F1 2009: When they last won a race

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F1 rookie Sebastien Buemi's last win was in GP2 last year

With the value of winning races such an explosive issue at the moment I thought it would be a good idea to revise a post I first did two years ago.

Heading into the 2007, I thought it would be interesting to see how long ago it was since each driver on the grid last won a race.

Some of them, of course, have never won an F1 race – in fact one of them hasn’t won an international motor race since before the new millennium…

McLaren

Lewis Hamilton

2008 Chinese Grand Prix
McLaren-Mercedes
14.925s ahead of Felipe Massa

Heikki Kovalainen

2008 Hungarian Grand Prix
McLaren-Mercedes
11.061s ahead of Timo Glock

Ferrari

Felipe Massa

2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
Ferrari
13.298s ahead of Fernando Alonso

Kimi Raikkonen

2008 Spanish Grand Prix
Ferrari
3.228s ahead of Felipe Massa

BMW

Robert Kubica

2008 Canadian Grand Prix
BMW
16.495s ahead of Nick Heidfeld

Nick Heidlfeld

1999 F3000 A1-Ring
West Competition Team Lola B99/50
8.957s ahead of Soheil Ayari

Renault

Fernando Alonso

2008 Japanese Grand Prix
Renault
5.283s ahead of Robert Kubica

Nelson Piquet Jnr

2006 GP2 Istanbul Feature Race
Piquet Sports GP2 Dallara
17.879s ahead of Lewis Hamilton

Toyota

Jarno Trulli

2004 Monaco Grand Prix
Renault
0.497s ahead of Jenson Button

Timo Glock

2007 GP2 Valencia Ricardo Tormo Sprint Race
iSport GP2 Dallara
5.474s ahead of Javier Villa

Toro Rosso

Sebastien Buemi

2008 GP2 Hungaroring Sprint Race
Arden GP2 Dallara
7.978s ahead of Andy Soucek

Sebastien Bourdais

2007 Champ Car World Series, Mexico City
Neman/Haas/Lanigan Panoz DP01
1.906s ahead of Will Power

Red Bull

Mark Webber

2001 F3000 Magny-Cours
Super Nova Lola B99/50
7.454s ahead of Justin Wilson

Sebastian Vettel

2008 Italian Grand Prix
Toro Rosso
12.512s ahead of Heikki Kovalainen

Williams

Nico Rosberg

2005 GP2 Bahrain Sprint Race
ART GP2 Dallara
8.335s ahead of Ernesto Viso

Kazuki Nakajima

2006 F3 Euroseries Lausitzring Reverse-grid race
Manor Motorsport Dallara Mercedes
7.423s ahead of Richard Antinucci

Brawn GP

Rubens Barrichello

2004 Chinese Grand Prix
Ferrari
1.035s ahead of Jenson Button

Jenson Button

2006 Hungarian Grand Prix
Honda
30.837s ahead of Pedro de la Rosa

Force India F1 Team

Adrian Sutil

2006 Japanese F3, Fuji Speedway (race four)
TOM’s Dallara F305-Toyota
2.491s ahead of Kazuya Oshima

Giancarlo Fisichella

2006 Malaysian Grand Prix
Renault
4.585s ahead of Fernando Alonso

Image (C) GP2 / Glenn Dunbar

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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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43 comments on “F1 2009: When they last won a race”

  1. Rubens and Jenson are switched.

    1. apparently button finished just ahead of himself lol

  2. Rubens/Jenson are the wrong way round

  3. You have got Barichello’s win mixed up with Buttons

    1. Fixed!

  4. If they were not switched that would be FAST, Jenson ahead of himself by over a whole second! :)

  5. Oooh Heidfeld, its been a while since he won! And there’s me convinced he will be fighting for the title this year! I’ve still got my faith in him this season – will make it even better when he does win a race because he hasnt done so for aaages(I am positive he will win at least one this year! :D )

    1. David@Geelong
      20th March 2009, 2:17

      He nearly made it at the Canadian round in 2008.
      Came in second to Kubica. Heidfeld let him passed if my memory is correct.

  6. Interesting article- I’d never considered how strange it must be for the likes of Heidfeld and Webber to go so long without any sort of race win. You’d probably consider those two, along with Nico Rosberg or Timo Glock, most likely to win their first F1 race in 2009.

    In reality though I can’t see anyone breaking their duck this year, which would make 2009 the first ‘no new winner’ year since 2005.

  7. Wow, that has to play on Nick’s mind. I wonder if he has even won a race on his PS3?

    Weber is having a drought too

    Keith – what was the date of that Sutil win?

  8. 10 years without a race win, that’s harsh – can you even remember what its like to win. Of course, being F1 drivers it shouldn’t be a problem given the right machine, but you wonder if they were ever in the situation of being out in front would they bottle it? I doubt it, they’re F1 drivers…but 10 years…if I don’t play badminton for 2 weeks I feel pressure when I’m in the lead!

  9. Poor Nick and Mark. Imagine being a racing driver and not have won a race for so long. I feel sorry for them now.

    Heres to both of them fighting for the championship this year.

    Funny to see that the last race that Piquet won was ahead of a 2nd place Lewis Hamilton. I bet he wishes for those days back again.

    1. Thing is, that GP2 race was the one where hamilton stormed from 16th place to 2nd after spinning at the start.

    2. Phil –

      Well, not quite, that was the sprint race, Piquet won the Feature race the day before. The Sprint race he finished 5th, I believe.

  10. I think the reason why Heidfeld hasnt won a race is because up until last season He had never had a car which was capable of winning. And even lasts season he would of had to get through Ferrari and Mclaren, or have a bit of luck like Kubica and Alonso did last year.

    I hope Heidfeld wins a race this year, I want to see him in the Championship race!

    1. It’s no luck! – it’s Lewis :P

  11. Yeah, Nick & Marks drought coincide with them moving to F1 pretty much into uncompetitive machinery.

    However, Nakajima’s… does that really count as a win, being reverse grid and all… Did he ever win a race from a fastest first grid start?

    1. No, Nakajima’s best from a “fastest first” start was second. But he showed reasonably well in GP2 (top rookie in 2007 with five podiums) and, although Nico Rosberg has generally had the upper hand, he hasn’t exactly blown Kazuki into the weeds.

  12. im hoping Kubica will be fighting for the championship this year, despite his weight disadvantage

  13. Heya everyone, I have returned ready for action in the new season!
    It is interesting when you compare the wins, for example Heidfeld has become a regular poduim attender but has not won a race for almost ten years! That is just astonishing. Then you have the likes of Vettel, where he has already won a formula1 race but that is the only time he has ever been on the podium in formula 1.

  14. @ajokay: Hamilton spun in that race, and had to fight back to the 2nd place from the back of the field. Much more impressive performance than Piquet in that context.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjotF2Bwbmg&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn7L-fA3XZo&feature=related

    1. why did he spin in the first place? 8-)

  15. Of course, on the other hand not so impressive considering he shouldn’t have spun in the first place.

  16. Wow, that has to play on Nick’s mind. I wonder if he has even won a race on his PS3?

    Ha ha like it :-D

  17. Nakajima . . . reverse grid F3 race. Does sort of make you wonder how he got into F1, doesn’t it?
    But ‘Quick’ Nick; ten years!

    1. Nakajima . . . reverse grid F3 race. Does sort of make you wonder how he got into F1, doesn’t it?

      I’m pretty sure it’s because Williams get free engines from Toyota for taking him.

  18. @ Loki
    > 10 years without a race win, that’s harsh – can you even remember
    > what its like to win.
    If you think 10 years is a long time between wins, what about Roberto Moreno – 12 years between his last win in F3000 in 1988 and the next in Champ Car in 2000.
    Jos Verstappen – 15 years between his last win in F3 in 1993, and his latest successes in the 2008 Le Mans Series. But perhaps there are more examples.

    1. Jos Verstappen won the A1GP of South Africa in 2006. So it’s less than 13 years.

  19. Alex Wurz won nothing since that 1997 Le Mans win with the Porsche.

  20. And of course, when Jacques Villeneuve was kicked out of F1 two thirds of the way through 2006, it had been 9 years since his last win at the Nurburgring in 1997.

    1. …and checking out his Wikipedia page, has only won the 2008 1000km of Spa Le Mans Series race since that final F1 win in 1997 – 11 year gap.

    2. Did Wurz not win anything in the Peugeot last year then?

    3. Alex Wurz’s Wikipedia (where I always end up going for this type of thing) page says he came 5th in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans, and placed DNF in the 2008 1000km of Spa, both with the Peugeot team. He took part in no other races, as far as I can see.

  21. I’ve long held the view that for most of the drivers who have raced in Formula 1 over the years it was the end of the road as far as winning races was concerned. Gone are the days when the answer to the question would have been ‘on the same day as the last GP in the saloon/sporstcar race or the previous weekend in the Nurburgring 1000 klms’. Perhaps we’ll see that again now that drivers are underemployed due to the testing ban………..but I doubt it because they have to spend so much time doling out teamspeak and sponsor guff to the media; what a yawn.

  22. I remember Nick Heidfeld’s last race win – he had a pretty dominant season of F3000 to win the title before heading into F1 with Prost.

    More impressive, however, was Nick’s previous season (his first in F3000) when he pushed Juan Pablo Montoya incredibly hard for the title. Montoya should have walked it, but didn’t – including a particularly sloppy performance at Monaco. Heidfeld took things to the very last round and would have been even closer but for a fuel infringement in qualifying at the last race.

    Soheil Ayari, now there’s a name to conjure with…

  23. Nick’s probably been one of the unluckiest drivers on the grid. He was gutted when he didn’t get the McLaren drive after Mika, as he was held it good regard by the team after his test stint there.

    Having said that, Nick’s not World Champion material, with all due respect. He just lacks that extra spark somehow, he’s possibly too much of a nice guy. He looks like a great team player, and he’s never given much credit for it I guess.

    Mark Webber on the other hand, he’s never even consistently finished on the podium, he’s probably had 1 good season.

    1. Heidfeld’s got two records of note at the moment:

      Most second places without a win (seven).

      Most consecutive finishes (28).

  24. While we’re on the subject, I’m not sure why Coulthard gets invited to the Race of Champions. He’s never been a champion of anything. Bless him.

  25. theRoswellite
    20th March 2009, 5:30

    This reminds me of the really old days when there were “non-championship” GP races, with often someone winning who didn’t usually do so. Question.

    Does anyone know if there is any agreements preventing this type of race from going on today? I’m sure there would be all hell to pay if FOTA tried to stage something….outside….the domain of our two “Sisty-Uglers”…B&M.

    They were great fun, and just about the racing. Of course that was back when an entire season might be 10 races or less.

    1. No, don’t think so.

  26. theRoswellite
    20th March 2009, 5:33

    (…are any agreements..)

  27. The non championship races always involved locals rocking up with their F1/F2 machinery and racing, to which the Championship F1 drivers would also enter.

    What prevents it happening today is purely economics, not many people would be able to afford an F1 car for their own racing pursuits, and the cars (and rules) develop too quickly for people to be able to buy 1-2 year old cars and still be competitive.

    The old drivers (Brabham, Moss, McLaren etc) used to bring several cars to non championship races just to sell to local drivers. Thats just not possible nowadays.

    The number of circuits actually able to host F1 races are pretty slim too, gone are the days where you could lay out osme haybales on an airfield and host an F1 race. Not many countries would have multiple circuits capable of hosting F1 races to be able to make the finances of someone running an F1 outisde of the world championship viable.

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