[Race] Team Mate Battles - British GP

[ottostreet]

To read this article in full with pictures, this is an external link to it.

Marussia:
Home advantage for Max Chilton, but the home support did little for his speed. A wet first practise was inconclusive, but through the remaining sessions, Max could get nowhere near Jules Bianchi on pace. Outqualified by 1.7 seconds, Max was last, only ahead of the Caterham of Van Der Garde, who didn’t run in Q1 due to his grid penalty.

Max had a decent tussle with Jules and Charles Pic during the race, due to jumping them at the start, but ultimately fell behind. Interestingly, Chilton was on old tyres for the last eight lap frenzy, but managed to hold off Van Der Garde, who had changed onto new tyres during the final safety car. This is commendable by itself, but less impressive when you look at how much of a gap Bianchi opened up to Chilton during the same 8 laps…32 seconds. Chilton also set the race’s slowest fastest lap, by a mammoth 0.4 seconds.
Fastest lap: 1-0 to Jules Bianchi
Qualifying: 1-0 to Jules Bianchi
Race: 1-0 to Jules Bianchi

Caterham:
Increasing rumours of Kovalainen’s return to a race seat at Caterham, in place of Van Der Garde, will do little to steady the Dutchman’s ship, but he isn’t making life any easier for himself. Giedo was, on average 1.5 seconds slower than Charles Pic through each session, and failed to clear a Marussia on ancient tyres towards the end of the race, despite running on newer tyres.

Charles Pic put in an assured performance to be the quickest of the two backmarker teams throughout the weekend, and the Frenchman was suitably pleased to have shown good pace against the Marussias after the race.
Fastest lap: 1-0 to Charles Pic
Qualifying: 1-0 to Charles Pic
Race: 1-0 to Charles Pic

Toro Rosso:
Saturday qualifying may have been the day where one driver’s career was made, and another’s was ruined. Running in Q2, both Toro Rosso drivers were on their flying laps with less than five minutes remaining. With the pressure on, who could rise to the challenge? The answer was Ricciardo. Vergne ran wide at Becketts, ruining his own lap, while Ricciardo popped himself up into third place at the time. While Vergne did another lap, it was six tenths behind Ricciardo, and thus was eliminated. Daniel was through to Q3, and ended in fifth, following Di Resta’s penalty. This is the highest an STR driver has qualified since Vettel in 2008.

While raceday was much more evenly matched, qualifying can reveal how a driver responds under pressure. When the chips were down, on this occasion, Daniel rose magnificently to the occasion. Jean-Eric ran a stronger race, to be ahead on track of the two Lotus drivers, when his tyre exploded. He may or may not have beaten Daniel Ricciardo home, so it does feel a little unfair to be critical of Vergne for an incident beyond his control that ruined his race, but the race point goes to Daniel.
Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Daniel Ricciardo
Qualifying: 1-0 to Daniel Ricciardo
Race: 1-0 to Daniel Ricciardo

Sauber:
Now firmly used to life in the lower midfield, Nico and Sauber are struggling with the anonymity such positions bring. With rumours of Sauber’s financial difficulties hitting the papers, Hulkenberg is doing his best to ensure he doesn’t remain forgotten about, with a potential big shake-up of seats for next season. Qualifying in 14th place won’t help much, but at least he, and Sauber, made the most of the retirements up at the front to score a point.

Wasting potential opportunities like that could ensure that the team meets a hasty demise, and while 10th is rather miserable compared to the heady highs of 2012, Gutierrez is the driver who is far more in danger of having a premature end to his career.
Esteban’s race was compromised by a front left tyre failure which damaged his front wing, but he hadn’t shown much up to that point anyway. He, at least, doesn’t look as out of his depth as he did at the start of the season, but he remains around 0.5 seconds on average behind Nico’s pace.

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Nico Hulkenberg
Qualifying: 1-0 to Nico Hulkenberg
Race: 1-0 to Nico Hulkenberg

Williams:
Much ado was made of William’s 600th race weekend as Silverstone approached, but it all turned out to be a damp squib for the illustrious team. Both drivers looked like they were going out in Q1, but Maldonado managed to scrape into Q2 after the chequered flag fell. He stayed ahead for the remainder of the weekend, but Valterri remains close enough to Pastor’s performance to merit a contract renewal. Pastor has more experience, but is not putting enough daylight between himself and the young Finn. Heading to the Nurburgring for Williams’ 600th race (the team didn’t start Indy 2005, so Germany is 601st weekend, but 600th race), Pastor’s sole positive recently is that he has stopped crashing and spinning out of races.

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Pastor Maldonado
Qualifying: 1-0 to Pastor Maldonado
Race: 1-0 to Pastor Maldonado

Force India:
Quite an evenly matched weekend for the FI drivers, with Di Resta enjoying the early limelight thanks to a stonking effort in qualifying. It all came undone, when the car was found to be underweight, and since it was unlikely that Di Resta lost 1.5 kilos over the course of the qualifying hour, it was another stupid mistake from a team who are letting stupid mistakes become too regular. Paul recovered well during the race after starting from the back, but blotted his copybook by colliding with Nico Hulkenberg and damaging his front wing. Ninth place was disappointing for him, but it’s unlikely he could have done much more, even without the damage.

Adrian Sutil looked set for a much stronger finish, possibly even a podium, until he suffered the same fate as Kimi Raikkonen. Staying out during the last safety car meant Adrian was a sitting duck on the restart, and both himself and Raikkonen were quickly overcome. The German ended in 7th place, but despite losing out on a rare very strong result, didn’t criticise the team for making the same mistake as Lotus, who drew heavy criticism.
Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Paul Di Resta
Qualifying: 1-0 to Paul Di Resta
Race: 1-0 to Adrian Sutil

McLaren:
A disastrous home race for McLaren, with neither car making it to Q3, although Jenson would start from 10th after Di Resta’s penalty. Jenson had the upper hand on Saturday, but Perez had a better Sunday, right up until the point where his tyre exploded. Jenson’s advantage over Sergio appears to have disappeared, which must be concerning for a World Champion. Despite having a full decade’s less experience, raceday is being kinder to Perez at this point of the championship, and Jenson, despite the home support, and representing a quintessentially British team, is not performing to a standard that belies his status.

An interesting footnote to the weekend, was Button’s wry observation to the grandstands in his public address at the circuit. When his tyre blew at 300 kilometres an hour on the Hangar Straight, Perez failed to back off, instead choosing to keep his foot planted. While this indicates a fearlessness, considering how fast the car was going, it also showed a lack of understanding of how much damage this would do to his car. Perez was the only driver that retired immediately following his tyre failure, and a lack of mechanical sympathy is never a good thing.
Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Sergio Perez
Qualifying: 1-0 to Jenson Button
Race: 1-0 to Sergio Perez

Jenson Button has scored 25 out of 37 points for McLaren, 67% of their points.
Sergio Perez has scored 12 out of 37 points for McLaren, 33% of their points.
Sergio Perez has scored 48% of Jenson Button’s points total.

Lotus:
Things started off quite well for Romain Grosjean, with the Frenchman outqualifying his team-mate for the first time this season. For the first quarter of the race, he was there or thereabouts, until Raikkonen came steaming up behind him. Romain held Kimi off for a lap, until the team intervened to ensure Kimi got easy passage past the sister car. Once clear, Kimi’s race pace was relentless, while Romain suddenly seemed to go backwards. Grosjean suffered front wing damage late in the race, and that was his race done. A race of two halves for the Frenchman. Whether there was a car issue, or whether Grosjean let his head drop after the team instruction, Lotus have been understandably vague. Grosjean has scored less than half the points at this stage of the season, compared to the same point last year, despite having an arguably better car. It’s increasingly difficult to see Romain being in the sport next season, if not even by year end.

Kimi, on the other hand, almost gained a lucky podium the Lotus didn’t really deserve. Kimi had gotten ahead of Webber and Alonso through the mid-section of the race, to be strongly placed when Vettel retired, but a silly decision to stay out on 20 lap old tyres when a free pitstop without penalty was the alternative, Lotus deserved to lose the podium position, and so Kimi did, unable to hold off the freshly-shod Ferrari, Red Bull & recovering Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen must be looking at that Red Bull contract with pen in hand by now.
Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Kimi Raikkonen
Qualifying: 1-0 to Kimi Raikkonen
Race: 1-0 to Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen has scored 98 out of 124 points for Lotus, 79% of their points.
Romain Grosjean has scored 26 out of 124 points for Lotus, 21% of their points.
Romain Grosjean has scored 26% of Kimi Raikkonen’s points total.

Mercedes:
Buoyed by the home crowd, Lewis smashed Nico on Saturday. A great final lap from Rosberg showed he could produce the goods when the pressure was on, but his effort was nothing compared to Lewis’ final lap. On Sunday, it’s inconclusive to say which Mercedes driver may have won, considering Nico was only a handful of seconds behind when Lewis’ tyre let go after 15 laps.

Nico’s fastest race lap was a massive six tenths of a second faster than Lewis’ fastest, but then again, Nico didn’t have a tyre let go, damaging the car (however minor), and maybe causing some doubt in the driver’s mind.
F1, though, is about making the most of any opportunity, and when Vettel retired, Rosberg took the opportunity and ran and hid at the final restart.

With a buffer of a slower Raikkonen & Sutil between himself and Webber, Rosberg was able to hold on for the win, and there’s absolutely nothing negative to say about Rosberg’s race. An impression that Lewis would have beaten Nico is just that, an impression, but for a great recovery drive from Lewis, I have decided to award a half point to each driver for their races.
Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Nico Rosberg
Qualifying: 1-0 to Lewis Hamilton
Race: 0.5-0.5 to each driver.

Lewis Hamilton has scored 89 out of 171 points for Mercedes, 52% of their points.
Nico Rosberg has scored 82 out of 171 points for Mercedes, 48% of their points.
Nico Rosberg has scored 92% of the points total of Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari:
Ferrari were off colour in Silverstone, no doubt about that, but the usual gaps were there between the drivers. Felipe was the driver to fall in Q2, which any reasonable gambler would put their life savings on, had they been told beforehand a Ferrari would go out during the session. Fernando made it to Q3, but even lapped slower than the Lotus cars on his run, a car that wouldn’t count qualifying as a strong point.

Felipe recovered magnificently on raceday, but was helpless when his left rear exploded entering the Wellington Straight. A scary moment, but he set
about moving back up the field, and, aided by safety cars, came back up to sixth place, only six seconds behind his team-mate. Without the tyre failure, could he have beaten Fernando?

The Spaniard looked uncomfortable during large portions of the race. Not particularly fast in the first stint, he came to life during the early stages of the second stint, but was jumped by Raikkonen by undercutting the second stops, and also passed by Webber on track. He woke up again during the final frenzy in the concluding laps, and was lucky that he wasn’t any closer to Perez when the rear Pirelli on the McLaren exploded. Lucky in that incident, and lucky to emerge with a podium from a race that Ferrari didn’t deserve a podium in. An opportunistic drive, and one that strengthened Alonso’s flagging championship challenge.
Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Fernando Alonso
Qualifying: 1-0 to Fernando Alonso
Race: 1-0 to Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso has scored 111 points out of 168 for Ferrari, 66% of their points.
Felipe Massa has scored 57 points out of 168 for Ferrari, 34% of their points.
Felipe Massa has scored 51% of the points total of Fernando Alonso.

Red Bull:
The Pirelli tyre explosions robbed us of a potentially great dice. On lap 15, Vettel was in 2nd, and closing on 1.5 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton when the Merc had the first tyre failure of the afternoon. Inheriting the lead, Vettel’s notorious luck ran out on lap 42, so all his efforts would have been in vain anyway, but who would have come out on top in the battle of Hamilton & Vettel? 42 laps, until Sebastian’s gearbox imploded, would have given us a very good idea of how the two compare in 2013. Alas, it was something we viewers were denied, but Vettel was easily ahead of Webber until his annual retirement from a comfortable lead.

Mark performed well, but was helped greatly by safety cars. Popular he may be, and while Vettel may have been the pantomine villain at Silverstone (hearing crowds cheering a driver retiring from the lead from mechanical failure is never pleasant), Webber finished 2nd on this occasion, and that’s where he will finish his F1 career, 2nd to the man he condescendingly refers to as ‘Michael’. One would think Sebastian can live with Mark’s disdain, if that’s the best nickname Mark can come up with.
Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Mark Webber
Qualifying: 1-0 to Sebastian Vettel
Race: 1-0 to Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel has scored 132 points out of 219 for Red Bull, 60% of their points total.
Mark Webber has scored 87 points out of 201 for Red Bull, 40% of their points total.
Mark Webber has scored 66% of the points total of Sebastian Vettel
Totals:

Marussia: 22-2 to Jules Bianchi
Caterham: 18-6 to Charles Pic
Toro Rosso: 13-11 to Jean-Eric Vergne
Sauber: 18-6 to Nico Hulkenberg
Williams: 16-8 to Valterri Bottas
Force India: 14-10 to Adrian Sutil
McLaren: 13-11 to Jenson Button
Lotus: 19-5 to Kimi Raikkonen
Mercedes: 13.5-10.5 to Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari: 18-6 to Fernando Alonso
Red Bull: 21-3 to Sebastian Vettel

Until the German GP…

[bauble]

A very fair analysis overall, well considered and well put.

NATURALLY as a great fan of Felipe Massa, I would suggest that in the race he gave a superior performance to Alonso, and would very likely have finished on the podium but for the tyre problem. But then, I would say that wouldn't I?

I look forward to your next critique. Well done.

Regards,

Bauble.

[ottostreet]

I really was in two minds about giving Felipe the point, and it was very likely, but Alonso's final 5-6 laps were impressive enough for him to be granted it, I think.

Maybe I should have done a Merc on it, and given both 0.5 points, but Alonso overtook stronger cars than Felipe did, regardless of circumstance...so i think he just about edges it!

Thanks for the feedback, it's always good to get! Beginning to find a groove writing these after every race, so hopefully they'll get better over time!

[Razzzor]

Good write up otto. How many times have you watched the race now?
I wouldn't have had a clue what was going on with Marussia and Caterham with just one viewing - the top 10 battles were exciting enough.

[ottostreet]

On average, I watch each race 2-3 times, first time as close to live as possible, then the 2nd and 3rd time, just have it on in the background while cleaning the house etc.

Reading press releases and looking at race results helps, but I've noticed, with practise, that I'm starting to pay more attention to what's happening down the back anyway.

Might have it down to only needing to watch it once by year end! (Not that I really want to!)

[cds_uk]

Another good write up otto, whilst I don't always agree with your opinion I really can't fault the quality of your work and I have to admit I always look forward to your next post after each race, keep it up, they are much appreciated.

[Aysedasi]

I enjoy these write-ups a lot.... Keep up the good work.

[Mekola]

Mercedes GP drivers look almost equal, despite Rosberg is the one who won for the team (until now).

[ottostreet]

Cheers lads/ladies, always nice to get constructive feedback.

Something I want to introduce for next season's Team Mate Battles is weighted scoring, as I shouldn't give the same points for fastest lap as race performance.

While I don't think it will skew the results of how the team-mates are faring against each other too much, I think I could have made it a bit more accurate.

I find it very interesting that it's Bianchi who has the greatest advantage over his team-mate at this point of the season.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by ottostreet

Cheers lads/ladies, always nice to get constructive feedback.

Something I want to introduce for next season's Team Mate Battles is weighted scoring, as I shouldn't give the same points for fastest lap as race performance.

While I don't think it will skew the results of how the team-mates are faring against each other too much, I think I could have made it a bit more accurate.

I find it very interesting that it's Bianchi who has the greatest advantage over his team-mate at this point of the season.

The second biggest advantage; not by a whole bunch; Herr Vettel.

P.S. Thank you Otto = Great Analysis! (I too think you should have given Massa the edge this week end!)

[bauble]

"(I too think you should have given Massa the edge this week end!)"

Otto, in view of the above, maybe you could consider a sort of 'smiley' award for any driver who out performs his potential. I think it fair to say that Massa in comparison with Alonso drove the better race given their relative expectations.

This approach could also highlight some of the backmarkers who out perform their car on occasion.

Just a suggestion, as I agree with all the other replies that you are doing a very good job as it is.

Kind regards,

Bauble. (An opinionated Silly Old Fool.)

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by bauble

Bauble. (An opinionated Silly Old Fool.)

Now, are you joking now or not.....? I'm not sure if there is room on this forum for more than one opinionated silly old fool.

.....

.....

.....

That right Simon?

[bauble]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Now, are you joking now or not.....? I'm not sure if there is room on this forum for more than one opinionated silly old fool.

.....

.....

.....

That right Simon?

I WOULD HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I AM A FOUNDER MEMBER OF THE OFFCIAL 'SILLY OLD FOOLS CLUB' FOUNDED IN THE EARLY 1950'S AT SILVERSTONE. SO THERE

[ottostreet]

Originally Posted by bauble

"(I too think you should have given Massa the edge this week end!)"

Otto, in view of the above, maybe you could consider a sort of 'smiley' award for any driver who out performs his potential. I think it fair to say that Massa in comparison with Alonso drove the better race given their relative expectations.

This approach could also highlight some of the backmarkers who out perform their car on occasion.

Just a suggestion, as I agree with all the other replies that you are doing a very good job as it is.

Kind regards,

Bauble. (An opinionated Silly Old Fool.)

I wouldn't say Massa outperformed his potential, I'd say he did what was expected of him! It really is a shame that Massa's good drives get so much attention, as they have become so infrequent!

But yes, I think I will come up with another race feature with 'awards' for different things! It's something I've been working on, but not really intending on adding to the site this year (as i just don't have time yet!)

Thanks for all the feedback folks! The feedback I've gotten elsewhere has been very...well, let's just say it's lucky I'm thick-skinned!

[bauble]

Otto, we don't agree about Massa v Alonso and it all comes down to personal opinion, so I am inclined to say stick to what you are doing and keeping it as 'statistical' as possible.

Once you start making 'value judgements' you will have people like me arguing with you

Once that happens we lose the point of your analysis.

So keep up the good work and tell me to mind my own business.

Kind regards,

Bauble. SoF.

[ottostreet]

Cheers Bauble!