Tuesday , 19 March 2024
The McLaren teammate head to heads, probably the one most of you have been looking forward to most, definitely the one I've been looking forward to writing. Who has had the better season? Or been better over all three seasons as teammates? Hamilton is easily the better qualifier but what about in the races?

Teammate Head to Heads – McLaren

The McLaren teammate head to heads, probably the one most of you have been looking forward to most, definitely the one I’ve been looking forward to writing. Who has had the better season? Or been better over all three seasons as teammates? Hamilton is easily the better qualifier but what about in the races?

Jenson Button v Lewis Hamilton – McLaren

Champ Pos

Best Finish

2nd Best Finish

Best Qual

Worst Finish

Worst Qual

Retirements

BUT

5

1 (x3)

2 (x3)

1

16

18

2

HAM

4

1 (x4)

3 (x3)

1 (x8)

10

9

5

No surprise that Hamilton has been the better qualifier, the only driver to reach Q3 at every GP in 2012 and the man with the most pole positions (8 if you include Spain, 7 if you don’t). Slightly interesting/odd that Hamilton hasn’t actually finished 2nd at all this season though, and Button has never finished 3rd.

Out of Q1

Out of Q2

Into Q3

Average Qual

Grid Drops

Beaten Teammate

BUT

1

4

15

6.55

1

3

HAM

0

0

20

3.05

2

17

Yeaaaahhhh, I don’t really need to type anything here, I’ll just move straight on to the race stats…

Beaten Teammate

Fastest Lap

Race

Av Finish

Distance

Stops

km per Stop

Points

Races in Points

BUT

9

4

6.89

5618.327km

41

92.104km

188

14

HAM

9

9

5.33

5260.804km

36

93.943km

190

14

This is more like it, 2 points apart, 14 races in the points each, but Hamilton has only crossed the finish line 14 times, meaning points every finish, whereas Button has crossed the line 16 times. In the fifteen races that both have finished, Hamilton has finished ahead of Button in nine of them, but their fastest race laps are split 9 each. Hamilton averaged slightly further on his tyres, but if Button had just one fewer stop they’d be pretty much even.

Wins

Podiums

Fastest Laps

Poles

Front Row Starts

Laps Completed

BUT

3

6

2

1

5

1105

HAM

4

7

1

7

11

1045

Close in the race, not in qualifying, I think it’s time to look back at 2011 and 2010 to see how they compare.

Beaten Teammate

Average

Qualifying

Race

Grid Pos

Race

Points

Races in Points

Champ Pos

Retirements

BUT

6

7

4.47

3.06

270

17

2

2

HAM

13

7

3.58

3.75

227

16

5

3

Towards the end of the 2011 season Button was nearly unstoppable, unless your name is Sebastian Vettel, with 8 podiums in the last 9 races, Hamilton only managed 6 podiums all season. Qualifying however, Hamilton still wins by some way.

Beaten Teammate

Average

Qualifying

Race

Grid Pos

Race

Points

Races in Points

Champ Pos

Retirements

BUT

5

4

6.84

4.47

214

16

5

2

HAM

14

10

5.16

3.75

240

15

4

3

This was Button’s first year at McLaren, he was some way behind Hamilton but had fewer retirements which led to more points finishes. Think now it’s time for the overall 3 year head to head comparison of the two.

Wins

Podiums

Fastest Laps

Poles

Front Row Starts

Total Points

Retirements

BUT

8

25

6

1

9

672

6

HAM

10

22

9

9

23

657

11

Hamilton has had the same number of poles from 2010-12 as Button has had front row starts, Button has more podiums, but Hamilton more wins. Points is where it gets interesting, Jenson has 15 more, but Hamilton has more retirements, their average points per finish is 12.9 for Button and 14.0 for Hamilton. In 2012 Hamilton lost a good chunk of points from car failures in 2012, without which he could have challenged for the title and possibly wouldn’t have left McLaren for Mercedes.

Next up will be Ferrari, Alonso v Massa, not that there is really all that much to compare with the two.

About JackStatMan

The F1StatMan, mostly known for coming up with useless F1 related stats about burgers.

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