2009 In Review – Driver Classification

[rubbergoat]

This post is the second in a series of posts from my F1 blog called 'Making Up The Numbers', designed to review the 2009 F1 Season by analysing the data from the races. The first was on Fuel Usage Data for the engines and can be found here: http://f1numbers.wordpress.com/2009/12/ ... -fuel-use/

Originally I had planned to review all the driver data in one post, however I realised quite quickly that if I wanted to include all of the data then the post would be too long!

Therefore I have decided to split the posts into byte sized chunks of analyses for ease of reading – which I hope the lovely and learned readers of the blog agree is the right thing to do

The first category I want to look at is Driver Classification – where the driver finished in a Grand Prix. Rather than just look at average points scored, I thought it would be better to look at the average finishing position as it shows consistency in a better way. I will also include average points scored graphs for comparison at the end.

Here is the link to the post: http://f1numbers.wordpress.com/2009/12/ ... ification/

The next posts I will write will be on Qualifying Performance, Fastest Laps and Driver Consistency, finishing off with a weighted scoring for each driver to try and determine who was the best all-round performer.

I hope you enjoyed this post and look out for the next in the series, which will be available soon!


//Gavin Brown (RubberGoat)
http://f1numbers.wordpress.com/

[tc9604]

I find it very interesting indeed, really good work. But if I might offer some feedback...

Perhaps a median average might be more useful than the mean as it would place less emphasis on DNFs which are not always a true reflection of the driver's deserved finishing position. If you're sticking with means then perhaps a box and whisker chart would enable you to incorporate some sense of the drivers' respective consistencies. (EDIT: ah, just seen you've already done this for race lap times)
(also I make Kobayashi to be 5th not 4th as you say)

Here are some really great methods for displaying information graphically, well worth a read some time: http://infosthetics.com/

I'd also love your page width to grow, I like the graphs but I find they're a bit small on most screens.

Good stuff though and please keep it coming. Also please shout if you need another pair of hands in future, I find this stuff fascinating

Tom.

[rubbergoat]

I find it very interesting indeed, really good work. But if I might offer some feedback...

Perhaps a median average might be more useful than the mean as it would place less emphasis on DNFs which are not always a true reflection of the driver's deserved finishing position. If you're sticking with means then perhaps a box and whisker chart would enable you to incorporate some sense of the drivers' respective consistencies. (EDIT: ah, just seen you've already done this for race lap times)
(also I make Kobayashi to be 5th not 4th as you say)

Here are some really great methods for displaying information graphically, well worth a read some time: http://infosthetics.com/

I'd also love your page width to grow, I like the graphs but I find they're a bit small on most screens.

Good stuff though and please keep it coming. Also please shout if you need another pair of hands in future, I find this stuff fascinating

Tom.

Tom,

Thank you very much for your constructive feedback - I have edited the mistake with Koby and checked out the link provided

About the width - at the moment I have chosen to operate my blog on a free wordpress theme, which is sadly quite restrictive. There is always a tradeoff to be made here as the narrow column makes it easier to read, but restricts the size of the graphs. That's why I make all of my graphs available to open in a larger size in a new window - so that if they are hard to read, people can choose to click on them to take a closer look.

This particular post is a bit difficult as there is a lot of information to display - hence the reason why the field was cut in two. I'm always mindful of making these graphs as informative and easy to read as possible, so if you have any other suggestions, please let me know - as I am changing my formats for 2010 after recently upgrading to Excel 2007


//Gavin
http://f1numbers.wordpress.com/