Some seasons are dominated by one driver and become monotonous in the sense of the winner of every GP is very predictable. Even two dominant drivers (example: Prost-Senna) can be monotonous in this respect.
Other seasons are very entertaining because there are a lot of race winners, making unpredictable the outcome of future races.
So, I have tried to make a sort of "Contenders Index" showing how many race contenders there is regularly in a given season. In fact, I am sorry to say, I have done two Index, brightly named CIX1 and CIX2. A CIX values of 3, for example, would mean there are about 3 regular contenders for race wins. It is the equivalent to have three drivers who wins all the races, in the same proportion.
The minimum value is CIX = 1, and it means the terrible scenario where one driver wins every race. Maximum value is N = number of drivers competing in the season. LOL, this maximum value is just a theoretical possibility!
I have done the calculations for the last decade:
Year | WC | CIX1 | CIX2 | NW | Wins |
2011 | VET | 2.68m | 3.35m | 5 | 11,3,3,1,1 |
2010 | VET | 4.16p | 4.75 | 5 | 5,5,4,3,2 |
2009 | BUT | 4.18p | 5.10p | 6 | 6,4,2,2,2,1 |
2008 | HAM | 4.33p | 5.43p | 7 | 6,5,2,2,1,1,1 |
2007 | RAI | 3.47 | 3.88 | 4 | 6,4,4,3 |
2006 | ALO | 3.00 | 3.67 | 5 | 7,7,2,1,1 |
2005 | ALO | 3.11 | 3.81 | 5 | 7,7,3,1,1 |
2004 | SCH | 2.22m | 2.61m | 5 | 13,2,1,1,1 |
2003 | SCH | 5.25p | 6.30p | 8 | 6,2,2,2,1,1,1,1 |
2002 | SCH | 2.06m | 2.60m | 4 | 11,4,1,1 |
CIX1 = Index based in statistical properties.
CIX2 = Index based in entropy.
NW = Numbers of winners in the season.
Wins = Number of wins of each winner, in the season.
I have added "m" or "p" to some CIXs, "m" means a "monotonous" season and "p" a "plural" season. Those adjectives have been chosen according to CIX values, in a way more or less reasonable:
CIX1 < 3 : monotonous
CIX1 > 4 : plural
CIX2 < 3.5 : monotonous
CIX2 > 5 : plural
Monotonous seasons: 2002, 2004 and 2011 (in this decreasing order)
Plural season: 2003, 2008 and 2009 and perhaps 2010 (decreasing order)
2003 was the season with Williams's Montoya and Ralf getting very good results and having 8 race winners!
2008 was the Hamilton title and 2009 was the Button-Brawn season.
The simple "number of winners in a season" is not enough to characterize a season. For example, 2007 was the season with less winners (4), but those 4 drivers fought equally for race wins, however 2004 and 2011 had 5 race winners but were very monotonous because the dominant driver won a big part of races.
This season is heading in a good direction in this respect. Let's hope we will see a classic drama with many first actors.