How close is close, at Silverstone four drivers within 2 points, historical comparison

I took a quick stroll through historical stats. How exceptional is this season with three drivers tied at 48 points by mid-season and the four top drivers all within 2 points?

I only looked at the season point scoring status at the time of the British Grand Prix, which tends to be roughly at the middle of the F1 calendar. But I did not take the mathematical half point. Obviously one driver having a good or bad race can alter the situation quite greatly from one race to the next, remembering Lewis was 10points behind Massa only this Saturday.. So this is certainly an incomplete analysis, but on quick-and-dirty view, and as the F1 circus is so heavily centered in Britain, and the British GP tends to be at half-point, I think its a fairly representative sampling.

I only went back to 1963, because before that there were less than 10 races per season, so "mid point" British GP only had 4 or 5 races and it is not really that impressive to have near parity with only a few races to consider.

Now, going back through those stats very quickly reveals and reminds, that we have often very boring seasons, when one driver totally dominates the season, say like Michael Schumacher in 2002, running away with the season and the championship not being of any real interest at about half point. Luckily that is not the common case, but there are many of those.

Then the typical scenario is two drivers only being meaningful contestants for the season, like say classic Senna vs Prost duels and Schumacher vs Hakkinen contests. That is the norm.

It is very rare for us to have three drivers in close proximity, within a few points of each other. That of course doesn't mean that the third or fourth placed driver at mid-season cannot win it - Kimi was 18 points behind last season after Silverstone and won the season, but I'm now looking for true "nail-biters" - when have we had a season like this one.

So, lets start with last season. The season ended with Kimi at 110, Hamilton and Alonso both at 109 points and Massa with 94. As I've said many times, it was the most closely contested season, as the drivers were so evenly matched all through the season by their wins. But while the wins were evenly spaced, the points were not. At Silverstone, the British GP was 9th out of 17 races last year, the leader Hamilton was 12 points ahead of second place Alonso, 18 points clear of Raikkonen and 19 points from Massa. So the split between first and third was 18 points, and between first and fourth was 19 points. That is our "benchmark" to compare other close seasons.

We then really have to go far into history to find a truly competitive season next. But the 1987 season was an epic battle between Piquet, Mansell, Senna and Prost (wow, four great champions, and Piquet took it that year). The UK race was a bit before mid point as the 7th race of a 16 race season. And like this year, these four drivers were in three different cars, Piquet and Mansell in Williams, Senna in Lotus and Prost in McLaren. How close was it? Very close. The top 3 were within 3 points of each other and the top four within 5 points. Second and third place were tied for 30 points.

Another very close season, not quite as close as 1987, was the 1977 season, when it was between Lauda, Scheckter, Andretti and Reutemann. Also four drivers in three cars, Lauda and Reutemann in Ferraris, Scheckter in Wolf, and Andretti in Lotus. The British GP was 10th of 16, a bit past mid-point. And the top 3 drivers were within 4 points, very tight, but the top 4 drivers were within 12 points, not that close. None of the four were tied.

The previously most competitive season, at the British GP measurement point, was even further back, in 1974, when the British GP was 10th out of 15, so actually two thirds to the back of the season. This was at the era of Fittipaldi (who won the season) and the early part of Lauda's career. Lauda in a McLaren led at half point by one point ahead of Fittipaldi in a Ferrari, with his team mate Regazzoni in the sister Ferrari two points behind, tied with Scheckter in the Tyrrell. The split between the top 3 drivers was 3 points, and the split between the top 4 drivers, was also only 3 points. And the third and fourth place drivers were tied.

Until this season, that was the most close season, by the British GP. The split between the top 3 drivers was 3 points, and also the split from first to fourth in the season was 3 points. (fifth place was very far behind this quartet)

Now this season. The British GP is the 9th of 18 races, the mid-point. We have 3 drivers tied for the lead, so the top three drivers are split by zero points, and the top four drivers are split by only 2 points. And the four drivers are in cars of three manufacturers (McLaren, Ferrari and BMW). And the three leading drivers obviously are tied. This is more close as the championship points contest, than any previous season (back to the season of 1963) when measured at the point of the British GP.

Yeah, I love it. You could not ask for more of a Formula One season, could you?