James Hunt

British · 1973–1979
VS

Jenson Button

British · 2000–2017
Championship record
1
World titles
1
0
Runner-up
1
1
Top-3 finishes
3
P1
Best championship
P1
Career totals
James Hunt Jenson Button
Championships
1
1
Wins
10
15
Poles
14
8
Podiums
23
50
Fastest laps
0
8
Career points
179
1,235
Starts
93
309
Rate-adjusted · per start
James Hunt Jenson Button
Win rate
10.8%
4.9%
Podium rate
24.7%
16.2%
Pole rate
15.1%
2.6%
Points / start
1.9
4.0
Avg grid
P7.0
P10.0
Avg finish
P11.5
P9.7
Finish rate
52.7%
79.6%
Rates reward peak form; totals reward longevity. Avg grid/finish: lower is better.
On-track overtaking
James Hunt Jenson Button
Overtakes
0
2,746
Overtakes / race
0.0
9.2
Places lost
0
2,334
Sum of lap-by-lap positions gained on track — start lap and own pit laps excluded. Only races with lap data count, so the per-race figure is the fair comparison across eras.
Why they retired
James Hunt Jenson Button
Mechanical retirements
25
37
Crash retirements
18
22
Classified from the finishing status. Mechanical covers car failures, crash covers accidents, collisions and damage — fewer is better on both. Retirements with an unclear cause: 1 · 4
Milestones & racecraft
1973
Debut season
2000
1975 · aged 27
First win
2006 · aged 26
1976
First pole
2004
1976 · aged 29
First title
2009 · aged 29
P1
Best finish
P1
-4.4
Avg places gained
+0.3
Season points trajectory
1973 1979 1985 1991 1997 2003 2009 2015
James Hunt Jenson Button
Final points each season — scoring systems changed over the eras.
Track by track
Circuit James Hunt Jenson Button
W · Pod · Best W · Pod · Best
Autódromo José Carlos Pace 0 · 1 · P2 1 · 3 · P1
Circuit de Monaco 0 · 0 · P9 1 · 3 · P1
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 0 · 0 · — 1 · 3 · P1
Nürburgring 1 · 1 · P1 0 · 1 · P3
Fuji Speedway 1 · 2 · P1 0 · 0 · P11
Silverstone Circuit 1 · 1 · P1 0 · 0 · P4
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza 0 · 0 · P5 0 · 4 · P2
Hockenheimring 0 · 0 · — 0 · 3 · P2
Red Bull Ring 0 · 2 · P2 0 · 0 · P4
Team history
James Hunt
March 1973–1974Hesketh 1974–1975McLaren 1976–1978Wolf 1979
Jenson Button
MCL
Williams 2000Benetton 2001Renault 2002BAR 2003–2005Honda 2006–2008Brawn 2009McLaren 2010–2017
19732017
Basis

Head-to-head counts races where both drivers were classified, compared by final position (post-penalty). Teammate section counts only seasons in the same car. Career totals mirror the source data. Data: Jolpica-F1 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).