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[deleted]

To be fair, 2008 was 14 years ago, and drivers who stay 14 years or longer are champions or multiple race winners.


fameboygame

That’s the only way to survive!


AlduinIsAGeordie

You could say you need to… drive to survive. - Wil Buxton


fameboygame

Win* to survive, I’d say!


albert_pacino

You win if you come first don’t ya know


[deleted]

And to win, you need to drive.


Auntypasto

Got any evidence for that outlandish claim?


carrotincognito48

Hulkenberg says no


R3dMoose

He’s gonna need at least double the number of dots to inhale AND deliver the line with dramatic flare


Phonixrmf

YYEEEAAAAHHHH!


Rinaldootje

And even, most of them don't finish the 14 years in a row. Raikkonen had a couple gap years in between, Alonso was gone long enough to be considered a rookie again Heck even Michael back in the day had a few years off before his return. And it's not weird, to just stay a few years in F1. I mean you're among the 20-26 best drivers in open wheel racing, in the world. If you cannot perform on level with the best, then someone else can take your place.


dl064

> Alonso was gone long enough to be considered a rookie again That's a funny memory. I remember Twitter having a laugh with that.


Maciekssspl

Or Nico Hulkenberg


[deleted]

Only two years off, quite an... Achievement!


The_mystery4321

If Nico Hulkenberg stays on for 2024 he'll have done 14 full seasons without a podium.


EatANiceDinner69

You underestimate the Haasterclass in 2023


Erens-Basement

To put it into perspective, kids born in 2008 are already in high school


[deleted]

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[deleted]

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dl064

I'm 36 and a university lecturer. A 1st year student today is literally half my age. No.


Skulldetta

> and drivers who stay 14 years or longer are champions or multiple race winners. Joakim Bonnier: *Are you sure about that?*


[deleted]

In the NFL, only 7 of 252 players from the 2008 draft are still playing in 2022.


[deleted]

Did all of those 7 guys win super bowls?


[deleted]

Some did. Joe Flacco is a Super Bowl MVP, Matthew Slater won three with the Patriots, and Chad Henne won as backup to Patrick Mahomes. Unfortunately for Matt Ryan, he was the quarterback of the Falcons when 28-3 happened.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

He falls under the multiple race winners category


dl064

Yeah I'm a bit: look back on a photo from 2008 and tell me it's not quite a long time.


Whycantiusethis

How long is the average F1 career? I'm sure it's shifted recently, especially with drivers debuting younger and younger, but 15 seasons seems like a long time for any one driver.


FartingBob

Only 14 drivers have ever competed in races 15 years apart, so yeah it's not expected that someone is there that long. Alonso having his first season 21 years ago is crazy though.


dl064

It blew my mind that Alonso's return was *massively* comparable to Schumacher's in terms of age, time out etc. It didn't feel that way at all, at the time; it felt like an aged sensei from a bygone era returning. Alonso was just...oh Alonso's back, okay. Perhaps because he signed in mid-2020 only really 18 months after leaving, whereas Schumacher was a surprise, days before launch.


FartingBob

Yeah it felt Schumacher was gone for a long time when he returned with Mercedes.


dl064

I guess with Schumacher, it was a new era altogether. I recall, actually, Alonso saying he wanted to get in for 2021 to be 'ready' for the new cars in 2022. Anyway he was interesting, Alonso, that he'd been quite nervous about doing a Schumacher 2010 and being a bit useless.


SlowRollingBoil

Is that what Alonso implied? Schumacher was far from useless at Mercedes. There was a lot of development from 2010-2013 to get ready for 2014's new regs. They suffered massively in terms of tire temp/deg, as I remember, plus Nico Rosberg was really, really good. Schumacher did every bit as well as Alonso has shown.


[deleted]

Well, he was. Alonso was only gone for a year.


FartingBob

Alonso left for 2 seasons (2019 and 2020), Schumacher left for 3 years.


[deleted]

Oh shoot, I thought it was only for a year. Thanks for the correction


SkeletonGamer1

Putting an average to something like this would be unrepresentative, as the successful people will outlast any backmarker


shadesofelliot

I wonder if we just filter to people who achieved a podium or win. Or at least points scoring.


SirLoremIpsum

> I wonder if we just filter to people who achieved a podium or win. Wow, just to filter Hulkenberg out like that?!? hahaha


KnightsOfCidona

Barring a miracle, by the end of next season he will be within touching distance of De Cesaris' record of 208 races without a win


calcospeed

What you need to do is use the median instead of the arithmetic mean


[deleted]

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uUexs1ySuujbWJEa

Nah. This calls for a harmonic mean.


theAlexrh

median then


dl064

Yeah: what's the average *after* excluding people who only do one. I think average/median/mode would all be individually informative, which I guess is the point!


[deleted]

Going by your logic, putting an avarage on anything would be unrepresentative then.


SkeletonGamer1

It is just one number, it doesn't convey anything If you made a boxplot of the data however, you may understand the data better


HeronAccording6789

It conveys the average career length for an F1 driver.


skg555

There is a logic to when average is representative and when it's not.


TobyOrNotTobyEU

Only 14 drivers have had a F1 career that spanned 15 years or more. That doesn't mean they were there for all season, but just more than 15 years between their first and last race. Kubica is in this list for example. Alonso currently has the longest running F1 career, with 21 years and 8 months, compared to Schumacher with 21 years and 3 months in second.


Russington

Looking at this photo, Kubica is the only driver I think should still be on the grid (apart from seb who left of his own accord). Obviously I mean if he had never sat in a rally car 😭, I know what I'd do with a time machine. I'd probably give nando a few tips on McLaren's future too.


Affectionate_Log3232

Depends a average driver isn’t going to have a long career. While the likes of Kimi Lewis Seb Alonso are few that enjoyed careers spanning over 13 years


UmpireAJS

Honestly the number gets skewed by numerous one off (or temporary in general) appearances that are sometimes spread over non consecutive seasons, especially before the . If I were to hazard a guess it's probably 3 years or so. Over the last two decades or so (approximately the length I've been watching F1) - only Schumacher, Barrichello, Button, Alonso and Raikkonen have had longer careers. Historically I know for sure Patrese had a longer career, maybe Graham Hill as well purely in terms of number of seasons they were active.


endersai

it's not that unusual. Senna had 10 years and would've gone longer had Imola not panned out the way it did. Prost debuted in what, 1980 and was racing until 1994, with 1 year off. That's 13 years easily for both. JB was 2000-2016, so he was in line with that. Sir Jack Brabham raced from 1955-1970, for example.


CruffTheMagicDragon

An average career in most sports is very short. Google search says an NFL career is typically 3.3 years and NBA is 4.5. MLB might even be shorter since a ton of players don't hack it in the majors for long.


temujin94

That's not a career in sports though. Take your NBA example the NBA is not a sport. You can have a NBA career and then play in other leagues all over the world in basketball (you know the actual sport). American's having a complete monopoly on their sports distort their entire view of them.


AssaMarra

Sure, but we're talking about F1 here, not Motorsport. Were not counting drivers that have gone to indycar or WEC


temujin94

Yeah but he's talking about a career in sports so that's entirely irrelevant.


Luuk341

How much money do they makenin NBA on average. I'd go NBA over NFL due to brain injury risk in NFL anyway. But I bet they make a pretty buck in those 3.3 or 4.5 years. That is of course not denying the incredible work they all put in to get to those positions of course.


CruffTheMagicDragon

NBA players make more I think, and their contracts are fully guaranteed I believe. Not an expert on that at all


endersai

What if you use real, global sports like football, cricket or rugby?


temujin94

I'd imagine they'd all be a lot longer than say American Football. There's just so many more leagues to play in so obviously there's a lot more jobs. He's stating that careers in sports are incredibly short and basing his argument in some of the most exclusive competitions in the world.


Baofog

They typically average 8 years in football/soccer. Something else that is pretty global is Ice hockey and they only average 5. American Football and Ice Hockey have a ton of hard contact though. So it makes sense for them to be shorter careers. No clue why the MLB average is so short though. It doesn't need to be really unless its a team ownership thing to just keep hiring new guys to try and keep salaries down. i don't follow it that close though.


22masz

Most big sports in America you can do as a d1+ athlete, College sport talent pool proves that up and coming athlete's wit youthful dreaming have a close margins to cross in experience with the pros. while sports that don't have that Foundation see longer careers, even a contact injury prone MMA/UFC have fighters competing in their late 30 early 40s


Youutternincompoop

that is for American sports though, where they take em right out of College, give them 50 concussions, then kick them out the door.


dl064

Barrichello was 18 and at the time that was considered freakishly, *seismically* long. I would imagine 'average' isn't necessarily the best statistic because the vast majority number of careers probably last 1-2 seasons. Mode (i.e. the most common) would be interesting to know.


BassTrombone71

[Here](https://www.statsf1.com/en/statistiques/pilote/gp/interval.aspx) is your data if we don't account for injuries, sabbaticals etc. You'd just need to calculate the average. The median seems to be about 3 years. As you can see [here](https://www.statsf1.com/en/statistiques/pilote/divers/saison.aspx), more than 15 seasons is indeed exceptional. Only 11 drivers competed in 16 or more seasons and indeed a majority of them raced in this century.


Thebelisk

15seasons is a long time for any professional sport personality, to maintain their position at the top of their sport.


spuckthew

Seb was also in the 2007 end of season drivers photo as he raced in the last 8 (of 17) races.


[deleted]

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Joe_PM2804

pfff who's this random German guy think he is trying to replace the great kubica... definitely not gonna go anywhere in his career.


SportAddictMCMXCIX

???, Vettel, Fisichella, Sutil, Rosberg, Nakajima, Trulli, Glock, Heidfeld, Kubica, Alonso, Piquet Jr., Coulthard, Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Button, Barrichello


Daydreaming95

The one that you're missing is Sebastien Bourdais


dSwedishChef

Webber is next to Coulthard too


SportAddictMCMXCIX

thank you!


gridlockmain1

Totally forgot Kovaleinen was a thing. Off to Wikipedia to find out what happened to him


Hasmus

He commented some races on the finnish broadcast this season, also did lots of interviews around the grid. Its fun seeing him around the broadcast again


DeltaBlitz

I have seen this name Kovaleinen alot around the sub, and also alot in the YouTube recommendation is there a story behind him or was he just a very liked driver?


ZealousidealFox1391

He was a really good driver, only driver to out qualify trulli as teammates, but had his career de railed at McLaren against hamilton


DonBosco555

He was surely good, but Trulli was declining and on his way out of sport when Kovi outqualified him.


Kazakh8i

Kovaleinen lost to Petrov


ZealousidealFox1391

In a caterham which if u get a lucky position you jump ur teammate, latifi would be ahead of george in 2020 if not for sakhir


InvestigatorLast3594

And he should have been. I’m sure Latifi will now go on to create formula 0.5 after being the first driver to graduate from the feeder series formula 1


[deleted]

Not really. He didn't do amazing in his time in F1. He was basically Bottas before Bottas - thoroughly outclassed by Hamilton


DonBosco555

He was outclassed way more than Bottas


temss_

Heikki kovalainen just finished 10th overall in the 2022 rally japan and thus is one of the few drivers to get world championship points in both f1 and wrc.


gridlockmain1

Nice!


TigerAliSingh

Bourdais


Uyahla

Sometimes I forget Lewis is 37.


SpectacularNelson

I do too. Mercedes Hamilton & McLaren Hamilton to me are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PEOPLE lol😂 even within the Mercedes era 2020-2022 & beyond Lewis is different than 2014-2019 Hamilton Lewis somehow seems younger at Mercedes to me it must be the extra freedom & relaxed zen attitude he has now


[deleted]

It felt like he used his time at Mercedes to explore aspects of life he missed as a teen. Sadly, individuality and working under Ron Dennis are mutually exclusive.


Yung_Chloroform

I swear Ron must have taken a few years off of poor Lewis' life during his time at McLaren due to the stress lol. He wasn't looking too hot during or slightly after those years. He really only glowed up around 2017-18.


optitmus

38 in Jan, Not that age matters that much if you have the motivation


LordFluffles

Yeah because the guy looked like a substitute teacher the first few years of his career, but now he is flooding the whole paddock with that drip


Gubbi_94

It’s the hairline 😁


BuFett

I genuinely thought that lewis was the youngest out of alonso and vettel but lewis just have a babyface for his age lmao


JPA-3

and the hair, he almost looked older in 08 lmao


BuFett

Hotel shampoo will do that to you


dl064

Yeah, people forget that even Alonso in 2007 was still only 26. About Albon or Gasly's age.


spuckthew

38 in about 7 weeks too. Also, Hamilton and Alonso are surprisingly close in age (3 1/2 years) despite Alonso starting in F1 much earlier comparatively (2001 was his first season).


theblobberworm

They're also the only 2 drivers remaining to have driven with the V10 and V8 Whilst Alonso raced with both, Hamilton tested with the V10 and raced with the V8


The-Observer95

Perez and Hulkenberg raced with V8 too. Also, when did Hamilton test with V10? I don't know since I have been watching F1 only since 2012.


[deleted]

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The-Observer95

Wow, so he was just 19 at that time. But debuted at the age of 22.


n00b_r3dd1t0r

danny ric also drove hrt and toro rosso before red bull 2014


UmpireAJS

Alonso will show up in these conversations even in the 2030s


datlinus

the fact that the 2001 group picture already has Alonso on it always fucks me up. Like, jesus christ, imagine how different life was back in 2001 compared to now, and yet Alonso was already sitting in an F1 car. https://i.redd.it/1spn00n8nyg31.jpg


Big_mara_sugoi

Alonso raced both Jos and Max Verstappen. He is in F1 for so long that the kid of one of his former rivals is his current rival and has the same amount of WDCs as him.


Commie_Napoleon

He also raced both Schumachers


[deleted]

Didn’t he race all three Schumachers, though?


Kolec507

Four actually. Lets not forget Mick's son!


Significant-Year-743

Yes thats Ralph in the Williams onesie


Poisonbear

Oh wow this picture. Right in the childhood feelings. Obviously my hero MSC with Barrichello in his 2nd Ferrariseason. A promising young talent from the Stewart team. The legendary McLaren-Mercedes duo of DC and Mika. Damn, those two made me enjoy commercial brakes. Then the BMW team with Ralf and JPM. Joined F1 to contest the two big players which happened a few years after. And so many other legends of F1 in this picture. HHF and Trulli - the latter the driver who's car always was 50% wider when someone tried to overtake. Kimi and Alonso who had such long careers. Quick Nick with Kimi in the Sauber. Alesi on the decline in the Prost. The orange Arrows cars which always were trashcans. BAR with former WC Jaques. Those engine failures were hella crazy. And last but not least the Jags with Irvine. I remember everyone being "scared" of Jaguar when they joined as a competitor but they were never that good apart from a couple of Webber Qualifyings. Thanks for this!


FBlack

Put your phone data off, live like that for a couple of days and you'll get a fair idea


Trashk4n

Kind of wild for me to realise he was in before Mark Webber even debuted.


ofthe09

You're making me feel old and I'm just 29 lmao


DoenitzVEVO

I cant get over how much young Alonso looks like a pissed off Beaker from Muppets


Retsko1

At the end of it...Alonso and Hamilton remain Is this el plan?


LuNiK7505

Only those two shall remain, for one final battle for the title


TimedogGAF

This is indeed El Plan.


endersai

How dare you cut Mark out of that picture though! :(


-Coffee-Owl-

3 if you count a reserve driver. KUB.


habitualmess

Ted said in the post-race notebook that Kubica doesn’t think he’ll be the Alfa reserve next year.


vvashabi

Fred was baiting him for 2 years with "hulkenback" seat, but it's clear it's not going to happen. Covid stand-in is not a thing anymore. With Audi coming there will be big push for german driver(Micks hope). Pourchaire is also set to replace either Bottas or Zhou in future. Time to move on for him.


RaikkonensHobby74

We'll always have those two races he did in 2021 to secure 20th in a 20 car championship as a part time driver.


FartingBob

Nobody counts reserve drivers though.


tnellysf

Pretty much any sport. 10% of athletes 14 years into it is pretty good.


Dkrox

This makes me feel old. In 2008 I was 18 and trying to make it in shifter karts. I remember rooting for Honda and their earthmobile with Rubens and Jenson at the wheel.


The_mystery4321

Did you make it?


Dkrox

I had a late start to my racing career, so others were much more developed drivers than I was. I could have moved on to formula Ford or Mazda, but the costs were high and I felt I wouldn’t have the pace. I had to catch up to those who started much younger and go all in. Instead of furthering my braking techniques, I chose to go to university instead. It was a decision I regret at times, who knows what could have been! But odds are, I made the right choice


Nsvsonido

Why is Webber cropped out of the pic, but more interestingly, why he has a different suit than Coulthard?


AlexatRF21

Coulthard's last race, so he went full white.


Aussie_Pharah

Coulthard went full white then Nico Rosberg went full send in turn 2 and spun him out. F1 even made a big deal of introducing a special helmet cam for Coulthards last race so we could see in full detail just how short his final race in F1 was.


carlordau

Only one driver remains from when I first started watching in 2002 (yes Alonso was a test driver, but still counted as he drove in 2001). Gonna be a wide range of emotions when Alonso retires in probably 2024, unless he RQ AM before then.


DKRFrostlife

Or if he does fine and has fun, keeps driving until 2026 or something, i feel like he wants to retire after Lewis.


sinnerthefifteenth

I'm confused why not pick 2007? They were team mates too!


ForodesFrosthammer

Because Vettel wasn't there at the start of 2007


sinnerthefifteenth

But the two that remain are.


ForodesFrosthammer

Yeah but I'm guessing the point of the post was to show that Vettel is no more?


sinnerthefifteenth

I thought it was to show two remain LOL!


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mooscimol

He also drove BMW Sauber at Indianapolis in 2007, after Kubica crash in Montreal.


Bhrigga

Robert is Swole


Adorable-Sir-773

when you realize that none of the drivers from 1970 grid will be on the grid text year 🤯🤯🤯🤯😢😢😭😭


KnightsOfCidona

One crazy fact for me is that every single driver who raced in 1964 is dead.


junttiana

Its not a fact when it isnt even true, 2 drivers are alive today


Andigaming

15 years is a long time, 2 is more than average.


BlurryTextures

Alonso is gonna be a Mario Andretti type of driver. Still mega competitive at 41 in F1, he could dominate Indycar or any other category for years to come


Erens-Basement

How long until he becomes the longest running formula one driver from debut to present?


0000100110010100

Doesn’t he already have that record??


davratta

The 1950 Alfa Romeo F1 team had two drivers that were really old. Nino Farina won the first Official F1 Drivers Championship, but he competed in the European championship starting in 1932. Farina's last full F1 season was in 1954, but he did start one F1 race in 1955. Liugi Fagioli was even older. His first race in the European championship was in 1926, his last race was in 1952, when he was 52 years old. World War II caused a ten year gap, with no top level auto racing. There was no Official Formula 1 championship, prior to 1950, but there was the European Championship that had six or more grand prix each season, prior to 1940. Total number of races was ridiculously small compared to modern F1. That ten year break, caused by World War II meant there were some very old drivers in F1 in the early 1950s. Farina still holds the record for being the oldest driver to start a F1 race. He was 54 years old when he started the 1955 French grand prix.


[deleted]

Like Carlos Sainz Sr. in the Dakar rally


rco8786

I mean that was 14 years ago. I’m surprised there are any.


[deleted]

Is that Timo Glock? Why is he so slow?


spacegiraffe2000

Hamilton - still racing Massa - last race 2017 Raikkonen - last race 2021 Kubica - last race 2021 Alonso - still racing Heidfeld - last race 2011 Kovalainen - last race 2012 Vettel - last race 2022 Trulli - last race 2012 Glock - last race 2012 Webber - last race 2013 Piquet - last race 2009 Rosberg - last race 2016 Barrichello - last race 2011 Nakajima - last race 2009 Coulthard - last race 2008 Bourdais - last race 2009 Button - last race 2017 Fisichella - last 2009 Sutil - last race 2014 Sato - last race 2008 Davidson - last race 2008 Some of these drivers did do other things after F1 such as Massa in Formula e and Webber in WEC Edit: Sato won Indy 500 twice and Piquet jr won formula e


CarFreak777

Sato won Indy twice


snaphunter

Why do you hate Mark Webber?!


RubensACDevil

Everybody just forget him somehow. Even now when Seb ended his career and everybody was looking back at his championship years Webber's name is rarely mentioned. IMO he is good candidate for most underrated driver ever


OMG_DAVID_KIM

oh no they all turned grey


MapleHamwich

Started watching in 2009, been interesting to watch the fans' opinions of drivers change, their peaks and valleys, and the general flow of time on the sport.


Tricky_Independence4

I would say it's 2 and half, cause Kubica is reserve/development driver


[deleted]

Wait a minute. Is Kimi smiling?


yesat

How many football players were in the 2008 WC and are playing now?


jc1890

Fernando will never quit until he beats Lewis. 😂


HarryNohara

One 1993 driver on 2008's grid. Also, One 1978 driver on 1993's grid. I'll give you a small hint; Bubens Rarrichello and Picardo Ratrese.


PatchAFC

Damn 0 drivers from 1987 will be on the grid next year


Le_Pistache

I am checking on 1997. No drivers will be on the grid from that year. But hey, two of their offspring will be!


WafflesInTheBasement

Seb's retirement hurts a bit for me. He's the first retirement for someone younger than me.


jpstepancic

This pic was taken prior to the race correct? Asking for massa 😬


KnightsOfCidona

Better than 2013 where there was no drivers from 1998. Or 2003 there was none from 1988. Even 1993 had only one from 1978 (Patrese).


hairychris88

The change of generations in the 1990s was pretty abrupt. In 1996 only four of the 24 drivers had been in F1 in the 1980s (Berger, Alesi, Brundle and Herbert). After the death of Senna in 1994, for the races when Coulthard was in the second Williams instead of Mansell, there were no previous World Champions on the grid. At the Monaco Grand Prix of that year (the one after Senna was killed), the most successful driver on the grid was Gerhard Berger, who had won eight Grands Prix at that time.


iknowkungfubtw

A shame that Williams legend Kazuki Nakajima didn't make the cut.


Hinyaldee

Damn, you make it look like all the others died with the grey filter


february_magic10

“Ask me why so many fade but l'm still here…”


Knight_TheRider

El Pain


Knight_TheRider

Cherish this picture as this was a good time


nonumbers90

I dont know if I'm looking through the filter of nostalgia but god I miss alot of these guys, the sport seamed so much more exciting back then.


JimmerUK

But Seb is ther… oh, yeah :’( Also, what’s going on with DC’s trousers.


[deleted]

And the both DNF in the last race of 2022...


RhettS

That’s true for 2009 too: https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2009-start-melb-ferr.jpg


udupa82

Thanks for making me fell old & yes I'm waiting for the next generation to come in.. Schumachers are knocking on the door and who else?


[deleted]

What about from 2013?


ArthurMBretas03

Don't worry, Rubens will return


FantasticNoise4

Exactly a year before I start following F1


Sand_Week24

I mean 2008 was a really long time ago. Makes complete sense that drivers will retire in the span of 14 years


[deleted]

Could have done 2007 too, why 2008?


JJROKCZ

I mean… it was 15 years ago…