Who’s winning the team mate battles at mid-season

2016 German Grand Prix

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The 2016 season was only four races old when one team decided to give its line-up a shake up.

As always in Formula One the first driver you need to beat is your team mate – and some are doing a more convincing job of it than others.

Red Bull and Toro Rosso: Trading team mates

Helmut Marko switched Red Bull’s drivers around
Red Bull rocked F1 in May when they announced Max Verstappen would be promoted from Toro Rosso to take the place of Daniil Kvyat. Coming just four races into the new season, on the face of it this seemed a harsh verdict on Kvyat who out-scored team mate Daniel Ricciardo in his first season at Red Bull last year and had given the team their first podium of the new season just a few weeks earlier in China.

Three months on, there must be few people left who question the wisdom of Red Bull’s move. Verstappen’s debut victory at Spain may have been slightly fortuitous but he has continued to impress, especially at Silverstone where his pursuit of Nico Rosberg was utterly dogged.

Daniel Ricciardo reckons both he and Verstappen have had to raise their game since being paired together. While Ricciardo may still be more than a match for his young team mate in terms of one-lap pace, Verstappen has clearly been getting the job done on race day, though we should bear in mind Red Bull have squandered big points-scoring opportunities for Ricciardo on at least two occasions.

Being demoted to Toro Rosso has done Kvyat no favours. It’s easy to grow deaf to the volume of armchair psychology about racing drivers, but don’t underestimate the blow he has suffered in being turfed out of the top team just days after a ham-fisted performance in his home race. He’s taken one in the teeth and the devastating scoreline against Carlos Sainz Jnr makes plain the effect it has had.

Red Bull

Toro Rosso

The other teams

Mercedes: Close between the championship leaders

Lewis Hamilton recovering a 43-point deficit against Nico Rosberg was less astonishing and more inevitable than he would have us believe. Nonetheless Hamilton acquired the deficit mostly through misfortune and overcame it largely by out-driving his team mate, so he deserves a large measure of credit.

Mercedes are clearly satisfied with job Rosberg has done, which included racking up a total of seven consecutive wins since the end of last season, and handed him a deal which will continue this partnership for another two seasons. Surely Hamilton will be pleased about that?

Ferrari: Raikkonen gets another year

Raikkonen leads Vettel by two points
Kimi Raikkonen has also earned a contract extension at Ferrari. And a glance at the championship table gives little reason to doubt he really has earned it: he leads his team mate in the points standings, and what more might Ferrari expect him to do than that?

However other metrics show a few poorly-timed setbacks for Sebastian Vettel have tipped the balance. All three of his retirements this year were beyond his control, and on top of that he’s had three gearbox change penalties too. Nonetheless, Ferrari clearly feel they have more to gain from sorting their car out than swapping drivers.

Renault

Having brought the highly-rated Esteban Ocon into the fold, many expect it is only a matter of time before the French team succumbs to the temptation of promoting a driver who is both French and quick. Jolyon Palmer is the driver tipped for demotion, which is a somewhat harsh verdict on Palmer, who has impressed at times during his first season of racing in F1. Though it’s clear the more experienced Kevin Magnussen is the pick of the team’s drivers at the moment.

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Force India: Perez grabs podiums

The Force India drivers have seven points finishes apiece but Sergio Perez’s brace of podiums means he is not only ahead of Nico Hulkenbreg in the standings but Felipe Massa’s Williams too. This has always looked like a driver pairing with a good match of contrasting strengths, but while Hulkenberg was clearly the superior of the two when they first teamed up it seems the balance has shifted.

Sauber: Nasr struggles at the start

Sauber’s season so far has been all about its struggle for survival. It now appears to be in a stronger position but points are urgently needed in the second half of the year.

In the meantime Felipe Nasr has been unable to replicate the clear margin of superiority he enjoyed over Marcus Ericsson last year. He began the season convinced there was a fundamental problem with his chassis, and has been doing better since it was changed.

Williams: Bottas ahead again

Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa are in their third year together as team mates and we know what to expect of them by now. Bottas clearly has an edge over single-lap pace but the highly experienced Massa is very dependable in the races.

However this year Bottas is enjoying an increased margin of superiority, which perhaps explains the chatter about Williams looking elsewhere for at least one of its drivers in 2017.

McLaren: Finally something to fight for

Three into two won’t go at McLaren
Last year the talents of F1’s other all-champion line-up were wasted on the first product of McLaren and Honda’s reunion, which proved both slow and unreliable. Things are looking better this year however, and both drivers have capitalised on chances to score points again.

Stoffel Vandoorne made a one-off start in Alonso’s car in Bahrain. His results have not been included above, though he impressed by scoring the team’s first point of the year on his debut. He is a strong candidate for promotion next year, but as was the case with Kevin Magnussen at the end of 2014, it’s not clear whether McLaren will be able to find a space for him.

Haas: Gutierrez can’t get a break

For a great example of how misleading a points tally can be, look no further than Haas. Romain Grosjean may have driven better than his team mate thus far in 2016, but a 28 – 0 margin is brutally tough on Esteban Gutierrez. The latter has finished 11th on four occasions, and wasn’t able to made the most of the competitive start to 2016 Haas enjoyed. Grosjean may be leading the team, but Gutierrez deserves a change in luck.

Manor: Haryanto on borrowed time

The Manors usually haven’t run in this order
Rio Haryanto has made good use of his track knowledge to out-qualify Pascal Wehrlein four times. But in every other respect the season is going as expected in a contest between a pay driver and Mercedes’ reserve. If it turns out Haryanto doesn’t have the funds to continue his F1 adventure after the summer break, there’s little to suggest the sport is at risk of losing a major talent.

Notes on the data

Qualifying scores are based on whichever driver was quickest in the last phase of qualifying where both drivers set a time. Where a driver failed to set a time, e.g. due to a technical failure, this is not considered a ‘defeat’. Similarly, only races where both drivers were classified are used to determine which driver finished ahead.

Find the data for previous seasons here:

Over to you

Which drivers do you think are doing the best job against their team mates this year? Have your say in the comments.

2016 F1 season

Browse all 2016 F1 season articles

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...

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72 comments on “Who’s winning the team mate battles at mid-season”

  1. Those Daniil Kvyat stats are interesting.

    Especially when you compare all the stats from the Red Bull and Toro Rosso drivers. Wonder what will happen with this guy.

    1. spafrancorchamps
      4th August 2016, 12:11

      Yes, the stats clearly show that Kvyat is not F1 material. It’s his third season in F1, you’d expect him to deliver more. It’s not as if he’s driving in a bad car either. In the beginning of the season he stranded so many times in Q1, while DR was battling for the second row. Kvyat’s days are counted if you’d ask me. How many chances does a guy need.

      1. Maybe he’s not Red Bull material, but he’s still quicker than a lot of drivers on the grid. I’m sure he’d do a better job than both the Sauber drivers, Haryanto and even Palmer. He just needs to get his head back in the game

      2. I think that people are easily forgetting 2 facts when it comes to Kvyat. Firstly, he beat Verne in 2012 and Verne had been at it for 2 years before Kvyat arrived. Second, Kvyat came up against probably the highest performer in the F1 n the last 3 years in Ricciardo. Kvyat isn’t at Ricciardo’s level, but he isn’t that far off either. In a head to head, I bet he is a match for Rosberg. He doesn’t have that something special like Hamilton, Ricciardo, Alonso, Vettel and possibly Verstappen, but he is still very good.
        Kvyat was beaten by Ricciardo and then he was dumped by RB, but I still think he is better than at least half of the F1 field. Not right now though as he is a broken man. He may rise again though.
        Verstappen may turn out to be a world champion, but it is just as likely that he will be then next Kvyat. The thing is that Ricciardo may do the same thing to Verstappen that he did to Kvyat. Verstappen has done very well, but noone could argue that he has been better than Ricciardo. 7-1 in qualifying (The worst of any of Ricciardo’s team mates apart from HRT). In races, it is closer. 2 to Verstappen, 2 to Ricciardo and 4 close ones. The ones where Verstappen was better he was a fair bit better. The ones where Ricciardo was better, he was miles better.
        By comparison, 8 races into 2015, Kvyat’s results were about the same as Verstappen’s and we all know where Kvyat ended up. Verstappen may be the next wunderkind, but he may also be the next Kvyat as well.

        1. Wrong. Vergne outscored Kvyat by a decent margin in 2014. Kvyat was faster in qualifying, though.

          Kvyat was quite close to Ricciardo in 2015; he outscored him, even though he was a bit luckier. I felt he was struggling with the elimination qualifying format in the first races of this year and after that he didn’t really have time to recover (he was good in China, but after Russia it was all over). His demotion to Toro Rosso put him into a very bad situation, having to get used to the new car, feeling humiliated, etc. However, these things should only have a short-term effect and therefore Kvyat should be getting closer to Sainz. Unfortunately, there are no signs of improvement, which means that he either has a mental problem or that he just isn’t good enough. I don’t know what is worse.

        2. Mick Harnold

          Are you serious? wow hahahaha

          Miles better….Ricciardo who is at his peak..has to up his game against a 18 year old boy…who is still learning the tricks of the trade. Verstappen outraced Ricciardo in the majority of races….you just have to deal with that.

          It says something that Ricciardo needs to up his game against Verstappen….with other words…he didnt have a teammate who is that good….and the scary thing is…Verstappen is only 18 and still growing as a driver

          Good luck next year Ricciardo ;)

          1. Actually if Red bull hadn’t gifted Verstappen his first win and hadn’t boned ricciardo in Monaco things would be a whole different in the stats…and you just have to deal with that. Verstappen is a future champ but at the moment stats are misleading. Next year will be most entertaining.

          2. Red Bull didn’t gift that Verstappen win. It was Ricciardo who couldn’t make the supposedly fastest strategy work. Even with that extra stop Ricciardo couldn’t get his tyres to last.

    2. If red bull find a half decent new talent he’s out I guess.

      1. Or Marko could assume Mea Culpa and replace him with AFdC.
        xD

    3. Let’s not forget that the tyres are supposed to be moving away from extreme degradation and allow drives to push harder for longer. This may instigate changes in the order of team mates as those who are naturally faster may be able to exploit their talents better than those who are managing their tyres better.

  2. spafrancorchamps
    4th August 2016, 12:07

    Why everyone keeps hating on Haryanto? He is doing quite well and actually showing Wehrlein isn’t that good. Het has outqualified him on multiple occasions while he is often getting updates later than his teammate. Even though Wehrlein got a newer spec engine last weekend, and Haryanto did not, he was still battling Wehrlein at the beginning of the race. Yes, he can somewhat improve his race craft, but he has shown he is better than most people thought he was. He has shown he’s got the pace over a single lap. Give him time and he should be able to improve his race pace too. I hope he can at least finish the season.

    1. haryanto is longer into formula sport and just has qualifying pace. rosberg outqualified hamilton in 2014 and nearly outraced him in 2013 if he hadn’t such bad luck but you wouldn’t call him the better driver

    2. Have to agree with this. Don’t get the Wehrlein hype that much myself, tbh. Not when compared with Haryanto, who before this season I definitely didn’t rate.

    3. I don’t hate Haryanto. Given how incredibly slow the Manors were last year I’m starting to believe that not only the engine, but also the drivers are a huge improvement compared to last year. Haryanto’s single-lap pace is quite impressive indeed. The worrying thing is that he seems to have higher tire wear than Wehrlein, who himself is already quite hard on the tires. In the second half of the season Manor’s goal should be to beat the Saubers consistently with both cars, because based on their qualifying pace it’s possible.

      1. Evil Homer (@)
        5th August 2016, 16:31

        @spafrancorchamps
        I don’t hate Rio either (who hates him?) I think he is doing a pretty good job in a car that isn’t up to scratch against a solid team mate! Like many others, give him a good car and lets see!
        Hate is a strong word, I wouldn’t like seeing any F1F’s hate any driver to be honest!!

  3. Nice to see this in this way.

    It is to hope for RIC he keeps in front of VES this season, as this is in fact still a learning year for Max.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      4th August 2016, 13:39

      Not sure if you can say ‘keeps in front’ as RIC is behind in 3/4 measures.
      @anunaki

      1. I mean he should be in front at the end of te season. It’s a fun battle to watch

        1. I think RIC should be in front half-way season!

          The more expierenced VES will get the more difficult it will become beating him.
          2016 would be a learning year for VES, a season to adapt to the RBR team and car, a year to gain expierence.

          2017 would be the year both RBR drivers would 100% compete each other… the competition started from race #1 at Spain.

          1. Ricciardo is the perfect team mate for Max and viseversa. They have both raised their game, good stuff.

    2. When I see Ricciardo’s struggle to get ahead of Ves who by the way is a first timer in the team, I keep wondering why some still think and continue to say Ricciardo is a better replacement for Nico against Lewis.
      The point is everyone they have mentioned that they are sure will beat Lewis at Mercedes has been beaten previously by Lewis. Those whom he has not been paired with previously just can’t seem to pull clearly ahead of their team mates.
      So all I can say is that Nico is doing a very good job against a super-talented and on-form Hamilton who is frankly at the apex of his career.

      1. Or Hamilton isn’t that good…its mostly the Merc…

        1. We’ll see the talent next year when the cars are not front limited anymore. My theory has been that, ever since 2010, the cars have suited a driver who likes an innate understeery car. ALO and HAM are 2 drivers that have shown they can adapt to both types of car, ROS potentially as well… Maybe ROS is that good!

          Next year will separate men from boys in potentially the fastest f1 cars in history.

      2. Duncan Idaho (@)
        5th August 2016, 3:14

        Its easily arguable that Ric isn’t struggling – he lost two first places and Max was gifted one. Squeeze those numbers in and Max’s chart would start resembling Kvyat’s.
        If they were teammates, regardless of who was fastest overall, I think either Ric or Ves would soon make a mess of Hamilton’s fragile mental state and that would be that.

        1. I don’t think Ricciardo or Verstappen can beat Hamilton. Except for the first races this season, Hamilton has been quite strong in all aspects since his switch to Mercedes. I don’t expect him to have a 2011-like season anymore.

          1. Evil Homer (@)
            5th August 2016, 16:47

            @f1infigures

            I disagree mate I think Dan & Max can both beat Lewis in equal machinery but it wont be a walk in the park of course, Lewis in form is devastating!

            Seb & Lewis I would also like to see in the same team, if only to silence doubters on both sides.

        2. Man you guys really make me laugh with the constant, “Ricciardo or Max would beat Lewis if they were in the Mercedes with him”…

          You all should stop kidding yourselves, because neither driver would stand a snowballs chance in hell. And as for ‘fragile mental state’, time you all stop referring back to 2011.

          1. Nice to see real fans. Not quite the realistic types of people but fun to watch ;)

          2. I have to laugh at the ‘2011’ stuff. Fact is it really annoys me.

            First off he was at that time younger than Rici. Had been in fewer races (yet led many of the previous championships and won one)

            But most importantly – in his very worst year ever. Ever. Ever – as we are constantly told.

            He out qualified his WDC teamate 14 times and won more races than Rici or our Verstappen have won in their entire F1 careers! In his worst year. Much of it due to ridiculous behaviour it must be said. Mostly from Massa!

            So please – this constant ‘oh but he had a few rough months in 2011’ all up against a team and WDC team mate being a little more than unfair through the year plus some stunning reliability issues, oh and the world suggesting he is mentally unstable because of some girl issues?

            Get real. And take a look at the actual results of 2011 and 2012!

            Even the most conservative estimates evaluating the reliability and pit errors put him far ahead of SV in 2012. That really was his year – funny thing it’s not the year his 2011 wonderkind team mate ever gets criticised for spending two thirds of it at the back of the grid. Unable to win until more than assisted by the team and at the expense of his team mate – oh no – never is there a mention of the comprehensive demolishing job LH did that year In the same car, but look 2011 – that bad year – yeh right…

            The year he won more than the current RB team have so far in three years…

            Do not mention the cars. Macca hardly put a serious WCC car under LH or JB in the years in question did they?

        3. ILoveconspiracytheoriesinracing
          5th August 2016, 19:17

          Following your argument that RIC lost Spain due to the team strategy (Although RIC got the better strategy according to Pirelli) then VES lost a second place in Germany due to the teams strategy. People should stop moaning about what RIC lost in Spain since he didn’t lost it but got on the wrong side of unexpected outcome of strategy opposed what was calculated. He got royally scr*wed in Monaco but that hurt him in points not in finishing ahead of VES. In Monaco by the way there were also unexpected outcomes of strategies since the tyre degradation of certain type were not what was expected.

        4. Such a bold statement RIC lost out on two wins…?

          Spain was nowhere near a certain win, Ves finihing 2nd at Germany was much much closer than RIC finishing 1st in Spain. Just cause a driver is telling everyone he should be # 1 doesn’t mean he would have, he was fourth, behing Vettel that is. On another startegy he would have had a fight with four more drivers, to finished first would be a 25 % battle.

          Things where different at Monaco, that was just bad luck.
          Bad luck struck Ves as well a couple of times, second strategies as well.

          Ric should have had the upper hand, but he hasn’t, both Ric and Ves do look awefull competitive.

      3. Maybe, but stats don’t always tell the full story. RIC-VES is scored as 3-4, out of 8 races. I guess Monaco is the missing 8th race, as Max put it into the wall and didn’t finish. That’s not quite the same no result as we should get for VET-RAI in Bahrain or Austria where Seb was the victim of bad luck.
        So I’d score Monaco a win to RIC, making it 4-4. He probably also misses out of the 40 or so laps that occurred after Max crashed, which he would have got, and which would square the ledger on that as well.
        No doubt Max has done very well, specially on Sundays, but these stats may skew it more than should be the case for what been a great contest so far.

  4. Guybrush Threepwood
    4th August 2016, 12:36

    It gives a rough indication but I was hoping for some more in-depth analysis, such as taking into account who has had the misfortune in each race, etc. That would be quite an ask though :)

  5. “In the meantime Felipe Nasr has been unable to replicate the clear margin of superiority he enjoyed over Marcus Ericsson last year”

    It dont exactly look like a “clear margin of superiority” if you check your teamsummary from the 2015 season. Nasr ended up just slightly ahead in everything but points but the points defecit is becouse the car wasnt competive after the first races where Ericsson struggled and Nasr had had a strong start. This season has started like the last season ended.

    1. @rethla I think you’re correct.

    2. But starting the season well is in itself an important factor. Barrichello lost 2009 title to Button because he couldn’t match him when Brawn was unbeteable, during the first seven races, six of which Button won. When he got his act together, Barrichello won twice, Button missed the top spot of the podium for the rest of the season, but it was too late: Red Bull caught up and started winning with Vettel and Webber.

      1. No doubt starting the season is an important factor. Just ask Rosberg ;)

        1. I honestly thought something similar would happen this year, but I underestimated Rosberg’s downfall. And Red Bull still didn’t catch up the way it did in 2009.

          One thing is certain: unlike Button or Barrichello or Rosberg, Hamilton is a true genius, so he would fight back sooner or later.

    3. Ericsen drove Nasr’s old chassie in Germany and was much stronger in the race. Sauber has also stated that nothing was wrong with it.
      Intresting how long the hype around Nasr can go on because he’s really not that good.

  6. If things carry on the way they are at Williams, Massa won’t be there for 2017. Button or Lynn for 2017?

    1. i predict bottas and stroll because mclaren will finally promote vandoorne and they will be better than williams next year. button wants a better car so i think this is unfortunately his last season

    2. Evil Homer (@)
      5th August 2016, 16:59

      Massa wont be there in 2017, that’s a given. But one thing I find a bit disrespectful by Claire in talking about her 2017 line up potential is to actually lacking to say “Massa is going a great job also”, please pretend your current driver is even in the mix, even if its BS!!

  7. ColdFly F1 (@)
    4th August 2016, 14:30

    I decided to share the average of @keithcollantine‘s driver ratings (since Spain):
    1. RIC 4.0
    2. BUT/VES 3.9
    4. ALO/SAI 3.8
    6. HAM 3.6
    7. VET/HUL/PER 3.4
    10. WEH 3.3
    11. BOT/GRO 3.1
    13. ROS/NAS 3.0
    15. GUT 2.9
    16. KVY/MAG/RAI/MAS 2.8
    20. PAL 2.5
    21. HAY 2.1
    22. ERI 2.0

    Probably pretty close to what the mid-season driver ranking will look like. There will be some movements in the top 4 when including the first 3 races, and arguably ROS/GRO will be a bit higher (but even with perfect scores in those races they would not be higher than 7th).

    1. And Sainz keeps going, red bull needs 3 cars.

    2. Interesting @coldfly, curiously that doesn’t look a reflection of reality at all. Perhaps the mid season rank shall sort it out. Button, Wehrlein and Nasr are overated, Lewis, Ericsson, Haryanto are underated.

      1. We get it @peartree, you don’t rate Button. However, many others clearly disagree with you, including those with control at McLaren, and they’re the ones who have been paying him for the last seven seasons.

        The jury’s still out on Wehrlein, as far as I am concerned.

        However, you lose your credibility completely when you state that Haryanto is underrated. That is clearly not the case.

        1. Well JB has been No2 at McLaren most of the time @nvherman and is about to be replaced. But anyway the race ratings are against expectation as much as by pure performance. A surprise will get a high score, just because it’s a surprise.

          1. @lockup
            Indeed. Though I do rate JB,but come on.. Joint number two and Alo joint number fourth.
            The list doesn’t fit the title ‘driver ratings’.

        2. agree with @peartree ,also l think Button is overrated, 5 for Germany because he had something in his eye and he jumped a couple of cars was ridiculous .

        3. Well, I think too that Haryanto is underrated @nvherman. Everybody (myself included) expected some kind of Max Chilton or even Yuji Ide. Haryanto surpassed those very low expectations, even though not by miles.
          I don’t remember the exact race, but he missed a Q2 spot by clocking the 17th qualifying time this year. A performance that went largely unnoticed.
          In the end, I’d prefer to see a promising talent that could push Wehrlein in that second Manor.

        4. @nvherman I don’t rate Button as I do several other F1 drivers, you are right on that. I wasn’t singling out Button nvherman, I trully think the mid season ratings are going to be slightly different than what the avg suggest, and righfully so. Also I never suggested how under or overated the drivers I mentioned are in my view. The numbers suggest a different picture that’s all. Alonso’s numbers state he has been better yet he’s avg rating is slightly inferior to that of Button, very small margin which doesn’t bother me much. I think the gap between Nasr and Ericsson is a gross miscalculation, and so is Haryanto vs Wehrlein, but as @lockup pointed out, the surprise factor might have had it’s hand on that case.In teh end I see Haryanto much the same as @x303 does.

      2. Think Keith has a soft spot for Button.

    3. That’s crazy! I really don’t think it accurately reflects what’s going on this season at all. Rosberg deserves to be higher than Bottas, Grosjean, Vettel,Hulk and Perez. Button ahead of Alonso, Perez and Vettel? Guttierez is higher than Magnussen and Raikonnen?

      I would put Ricciardo and Max in the top 3 drivers of the season so far though. Maybe even Sainz would sneak in to the top 5

    4. The respect falls apart when you have the chap that fought back from a vast deficit to lead within seven races or place Rici, Vers and Alonso ahead.

      It collapses totally around the NAS/ROS area and then placing Weh two above?

      Shows what flawed stats can do – along with a healthy wish for a change of order.

  8. Personally, I think that Jolyon Palmer has been the biggest disappointment this season so far and his potential replacement doesn’t seem harsh to me at all. With drivers like Ocon and Sirotkin on the waiting list, I would be very surprised if they keep Palmer on for another year.

    1. And you had high expectations of him? He did just as expected in my view.

  9. “Similarly, only races where both drivers were classified are used to determine which driver finished ahead.”
    So at the last GP – Germany – where Massa wasn’t classified, but where Bottas finished in the points, the result was excluded from deciding which of the Williams drivers finished ahead. Is that the correct way of reading this? And if so, is it the correct way of interpreting the data available?

    1. Yes and no, not if you want to produce a table like that that displays relative performance in a more useful way.

  10. Sorry, I should have tagged this to @keithcollantine

  11. There is no doubt Carlos is good enough to drive a front row car, rb wont run 3 cars, Ferrari maybe in 2018 or maybe a developing team macca or reno would be a good fit for him.

  12. Kvyat, The Gus Caesar of F1. Bewilderingly promoted, not too soon, but at all. Neither especially quick and with racecraft learned from Rosberg’s racecraft for dummies pamphlet he really should just enjoy what he’s got, which is a drive.

    I do feel for Palmer but f1 doesn’t carry anyone unless they come with deep pockets. He’s just not shown enough and cracked under the one time he was under pressure.

    Other than Lewis, Ricciardo has been absolutely top drawer. His pace through high speed corners is noticeably superior to anyone, to my eyes anyway.

    Just as a general point I’ve really enjoyed this season, for sure theres some areas to be improved but wasn’t that always so? Social media just sets a torch under any grumbles and turns them into a frenzy and a demand for action now!!! ‘Or i’ll never watch the sport again’. Maybe Bernie was right to ignore social media after all.

  13. I thought I would share Autosport’s driver ratings so far. (Not sure if I am allowed to since it is only available to paid subscribers)
    The below ratings are the average rating for each race this year.

    NICO ROSBERG 7.2
    LEWIS HAMILTON 7.9
    SEBASTIAN VETTEL 7.3
    KIMI RAIKKONEN 6.2
    FELIPE MASSA 6.2
    VALTTERI BOTTAS 7.0
    DANIEL RICCIARDO 8.2
    MAX VERSTAPPEN 7.8
    SERGIO PEREZ 6.8
    NICO HULKENBERG 6.5
    KEVIN MAGNUSSEN 6.6
    JOLYON PALMER 6.1
    DANIIL KVYAT 5.8
    CARLOS SAINZ JR 7.8
    MARCUS ERICSSON 6.3
    FELIPE NASR 5.8
    Fernando Alonso 7.6
    JENSON BUTTON 7.3
    RIO HARYANTO 5.1
    PASCAL WEHRLEIN 7.3
    ROMAIN GROSJEAN 6.8
    ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ 6.3

    1. That didn’t quite format the way I wanted it to. However I will list the top 10 in order

      Daniel Ricciardo : 8.2
      Lewis Hamilton : 7.9
      Max Verstappen : 7.8
      Carlos Sainz : 7.8
      Fernando Alonso : 7.4
      Sebastian Vettel : 7.3
      Jenson Button : 7.3
      Pascal Wherlein : 7.3
      Nico Rosberg : 7.2
      Valteri Bottas : 7.0

      All those ratings seem right to me.

    2. I will and highest and lowest rating to the report

      Daniel Ricciardo : 8.2 (10 China, Monaco : 6 England)
      Lewis Hamilton : 7.9 (10 England : 4 Spain)
      Max Verstappen : 7.8 (10 England : 5 Monaco)
      Carlos Sainz : 7.8 (10 Spain : 6 Russia)
      Fernando Alonso : 7.4 (9 Monaco : 6 Germany)
      Sebastian Vettel : 7.3 (8 Bahrain, Russia, Spain, Canada, Baku, Hungary, Germany : 4 England)
      Jenson Button : 7.3 (10 Austria : 6 Australia, England, Hungary)
      Pascal Wherlein : 7.3 (10 Austria : 4 England)
      Nico Rosberg : 7.2 (10 China : 4 Spain)
      Valteri Bottas : 7.0 (9 Russia, Canada : 5 Austria, England)

      1. Lol hamilton a 4 for Spain, yet Hamilton did nothing wrong there. The stewards only investigated if they should give Rosberg a penalty and as usual he got away with a clear infraction of the rules.

    3. Seems like a reasonable ranking, Wehrlein a bit high and Rosberg a bit low though.

      I also think it is better to rate on a scale from 1 to 10, it gives a bit more room for differences and more accurate grades compared to 1-5 imho.

  14. Is the qualified ahead statistic correct for Hamilton and Rosberg. 6:5 is 11 total sessions with 12 races but at least 2 of those 12 Hamilton couldn’t set a time in Q3 (China & Russia.) You could also count Hungary where Rosberg got a 2nd time but Lewis couldn’t because of the yellow flag.

    1. “You could also count Hungary where Rosberg got a 2nd time but Lewis couldn’t because of the yellow flag”

      Are you serious? :)

    2. That’s what you get when only look at the scoreboard. To be fair it would be way too much work to actually work out who performed best and account for technical difficulties.

      Even the starts are technical issues these days. The engineers set up the car for the race and they get it wrong sometimes. Especially when there is a restart.

      Hamilton made it quite clear how much he owed to the engineer who does prepare his car for the start. Although he did say they spent time on perfecting the settings together so I guess he had some hand in it too, but probably more in the sense of testing what his engineer did and check if the settings were correct.

  15. I think Verstappen in the Red Bull.

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