The "No Home Races" Alternative Championship

[James1978]

2005

Fernando Alonso 115 (6 wins, 4 2nd, 3 3rd)
Kimi Raikkonen 104 (6 wins, 3 2nd, 3 3rd)
Juan Pablo Montoya 68 (3 wins, 2 2nd, 1 3rd)
Michael Schumacher 58 (2 wins, 2 2nd, 1 3rd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 51 (1 win, 1 2nd, 5 4th)
Ralf Schumacher 51 (1 2nd, 2 3rd)
Rubens Barrichello 42 (1 win, 2 2nd, 1 3rd)
Jarno Trulli 39 (3 2nd, 1 3rd)
Jenson Button 37 (2 3rd, 2 4th)
Mark Webber 35 (1 3rd, 2 4th)
Nick Heidfeld 22 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
David Coulthard 22 (1 4th, 1 5th)
Felipe Massa 20 (1 4th, 1 5th)
Jacques Villeneuve 14 (2 4th)
Christian Klien 13 (1 5th, 1 6th)
Takuma Sato 8 (1 3rd)
Narain Karthikeyan 8 (1 4th)
Tiago Monteiro 7 (1 3rd)
Alex Wurz 6 (1 3rd)
Christijan Albers 4 (1 5th)
Antonio Pizzonia 4 (1 5th)
Pedro De La Rosa 4 (1 5th)
Patrick Friesacher 3 (1 6th)

A lot closer than real life - Raikkonen took it to China 9 points behind Alonso and was in a position to win if Alonso had broken down in the latter stages in China. Schumacher did have a win in Hungary with a full field (apart from Finns!), and Barrichello gets yet another European GP win, his last win for Ferrari (Sato was on the podium there!!).

[Ferrim]

And I thought this one would favour Alonso more, not less, because he finished behind Räikkönen in Spain and Kimi would lose his win of the Hungaroring, where Alonso didn't score... but then, Alonso won the European GP with Kimi scoring no points at all.

[James1978]

2006

Fernando Alonso 119 (7 wins, 5 2nd)
Michael Schumacher 104 (6 wins, 3 2nd, 2 3rd)
Felipe Massa 79 (3 wins, 2 2nd, 2 3rd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 67 (1 win, 1 2nd, 3 3rd)
Kimi Raikkonen 64 (3 2nd, 3 3rd)
Jenson Button 61 (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rd)
Rubens Barrichello 34 (1 2nd, 2 4th)
Juan Pablo Montoya 26 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Nick Heidfeld 26 (1 3rd, 1 4th)
Pedro De La Rosa 21 (1 2nd, 2 5th)
Ralf Schumacher 21 (1 3rd, 1 4th)
David Coulthard 14 (1 3rd, 1 5th)
Jarno Trulli 14 (1 4th, 3 6th)
Jacques Villeneuve 12 (1 3rd)
Mark Webber 9 (2 6th)
Robert Kubica 8 (1 3rd)
Scott Speed 5 (1 4th)
Christian Klien 3 (1 7th, 1 8th)
Nico Rosberg 2 (1 7th)
Vitanonio Liuzzi 2 (1 8th)
Takuma Sato 1 (1 8th)

The opposite of 2005 - more comfortable for Alonso this time - he had it won the moment Schumacher's engine went in Japan. 4 wins change hands but they are swapped around the same three drivers - Schumacher's European and German wins go to Massa, Alonso's Spanish win goes to Schumacher, and Massa's win in Brazil goes to Alonso. Europe had Barrichello's first podium for Honda, a farewell podium for Villeneuve, and unrejectification for Scott Speed, for heavens sake!

And a heroic performance from Sato in Brazil brings SOOPA AGURI's first point after Massa and Barrichello are eliminated.

I've also worked out 2007 but I'll leave you all in suspense for now.

[FantometteBR]

Seems legit Super Aguri scoring a point, at least in 'alternative championships'

[Klon]

I wouldn't be surprised to see 2007 going to Hamilton. He must profit enormly from the European Grand Prix.

[FullMetalJack]

I wouldn't be surprised to see 2007 going to Hamilton. He must profit enormly from the European Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen retired from that race too, and he didn't have a home grand prix, where Hamilton finished 3rd in his home race.

Kimi's sealed this title still.

[James1978]

Remember the rule I gave for Finns in Hungary - what goes for Hakkinen goes for Raikkonen too. (Though I forgot initially I'm treating that as the home race for Eastern Bloc drivers too, I had to change the scores slightly when I realised I had to eliminate Kubica from it too).

And Massa is the only one of the top 2 teams who is eligible at the European GP, though losing Brazil means he isn't without pain either.

I've worked out 2008 too, I'll post both in a double-bill tomorrow! (And that's a good one too!)

I was sort of hoping Barrichello would win a championship - he had an advantage through being non-European and having a terrible record in Brazil. 2009 isn't totally out of the question though, it will be tough for him I reckon.

[Wizzie]

I was sort of hoping Barrichello would win a championship - he had an advantage through being non-European and having a terrible record in Brazil. 2009 isn't totally out of the question though, it will be tough for him I reckon.

Yeah, because Button had a terrible run at his home race that year and Seb's engine blew up for the European GP. Come to think of it, Webber also had a torrid time at his home race that year so maybe he could spring a surprise or two depending on where results go.

[James1978]

2007

The first change from reality was Spain without Alonso, so Lewis Hamilton took the lead of the championship from Massa who was coming on after a slow start. Hamilton then followed that with four more podiums including his first two wins in Canada and USA, so he had a buffer for Britain, where all his rivals scored well, though he was pleased to see Kubica keep Massa off the podium. After Silverstone the standings were Hamilton leading on 64 with his three main rivals, teammate Alonso and Ferrari drivers Raikkonen and Massa all on 52.

At the European GP at the Nurburgring with only non-European drivers present, Massa took full advantage to close up to 2 points behind, with Webber 2nd and Barrichello in the awful Honda on the podium.

In Hungary, Hamilton took full advantage of his teammate's misdemeanour in qualifying by winning, with Alonso being stuck behind Heidfeld in 3rd and Massa out of the points, and Raikkonen eliminated.

No significant runners were eliminated in Turkey, Italy, Belgium or Japan, and with good scores in all of them Hamilton went to China 18 points ahead of Massa, 19 ahead of Raikkonen, and Alonso was out of it having retired in Japan. Ferrari did the right thing in China making putting everything behind Raikkonen as Massa wouldn't be eligible in Brazil, and he obliged by winning and keeping the championship alive once Hamilton beached himself in the gravel at the pit entry. However it was still a tall order for Kimi - he'd have no help from his eliminated teammate and Hamilton only needed a 7th place.

Raikkonen produced a dominat display in Brazil, and despite some hiccups along the way for Hamilton, he fought his way through from an early gearbox glitch up to 6th. Alonso out of the championship didn't care and took a quiet 2nd, with a great first podium for Nico Rosberg. However this was overshadowed by the first championship win for a driver in his debut season!

Final standings:

Lewis Hamilton 104 (4 wins, 5 2nd, 2 3rd)
Kimi Raikkonen 102 (6 wins, 1 2nd, 4 3rd)
Fernando Alonso 96 (3 wins, 5 2nd, 3 3rd)
Felipe Massa 89 (4 wins, 2 2nd, 3 3rd)
Nick Heidfeld 62 (2 2nd, 5 4th)
Robert Kubica 36 (2 3rd, 1 4th)
Heikki Kovalainen 30 (1 2nd, 1 4th)
Nico Rosberg 24 (1 3rd, 2 5th)
Giancarlo Fisichella 23 (1 4th, 2 5th)
Mark Webber 15 (1 2nd, 1 6th)
David Coulthard 13 (2 4th)
Jarno Trulli 11 (1 6th, 4 7th)
Alex Wurz 8 (1 3rd)
Rubens Barrichello 7 (1 3rd)
Ralf Schumacher 7 (1 4th)
Sebastian Vettel 6 (1 4th)
Jenson Button 6 (1 5th)
Takuma Sato 5 (1 6th)
Vitantonio Liuzzi 3 (1 6th)
Adrian Sutil 1 (1 8th)

Alonso has cause to be more annoyed than Kimi actually - had the race at Nurburgring been the German GP rather than European (as it was originally supposed to be), then he would have been champion rather than Hamilton (he'd have had 10 points putting him on 106, Hamilton would have only got 1 more point to put him on 105, he'd have been 8th as only Heidfeld in front of him would have been eliminated).

[James1978]

For a bit of suspense here's 2008 up to French GP (none of the first 8 races have any changed points-scorers):

(Webber retired in Australia, Alonso retired in Spain, Bourdais retired at Monaco and outside the points in France)

Massa 48 (3 wins)
Kubica 46 (1 win)
Raikkonen 43 (2 wins)
Hamilton 38 (2 wins)
Heidfeld 28 (2 2nd)
Kovalainen 20 (1 3rd)
Trulli 18 (1 3rd)
Webber 18 (1 4th)
Alonso 10 (1 4th)
Rosberg 8 (1 3rd)
Nakajima 7 (1 6th)
Coulthard 6 (1 3rd)
Glock 5 (1 4th)
Vettel 5 (1 5th)
Barrichello 5 (1 6th)
Button 3 (1 6th)
Piquet Jr 2 (1 7th)
Bourdais 2 (1 7th)

[FullMetalJack]

Nick Heidfeld gets first win at Silverstone, although something will probably happen, that will stop him winning the race.

[James1978]

Nick Heidfeld gets first win at Silverstone, although something will probably happen, that will stop him winning the race.

You can rest assured it happens.

[FantometteBR]

Poor Kimi, but this was a close championship then

[James1978]

2008 (part 2)

As if being pointless in the last 2 races wasn't bad enough, Hailton missed the race at Silverstone where the wet conditions would have been ideal for him to put one over on Ferrari - as it was it wasn't too painful as Nick Heidfeld took a very popular maiden win, having had to fight off Barrichelo in the Honda of all people as the more fancied runners slipped away, however after a disastrous mid-race trye choice, Raikkonen salvaged 3rd and was the only contender to score, and now led by a single point from Massa.

Hamilton then took a sensational win in Germany, and as a bonus had the buffer of the superb performance from Piquet in between him and his rivals - there were now 4 drivers within 6 points.

With Finnish and Polish drivers out of Hungary it was an ideal chance for both Hamilton and Massa, and they were taking advantage when Hamilton suffered a puncture which dropped him back, then Massa's engine blew in the closing laps, handing the victory to a very unlikely Timo Glock in the Toyota for their first win! Massa and Hamilton now tied on 54 each with Kimi just one point behind, and Kubica still was within striking distance.

Next came the European GP with a 5-man field, as expected Massa won easily from Piquet, with Webber 3rd, Nakajima unrejectifying himself in 4th. Massa now led by 10 points but he was now the only leading contender with a lost race to come.

In Belgium Massa stretched his lead to 14 points after Hamilton was controverially penalised for passing Raikkonen off the road, after Raikkonen had retired anyway. Ferrari would now have to make Raikkonen support Massa.

After a very popular win for Vettel in the Toro Rosso at Monza, followed up by two wins for Alonso in Singapore and Japan (the first controversially, the second majestically), little had changed as Ferrari and McLaren were both making errors, but Massa was still 11 points ahead of Hamilton, and Kubica wasn't out of it yet with 2nd in Japan, he was 13 points behind, and both knew they needed to be within striking distance with Massa's home race to come.

It was Hamilton who stepped up with a brilliant win in China, help was on hand for Massa as his teammate Raikkonen waved him by for 2nd, unfortunately for Ha,ilton his teammate Kovalainen wasn't anywhere on hand to take points off Ferrari, and with BMW below par and Kubica only 6th (behind his teammate stupidly!) Kubica's chances were now over, but Hamilton, now 9 points behind Massa just HAD to win in Brazil.

And help was on hand for Massa there too - Hamilton's two main rivals from the previous year, Alonso and Raikkonen, both wanted to help Massa out for the championship and did so beautifully, with Alonso getting his 3rd win in 4 races and Kimi 2nd. To add insult to injury, Hamilton wasn't even on the podium having been overtaken by Vettel in the later stages, and passing Glock on the last lap meant nothing.

And the whole of Brazil was in meltdown!

Final standings:

Felipe Massa 87 (5 wins, 2 2nd, 2 3rd)
Lewis Hamilton 83 (4 wins, 1 2nd, 4 3rd)
Kimi Raikkonen 73 (2 wins, 3 2nd, 4 3rd)
Robert Kubica 69 (1 win, 3 2nd, 2 3rd)
Fernando Alonso 68 (3 wins, 1 2nd, 4 4th)
Nick Heidfeld 59 (1 win, 3 2nd)
Heikki Kovalainen 41 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Jarno Trulli 33 (1 3rd, 1 4th)
Sebastian Vettel 32 (1 win, 1 3rd)
Mark Webber 31 (1 3rd, 1 4th)
Nelson Piquet Jr 29 (2 2nd, 2 4th)
Timo Glock 26 (1 win, 2 4th)
Nico Rosberg 17 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Rubens Barrichello 17 (1 2nd, 1 5th)
Kazuki Nakajima 15 (1 4th)
David Coulthard 9 (1 3rd)
Sebastian Bourdais 4 (2 7th)
Jenson Button 3 (1 6th)

[James1978]

2009

Jenson Button 94 (6 wins*, 1 2nd, 3 3rd)
Mark Webber 79.5 (2 wins, 6 2nd, 1 3rd)
Rubens Barrichello 79 (2 wins, 3 2nd, 1 3rd)
Sebastian Vettel 76 (4 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rd)
Lewis Hamilton 42 (2 wins, 2 3rd)
Jarno Trulli 35.5 (1 2nd, 2 3rd)
Kimi Raikkonen 35 (1 win, 2 3rd)
Nico Rosberg 27.5 (1 3rd, 3 5th)
Timo Glock 27 (1 2nd, 1 3rd*, 2 4th)
Felipe Massa 25 (1 2nd, 2 4th)
Fernando Alonso 21 (1 3rd, 1 5th)
Nick Heidfeld 20 (1 2nd*, 2 5th)
Robert Kubica 16 (1 2nd, 1 4th)
Heikki Kovalainen 15 (1 5th, 3 6th)
Giancarlo Fisichella 11 (1 2nd) - all for Force India
Kazuki Nakajima 9 (1 3rd)
Sebastien Buemi 6 (2 7th)
Adrian Sutil 5 (1 4th)
Kamui Kobayashi 4 (1 6th)
Sebastien Bourdais 1 (1 8th)

Not much changes in the chmapionship as Button wins in Brazil like in real life, but it's surprisingly Webber who wins a close battle with Barrichello and Vettel for runner-up (if Button had passed Webber on the last lap at Abu Dhabi then it would have been Barrichello).

There were only 3 drivers in the European GP (Barrichello, Webber and Nakajima). Massa was injured and Piquet Jr had been fired before it! As Barrichello won that in reality, there are no alternative race winners this year.

I'm beginning to wish there were drivers from places like Bahrain, Turkey, Singapore, China, Abu Dhabi etc........

[Bleu]

Sebastien Buemi was living in Bahrain actually at some point so theoretically you could eliminate him from there (especially as there's no Swiss GP) but then, he didn't score in two races there.

[James1978]

2010

Mark Webber 242 (4 wins, 4 2nd, 2 3rd)
Fernando Alonso 230 (5 wins, 1 2nd, 3 3rd)
Sebastian Vettel 223 (4 wins, 3 2nd, 1 3rd)
Lewis Hamilton 207 (3 wins, 3 2nd, 2 3rd)
Jenson Button 193 (2 wins, 3 2nd, 1 3rd)
Felipe Massa 161 (2 2nd, 4 3rd)
Nico Rosberg 140 (1 2nd, 2 3rd)
Robert Kubica 130 (1 2nd, 2 3rd)
Michael Schumacher 79 (1 3rd, 2 4th)
Rubens Barrichello 72 (1 win, 1 3rd)
Kamui Kobayashi 49 (1 2nd, 1 4th)
Adrian Sutil 45 (2 5th, 1 6th)
Nico Hulkenberg 27 (1 5th, 1 7th)
Vitaly Petrov 24 (1 6th, 2 7th)
Vitantonio Liuzzi 23 (1 6th, 1 7th)
Lucas Di Grassi 12 (1 4th)
Karun Chandhok 10 (1 5th)
Pedro De La Rosa 9 (1 6th)
Bruno Senna 8 (1 6th)
Nick Heidfeld 8 (1 7th)
Sebastien Buemi 8 (1 8th)
Jaime Alguersuari 6 (2 9th)

I guess everyone expected that didn't they? I'm surprised Vettel slips behind Alonso though. Webber's terrible home record does him some good after all!

The European GP caused a shock result - you'd have expected the winner to be Webber or Massa, but with both of them hitting trouble it was one last win for Williams with Barrichello. Kobayashi was 2nd, Lucas Di Grassi unrejectified himself and HRT were the top new team for the season with 5th and 6th there!

Another ridiculous result was Germany when Massa had to let Alonso through - Massa actually led Alonso in the points at that point!

Petrov is as yet still a reject due to Eastern Bloc drivers losing Hungary.

[James1978]

And to bring things right up to date!

2011

Sebastian Vettel 355 (10 wins, 5 2nd, 1 3rd)
Jenson Button 264 (3 wins, 4 2nd, 5 3rd)
Mark Webber 258 (2 wins, 2 2nd, 6 3rd)
Fernando Alonso 259 (1 win, 4 2nd, 4 3rd)
Lewis Hamilton 203 (3 wins, 3 2nd)
Felipe Massa 122 (1 2nd, 2 4th)
Nico Rosberg 83 (3 5th, 5 6th)
Michael Schumacher 76 (1 4th, 4 5th)
Kamui Kobayashi 51 (3 5th, 2 7th)
Vitaly Petrov 46 (1 3rd, 1 5th)
Sergio Perez 37 (1 3rd, 1 6th)
Nick Heidfeld 37 (1 3rd, 3 7th)
Adrian Sutil 37 (1 5th, 2 7th)
Paul Di Resta 32 (1 6th, 2 7th)
Jaime Alguersuari 29 (2 7th, 3 8th)
Sebastien Buemi 17 (1 7th, 1 8th)
Rubens Barrichello 16 (1 4th)
Pastor Maldonado 10 (1 6th)
Narain Karthikeyan 6 (1 7th)
Bruno Senna 2 (1 9th)

No upsets here I'm afraid. Only win to change hands is Europe again where Webber wins, and Perez gets a surprise podium. Karthikeyan is the only new team driver to score!

[James1978]

2012 (after 7 races)

Hamilton 90
Vettel 87
Rosberg 70
Alonso 70
Webber 68
Raikkonen 60
Grosjean 56
Button 47
Perez 39
Maldonado 29
Kobayashi 25
Di Resta 24
Senna 15
Massa 11
Hulkenberg 8
Vergne 6
Schumacher 2

This is what it looks like going into the all-important European round, where all European drivers will be eliminated from.

Only 2 results, Australia and Spain have changed (all the French drivers did badly at Monaco) so Webber and Alonso are disadvantaged here but Webber could take the lead this weekend as everyone in front of him is European.

Ricciardo is as yet pointless!!!

[James1978]

European GP result:

1. Mark Webber
2. Sergio Perez
3. Bruno Senna (!!!!)
4. Daniel Ricciardo (unrejectified)
5. Pastor Maldonado (should have won given he was ahead of Webber)
6. Felipe Massa
7. Narain Karthikeyan
Ret: Kamui Kobayashi (wow, THAT was costly)

Everyone else was European and therefore ineligible!

Standings:

Webber 93
Hamilton 90
Vettel 87
Rosberg 70
Alonso 70 (that's two very good results for him wiped)
Raikkonen 60
Perez 57
Grosjean 56
Button 47
Maldonado 39
Senna 30
Kobayashi 25
Di Resta 24
Massa 19
Ricciardo 12
Hulkenberg 8
Karthikeyan 6
Vergne 6
Schumacher 2 (just his luck to be eliminated from his best race!)

Caterham, Marussia and De La Rosa have yet to score.

[James1978]

I was impressed yesterday when Lee McKenzie interviewed Kovalainen and she said "The Finns have adopted Hungary as their home race" so I knew I wasn't going off on a limb there!

Will update all my alternative championships over the summer break.

[James1978]

Updated after Hungary:

Webber 132
Alonso 125
Vettel 117
Hamilton 115
Raikkonen 85
Grosjean 82
Button 75
Rosberg 72
Perez 67
Senna 42
Maldonado 39
Kobayashi 39
Massa 39 (in that order on coutnback)
Di Resta 30
Ricciardo 14
Hulkenberg 10
Schumacher 8
Vergne 7
Karthikeyan 6

The biggest sufferers seem to be Alonso, Raikkonen and Schumacher - all have two of their best results taken away, Europe and their countries (counting Hungary for the Finns).

Also every driver on the grid will have a home race; for the two drivers whose nationalities don't have a race (Perez and Maldonado) I will make USA and Brazil respetively their home races.

But the only eliminations left will be:

Kobayashi in Japan
Karthikeyan in India
Perez in USA
Massa, Senna and Maldonado in Brazil.

[James1978]

Today's race was NOT a good result in this championship........

[James1978]

Final standings:

2012

Sebastian Vettel 278
Fernando Alonso 239
Mark Webber 192
Lewis Hamilton 190 (4 wins)
Jenson Button 190 (3 wins)
Kimi Raikkonen 179
Felipe Massa 121
Romain Grosjean 102
Nico Rosberg 88
Sergio Perez 86
Nico Hulkenberg 58
Pastor Maldonado 57
Kamui Kobayshi 53
Bruno Senna 49 (1 3rd - Europe!!)
Paul Di Resta 49 (1 4th)
Michael Schumacher 31
Daniel Ricciardo 23 (4th at Valencia so unrejectified)
Jean-Eric Vergne 21 (1 7th - still a reject)
Narain Karthikeyan 6 (1 7th - Europe again))
Vitaly Petrov 1 (1 10th)

Kovalainen, De La Rosa and Marussia drivers fail to score.

Vettel had this one sewn up before going to Brazil, he even had a 44 point lead going to Austin. Alonso really suffered losing 2nd at Barcelona and 1st at Valencia, whereas Vettel only had a 5th at Hockenheim and a retirement at Valencia. Not having a European GP next year is a real bummer for this championship.

[James1978]

Season preview for 2013: I've made it so there's at least one race every driver on the grid is eliminated from, tweaking the rules a bit, it all depends what happens on the TBA July 21st slot as to whether we get a European GP to really mix things up but as things stand we have eliminated from:

Australia: Webber, Ricciardo
Spain: Alonso
Monaco: Grosjean, Vergne, Pic, Bianchi
Great Britain: Button, Hamilton, Di Resta, Chilton
Germany: Vettel, Rosberg, Hulkenberg, Sutil
Hungary: Raikkonen, Bottas
Belgium: Van Der Garde (as there's no longer a Dutch race, it's the closest)
USA (Texas): Perez, Gutierrez (closest to Mexico)
Brazil: Massa, Maldonado (again the closest for him)

[James1978]

2013 so far, just to say very litle has changed going into the European season where all the eliminations start to happen - thus far only Webber is 8 points down having lost his 6th at Melbourne and the 4 drivers behind him all gain 1 or 2 points so it's:

Vettel 77
Raikkonen 67
Hamilton 50
Alonso 47
Massa 30
Grosjean 27
Webber 24
Di Resta 22
Button 15
Rosberg 14
Perez 11
Sutil 8
Ricciardo 6
Hulkenberg 5
Vergne 1

It's still a right bummer only having one race to eliminate the top drivers from.