When they
were first paired at Honda in 2006, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were
fast, highly respected and experienced drivers. If not quite as highly regarded
as peers Michael and Ralf Schumacher,
Montoya, Alonso and Raikkonen, Button and Barrichello were a very strong pair.
Because the
Hondas of the years 2006-2008 were never the fastest cars, being in fact very
slow in 2007 and 2008, typically as drivers with off-pace machinery, Button and
Barrichello faded from the media radar. They became enigmatic and anonymous. Their
reputations were redeemed in 2009 after Honda had pulled out and the team was
taken over by team manager Ross Brawn and renamed Brawn-Mercedes. Button’s more
so than Barrichellos.
By my rating
statistics, the Hondas car-rated at a fast’, but fourth ranked, 100.3 in 2006,
at a slow 101.6 ranked seventh in 2007
and an even slower 102.1 for 2008, ranked second-last ahead of Super
Aguri-Honda. Clearly then Jenson and Rubens had little chance of shining with
such car-speed deficiencies. As a general rule throughout grand prix history my
stats have shown that any car rated less than about 100.5 has hardly any chance
of scoring a race win, even with the very top drivers. Of course the car came
right for Button and Barrichello in 2009 as the Brawn-Mercedes, which my
calculations rated at 100.0 until about halfway through the season. Then the
Red Bull-Renault caught and surpassed the Brawn slightly to score the season
average top spot at 100.0, relegating the Brawn-Mercedes to rank second at a
car-rating of 100.1.
General
consensus for 2009 is that Button was obviously faster in the first half,
Barrichello in the second half.
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| Rubens Barrichello |
PROMISING CAREER STARTS
This fading
from media prominence from 2006-2008 was despite both drivers’ excellent
credentials. Barrichello had started his career brilliantly with Jordan in 1993
and in only his third appearance was almost as fast as the Senna/McLaren-Cosworth
in that rainy Donington GP! Button had debuted in 2000 as team-mate to the very
talented Ralf Schumacher who
was into his fourth season. Button put up some impressive performances in
scoring a fourth and some fifth places. Both Barrichello and Button clearly showed
talent.
SUPERIOR RIVALS
However as is normal in the monopolistic world
of Formula One, more illustrious peers in faster cars hogged the wins: Senna,
Michael Schumacher, Hakkinen, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve in the nineties
for Barrichello, who had to wait eight years until 2000 for his first win,
driving for the Ferrari team. Button was overshadowed by his mores
successful peers, Michael Schumacher and Barrichello for Ferrari, Hakkinen,
Coulthard and Raikkonen for McLaren-Mercedes, Ralf Schumacher and Montoya for
Williams-BMW and Alonso for Renault. Button also only scored his first win in
his seventh season, for Honda in 2006.
Button and
Barrichello had had statistically similar career paths before they were teamed
at Honda in 2006. Rubens had scored nine wins for the dominant Ferrari team
between 2000-2005. He then left, fed up with playing second-fiddle to Michael
Schumacher. Jenson had had an excellent season in 2004 when the Bar-Honda car had
been competitive enough to get four seconds and six third places, in a year of
utter Ferrari dominance when the red cars won 15 of 17 races.
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| 2009 Button/Brawn-Mercedes BGP001 |
INFORMED OPINIONS
To help accurately
place and compare the two Honda team mates, I asked posters on the Planet F1
Forum for their views. Under their
usernames these were some of their words:
Mac_d: “Over
2007 and 2008 they were close to identical imo. In 2006 and 2009 though JB went
for it a bit stronger... I think it is vital to JB that we note the 2006 and
2009 cars were pretty damn good. The 2007 and 2008 cars were not. Both were
good enough drivers to win multiple races by JB in a car he likes and is more
capable beats Rubens in the same car. In mediocre cars they become even”.
Mikeyg123;
“In 2008 Rubens seemed to have an edge. I think for 2009 Button showed just how
good he can be in a great car, but by the second half of the season Barrichello
was a match for him again”.
Coulthards
chin: “Before I delved in to the stats, the opinion etched into my brain was
Button by a country mile in 2006 and 2009, but Barrichello edging 2007-2008.
However the stats show it’s bit more complicated than that”. coulthard’s chin
did detailed comparative stats analysis that showed that for ‘ahead-when-both-finished-races’
in 2006-2009 the score was 31:16 to Button.
Arai_or_Nothing:
“While Button finally looked competitive consistently in 2009, it was truly the
first time in his F1 career that he looked the part whilst driving some really
good cars. Barrichello is clearly the more adaptable driver. [Button] simply
cannot adapt to tires that are less than spectacular”.
AFCTUJacko: “I
rate them pretty similarly. JB had the’ perfect storm’ he needed to win the
title, Rubens didn’t”.
Benmc: Button
is definitely more sensitive to car handling and tyre temperature than most...”
M.
Nader-DODZ-: “Rubens made steady improvement against Button. Among a few things
to consider in such a comparison (coulthards chin stats), Rubens age when
making the switch to Honda. I think Jenson is a lot better than Rubens. I would
say Rubens is in the Webber/DC class and Jenson is one step above that”.
Flavio81:
Speedwise I think they were mostly matched although Jenson can be thought as
faster in the race. However I must say that I think Jenson is the better racer’.
Tootsie323: “Over
the course of their four seasons together I felt they were fairly evenly matched;
it was largely due to Jenson maximising the early-season advantage of the Brawn
in 2009 that he is WDC and Rubens not.”
Slowestofall:
took an interesting set of stats from the FIA Race Analysis files, and averaged the two
drivers’ ten fastest laps for the last
eight races of the season at each circuit: and found:“...when it mattered,
Button drove faster than Barrichello […] in the second half of the [2009]
season, Button drove consistently faster than Barrichello in the races...”
As anyone who
analyses Formula One racing finds, there are many measures and methods, some of
which produce converging results, others produce differing conclusions.
We have here
above a pretty detailed and accurate picture of how Button and Barrichello compared.
THEIR PRE-HONDA/BRAWN DAYS
I now set out some other factors that further
explain the comparison between Button and Barrichello.
Why had
Button, who clearly showed immediate talent, not managed a win before 2006? He
was too new in 2000 and 2001. Thereafter and apart from the 2004 season, he had
driven inferior cars. This partly explains his 2002, 2003 and 2005 seasons. But
what about 2004, when the BAR-Honda car was outstanding and up with the Ferrari
speedwise? Simply, Jenson was not as fast as Michael Schumacher and the Honda
team were not as good racers as the Ferrari team. Another factor pointed out by
expert driver analyst Peter Windsor: that although Button is unsurpassed in
slow speed corners, at rotating the car so accurately and efficiently to aid
corner exit, up with Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher in this respect, he was not good in high-speed corners, detesting
high-speed, flick oversteer. When his car was so behaving, Windsor reckoned “Button
became just another driver”. Another
factor mentioned by posters above that adversely affected Button, and still
does today (2013) by his own admission: he has trouble warming the tyres in
certain conditions and coping with an imbalanced car. It is these factors that
have kept Button’s driver-rating below that of those top drivers, Schumacher,
Alonso, Hamilton and now Vettel, who have the ability to drive around car
issues and are very consistent. Button certainly is their equal in talent, feel
and sensitivity when he feels confident with his car. In changeable weather
conditions Jenson’s sensitivity enabled several great wins.
When Rubens at
last got into a top-rated car and team, Ferrari in 2000-2005, he was
unfortunate to be teamed with one of the greatest drivers in Michael Schumacher.
Barrichello was just not fast enough. However being teamed with a top driver in
a dominant team/car was also an advantage: Barrichello’s standards,
understanding of the car and himself through much testing, his confidence and
speed all improved. This phenomenon has been fairly common in F1 racing: Berger
with Senna at McLaren-Honda in 1991-1992, Mansell with Keke Rosberg at
Williams-Honda in 1985, Moss with Fangio at Mercedes-Benz in 1955 and with Button
himself at Brawn-Mercedes with
Barrichello in 2009 and then at McLaren-Mercedes paired with Hamilton in
2010-2012. Before joining Ferrari in 2000 Barrichello had always displayed
exceptional wet-weather ability, but generally seemed to lack some self-belief
or confidence.
So in their
earlier careers, Button and Barrichello each scored just one win, each in their
sixth season!
When they
teamed at Honda in 2006 the 34-year-old Barrichello had been in F1 for 13
seasons, while 26-year-old Button was into his sixth season. That eight year
age difference counted as did their differing years in F1 racing. What I also
found critical was the fact that Barrichello’s form and speed had slumped
significantly in 2005, his last season at Ferrari. On the heels of Rubens’s great 2004, when he scored two wins
and 14 podiums to Michael’s 13 wins and 15 podiums and 16 top-six finishes to
Michael’s 15, Rubens’ 2005 results plummeted: three podiums to Michael’s six
and five top-six placings to Michael’s ten. It seems that Rubens’confidence and
motivation had been lost in that last season as number two to Michael
Schumacher.
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| 2009 Brawn-Mercedes BGP001 |
SUMMARISING THE HONDA-BRAWN YEARS
Taking
another measure to compare the two drivers, my driver-rating calculations, which
are based primarily on time-speed and scores drivers on season-averages (where
100.0 is the ultimate speed):
2006: Button 100.4 : Barrichello 100.7
2007: Button 100.4: Barrichello 100.5
2008: Button 100.4 : Barrichello 100.4
2009: Button 100.3: Barrichello 100.4.
My stats here
show that for 2006 Rubens was 0.3% slower than Jenson, which would be 0.3-second
slower in a qualifying lap and 18-seconds behind in a 60-lap race. This is the
same as the gap Webber has been measured on my system against Vettel from 2011-2013.
Rubens’s huge improvement mentioned by the Planet F1 posters for 2007-2008 is
reflected in my ratings; when the two were just 0.1% apart, or 0.1-second per
qualifying lap and 6-seconds in a 60 lap race of 100-minutes (as at Abu Dhabi).
Very close indeed.
These driver-rating
stats confirm posters views quoted above: that Jenson was better overall, but
that Barrichello improved from his slow start in 2006 to become very little
slower/virtually equal for their last three seasons together.
Barrichello’s
deep experience, especially from his six seasons paired with Michael at Ferrari
and his excellent car-set up ability, must have rubbed off on team-mate Button.
The two were on good terms and worked together as a team, not hiding information
from each other. Rubens was new to the Honda team in 2006 and needed adjustment
time, which partly explains his 0.3 deficiency in driver-rating speed to Jenson
who had been with the team since 2003. Additionally Rubens also needed to
recover his confidence or motivation lost in 2005. For the 2009 season many
mentions were made concerning Barrichello’s unhappiness with his Brawn’s brake
characteristics. When the brake manufacturer was changed halfway through 2009,
his performance and Jenson’s seemed to converge, and Rubens gained the upper
hand. After the first eight races and Button’s six wins, Barrichello set one
pole, scored two wins and three podiums to Button’s no pole, no win and two
podiums. Another view is that Button had the championship sewn up and was
cruising for points.
THEIR PEAK SEASONS
To further
place the two drivers’ careers in context, I show how my system’s
driver-ratings scores them outside of the topic years 2006-2009. Barrichello’s
peak seasons were 2002-2004 at Ferrari and Button’s during 2010-2011 at
McLaren-Mercedes, when both rated at 100.2. This was faster than they had
performed in their Honda-Brawn years and at any other time. Barrichello slowed
considerably after he left Brawn and went to Williams-Cosworth in 2010-11. Driver
comparisons must always be placed in context by considering career stages and
ages. Is Jenson in 2012-2013 approaching the same age-slowing phenomenon as
Rubens had, now that he is 34 and has been racing for 14 seasons?
© Patrick
O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick
E. O’Brien.
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