Comparing team mates in 2010

Posted on

| Written by

Fernando Alonso is not the only driver with a tough team mate this year

Alonso versus Massa, Hamilton versus Button, Schumacher versus Rosberg, Vettel versus Webber: we have some truly exciting inter-team battles to savour in 2010.

And thanks to certain changes in the rules it should be easier than ever to keep track of which driver has the upper hand on his team mate.

Qualifying

For the past three seasons ‘race fuel qualifying’ has impaired our ability to tell which drivers do the best job of squeezing the ultimate one-lap pace out of their cars.

This year, every driver will qualify their cars on the least amount of fuel they can get away with, heralding the return of the true one-lap flier.

Well, almost. Unfortunately the teams and the FIA have decided the top ten qualifiers will have to start the race on the tyres they set their best lap time on. This will lead some drivers to sacrifice the best possible lap time in qualifying by using harder tyres which are more suitable for the race.

So we’ll have to keep a close eye on who set their best lap time on which tyres. But we’ll still be able to compare team mates who set their best times on the same compounds and see which drivers reach the later stages of qualifying more regularly than their team mates. That will give us plenty of opportunity to tell which drivers are excelling on Saturdays.

Race pace

The refuelling ban will also give us a clearer picture of which driver is better at managing their car to get the best possible pace over a full race distance.

How consistently do their lap times improve as the fuel load comes down? Which drivers can manage their tyre wear best so they’re not out of grip late in the race? And who can pull off that all-important pass for position when it matters?

With a bigger field of competitors than last year there’ll be more going on during the races and TV broadcasters will find it harder to keep track of everything. We’ll pore over all the data to see which drivers are doing the best.

Comparing the drivers

Last year our post-race analysis articles proved very popular and started some interesting debates. Like when Rubens Barrichello was unhappy with his race strategy or Nico Rosberg was investigated by the stewards for going too quickly during a safety car period.

This year we’ll continue those articles and introduce a new series specifically to look at how all the team mates compare over the year. We’ll examine all the information described above to see who’s doing well, who’s struggling and who’s improving.

As always your suggestions can help make these articles even better. If you’ve got any thoughts on how best to compare team mates please post them in the comments, and we’ll see if we can incorporate those into the team mates analysis as well.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

114 comments on “Comparing team mates in 2010”

  1. I agree this will be a fascinating season to watch inter-team rivalries, but I still can’t believe they chose to keep the Q3 tyre’s for the race! Seems like a rushed decision and one that was not properly thought out.

    1. it could make races less processional though…

      1. I don´t think this rule will have any impact on the teams´s tyre choice. They will simply choose what is the best for the race. As far I can remember, the most common choice for the amount of fuel at the beggining of the race was the optimum one. I remember Alonso, getting a pole with a very light car, but then at the race, stopping very early and, consequently, losing a lot of positions.
        My fellings are that the teams which will reach Q3 (Mclaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, RBR) will not be facing the shame of getting a pole position with a bad choice of tyres and, then, ruin the chances of getting a better position at the end of the race, just for the glory of leading a few laps.

        1. yeah…he did it at Malaysia 08 and won!!!!!

          1. with a little help from a friend :) Barrichelo also got a pole last year at Interlagos with a light car but it also didn´t work.

  2. If you would like some ideas on how to compare team mates how about in addition to the rate the race articles how about rating each driver’s performance over a race weekend, this would work better if there was a drop down menu with ratings for each driver rather than the usual poll format and I don’t know how easy that would be to implement.

    Or perhaps if you just wanted to focus on team mates it could just be a poll asking people which teammate they thought had the best weekend, but then I would have thought any results for this would mainly be the same as which team mate finished higher.

    I suppose any voting would suffer from the same problems as any online poll where fanboys will always give their favourite driver top marks while giving drivers they dislike nothing.

  3. The Q3 tyre rule is silly, drivers are being disadvantaged because they drove better laps than the cars behind. Formula 1 is slowly moving away from ‘RACING’ and becoming something of a tv gameshow.

    1. Don’t you mean that the ‘cars’ are disadvantaged because they are ‘faster’ than the ones behind?

      1. No, I don’t think so.

  4. I hate those new regulations.

    They should adopt
    1. old qualifying style ( 3 tries )
    2. refueling should stay banned
    3. raise the max RPMs to 20.000
    4. remain on slick tires and make the front ones the same size as the back ones.
    5. no diffuser restrictions.

    1. 3,4,5 – worst ideas ever.

    2. The “three tries” qualifying was like watching paint dry. Refuelling should stay banned, I’m with you on that. What would be the point of raising the revs to 20,000rpm? The reason that the rear tyres are usually bigger than the front ones is to balance up the handling, which is why we have the narrower front tyres this season, and they look better too! So, exactly how big can a diffuser be?

      1. Smeh, id have prefered if they made the rear bigger but still.
        I’m not completely satisfied with the new regs. I think theres good changes that could be made but the technical stuff it best to keep our noses well out of. Unless you can say “for sure” that you understand it.

  5. Alonso > Massa – 60:40
    Hamilton > Button – 65:35
    Rosberg > Schumacher – 55:45
    Vettel > Webber – 60:40
    Kubica > Petrov – 75:25
    Sutil > Liuzzi – 55:45
    Kobayashi > de la Rosa – 60:40
    Buemi > Algersuari – 60:40
    Kovalainen > Trulli – 60:40
    Glock > Grassi – 70:30
    Huelkenberg > Barrichello – 55:45

    1. Massa is very light weight :)

      Massa > Alonso
      Hamilton > Button

    2. Really? Rosberg over Schumacher? That judgment must be based on a MS hate because that is never gonna happen!
      Also, Trulli is faster than Kovalainen and Barrichello has always been under-rated. Kovi and The Hulk do, however, have an age advantage so I’ll just say 50/50 over the course of the season.

      1. With no refuelling, I’d give Button a better chance against Hamilton. Trulli is also better than Heikki.

  6. i foresee a more generous use of comparative graphs- maybe one per team, one line each for the drivers, perhaps with different types of lines depicting which tyre they’re on (same green stripe for options? haha). this would allow the graphing of consistency, the ability to nurse and later push.

    i wonder how often we’ll see differences in tyre strategy between teammates?

    hopefully pit radio will also be helpful in revealing more information

  7. i CAN’T WAIT!!!

    1. Vettel 95:5 Webber
      Alonso 70:30 Massa

      Schumacher has 7 world titles dude!

      MS 60:40 NR

  8. Jraybay-HammiltonMclarenfan
    22nd February 2010, 18:13

    The battle I’m looking at is Ham and Button.The two most recent champions. I’ve never thought Jenson was an amazing pilot but he was with bar honda/Honda so I cant be hard on him or anything. Personally I think Hamilton will smoke Button but I also have this thought in my head that Button could be one of those guys who really steps up to the plate with better equipment. We’ll see.

  9. i cant wait for stefanGP

    the teammate wars will be pivotal in the championship… which team at which stage starts to back one driver more… so that their teammate isn’t taking points away from them….

    i think last year, brawn did that from almost the very beginning

  10. What about inventing a parallel points system which takes many more parameters into count. Such as place in Q1,2 and 3. Race pace consistency, Overtaking on track, fastest lap, places gained on starting position and position at end of race. This could work as a driver ranking system.

    1. Giuliano Vilela
      22nd February 2010, 18:21

      Hey, I really liked this idea! Could be an F1Fanatic only thing that would for sure gain some popularity.

      1. Giuliano Vilela
        22nd February 2010, 18:22

        Elaborating some more: It should keep the normal racing points established by FIA and add new points for those parameters.

        1. I am in favor of this as well!

          And on the opposite end, we can also have the “Nelson Piquet Jr Championship” with points for crashes (4 + 4 for every car hit), spins (2), and of course, penalties(grid:5; drive-through:10, stop-go:18, post-race:25)!

      2. Totally on board with that, but “not it” in setting that up. We should start our own points system and just start using it. I agree that laps led, positions gained, fastest lap, qualifying position all should be considered in the points system. In this way there is so many more levels to the race and this will also alleviate the pressure on the FIA to make this a WWF wrestling joke (ie: qualifying tires et al.).
        I’m completely against the winner takes all format as a means to increase the desire to win. This philosophy requires that drivers at the pinnacle of automotive sport are willing to put their lives on the line to drive around willy nilly with no desire to place 1st. HELLO! They are all trying to win already! By increasing the points gained for passing and fast laps we will have the more exciting racing required by FOM/FIA from the entire field… No more boring racing because someone is destroying lap times in first because everyone else will have much more reason to pass to gain points in 10th, 11th or even 15th.

        1. Points for passing is pointless when the objective is to be the first to cross a line. The only way that would make sense is to make them like 0.05 pts/position gained or less (and a corresponding 0.05 pts/position lost). That way a second place car can’t pass a 1st place car in points just because the second place driver drove like a maniac from the back and the 1st place driver led the whole race.

          1. I completely agree, the whole RACE WEEKEND leads up to who crosses the line first, end of story, and a few extra points for a win is not gonna make the whole race more exciting when only a fraction of teh field can make podium anyway.

    2. Could be a very nicely objective way to keep track of how drivers are doing over the course of the season. I like it.

      1. Points for Q1? I don’t think so, because we’ve seen drivers not doing their best when they know they’ll enter Q2; so P1 in Q1 could be anything: If we build a points system, we want it to be significant, right?

        Also, I don’t think it’s good to give points for gained positions, because if there are lots of DNFs, the guys behind them will get lots of points for doing nothing.
        It could be done, but it should be more specific, which leads to trouble or hard-to-follow rules.

        Here’s my proposal:
        Points system: Extended to P20
        Multiply the current PS times 20, and add these points:
        P1 to P10: 500 360 300 240 200 160 120 80 40 20
        P11 to P20: 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

        This keeps the current points in scale, while it adds points to P11 to P20

        Pole position: Points up to P24
        Why more positions gain points than in the race? Easy: More cars qualify than what complete the race. Also, for cars further back, isn’t more appropiate to quantify how good they are according to their Quali sessions than in the race?
        Points given:
        P1 – P24: 50 40 36 32 …keeps decreasing by 2… 10 9 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

        Fastest Qualifying lap
        This is to measure real fastest laps. P1 as many as pole -I think we all appreciate the fastest lap of the weekend as much as a pole, don’t we? But points fall faster
        P1 – P10: 50 25 20 16 12 9 6 4 2 1

        Race Fastest Lap
        I believe it’s harder to see the race timesheets to see this, so I would say:
        P1: 25
        But, suggestions needed!

        Penalties
        grid penalty: gets 50% of quali points
        drive through: gets 75% of race points
        stop and go: gets 50% of race points
        …could be tweaked, but I think it will work :)

        Other
        DNF due to crash: -20
        This only contemplates driver’s fault only, and excludes collisions.
        Examples:
        Sutil in Shangai GP 2009
        Hamilton in Monza GP 2009

        Wow, this got so long!
        A perfect weekend would be fastest lap in quali (50) + pole (50) + fastest lap on race (25) + win (500) = 575

        A 2010 perfect 2010 WDC would have 10925 points. A perfect second would score 8075.
        Maybe we could add some historic info like, if a driver moves up form last years WDC position, he gets some extra points…
        Well, tell me what you think! :D

        1. You are a crazy fanatic!!

        2. You are german right?

        3. Some corrections:
          [1] The last quali points don’t exclude 7 (my typo)
          [2] Perfect weekend is 625 points, perfect WDC is 11875
          [3] Quali penalties are applied to the points of their final quali position
          New:
          [1] Car that don’t complete 90% of race don’t get points

          I’m not german… I’m just a somewhat crazy engineer :)

    3. Great idea. Drivers can win the F1Fanatic Driver of the Year Trophy.

  11. Hamilton > Button (quali)
    Button > Hamilton (race)

    Massa > Alonso

    Rosberg > Schumacher

    Vettel > Webber

    Glock > Di Grassi

    Kovalainen > Trulli

    Kubica > Petrov

    Buemi > Alguersuari

    Hulkenberg > Barrichello

    Kobayashi > De La Rosa

    Controversial but hey-ho :)

    Keith – can you pull all these back up at the end of the season – would make interesting reading ?

    1. Aleksandar Serbia
      22nd February 2010, 18:33

      You were born yesterday right Pat, with no knowledge of who MS is right, they just pulled you out of the womb…

      1. Well you have to remember that schumi hasnt raced in 3 seasons, while rosberg has, he has a better feel for how the drivers race, whats there strong and weak points, and what mistakes they are likely to do and just because schumis raced with them before doesnt mean he neccesarily remembers, and drivers change. ‘but polish, schumis a 7 time world champion’ yah well that was 3 years ago. But i geuss we will find out!

      2. Nope been an F1 fanatic 35ish years – As I said Keith should re – post this page at the end of the season – should make interesting reading :)

        1. Aleksandar Serbia – with your superior knowledge – why have you not posted your predictions ?

          1. Once Schu is settled after perhaps 3 or 4 races (or shorter, you never know with MS) he’ll trounce Nico. Three years off doesn’t stop you being one of the greatest drivers ever (see:Niki Lauda).

          2. Aleksandar Serbia
            23rd February 2010, 9:23

            Because there is no sufficient data to do so!
            It is all plain guessing, look at the previous year, who could have predicted the outcome?
            The only thing that can be concluded of the people guesses is their preference to the drivers.
            And where did i advertise my superior knowledge Pat?
            I merely noted to the validity of this conversation, which is pointless and only implies pure guessing!

  12. Here’s a team mates ‘FIA Cup’ I’ve just devised to work out which driver is best, ordered on the 2009 Constructors results. The scores are a reflection of how competitive I expect each rivalry to be:

    ROUND OF 16:

    Rosberg v Schumacher
    WINNER= Schumacher (3-1)

    Vettel v Webber
    WINNER= Vettel (3-0)

    Button v Hamilton
    WINNER= Hamilton (2-0)

    Alonso v Massa
    WINNER= Massa (2-2- Massa wins on pens)

    de la Rosa v Kobayashi
    WINNER= Kobayashi (1-0)

    Barrichello v Hulkenberg
    WINNER= Hulkenberg (2-1)

    Kubica v Petrov
    WINNER= Kubica (4-0)

    Liuzzi v Sutil
    WINNER= Sutil (1-1 Sutil wins on pens)

    QUATER FINALS:

    Schumacher v Sutil
    WINNER= Schumacher (2-0)

    Kubica v Vettel
    WINNER= Vettel (3-2)

    Hamilton v Hulkenberg
    WINNER= Hamilton (2-0)

    Kobayashi v Massa
    WINNER= Massa (4-1)

    SEMI FINALS:

    Massa v Schumacher
    WINNER- Schumacher (2-1)

    Hamilton v Vettel
    WINNER- Hamilton (2-2 Hamilton wins on pens)

    3RD PLACE PLAY OFF:

    Massa v Vettel
    WINNER- Vettel (2-0)

    FINAL:

    Hamilton v Schumacher
    WINNER- Hamilton (2-0)

      1. What the hell?

        1. My thoughts exactly. This and the “weighting/rating” post above are gratuitously confusing to me.

          If you guys are going to pull numbers out of your thin air, then give us some background please. What on EARTH is this based on and how did you come to these conclusions.

          1. Wow, don’t take it too seriously. It’s just a daft football analogy. If you don’t like it just ignore it, simple as that.

          2. Sorry, the football analogy didn’t come across at all. The “based on constructor’s standings” bit made it look like the numbers had some relation to last year’s results.

            I cee wot u did there.

            Didn’t work, but hey!

    1. Lol! Nice one Ned although I completely disagree with the third place play off of course ;)

      1. Hahaha, Aleksander what you say there may be a tad offensive to some but it made me laugh hard, hehehe. :P

      2. You also appear to have spelt Alonso wrong on several occasions, and it implies that he’s knocked out in the first round rather that winning. I suggest you rectify this ;)

        1. Hey, it’s like the FA Cup. There are always a few upsets in the First Round! I just fancy Massa to cause an upset this season.

          Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that I like Massa more than Alonso…

    2. Lol, nice.

      Massa wins on pen[altie]s

      Hey, he does have experience in this field (Spa 2008)!

    3. Nice. But you should not compare teammates in the first round. Most of the succes comes from teh difference in the car, because they are all good drivers.

      So Alonso and Massa, Button and Hamilton, Schumacher and Rosberg, Vettel and Webber should be in different legs like in tennis.

      In the end I think the championship will be fought over by team mates, just like last year.

      I think the order of the cars is:
      First row: McLaren/Ferrari
      Second row: Red Bull/Sauber
      Third row: Mercedes/Torro Rosso
      Fourth row: Williams/Force India
      Fifth row: Renault
      Sixth row: Virgin/Lotus

      It will be very hard for a driver to exceed the expectations above the cars limits.
      In the past Schumacher, Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel did that. Button never did. Maybe Rosberg but Nakajima was so bad we do not have good comparison of the speed of last years Williams.

      1. Im not the biggest button fan but in all fairness he did… in 2006 in 2007 he scored 7 points in the season to Barichello’s 0 pts. in the second half of 06 he scored more points than anyone on the field in a not so great car, granted 08 and even 09 he coudnt manage a poor car but u cant say never.

        1. haha Ned that FA cup thing is great =P

  13. I can only say that I’m looking forward to a very much more unpredictable inter-team rivalry than has been depicted here so far.

    The guy who looks after his car the best will win this seasons championship.

  14. I believe that Hamilton will Qualify higher but Button will manage tyres better than Hamilton in race. Alonso it good but Massa is tough. It will be really interesting to see. Can’t wait.

  15. As somebody just touched on, it would be mighty interesting to see ALL these predictions shown again
    in late November and be able to compare fantasy to reality.

    Suspect there’ll be a lot of egg on a lot of faces…..

    1. “Suspect there’ll be a lot of egg on a lot of faces…..”

      Not really. There will be some moaning about someone having the better car for half the season though. LOL

  16. Lewis will walk all over Button, it won’t even be funny. Alonso remains the best overall driver so he should handle Massa, especially in the wet. Vettel is definitely better than Webber. I think Nico will make things tough on Michael. The rest of them don’t matter, since the championship will be fought between Ferrari, McLaren and RBR, w/ Mercedes perhaps winning a couple of races on tracks that suit their car design.

    1. I think Lewis will win but it won’t be complete domination.
      Massa’s alright in the wet…yes Silverstone was terrible but China wet this year he was outstanding and he led most of Nurburgring 07 which was in God awful conditions. Alonso should win but Massa will put up a good fight too but there’s no reason by Massa couldn’t win although it seems he has a big challenge on his hands.
      I really don’t believe RBR can win for two reasons: line up and engine reliability. Mark’s good but I don’t see him as top class and I think Seb still has maturing to do. He’ll be much better this season but I don’t know how ready he is to really challenge the likes of Schumi, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa. He should keep his campaign going for a long while but I can’t see him taking the crown just yet.

      1. In China Massa was on lighter fuel and eventually lost at the Nurburgring when the conditions became worse (that was more of a McLaren v Ferrari thing though).

        But I generally agree, Alonso won’t have it easy.

        1. Brazil 2008 is the best example of Massa performing well in the wet.

          Massa vs Alonso should be close!

        2. Massa weighed 690 kilograms in China, and he was on course for a one-stopper. He was very good in the wet that day, completely trashing Kimi for instance. A shame he could not finish the race. In Germany 2007 he had vibrations in his set of rain tyres.

          In Monaco 2008 he was great in the wet, making one mistake (but then again it was only Kubica who didn’t make a mistake that race kind of), and then Brazil of course when he drove great in the wet when he most needed to.

          So Massa is a very good wet weather driver, only that people remember Silverstone all the time.

          1. Alonso tends to excel in changeable conditions as opposed to full on wet weather. If you look at examples of the last three properly wet races (China 09, Silverstone 08 and Fuji 07) you’ll notice he didn’t perform that well. In races which are merely damp, or drying, such as Nurburgring 07, Belgium ’08, Brazil ’08, Hungary ’06 etc he’s much more formidable.

          2. Webber was caught inb the wet at Silverstone that day and he is right at the top with Barrichello in the wet.

  17. isn’t 11th place on the grid the best place to be to a certain extent…like wouldnt 11th be better than 10th & 9th at least…and thats not what you want really..

    1. You would think so, but the team that will finish best this season will be the team that can:
      a) “Swtich on” their tyres when needed
      b) Manage their tyres the best
      c) Manage the fuel load over a distance.

      It is quite possible for the qualifying car to do all three if the set up is spot on

  18. The tyre rule requiring drivers to start the race on what they qualify with is not entirely new. This used to be the rule in the late 90’s as well when drivers were forced to chose a tyre compound to use for the whole weekend on Friday and stick with it. Its the reason Eddie Irvie out-qualified Schumacher at Austria 1997 – becase he chose the softer tyre, which was the only time out of 16 times that year that he did.

    1. Precisely – I remember Jordan would often choose the softer tyres (Trulli on the front row at Monaco in 2000). I think people are overreacting a touch about this rule…

  19. But will it really be flying lap qualifying?
    They still have to qualify with the car setup for the race, since the car goes into parc-ferme, and that will be a larger compromise for some than for others. So, even with the soft tire, it won’t be the car going at the absolute maximum it can go.
    I miss the 80s and 90s quali: there is your track, you have one hour, you have 12 laps. Go and do as much as you can, and don’t think about sunday! That would be great.

    1. The one hour rule just meant that everyone attempted to do their 12 laps right at the end. Chaos, unfair and unrepresentative results, and 45 minutes of boredom beforehand. Nooooo thanks.

      1. Which is entirely different from the single flying lap after one hour of meaninglesness that we get now?

        1. But it’s not meaningless. Grid positions are defined throughout qualifying.

        2. quali would be just as exciting as the 80’s if they stopped parc ferme conditions an hour before racing. An didn;t have this same tyre rubbish.

          That way, fully exciting top speed quali, with the cars going as fast as they can go, an no impact on the cars tommorow.

          This would lead probably quite interesting grids because we’d have quali alligned cars infront, an racing alined cars trying to get past for the race.

  20. since when were HAM and BUTton on the track at the same time? i thought only one driver per team was allowed at once to drive.
    http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport/image/9359.html?page=1

    1. It says on the caption it was a photoshoot, not testing.

  21. Wait. Can I change my log-in name to Baron Lord Alexander Hesketh? Bubbles Horsley? James Hunt?

    No?

    Well, it doesn’t matter. I truly look forward to the new teams!

    What? They do not have Harvey Postlethwaite?

    Oh, shyte … in that case, they are all screwed
    and Alonso will win the WDC this year.

    Gpfan says so …..

  22. Keith if you can please post the fastest lap times done by each driver on raceday.

  23. this is what i think the qualiying should be.

    40min session,

    all cars have 5min prior to start to get onto track.

    1st 10min qualifying, no refueling or tyre changes or returning to the pits, you have to be out on track.

    1st 10min session ends, slowest 8 cars have 5min to return to parc ferme. no refeuling, tyres or stoping for remaining 18 cars.

    2nd 10min qualifying, no refueling or tyre changes or returning to the pits, you have to be out on track.

    2nd 10min session ends, slowest 8 cars have 5min to return to parc ferme. no refeuling, tyres or stoping for remaining 10 cars.

    top 10 shoot out. 3rd 10min session begins no refueling or tyre changes or returning to the pits, you have to be out on track. top 10 grid positions decided, cars return to parc ferme (cars feuled for race and tyres car be changed).

    If you crash, hit someone, damage your tyres, run out of feul, too bad deal with it.

    1. What does this add?

      1. mix up the feild! so you dont have to wait for a race with wet quali sesion, like japan 05′ and brazil 09′

  24. Alonso beats Massa and Button beats Hamilton.

  25. ONe query,,, The driver who qualifies in top 10 has to use the “same set of tyres he used during Q3” or he can use different set of tyres belonging to same class he used in Q3( Hard or soft compound) .

    PLease clarify.

    1. For all drivers who reach Q3, they have to start the race on the exact same set of tyres they set their fast lap in Q3 on.

      More here: 2010 F1 rules published: FIA changes post-race penalties and fuel declarations

  26. Keith, I think you could create a straight forward tool that would allow for the comparison of teammates (title of article)over a season. (an F1Fanatic exclusive)

    Here are a few suggestions for “rules” to follow in putting together a comparison.

    First, it must be dead on objective in the data used, as any subjectivity will lead to varying interpretations and the can of worms that would follow.

    It needs to be based on information that is readily available to you.

    It should be somewhat limited in the amount of factors taken into consideration. This simply makes it workable in its application.

    It must however be “interpretive” to the extent that relative factors are given different weighting in the formula. An example would be that the difference between teammates in the finishing order is more important than the difference between them in qualifying.

    Finally, the difference number for each teammate pair should be of such a size that it is easily dealt with in a discussion, such as this forum.

    PS: I’ll try to put one together and see how relevant it seems….much ridicule to follow!

  27. U talk only abt Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Schumi, Rosberg. It’s not clear for me enought. Don’t forget abt Williams and especially Renault which is bringing to Barcelona 40% new parts(aero). Slavic pair may be realy fast. . .

  28. The return of “almost pure low fuel quali” could be great for Mark Webber. He was always known as a one lap specialist in his Jaguar and Williams days. So I wouldn’t be handing the battle of the team mates award to Sebastian Vettel just yet (as Ned Flanders, Pat and Victor did above)…

  29. I cant wait!

  30. I think the Q1 and Q2 format is perfect as it is now. It’s short, you have to be sharp and no mistakes.
    Q3 is boring bacuase we do either fuel burning or tire saving. What we want on pole is the ultimo fastest.
    So I would suggest a three lap shout out. Low fuel, new tires, nothing to do with race strategy. So each driver does one flying lap on an epmty track. The slowest goes again (max three turn each). Until we have a winner. If nobody beats the first time, the fastest only has to do 1 lap. Brilliant performance while saving fuel, environment and still offer excitement.

  31. Jenson can probably maintain his tyres well, but his lack of skill/talent will not help him make up places. He will struggle to overtake the likes of hamilton, alonso, felipe, vettel, schumi and rosberg, despite having tyres in great condition. I seriously do not see him starting any race on pole, P2 or P3.

    Im not a fan of Hamilton, but I expect a complete blowout. I can gaurantee that by the end of the season Lewis will have atleast double or triple the number of points that Jenson has.

    1. lack of skill/talent? he’s the world champion

      1. So was Villenueve. Think about how dominant the Williams was in 1997. The only car that comes close to that level of performance was the Ferrari in 2004 and the Brawn in 2009. If Jenson did not win the WC that year, he would not have been picked up by a top tier team.
        Now he has been picked up my McLaren…. and I cant wait to see how he performs against drivers way out of his league.

  32. Why the fastest drivers are banned to be fast with these weird qualification rules?
    Give the fastest be fastet without tyre rules etc etc….I really see no point in these things…

  33. i think Massa will be faster over Alonso

  34. Top 10 Qualifiers and their tyres…
    – Better viewing or REAL DANGER?

    What happens when race conditions change from Quali to race start.
    – Say from dry to wet.
    Will it be that the top 10 cars who are forced to be on their slicks will take each other out on the first corner and then be rear ended by the back half of the grid who rightly are now on their wets.

    I must be missing something…
    At least it’ll make for interesting viewing, or will it?

  35. Charles Beaufort
    24th February 2010, 10:56

    Surely intra-team battles what with the context, but I would agree that inter-teams battles will be fascinating.

  36. wet weather race,schumacher vs vettel.
    dry condition alonso vs hamilton.
    this are the battles i look forward.

  37. F1_Bay_Area_Fanatic
    26th February 2010, 18:30

    Predictions at this point are a crap shoot. But, based on recent testing and historical driver performance:

    1) ALONSO – He is hungry to win after two crap years at Renault; plus Ferrari is looking good in testing.
    2) HAMILTON – He is usually awesome, no matter how good or bad his car is.
    3) MASSA – Again, Ferrari is looking good in testing
    4) VETTEL – He is quick, but Red Bull will no longer have the surprise advantage over Ferrari/Mercedes.
    5) MS – I see Michael winning a few races – say at Monza or Spa.
    6) ROSBERG – This is a big question mark. Yes, he finished 7th in his first ever F1 race, and yes he likes making ‘smoking tires’ passes in Singapore, but does he have more in the bag?
    7) BUTTON – He is just too old and proper.

  38. “Top 10 drivers to use same tyres to start the race” – what other daft changes can we expect the FIA to make at a moments notice if the racing is boring this year…

Comments are closed.