choose MotoGP.
Just compare the way MotoGP riders can celebrate after a race compared with what F1 drivers have to do.
Dougie said on 16th June 2009, 13:36
Fair point, and one that is often heard. I was discussing this recently, and agreed it is high because it decided the championship but, and lets be honest here, it was a pretty wishy washy way to do it… slithering past a car that you’re not sure who it is, needing the team to confirm, not really overtaking more the other car going backwards. Compare that with a gutsy move down the inside for the win, on really the last corner of the last lap, that only Rossi could pull off after an awesome race long tussle and a titanic final 3 laps.
As you said, the only reason Brazil was titanic was because it decided the championship, otherwise nobody would be talking about Lewis getting fifth on the last corner of the last lap… certainly not in any dramatic way anyway.
Derek said on 16th June 2009, 14:50
The Moto GP in Barcelona last weekend was great, I was sure Rossi was holding back and could have overtaken on numerous occasions during the final 10 laps.
I am very disillusioned with F1 this year; I’ve been an F1 fan since the 1960’s. I have nothing against Jensen Button’s successes, but it just confirms that it’s all down to the car. I used to argue against this before, like 1992 when Mansell dominated in his active Williams. They said at the time a monkey could win in that car, and because I was a big Mansell fan I was outraged! It’s now got me thinking and revaluating those F1 years. Again 1988 McLaren with Senna; was that the driver or the car??
Dougie said on 16th June 2009, 16:11
But that is what is so cool about the ability to overtake in MotoGP. He knew, as did Lorenzo when he was behind, that he could make a move when he needed to and that he could spend some time understanding the weaknesses of the rider in front, make the move and then pull out a gap. Except neither of them could make the gap, it was that close, and because of that the final 3 laps was some of the best motorsport we have ever seen.
Dougie said on 16th June 2009, 16:19
At least in 1988 Senna had a World Class teammate in Prost, so you can take something from that.
Wait a minute though, on hear people are always saying Rubens is better than Button and that Rubens dominated Button in the last 3 years, Keith even pointed to it in his post about the British GP that Rubens has beat Button the last 3 years (although again stats don’t tell the full story). So how does that compare with Senna/Prost!?! Is Button really that good, is it the car and Rubens has fallen off this year, are people here disillusioned? Do we care?
All that should matter is that a British Driver worthy of his place is in front, and we should support him. Formula 1 is not entertaining like it should be, and only freedom to innovate within a tight budget will allow true competition we can enjoy.
TommyB said on 16th June 2009, 19:02
I agree. I was a huge Damon Hill fan but I can admit he had easily the best car that year and someone like Schumacher or Hakkinnen were much much better drivers
manatcna said on 17th June 2009, 0:54
Even Schumacher couldn’t win in a Force India