The Pole Trophy elimination alternative championship

[James1978]

1985

Ayrton Senna 9 POR RSM MON CAN DET ITA BEL EUR AUS (3 2nd)
Keke Rosberg 3 FRA GBR NED (6 2nd)
Nigel Mansell 2 AUT RSA (4 2nd)
Michele Alboreto 1 BRA (2 2nd)
Teo Fabi 1 GER (0 2nd)
Stefan Johansson 0 (1 2nd)

Domination again! Senna built an early lead, Williams started to mount a challenge mid-season only for Senna to get another hat-trick in the late European races. Considering Ferrari were 2nd in the constructors championship and having both drivers eligible (save for Arnoux at the first race) they didn't do well at all in qualifying.

But I guess it's good Senna being eliminated this early in proceedings!

[James1978]

1986

Nigel Mansell 12 (2 2nd)
Teo Fabi 2 AUT ITA (0 2nd)
Gerhard Berger 1 BEL (6 2nd)
Keke Rosberg 1 GER (3 2nd)
Michele Alboreto 0 (3 2nd)
Jacques Laffite 0 (1 2nd)
Stefan Johansson 0 (1 2nd)

Haven't listed the races which Mansell got pole at - you can do it by means of elimination.

Could have been really good without him though, though Berger got quite a lot of 2nds at the end of the year so he was the likely winner. Rosberg and Jones join Scheckter as world champions who never won the Pole Trophy - ironic that Rosberg junior has won it without elimination or being champion (well yet anyway....)

[James1978]

1987

Gerhard Berger 9 BEL HUN AUT ITA POR ESP MEX JPN AUS (2 2nd)
Thierry Boutsen 3 DET FRA GBR (7 2nd)
Michele Alboreto 2 MON GER (4 2nd)
Teo Fabi 2 BRA RSM (1 2nd)
Eddie Cheever 0 (2 2nd)

This looked like a great 4 way battle between the Ferrari and Benetton drivers for the first half of the season, but then Berger obliterated the opposition with pole in every race from Hungary to the end of the season! Amazing that Johansson couldn't even get a front row in a McLaren despite no Piquet, Mansell, Senna and Prost, I guess he was never a good qualifier.

I'm actually getting a bit bored with this now with all the one-sided seasons lately........

[James1978]

Thought I'd finish the first turbo era tonight, but it's another one-sided affair I'm afraid....

1988

Michele Alboreto 10 BRA MON MEX CAN DET FRA GBR GER BEL ITA (0 2nd)
Thierry Boutsen 2 HUN ESP (3 2nd)
Ivan Capelli 2 POR JPN (1 2nd)
Alessandro Nannini 1 RSM (4 2nd)
Riccardo Patrese 1 AUS (2 2nd)
Mauricio Gugelmin 0 (2 2nd)
Satoru Nakajima 0 (2 2nd)
Eddie Cheever 0 (1 2nd)
Derek Warwick 0 (1 2nd)

This was a reverse of 1987 - Alboreto got his big lead at mid-season (well it was easy for him really with no McLarens or Berger), but the 2nd half was close with the normally-aspirated teams catching up, however there was no consistent challenger, and Alboreto managed a further couple of poles in Belgium and Italy.

[James1978]

1989

Riccardo Patrese 8 BRA RSM CAN GBR GER HUN ITA JPN (3 2nd)
Pierluigi Martini 3 POR ESP AUS (0 2nd)
Thierry Boutsen 2 MON BEL (6 2nd)
Alessandro Nannini 2 USA FRA (2 2nd)
Ivan Capelli 1 MEX ( 0 2nd)
Martin Brundle 0 (2 2nd)
Mauricio Gugelmin 0 (1 2nd)
Alex Caffi 0 (1 2nd)
Phillipe Alliot 0 (1 2nd)

Sod the winner Patrese........

3 POLES FOR MINARDI AND RUNNER-UP FOR MARTINI!!!! :0

[tommykl]

Why? Because Pirelli, that's why

[Bleu]

I predict it going something like this:
1989 Patrese
1990 Boutsen (might be vice versa with 1989)
1991 Alesi
1992 Schumacher
1993 Hill
1994 Häkkinen
1995 Coulthard
1996 Villeneuve
1997 Frentzen
1998 Irvine
1999 Barrichello
2000 R Schumacher
2001 Montoya
2002 Räikkönen
2003 Alonso
2004 Trulli
2005 Fisichella
2006 Massa
2007 Hamilton
2008 Kubica
2009 Vettel
2010 Webber
2011 Button
2012 Grosjean
2013 Rosberg
2014 Bottas

[James1978]

1990

Thierry Boutsen 9 BRA RSM MEX GBR GER HUN BEL POR JPN (4 2nd)
Jean Alesi 4 MON ITA ESP AUS (7 2nd)
Alessandro Nannini 2 CAN FRA (1 2nd)
Pierluigi Martini 1 USA (0 2nd)
Roberto Moreno 0 (2 2nd)
Andrea De Cesaris 0 (1 2nd)
Ivan Capelli 0 (1 2nd)

There was the unlikeliness of a Martini/De Cesaris front row at Phoenix, before normality took over and a Williams won again.

[James1978]

1991

Jean Alesi 11 USA BRA MEX FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR JPN (4 2nd)
Michael Schumacher 2 ESP AUS (2 2nd)
Stefano Modena 2 RSM MON (1 2nd)
Roberto Moreno 1 CAN (4 2nd)
Mauricio Gugelmin 0 (2 2nd)
Andrea De Cesaris 0 (1 2nd)
Emanuele Pirro 0 (1 2nd)
Pierluigi Martini 0 (1 2nd)

This creates an interesting what if situation - if Boutsen had beaten Alboreto in 1988 (he scored more points but the turbo Ferrari had the advantage in qualifying), then Alesi would have won 1990. Who would have won this? Schumacher despite only competing in the last 7 races!!

As it was it was a rather one sided affair again but you can't complain at Alesi being champion.

[James1978]

1992

Michael Schumacher 15
Martin Brundle 1 POR (7 2nd)
Ivan Capelli 0 (2 2nd)
Mika Hakkinen 0 (2 2nd)
Johnny Herbert 0 (2 2nd)
Karl Wendlinger 0 (1 2nd)
Erik Comas 0 (1 2nd)
Andrea De Cesaris 0 (1 2nd)

Only starting from the back of the grid in Portugal (I can't remember why though) stopped Schumacher getting a clean sweep. I am surprised at the number of times an interloper got in front of Brundle though as the Benetton was easily a better car than any other team which didn't have both drivers eliminated!!

[James1978]

1993

Damon Hill 14 (1 2nd)
Mika Hakkinen 2 POR JPN (1 2nd)
Karl Wendlinger 0 (4 2nd)
Martin Brundle 0 (3 2nd)
JJ Lehto, Michael Andretti, Mark Blundell, Pierluigi Martini, Aguri Suzuki, Johnny Herbert, Derek Warwick all 0 (1 2nd)

I knew this would be another completely one-sided year so wanted to get it out of the way tonight. Hill started from the back of the grid in Portugal and was only genuinely beaten by Hakkinen at Suzuka! The fact that Hakkinen came runner-up only doing 3 races tells you everything about Michael Andretti.........

[James1978]

Try and get a few more of these out before the site goes down.....

1994

Mika Hakkinen 5 PAC MON ESP GBR AUS (1 2nd)
David Coulthard 3 CAN HUN POR (2 2nd)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 3 BRA EUR JPN (0 2nd)
Rubens Barrichello 1 BEL (5 2nd)
JJ Lehto 1 RSM (1 2nd)
Ukyo Katayama 1 GER (1 2nd)
Eddie Irvine 1 FRA (1 2nd)
Johnny Herbert 1 ITA (1 2nd)
Gianni Morbidelli 0 (1 2nd)
Martin Brundle 0 (1 2nd)
Nicola Larini 0 (1 2nd)
Christian Fittipaldi 0 (1 2nd)

After a few years of the winner scoring double-figures number of poles, this year was so fragmented when lots of drivers made cameo appearances but in the end Hakkinen did just enough, though Williams' decision to replace Coulthard with the eliminated Mansell for France and the last three races seems total madness in this content - in all 4 Mansell was well ahead of Hakkinen on the grid, indeed DC was only one pole behind Hakkinen and more 2nds when he had to vacate the seat after Portugal........

[James1978]

1995

David Coulthard 16 (1 2nd)
Johnny Herbert 1 BEL (4 2nd)
Eddie Irvine 0 (7 2nd)
Rubens Barrichello 0 (3 2nd)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 0 (2 2nd)

The most dominant performance yet! DC was only beaten narrowly once by Herbert in a wet-dry session at Spa. But this could have been very interesting had Williams not taken Mansell for some races in '94 - could have been a great fight between Herbert, HHF, the Jordans and the still-in Hakkinen (no I haven't worked it out)

[James1978]

1996

Jacques Villeneuve 14 (1 2nd)
Rubens Barrichello 2 BRA MON (3 2nd)
Eddie Irvine 0 (10 2nd)
Martin Brundle 0 (2 2nd)

Dear Williams, why did you always have the best car during the mid 90s but had such a high driver turnover? They are getting the championship handed to them on a plate.

[James1978]

1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen 9 AUS ARG RSM MON ESP FRA ITA LUX EUR (6 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 2 GER BEL (5 2nd)
Eddie Irvine 2 HUN JPN (3 2nd)
Olivier Panis 1 BRA (2 2nd)
Ralf Schumacher 1 GBR (1 2nd)
Rubens Barrichello 1 CAN (0 2nd)
Jarno Trulli 1 AUT (0 2nd)

Frentzen maybe not as dominant as may have been expected but he never really had a consistent challenger (Panis may have been without his injury mind you).

Hmm, Bleu's predictions are all right so far, this could get very predictable!

[Bleu]

1995

David Coulthard 16 (1 2nd)
Johnny Herbert 1 BEL (4 2nd)
Eddie Irvine 0 (7 2nd)
Rubens Barrichello 0 (3 2nd)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 0 (2 2nd)

The most dominant performance yet! DC was only beaten narrowly once by Herbert in a wet-dry session at Spa. But this could have been very interesting had Williams not taken Mansell for some races in '94 - could have been a great fight between Herbert, HHF, the Jordans and the still-in Hakkinen (no I haven't worked it out)

I took a look and it was Häkkinen 5, Irvine 4, Herbert and Barrichello 3 each, Frentzen 2. Didn't look on tie-breakers. Anyway, Irvine was in a place to equal Häkkinen's tally at Adelaide after Mika was injured on Friday. However, it was Frentzen who took the pole so Häkkinen took the title while laying in the hospital.

[James1978]

Good, at least that means the same drivers were eliminated from 1996 onwards.

Anyway, time to resume this, even though it will clash with the start of the current season now:

1998

Eddie Irvine 9 ARG RSM FRA GBR HUN BEL ITA LUX JPN (2 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 4 ESP MON CAN AUT (4 2nd)
Ralf Schumacher 1 GER (5 2nd)
Alexander Wurz 1 BRA (3 2nd)
Johnny Herbert 1 AUS (1 2nd)
Rubens Barrichello 0 (1 2nd)

Irvine was actually beaten more that I'd have thought up to Germany, indeed it was nip and tuck with Fisichella until mid-season and not until the last few races he pressed home his equipment advantage.

[James1978]

1999

Rubens Barrichello 9 AUS BRA RSM MON ESP CAN FRA GBR AUT (3 2nd)
Ralf Schumacher 2 BEL EUR (3 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 1 HUN (3 2nd)
Olivier Panis 1 JPN (2 2nd)
Johnny Herbert 1 MAL (1 2nd)
Mika Salo 1 GER (0 2nd)
Alex Zanardi 1 ITA (0 2nd)
Jarno Trulli 0 (3 2nd)
Alex Wurz 0 (1 2nd)

What a strange season ! Barrichello got the first 9 poles on the trot to get an unassailable lead, but then once the championship was decided, seemingly gave up and got none of the last 7. He didn't really have any consistent challengers though, but great to see Zanardi grab a pole at his home race!

I thought this was a possible surprise when I worked this out, but had misread Bleu's prediction, I read Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher the other way round (i.e. Ralf for 99, Rubens for 2000 in a Ferrari).

Haven't worked out 2000 yet but no McLarens and Ferraris do make it interesting as the field was REALLY close behind them!

[James1978]

First wrong prediction Bleu!!

2000

Jarno Trulli 7 AUS MON CAN AUT BEL ITA USA (4 2nd)
Ralf Schumacher 5 RSM ESP EUR FRA HUN (4 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 2 BRA GER (3 2nd)
Jenson Button 2 GBR JPN (2 2nd)
Alex Wurz 1 MAL (0 2nd)
Ricardo Zonta 0 (3 2nd)
Pedro De La Rosa 0 (1 2nd)

Surprised anyone? Guess Trulli was a bit of a qualifying specialist but I actually didn't see that one coming. Ralf still had a chance to tie Trulli if he'd got pole in the last 2 races if Trulli had missed both front rows, but his teammate Button beating him in Japan thwarted his chances (especially with Trulli out of it that weekend). Then Wurz beat Ralf in Mayasia and Trulli off the front row again!

Guess having both Williams in for 2001 could make it interesting again mind you.....

[James1978]

2001

Ralf Schumacher 12 AUS MAL BRA RSM ESP MON CAN EUR FRA HUN BEL USA (4 2nd)
Juan Pablo Montoya 4 AUT GER ITA JPN (7 2nd)
Kimi Raikkonen 1 GBR (1 2nd)
Olivier Panis 0 (3 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (1 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld 0 (1 2nd)

I knew Williams would dominate but thought (wrongly) it would be close between the two teammates. JPM had a lot of sessions early in the year when he was way behind Ralf and only really came to terms in the latter part of the year by which time it was too late. Only Raikkonen managed to beat them at Silverstone when both Williams had a bad session.

[James1978]

2002

Juan Pablo Montoya 14 (3 2nd)
Kimi Raikkonen 3 AUS BEL JPN (12 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld 0 (1 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (1 2nd)

God, what a BORING season!

Hopefully single lap qualifying, qualifying with race fuel and grid penalties should mix things up for 2003!

[James1978]

2003

Kimi Raikkonen 8 AUT MON EUR FRA GBR GER ITA USA (2 2nd)
Fernando Alonso 4 MAL ESP CAN HUN (2 2nd)
Mark Webber 2 BRA RSM (2 2nd)
Olivier Panis 1 AUS (4 2nd)
Cristiano Da Matta 1 JPN (1 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld 0 (3 2nd)
Jenson Button 0 (1 2nd)
Marc Gene 0 (1 2nd)

Always expected this, but not as dominant as some recent seasons. Interesting to see 2 poles each for Jaguar and Toyota!!

[Bleu]

Also interesting to note that it took 6th race until Räikkönen got pole. He then failed only three times in the rest of the season.

[James1978]

After San Marino, Webber led. In a Jaguar for god's sake!!

[James1978]

2004

Jenson Button 6 AUS RSM MON CAN GBR CHN (7 2nd)
Takuma Sato 5 BRN ESP EUR USA HUN (4 2nd)
Fernando Alonso 4 FRA GER BEL ITA (4 2nd)
Mark Webber 2 MAL JPN (0 2nd)
Felipe Massa 1 BRA (1 2nd)
Olivier Panis 0 (1 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (1 2nd)

Oh so close to the world ending....well Sato winning. More heroics from Webber in the Jaguar while Massa scores a great home pole....in a Sauber!!

[James1978]

2005

Fernando Alonso 13 MAL BRN RSM MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN ITA BEL BRA CHN (2 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 3 AUS TUR JPN (7 2nd)
Mark Webber 1 ESP (4 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld 1 EUR (1 2nd)
Tiago Monteiro 1 USA (0 2nd)
Takuma Sato 0 (2 2nd)
Christijan Albers 0 (1 2nd)
Felipe Massa 0 (1 2nd)
Christian Klien 0 (1 2nd)

Total domination again. The only bone of contention was what to do about the Indy farce, and thought I'd have to give it to someone who actually lined up on the grid proper.......

[James1978]

2006

Felipe Massa 11 BRN RSM EUR GBR USA FRA GER HUN TUR JPN BRA (2 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 4 MAL ESP CAN CHN (8 2nd)
Mark Webber 2 AUS MON (2 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld 1 ITA (1 2nd)
Nico Rosberg 0 (3 2nd)
Pedro De La Rosa 0 (2 2nd)

In points this was usually really close between the lead two teams' 2nd drivers but Massa dominated in qualifying. Webber did wonders to get a couple of poles in the awful Williams, while everyone's favourite slightly boring driver did wonders to upset Massa at Ferrari's home race of all places!

Hmm....wonder who'll win 2007??

[James1978]

2007

Lewis Hamilton 15 (all of them bar below) (1 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld 2 AUS EUR (7 2nd)
Robert Kubica 0 (5 2nd)
Mark Webber 0 (2 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (1 2nd)
Nico Rosberg 0 (1 2nd)

What a surprise (not). But I was surprised Heidfeld genuinely beat Hamilton in Australia!

[James1978]

2008

Robert Kubica 9 AUS MAL BRN ESP MON CAN FRA EUR SIN (4 2nd)
Heikki Kovalainen 8 TUR GBR GER HUN BEL JPN CHN BRA (6 2nd)
Sebastian Vettel 1 ITA (2 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld/Nico Rosberg/Mark Webber all 0 (2 2nd)

Controversy here as there were 3 occasions that Kovalainen was faster than Kubica in qualifying (which would have been poles after eliminations) but started behind him on the grid due to penalties (Malaysia, France) and starting from the pitlane in Monaco. This is the first time such a thing has resulted in being decisive in who was champion!

(Though having flicked through 2009 and 2010 it doesn't look to change any champions going forward and after that Kubica doesn't compete).

[James1978]

2009

Sebastian Vettel 10 AUS CHN ESP MON TUR GBR HUN SIN JPN ABU (3 2nd)
Mark Webber 2 GER BRA (6 2nd)
Timo Glock 2 MAL BRN (0 2nd)
Heikki Kovalainen 1 EUR (1 2nd)
Adrian Sutil 1 ITA (1 2nd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 1 BEL (0 2nd)
Nico Rosberg 0 (4 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld 0 (2 2nd)

Not good for a #2 driver.......

But two poles for Toyota and two for Force India!

[James1978]

2010

Mark Webber 16 (all but listed below) (3 2nd)
Nico Rosberg 1 BRN (14 2nd)
Nico Hulkenberg 1 BRA (1 2nd)
Vitantonio Liuzzi 1 CAN (0 2nd)
Adrian Sutil 0 (1 2nd)

Boring season but maybe having no Red Bulls, McLarens or Ferraris for 2011 makes that a bit more interesting....though Rosberg did get 14 2nds here.

[James1978]

2011

Nico Rosberg 13 CHN TUR MON CAN EUR GER HUN BEL SIN KOR IND ABU BRA (3 2nd)
Vitaly Petrov 3 AUS ESP ITA (3 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld 1 MAL (2 2nd)
Paul Di Resta 1 GBR (0 2nd)
Kamui Kobayashi 1 JPN (0 2nd)
Adrian Sutil 0 (6 2nd)
Pastor Maldonado 0 (2 2nd)
Jaime Alguersuari 0 (2 2nd)
Bruno Senna 0 (1 2nd)

Oh god it was really dominant after all! But nice touch that the only times Di Resta and Kobayashi registered a pole was their respective home races.

[Bleu]

2012 might be interesting with Maldonado, Grosjean, Sauber and FI duos.

[James1978]

2012

Romain Grosjean 6 AUS MAL MON CAN HUN KOR (7 2nd)
Pastor Maldonado 5 ESP EUR GBR SIN ABU (4 2nd)
Kamui Kobayashi 4 CHN BEL ITA JPN (0 2nd)
Nico Hulkenberg 3 GER USA BRA (2 2nd)
Sergio Perez 1 IND (3 2nd)
Daniel Ricciardo 1 BRN (0 2nd)
Paul Di Resta 0 (4 2nd)

This WAS a good one, and Grosjean did just enough in the end. Though I've not really checked, but grid penalties MAY have cost The Rev the Championship.

[James1978]

2013

Nico Hulkenberg 6 ITA KOR JPN IND ABU USA (3 2nd)
Daniel Ricciardo 6 CHN GBR GER HUN SIN BRA (1 2nd)
Paul Di Resta 3 AUS BRN BEL (1 2nd)
Sergio Perez 2 ESP MON (6 2nd)
Adrian Sutil 1 MAL (4 2nd)
Valtteri Bottas 1 CAN (0 2nd)
Esteban Gutierrez 0 (2 2nd)
Jean-Eric Vergne 0 (2 2nd)

This was a really good one, and I was kept guessing all the way as to who would be champion. Most of the early running was done by Force India, and Perez in the McLaren (on paper you'd have expected him to have won in a McLaren even in a poor year for that team), then after a shock pole in Canada for Bottas, Ricciardo had a great mid-season run to establish a good lead by the end of the European season, and it looked like he would eliminate himself before even going to Red Bull. But then Hulkenberg came on really strong in the late season flyaways, and had it sewn up after Austin - not even pole in Brazil could help Ricciardo as he was behind on 2nd places.

(The Hulk's DNS in Australia also denied him an extra 2nd).

[James1978]

2014

Valtteri Bottas 11 BRN CAN AUT GER HUN ITA JPN RUS USA BRA ABU (4 2nd)
Daniel Ricciardo 7 AUS MAL CHN ESP MON BEL SIN (5 2nd)
Kevin Magnussen 1 GBR (5 2nd)
Sergio Perez 0 (2 2nd)
Daniil Kvyat 0 (2 2nd)
Jean-Eric Vergne 0 (1 2nd)

Another good two way scrap until Bottas got his own way in the latter part of the season......

[James1978]

To bring it completely up to date:

2015 (after 4 races)

Daniel Ricciardo 4 AUS MAL CHN BRN
Carlos Sainz 0 (2 2nd)
Daniil Kvyat 0 (1 2nd)
Felipe Nasr 0 (1 2nd)

Despite Red Bull struggling, Ricciardo has a clean sweep so far. Watch this space though I won't be updating after every race like some do.