Button is 11th driver to hit double century of starts

2011 Hungarian GP facts and stats

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Jenson Button, McLaren, Hungaroring, 2011

Jenson Button became the 11th driver to participate in 200 F1 races in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher, Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello are also in the 200 club – and Barrichello is the only driver so far to have reached 300.

Here are the other drivers who reached a double century of Grand Prix stars.

Most F1 races started

DriverRaces startedYears
Rubens Barrichello3151993-
Michael Schumacher2791991-2006, 2010-
Riccardo Patrese2561977-1993
David Coulthard2461994-2008
Jarno Trulli2441997-
Giancarlo Fisichella2291996-2009
Gerhard Berger2101984-1997
Andrea de Cesaris2081980-1994
Nelson Piquet2041978-1991
Jean Alesi2011989-2001
Jenson Button2002000-

Button’s 11th Grand Prix win puts him level with Jacques Villeneuve, Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello.

Sebastian Vettel took his 23rd career pole position.

It was his eighth pole position this year. The most in a single season is 14 (Nigel Mansell, 1992), so with eight races left he can still claim the record.

Felipe Massa set fastest lap for the second time this year and the 14th time in his career.

Seventh place was Paul di Resta’s best finish so far in his first season so far.

McLaren scored points for the 30th race in a row and Ferrari did likewise for the 20th consecutive Grand Prix.

But Renault failed to score for the first time this year. The last time the team didn’t have a car in the points was last year’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Button wasn’t the only driver to reach a milestone in Hungary. Nico Rosberg became the 60th F1 driver to start over 100 races.

The remaining drivers on the grid who have passed that mark are Nick Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa.

Only ten drivers have started more races than Rosberg without winning one:

Most F1 races started without a victory

DriverRaces startedYears
Andrea de Cesaris2081980-1994
Nick Heidfeld1832000-
Martin Brundle1581984-1996
Derek Warwick1461981-1993
Jean-Pierre Jarier1341971-1983
Eddie Cheever1321978-1989
Pierluigi Martini1181985-1995
Mika Salo1101994-2002
Philippe Alliot1091984-1994
Jos Verstappen1071994-2003
Nico Rosberg1002006-

Toro Rosso also reached their 100th Grand Prix start, and it was the 100th race for the current V8 engine formula.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

Spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Hungarian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

2011 Hungarian Grand Prix

    Browse all 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    112 comments on “Button is 11th driver to hit double century of starts”

    1. First time that Torro Rosso (including as Minardi) have scored points in Hungary

      1. now that the points have been changed so much it seems a bit silly to even note such statistics. minardi may well have had top 10 finishes in the past, when there were 26 cars on the grid.

        similarly, di resta is being lauded for his points finishes but in the 90s he wouldn’t be considered so great. same with perez and anyone who finishes 7th-10th. it’s just not the same as, for example, alesi finishing 4th on his debut, or villeneuve and hamilton on the podium.

        just my £0.02

        1. You have to remember that fields are a lot tighter and more reliable now though. Back when there were less points paying positions, the slower teams usually only scored points in races of high attrition when there were regularly less than a dozen finishers. Now with 20 cars regularly finishing each race, scoring points has to be done as a result of race pace and smart driving…

        2. With modern cars being so reliable, that’s basically the best they can hope for. A small team grabbing a 10th place in 2011 is akin to a small team from the 1980/ 90’s finishing in the top 6

        3. But he’s not driving in the 90’s, he’s driving in the ten-ties. It’s a bit wrong to compare points finishes now to points finished 20 years ago as F199player has done (althoug it’s an interesting stat), but not’s not wrong to congratulate Di Resta on his points finishes this year.

        4. Is that 2p or 2d !!

        5. Look at the gap from the top 3 teams to the other: if all their drivers finish, how can one not from one of those teams finish in the top 6?

    2. The major one: Jenson Button joins Michael Schumacher as the only men to win their 200th GPs. Schumi did it in Spain 2004 (and that was his 75th win too!)

      1. also wasn’t jenson’s first win on his 113th start? and didn’t alesi reach 100 starts before his only win?

        1. Only a handful of drivers started more than 100 races before winning their first one. They are Webber (130 races), Barrichello (123), Trulli (119), Button (113) and Fisichella (110). Alesi won on his 91st attempt.

      2. Spain 2004 was Schumacher’s 200th entry, but only his 199th start (he didn’t start France 1996). Schumacher’s 200th start was Monaco 2004, where he famously crashed.

    3. Ah, without competitive car, Nico will be another Heidfeld!

      1. most likely. :)

        1. Unlike Heidfeld, it looks like Nico will get one though. Mercedes will eventually deliver a machine capable of winning races. I wish they’d hurry up and do it, I know Schumi has still got the ability to win and Rosberg does too!

          I’ll go against the gran and say Heidfeld does as well, Renault just isn’t quite there.

    4. First time Jos Verstappen is mentioned in the stats article!
      (although it’s not the most impressive stat, still good to see)

      1. Nice to see indeed……He’ll be driving a demo in a F1 car @ Zandvoort Masters of F3.
        It’s a deal with Red Bull, so I don’t know if it will be the Tyrell, which was mentioned earlier on sites, or a Red Bull Democar. The contacts he has with Red Bull are for his son Max.

        1. According to the GPupdate article I read it will be the Red Bull demo car.

      2. It actually supprised me to see how many races he did!

    5. I feel for Nico.He is a talented driver very much the caliper of Hamilton & Vettel but just don’t have the machine under him.

      1. I totally agree. He’s nearly always the ‘best of the rest’ and I can’t think of the last time he did something silly whilst battling someone or had an off weekend. He’s a top class driver and if Mercedes can’t provide him with a decent car next year, I hope he seeks greener pastures.

        I’d love to see him alongside Vettel at Red Bull, but I guess that’ll never happen…

      2. I’m not convinced. Although he outscored Wurz in 2007, it was Wurz that got the team’s best results that year. Also, he’s not obliterating Schumacher to oblivion – which he should be if he is that good. He’s beating him, yes, but not by as much as I think he can be.

        1. You could argue that simply beating the most successful driver in F1 history race after race ought to be enough!

          I know what you mean, I still have my doubts about Rosberg too, but surely he can’t do much more than beat his own teammate, as he has done comprehensively every year since his debut season

          1. Beating a 43 years old team mate! :)

            1. And a very talented one. Hamilton placed Nico in his top 3 formula one drivers alongside Alonso and Vettel just a few weeks ago. That should suffice for most here.

            2. I have to say, Nico Rosberg is the most over rated driver on the grid.

    6. Worth pointing out that Mika Salo gave a win to Eddie Irvine to help his championship, so he’s unlucky to be on that last list.

      Also, amazing to see that either Patrese or Barrichello has raced every season from 1977 to present! That’s 35 seasons between two drivers, and they even overlapped in 1993.

      1. Worth pointing out that Mika Salo gave a win to Eddie Irvine to help his championship

        Irvine failed, of course.

        I think there’s a lesson in that for any driver who has his race engineer in his ear telling him the team want him to pull over and let his team mate win.

        1. The wonderful thing is that Ferrari lost that championship because of their own team orders.

          In France, Schumacher fell down the field (can’t remember why) to 5th and Irvine was breathing down his neck. Ferrari told him not to overtake. He would have had one more point for Ferrari to switch the pair in Suzuka and take their first championship in 20 years.

          1. Irvine being useless lost Ferrari the championship as much as anything!

          2. I see what you mean but I think because Irvine also benefitted from team orders it’s not really the case that using them cost Ferrari the championship.

            1. Well of course he gained more points than he lost (at least 8) but it’s an example of why team orders aren’t so clear-cut a good idea when you first use them. And moreso, poetic justice ;)

            2. Sure is a good thing to keep in mind when hearing them tell you to keep the gap or even get the message the guy behind is faster than you are.

          3. Not that Schumacher minded, of course. I don’t think Ferrari mind now at all. ;)

            1. If you remember, in Japan when Irvine needed Schumi’s help again, MS suddenly lost 2 seconds a lap over a period despite having the pace in quali and morning warm up. It was bizarre and i can only think he was doing it deliberately so Irvine did not win the championship.

            2. our nige- I’d say that if Schumacher returns from an injury, takes pole by 0.9 seconds, and hands over the win in Malaysia to Irvine, then he was willing to help. Irvine lost because Hakkinen was the best driver in Japan.

            3. I agree our nige, i think schumacher wanted to be the hero who won the first championship for ferrari in years. He was a sly fox back then, and look how well it worked out for him.

    7. Vettel now has more points in the championship than he did going into the final round in Abu Dhabi last year.

      1. now that’s worrying!

        1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
          1st August 2011, 15:32

          After 11 races 17 of 24 drivers mathematically no longer can win the driver championship. Everyone except top 3 teams and Rosberg.

          Also 7 out of the 12 teams no longer can be constructor champion – Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari, Mclaren and Red Bull are the only ones that remain.

          Vettel’s lead again increased as 2nd Webber is still 2nd but lost 8 points to Vettel. He has now 77 point more than the leader last year after 11 races and is only 22 points away from his total score last year.

          MSC run in 2004 is still the most dominant winning 12 out of 13 races or after 11 races winning 10 => 250 points

          1. Heidfeld can also win – he is 200 points off the lead with 200 available.

            1. He would have to atleast tie Vettel on wins and no doubt he would be behind Vettel on 2nd places, which they would use as the tie breaker.

              But heck, nothing would be more exciting or unexpected than Heidfeld taking the fight to Vettel! That would make for the season of the century!

    8. Tonio Liuzzi lost some places on lap 1 for the first time this season. Until Hungary, he had always either gained some places or retained the grid position after the 1st lap. The only driver who hasn’t lost a place on lap 1 this season is Narain Karthikeyan although it’s clear why. And Narain himself probably isn’t too proud of this achievement as well :)

    9. Although nowadays 200 GPs is not that uncommon, it had been quite a big gap since the previous one – Jarno Trulli achieved his 200 in Australia 2009. The previous to reach 100 was Felipe Massa in Belgium 2008.

      Just showing that rookie classes of 1998, 1999 and then 2003, 2004 and 2005 were either weak or unlucky not to get a real break in F1.

      1. de la Rosa started in 1999 and has had a stop start career. Same for Liuzzi who started in 2005. Glock started in 2004.

    10. I’d like to know what the largest time span for competing in F1 is.
      Schumacher’s is 20 years right now: 1991-2011.
      Is this the record?

      1. Schumacher has been in F1 17 years competitively, same as Patrese. But Barrichello has been racing for 19 years now.

        1. That’s not what he asked. I think he means the longest time between their first and last race, and Schumacher beats Barrichello on this one.

          I can’t think of anyone with a longer career span than Michael at the moment.

      2. As far as the span goes, I believe Michael has held the record ever since he returned to F1.

        1. Yup, Schumi holds the record with 20 years. Barrichello is second with 18 years, and in the third place is Graham Hill with 17 years (1958-1975).

          1. Wow, Hill’s career must’ve seen the most drastic change in cars of the 3.

    11. First time Fernando Alonso has been on the podium with Jenson Button as the winner…

      1. It was also Alonso’s 69th podium putting him a clear 4th on the list of most podium finishes. Now only Schumacher, Prost and Senna have more podiums than him in F1 history.

        1. Pretty much cements him in the all-time-greats…

      2. It’s the 3rd time Vettel has finished runner-up when Button has won. Once in 09, and twice this year.

    12. Here is a cool one. I read this last year and we can add to it now.

      The driver who has been in 3rd postion out of the first corner has ended up winning the race for the last 4 years.

      2008- 1st Massa, 2nd Hamilton, 3rd Kovalainen (winner)
      2009- 1st Alonso, 2nd Webber, 3rd Hamilton (winner)
      2010- 1st Vettel, 2nd Alonso, 3rd Webber (winner)
      2011- 1st Vettel, 2nd Hamilton, 3rd Button (winner)

      1. Well that is an odd one. Thanks Harvs!

        1. Wasn’t Hamilton 4th on the grid in Hundary 09?

          1. Read the stat again. It’s not based on grid position.

            Cool stat though! Brilliant.

          2. He was but he moved up to 3rd at the start…

      2. Very interesting.

      3. One for the Stat oddities lovers and a great question to be added to every F1 quiz for sure

    13. Interesting, very few champions in this list < 30% (Schu, Piquet, Button).

      Will be interesting to see what is the number of races (or career length) where we have the highest concentration of champions.

      1. Other than Schumacher all of the drivers on that list are what I’d consider second tier drivers.

        1. Piquet a 2nd rate driver? Not a chance! And even then you can’t overlook Gerhard. He was a great driver.

          1. Depends what you’re holding him second to. To Prost, Senna, Clark, Fangio etc. quality of drivers very most definitely.

            1. Exactly Icthyes !

              Top tier drivers would be the likes of Senna, Fangio, Schumacher, Clark & Stewart.

              Nobody else on that list even comes close to being a top driver and some of them wouldn’t even make it into the second tier – Rubens and Coulthard would make it into the third tier, at best, as would Berger even though I personally think he’s a great driver and a great guy.

            2. Top tier drivers would be the likes of Senna, Fangio, Schumacher, Clark & Stewart.

              And Prost :P

        2. Piquet may have overachieved a bit with three championship wins, but he’s hardly a second rate driver. His results at Brabbham were brilliant

          1. It’s easy to get great results when you’re using illegal fuel and an underweight car !

            I have about as much respect for Piquet as I have for Piquet Jnr.

            1. ^agreed. Other than Villeneuve, I think Piquet was the most overrated champion…

    14. I have my own F1 milestone aswell, This GP was my 50th consecutive GP that Ive watched live (begining to end). Probably not as much as some other people but i’m happy with myself, Started watching in 04′

      1. Haha, you’re the Nick Heidfeld of F1 fans.

      2. Wow that is impressive! My hat is off to you. I was happy just to watch every race the last few seasons. Living in America, it’s too hard to watch them all live, but I manage to catch half of em in the early morning hours, the rest go on the dvr, godbless those things!

    15. I’m curious … Button is the eleventh driver to start two hundred races, but how many drivers on the grid have won a race at a significant milestone (like their 200th start)? We know Felipe Massa came close to winning a race one year to the day after his accident at Germany last year, but has anyone else successfully done it?

      1. Scroll up and read Journeyer’s comment…

      2. Massa also won his 100th Grand Prix, I believe, at Valencia in 2008.

        1. That was also the first race at Valencia right? I remember Massa dominating that race.

          Oh, I didn’t realize you were F1Lists, great blog man!

    16. Here’s one. Button won ALL his races with McLaren in “mixed” conditions.
      Australia 2010
      China 2010
      Canada 2010
      Hungary 2010
      All were races affected by rain

      1. He also won races in mixed conditions at Hungary in 2006 and Malaysia in 2009 – that makes for 6 of 11 wins in mixed/wet conditions, or 55%. I wonder if any other race winners (with, say, a minimum of 5 wins) have such a high percentage of success in the wet?

        1. also he’s won more Grands Prix starting off the front row.

          Hungary 2006, he started 14th
          Australia 2009, he started on pole
          Malaysia 2009, he started on pole
          Bahrain 2009, he started 4th on the grid.
          Spain 2009, he started on pole
          Monaco 2009 he started on pole (his last pole to date)
          Turkey 2009, he started 2nd on the grid
          Australia 2010, he started 4th on the grid
          China 2010, he started 5th on the grid
          Canada 2011, he started 7th on the grid
          Hungary 2011, he started 3rd on the grid.

      2. That’s interesting, but I don’t think rain plays a big a role as it may seem. If I remember correctly he was leading before it started to rain heavily at China 2010, and his win yesterday owed little to the weather either

        1. To my recollection he wasn’t leading when it was raining, it was Rosberg who became the leader in the scramble for inters. He then went off and Button took the lead.

          1. When Button overtook Rosberg they were still on slicks but it was starting to spit with rain, they changed to inters shortly after Button took the lead. Also, Button’s win in Malaysia 2009 owed nothing to the rain as he was comfortably leading before the downpour that caused the race to be abandoned.

            1. But they were never off slicks in the first place. It started raining on Lap 2, Button didn’t pass Rosberg (who went off in the damp) until Lap 19. Of course by then it had dried but not ideal.

              Whether or not the conditions contributed to the win beyond half the field making the wrong tyre call (that sounds familiar), we can only speculate of course.

      3. funny that in pure wet conditions, Button is nothing special, unlike Hamilton. It’s just these tricky wet/dry races Button excells in… a true champion driver!

        1. If he was a true championship driver he’d be able to drive that well in all conditions, not just those conditions that suit him.

          1. he has, in 2009.

            1. In early 2009. His drop in performance once Brawn was not absolute top-of-the-class is know rather known.

      4. You could call Spa last year mixed conditions though, and he didn’t win there.

        1. Jamiefranklinf1
          1st August 2011, 18:35

          No, he was taken off by vetted before he had the chance…

    17. It was the team from Silverstone’s 350th race. Though as they’ve needed 3 iterations to reach the last 100 of that total, I doubt many people will consider that hugely significant.

      1. Do you mean Force India?

        1. He means Jordan/Midland/Spyker/Force India, the various different names the team who have their factory in Silverstone have gone through ver the years.

    18. when was the last time we had a wet-dry-wet-dry race?
      or to be more specific, when was the last time a driver’s tyre strategy went wet-dry-wet-dry?

      1. Not long ago: Canada 2011.

    19. Keith,

      I love this feature of your website. The stats article after every race is my favorite.

      Here is an idea which I would love to see included in your stats:

      Driver mistakes. How has been penalized the most. Keep a running tally. Include the number of points they lost.

      Team mistakes. Who screwed up stategy and cost drivers places. Who screwed up pit stops and cost drivers either places or DNF’s.

      Keep up the good work!

      1. I did something along those lines last year as a one-off and it proved quite a talking point!

        He’s 14 points behind but Vettel should be leading the championship by 59

        Ultimately it’s a difficult and subjective thing to quantify, and I think it’s best suited to one-off analysis like this than trying to make it a regular feature.

        Appreciate the feedback though, and glad you like the site!

    20. This list of drivers with 100 starts is going to get bigger soon with a 20 race season a 5 year career is going to get you on this list. I would expect the race list to now go to 23 or 25 with Sky now calling the shots. F1 can now look forward to a football like off season – 4 weeks at most.

      1. Woah! Sky won’t have that much influence, if any! They’ll just be one of a number of F1 broadcasters in the world…

    21. Another interesting (and worrying) stat is that up to this point in the season, the 2011 campaign is the worst season EVER for Williams.

      You have to go back to their 1977’s season to find a championship this bad, and even in 1977 they got 4 top ten in 11 races (and with just 1 car on the grid).

      1. And to think of the Monaco race ended under the safety car or if it wasn’t restarted, they would have had a 6th.

    22. I’ve read several sources saying that 88 pit stops is a record for a F1 grand prix.

      1. There were 85 pits stops, and three drive-through penalties.

        But 85 pit stops is a record (noted here: 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix analysis)

    23. Didn’t Brundle say it was the most number of pitstops in a race ever?

      Despite winning, Button is 100 points behind Vettel. Equivalent to 4 race wins…

      Vettel is on 234 points after 11 rounds.
      He scored 256 points last season after 19 rounds…

      Webber is 2nd in the championship, with 0 wins… Has a driver ever finished 2nd in the standings with 0 wins?

      Vettel still can overtake Mansell’s record of 14 poles in 1 season, he has had 8 poles in 11 races…

      Red Bull have had 11 poles out of 11. Williams (and McLaren I believe) hold the record at 15 out of 16.

      Wins so far:
      Vettel: 6
      Hamilton: 2
      Button: 2
      Alonso: 1

      RBR: 6
      McLaren: 4
      Ferrari: 1

      1. The runner up having no wins has only happened twice – to Giuseppe Farina, in 1952, and to Ronnie Peterson, in 1971.

    24. Dam, I thought I was onto a good stat thinking JB scored his 10th victory. Forgot the one prior to 2009.

      Surely Rosberg can win a race?!

    25. Thanks to the new system, Vettel overtook a certain Brazilian Ayrton Senna 615 to 610 points this weekend.

      though under the 10-6-4-3-2-1 system later on in Sennnas day he’d have 264 and 248 under the 9-6-4-3-2-1 method

    26. The stat that never fails to amaze me is that well over a third of all F1 championship grids since f1 started have had Rubens Barichello on them! Something like 38% in fact.

    27. Hello, do you guys have the number of grand prix won (if any) by drivers at the time they finished their 200th GP ?

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