World champion moves to the top after stellar season

As the 2010 season dawns, Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button is the world's top-performing driver according to the new Castrol Rankings - the most objective and expansive measurement of driving talent across all disciplines of motorsport.

With a big anniversary coming up in his life this month, you could say that this is an early present from AUTOSPORT and Castrol: happy 30th birthday Jenson - you're the best driver in the world!

The Castrol Rankings have been a long time in planning, and it's possible for you to work out each driver's progress over the past year by tracking their weekly positions from the 2009 season. With the Rankings being calculated over a 12-month rollover period, Button took a long time to climb to the top. On the eve of the 2009 Formula 1 season, he languished in 55th place, thanks to the dismal Honda RA108 with which he was saddled for the '08 campaign.

Button's ranking progress in 2009

The Brawn-Mercedes BGP 001 was light years better, but still Jenson's six wins from the first seven races only enabled him to climb to fifth position in the Castrol Rankings by the middle of June. At this point, 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton and runner-up Felipe Massa were the only F1 drivers above Button in the Castrol Rankings, and the performance of their McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari respectively made it unlikely that they would remain there.

The main reason for the varying form of the F1 drivers was the radical change in the F1 technical regulations, meaning the competitive order was reshuffled more dramatically than any other season in recent memory.

It meant that IndyCar aces Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, who all made bright starts to the 2009 season to continue their strong '08 form, were mixing it with the F1 stars, along with NASCAR superstar Jimmie Johnson. But above them all, at the top of the rankings, was World Rally king Sebastien Loeb.

When Citroen star Loeb took his fourth World Rally Championship win of the season in Portugal in early April, he overhauled the F1 boys to move to the top of the Castrol Rankings, and the Frenchman would hold the advantage all through the summer, into the middle of September.

Some uncharacteristic wobbles from Loeb meant that Button, who had recovered from his own summer scares, finally moved into the lead of the Castrol Rankings after taking second place in September's Italian Grand Prix. Even though he only took one podium finish after that, his consistent points-scoring results were always boosting his total - because his awful late-2008 results were gradually being discarded.

So that's why Button is number one, from Sebastian Vettel (number 16 on the eve of the F1 season), Loeb and Rubens Barrichello (45th before the F1 opener in Australia). And take a look at the leading pair from 12 months ago: Hamilton is now 11th; Felipe Massa, due to his serious injuries in July, down in 88th.

Who knows where they'll all stand in January 2011...