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All-Star League 2009 final standings

Scotland’s Dario Franchitti pipped England’s Jenson Button to the title of top British driver of 2009 in the BritsOnPole.com All-Star League.

Superleague’s Craig Dolby and the Star Mazda Championship’s Adam Christodoulou flew the flag for the less fashionable corners of open-wheel racing against the aristocracy of Formula One and the IndyCar Racing League.

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The top three – IndyCar’s Franchitti, F1’s Button and Christodoulou – all won their championships, while fourth-placed Hamilton is, of course, an ex-F1 champion.

That made the achievement of the rest of the top 10 – Dolby, BRDC award-winner Alexander Sims, Star Mazda’s Richard Kent, and incoming GP2 Asia drivers Max Chilton, Oliver Turvey and Sam Bird – all the more impressive.

At the other end of the table Greg Mansell competed 16 times without a top eight finish and so propped up the standings.

End-of-season standings

Pos Driver SeriesPtsRaces
1Dario FranchittiDario Franchitti
Flag of Scotland
IndyCar Racing League logo101017
2Jenson ButtonJenson Button
Flag of England
Formula 1 logo95017
3Adam ChristodoulouAdam Christodoulou
Flag of England
Star Mazda Championship logo55113
4Lewis HamiltonLewis Hamilton
Flag of England
Formula 1 logo49016
5Craig DolbyCraig Dolby
Flag of England
Superleague Formula logo47912
6Alexander SimsAlexander Sims
Flag of England
Formula 3 Euroseries logoFormula Master logo35524
7Richard KentRichard Kent
Flag of England
Star Mazda Championship logo33512
8Max ChiltonMax Chilton
Flag of England
British F3 International Series logoWorld Series by Renault logo31621
9Oliver TurveyOliver Turvey
Flag of England
World Series by Renault logo28517
10Sam BirdSam Bird
Flag of England
Formula 3 Euroseries logoBritish F3 International Series logo27020
11Riki ChristodoulouRiki Christodoulou
Flag of England
British F3 International Series logo26520
12James WalkerJames Walker
Flag of Jersey
World Series by Renault logo23017
13Justin WilsonJustin Wilson
Flag of England
IndyCar Racing League logo23017
14Dan WheldonDan Wheldon
Flag of England
IndyCar Racing League logo20017
15Henry ArundelHenry Arundel
Flag of England
British F3 International Series logo16320
16Nick TandyNick Tandy
Flag of England
British F3 International Series logoFormula 3 Euroseries logo14119
17James WinslowJames Winslow
Flag of England
Atlantic Championship logo13011
18Jon LancasterJon Lancaster
Flag of England
World Series by Renault logo10512
19Mike ConwayMike Conway
Flag of England
IndyCar Racing League logo10017
20Martin PlowmanMartin Plowman
Flag of England
Indy Lights logo8915
21Wayne BoydWayne Boyd
Flag of Northern Ireland
British F3 International Series logo8620
22Jonathan KennardJonathan Kennard
Flag of England
Superleague Formula logoFormula Master logo7710
23Jay HowardJay Howard
Flag of England
Indy Lights logo755
24Stefan WilsonStefan Wilson
Flag of England
Indy Lights logo456
25Jack ClarkeJack Clarke
Flag of England
Formula 2 logo4216
26Duncan TappyDuncan Tappy
Flag of England
Indy Lights logoFormula Master logoSuperleague Formula logo388
27Alex BrundleAlex Brundle
Flag of England
Formula 2 logo3516
28James JakesJames Jakes
Flag of England
GP2 Asia logo284
29Tom GladdisTom Gladdis
Flag of Gibraltar
Formula 2 logo2816
30Ali JacksonAli Jackson
Flag of Northern Ireland
Indy Lights logo2211
31Jason MooreJason Moore
Flag of England
Formula 2 logo2116
32Jolyon PalmerJolyon Palmer
Flag of England
Formula 2 logo2116
33Jay BridgerJay Bridger
Flag of England
British F3 International Series logo1818
34Darren ManningDarren Manning
Flag of England
IndyCar Racing League logo102
35Alex LloydAlex Lloyd
Flag of the Isle of Man
IndyCar Racing League logo102
36Pippa MannPippa Mann
Flag of England
Indy Lights logo715
37Oliver OakesOliver Oakes
Flag of England
British F3 International Series logo54
38Hywel LloydHywel Lloyd
Flag of Wales
British F3 International Series logo520
39Dillon BattistiniDillon Battistini
Flag of England
Indy Lights logo01
40Scott MansellScott Mansell
Flag of England
Superleague Formula logo02
41Edwin JowseyEdwin Jowsey
Flag of England
Formula Master logo02
42Ollie HancockOllie Hancock
Flag of England
Formula 2 logo06
43Greg MansellGreg Mansell
Flag of the Isle of Man
World Series by Renault logoAtlantic Championship logo016

How it’s calculated

Comparing drivers in different series is difficult for a number of reasons – factors such as length of season, strength of opposition and how many points to award all had to be taken into account. Here’s what we did:

  • Championships: We decided to include as many championships as possible, so long as they were open-wheel, not completely comprised of British drivers, broadly summer-based, and pitted driver against driver instead of teams. We rolled the last few GP2 Asia races into the main GP2 season, just in case James Jakes managed to land a drive in the European-based version. We were initially going to omit both A1GP and Superleague Formula because they are team-based, with drivers swapping in and out of cars branded to match countries or football teams. A1GP was also pretty much over for the year when everyone else was just beginning. But we put Superleague in after all, by request.
  • Points: These had to be equalised, as different series have different policies. When Stanton Barrett crashed in practice at the Milwaukee Mile, damaging his car too badly to even qualify for the IRL’s ABC Supply Company / A.J. Foyt 225, he was given six championship points. The previous weekend, Kimi Raikkonen had been given the same number for finishing on the podium at F1’s Monaco Grand Prix. One points system produces much the same outcome as any other over a full season, so we chose the F1 system of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, then nothing for 9th place and below.
  • Season length: From the 12 races of the Atlantic Championship to the 24 GP2 and GP2 Asia races in the time period covered, season lengths vary wildly. And this, of course, means that some drivers have many more opportunities to pile up points than others. To address this we used a 17-race season as a base, since this is what both F1 and the IRL are running in 2009, and worked out a coefficient by which to multiply the points in other series so that, across a full season, everyone had the opportunity to earn the same number of points if they won every race. This means that twice as many points per race are up for grabs in the Atlantics than in GP2 – because there are only half the races. And then, to get rid of all the ugly fractions, we multiplied everything by 10.
  • Competition: When Mike Conway finally broke his duck in the IRL with an eighth place in Iowa, he did so again far stronger opposition than Adam Christodoulou and Richard Kent faced when the Star Mazda Championship raced at the same circuit. To reflect this, we grouped the series into three bands: the two senior championships of F1 and the IRL, the feeder series of GP2, Indy Lights, F2 and the Atlantics, and the development series – all the rest. Senior points count full, feeder series points count at two-thirds value, and development championships count half. This had the added effect of preventing the top of the table being swamped by drivers from series with a large number of British drivers and, therefore, an increased chance of a British winner. Once again, we rounded off to avoid fractions.
  • Tiebreaks: Some apparent ties happen only because of the rounding-off process that occurs during the calculation: the spreadsheet we use to compile the raw data takes this into account and ranks the drivers according to the underlying precise score. Where this is not relevant – primarily drivers with no points – we use the number of races competed in, working on the basis that it is a sign of a stronger performance to take fewer races than a rival to reach the same points score. Conversely, the more races run without scoring a point the worse the overall performance. Where this also results in a tie, we use the strength of the series in which the driver is competing. Beyond that, it’s unlikely that anyone cares…

This table shows the points available in each series, with their number of races, points co-efficient and weighting.

SeriesRacesCo-eff1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8thBandX
Formula One17110080605040302010A1
Indy Racing League17110080605040302010A1
GP2 Asia / GP2240.71715743362821147B0.66
Indy Lights151.1311390685745342311B0.66
Atlantic Championship121.42142114857157432814B0.66
Formula Two161.0610685645342322111B0.66
Superleague Formula121.42142114857157432814B0.66
Star Mazda Championship131.31131105796652392613C0.5
World Series by Renault17110080605040302010C0.5
British F3 International200.85856851433426179C0.5
F3 Euro Series200.85856851433426179C0.5
Formula Master161.0610685645342322111C0.5

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