TCC's Driver Rankings, 2008 Edition

This is a project I've been working on for several weeks now, and I'm ready to unveil it. I have developed a driver ranking system, where drivers from several different series can be compared to one another through a balanced, statistically based manner.

Some of the factors I look at in the rankings:

• Wins
• Second Place finishes
• Third Place finishes
• Finishes in quarter of the field
• Finishes in top half of the field
• Poles
• Front row starts
• Top quarter qualifying
• Top half qualifying
• Fastest Laps
• Leading laps
• Most Laps Led
• Most Positions Gained from start to finish

With these, I average everything based on the number of races each driver ran. There are examples of drivers who ran significantly less races during a season finishing much higher up in rankings (notably, Mark Martin in NASCAR). For qualifying stats, they are averaged against the number of qualifying sessions each driver ran. I did this separate from racing a few weeks in after NASCAR had three weeks in a row with rained out qualifying. Why should I award bonus points to drivers who get handed poles? This also made a heck of a lot of sense when I applied it to a few development series, GP2 and Indy Lights notably, that ran two-race weekends in which one race was determined by the other's finish. Again, finishing eighth in a GP2 race doesn't merit free pole points.

This listing is only the top 15 drivers among three series: Formula One, IndyCar, and NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Top 15

1. Scott Dixon, IndyCar - 28.035

The Iceman cometh at the top of the chart for 2008. Finishing in the top 3 in 13 of 18 races and six poles helped the Kiwi finish in #1.

2. Helio Castroneves, IndyCar - 25.715

The IndyCar Series runner-up is also runner-up here. Although it took him a long time to win some races, Helio had eight second place finishes on the season.

3. Lewis Hamilton, Formula One - 24.722

Hamilton will have to console with just being World Champion, as more parity in F1 held him to third. Like in real life, Hamilton was barely the top F1 guy in these rankings.

4. Felipe Massa, Formula One - 24.306

Massa was barely #2 among Formula One drivers. In fact, going into the Brazilian Grand Prix he was actually ahead of Lewis in the rankings, thanks to more fast laps.

5. Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR - 22.071

While doing the ratings, I've noticed it is very difficult for a NASCAR driver to ascend to the same heights as F1 & IndyCar guys. Jimmie's season has been very solid though and is deserving of a top 5 finish.

6. Kimi Raikkonen, Formula One - 21.444
7. Carl Edwards, NASCAR - 19.863
8. Ryan Briscoe, IndyCar - 19.701
9. Kyle Busch, NASCAR - 19.591
10. Tony Kanaan, IndyCar - 19.181
11. Robert Kubica, Formula One - 16.833
12. Heikki Kovalainen, Formula One - 16.806
13. Dan Wheldon, IndyCar - 16.736
14. Jeff Gordon, NASCAR - 16.063
15. Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR - 15.769

With one race left in the NASCAR season, their drivers are still provisional. I'll be doing a more comprehensive listing soon, after the Homestead race. I also have rankings for feeder series, NHRA, and WRC as part of the need something to do in the offseason activities.