Jenson Button

British · 2000–2017
VS

Nelson Piquet

Brazilian · 1978–1991
Championship record
1
World titles
3
1
Runner-up
1
3
Top-3 finishes
6
P1
Best championship
P1
Career totals
Jenson Button Nelson Piquet
Championships
1
3
Wins
15
23
Poles
8
24
Podiums
50
60
Fastest laps
8
0
Career points
1,235
485.5
Starts
309
205
Rate-adjusted · per start
Jenson Button Nelson Piquet
Win rate
4.9%
11.2%
Podium rate
16.2%
29.3%
Pole rate
2.6%
11.7%
Points / start
4.0
2.4
Avg grid
P10.0
P6.7
Avg finish
P9.7
P9.8
Finish rate
79.6%
61%
Rates reward peak form; totals reward longevity. Avg grid/finish: lower is better.
On-track overtaking
Jenson Button Nelson Piquet
Overtakes
2,746
0
Overtakes / race
9.2
0.0
Places lost
2,334
0
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
Jenson Button Nelson Piquet
Mechanical retirements
37
51
Crash retirements
22
28
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: 4 · 1
Milestones & racecraft
2000
Debut season
1978
2006 · aged 26
First win
1980 · aged 27
2004
First pole
1980
2009 · aged 29
First title
1981 · aged 29
P1
Best finish
P1
+0.3
Avg places gained
-3.1
Season points trajectory
1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2013
Jenson Button Nelson Piquet
Final points each season — scoring systems changed over the eras.
Track by track
Circuit Jenson Button Nelson Piquet
W · Pod · Best W · Pod · Best
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 1 · 3 · P1 3 · 5 · P1
Hungaroring 2 · 2 · P1 2 · 3 · P1
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza 0 · 4 · P2 3 · 4 · P1
Hockenheimring 0 · 3 · P2 3 · 3 · P1
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari 0 · 1 · P2 2 · 4 · P1
Suzuka Circuit 1 · 2 · P1 1 · 1 · P1
Circuit de Monaco 1 · 3 · P1 0 · 3 · P2
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 1 · 3 · P1 0 · 1 · P3
Autódromo José Carlos Pace 1 · 3 · P1 0 · 0 · P5
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya 1 · 2 · P1 0 · 0 · P11
Red Bull Ring 0 · 0 · P4 0 · 4 · P2
Silverstone Circuit 0 · 0 · P4 0 · 2 · P2
Nürburgring 0 · 1 · P3 0 · 1 · P3
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez 0 · 0 · P12 0 · 1 · P2
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours 0 · 0 · P4 0 · 0 · P8
Team history
Jenson Button
MCL
Williams 2000Benetton 2001Renault 2002BAR 2003–2005Honda 2006–2008Brawn 2009McLaren 2010–2017
Nelson Piquet
BRA
McLaren 1978Brabham 1978Ensign 1978Brabham-Ford 1979Brabham-Alfa Romeo 1979Brabham 1980–1985Williams 1986–1987Team Lotus 1988–1989Benetton 1990–1991
19782017
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).