On the face of it, Button is World Champion by a good margin and Lewis Hamilton ended up only on the 5th spot of the drivers' standings. But if you look closer, you will see that the Mclaren driver has more points, poles and podiums than anyone else on the grid in the second half of the season, even though he is tied on wins with Barrichello and Vettel. This happened after the recovery of the MP4-24 which was in shambles in the first half of the season. If he had the same car in the initial 9 races, he could well have challenged Button for the crown! Compare the performances of the top 6 drivers in the second half of 2009 for an interesting perspective to the title result and notice the stark contrast between Button and Hamilton who surprisingly occupy two opposite ends of this table!

Statistics for the second half of the 2009 season from Hungary to Abu Dhabi:

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