2011 Formula One Power Rankings
The 2011 Formula One season is now four races old and many of the trends that are likely to prevail throughout the season have become apparent. Rule changes introduced in the off-season and a change of tyre provider have reinvigorated the sport as a spectacle, while the 2010 three-way constructor battle at the top appears to have given way to a duel between McLaren and Red Bull. Some things have not changed though – Michael Schumacher continues to be old (more on him later). Where do all the other pieces fit? There is only one way to find out…
Winners of the 2011 season to date
1. Rule changes – adjustable rear wings and reintroduction of KERS
In 2011, drivers can adjust the rear wing from the cockpit at designated points on each track, provided they are less than one second behind another car at the time. In this scenario, the driver will typically lower the wing angle, reducing drag and being able to increase their top speed in order to try to overtake the car in front.
KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems) are back in 2011, after the teams mutually agreed to suspend their use in 2010. Essentially the system takes waste energy generated under braking and stores it for use by the driver via a ‘boost button’ (a bit like hitting the ‘nitro’ button on many a racing-based video game). Again, the aim here is to increase top speed in order to either overtake the car in front or hold off an attack from a pursuing car.
These two changes have been beneficial from an overtaking perspective and improved the spectacle of each race, albeit that in Turkey they led to overtaking being much easier than should be the case. However, the greatest determinant of the rapid changes in fortunes observable in each race has been:
2. Pirelli tyres (and tactics/ passing arising from tyre degradation)
Bridgestone withdrew from Formula One at the end of last season after 13 years in the sport and Pirelli took up the position of sole tyre provider. 2011 also sees a reduction in tyre allocations from 14 sets of dry-weather tyres (per driver each weekend) to 11 sets. There are four specifications of dry-weather tyres (super soft, soft, medium and hard), two of which are specified for use at each Grand Prix – drivers must complete a stint on each specification within a race or be excluded from the results.
The attribution of effect between choice of tyre compound, the quality of ‘slicks’ being turned out by Pirelli and perhaps even a mandate from the Formula One powers-that-be to provide tyres that are more conducive the exciting racing is uncertain. The following things are certain:
(1) The 2011 Pirelli tyres ‘go off’ quicker than raw chicken left in the sun;
(2) Drivers stuck out on the track on the wrong set of tyres (or an overly worn set) can loss upwards of three seconds a lap; and
(3) The outcome of otherwise evenly matched cars, at different points in their tyre degradation, is a rapidly changing race order and more overtaking.
The 2011 season to date does not make me want to go and out a grab a set of Pirelli’s for my own car, but the Italian manufacturer has done great things for my enjoyment of watching races.
3. The Martin Brundle/ David Coulthard TV duo
Martin Brundle has been doing the ‘expert comments’ thing as part of the Formula One coverage since the latter stages of Murray Walker’s fabled career and seen subsequent ‘play-by-play’ commentators fall by the wayside, before finally sliding across into that chair himself. Joining him in the 2011 studio is Scotsman David Coulthard, a man rarely described as ‘charismatic’ or even ‘personable’ during a driving career that spanned over a decade in the top echelon of motor sport. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to see Coulthard open up and seem quite lively behind the microphone, dropping useful technical points (often sufficiently dumbed down so that the average F1 fan can get the gist of his point) into the discussion and existing comfortably with his co-commentator. The Brundle/ Coulthard duo has been the surprise packet of the season.
Drive of the round votes
An idea originally espoused by Martin Brundle on occasion when working with Murray Walker, I have expanded it to a 3-2-1 voting system. The drive of the round aims to reflect what a driver was able to do with what he had at his disposal. Drivers who ‘punch above their weight’ are looked favourably upon, as are those who overcome adversity in a race or soundly defeat their teammate (whom also acts as the only real barometer of how competitive that constructor was on any given race day).
Australian Grand Prix
3 – Vitali Petrov (Renault)
2 – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
1 – Paul di Resta (Force India)
Malaysian Grand Prix
3 – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2 – Nick Heidfeld (Renault)
1 – Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
Chinese Grand Prix
3 – Mark Webber (Red Bull)
2 – Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
1 – Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
Turkish Grand Prix
3 – Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2 – Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso)
1 – Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
The season to date has already clearly defined the upper and lower echelons of the pecking order, but the middle rungs are less apparent. Here is one man’s assessment of the Formula One food chain after four rounds:
2011 Driver Power Rankings – After Turkish Grand Prix
24. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)
Race results to date – DNQ (Australia), Retired (Malaysia), 23rd (China), 21st (Turkey)
23. Vitantonio Liuzzi (HRT)
DNQ, Retired, 22nd, 22nd
HRT really are treading a fine line in terms of whether they are sufficiently competitive to be a viable competitor in Formula 1. Both cars failed to qualify in Australia by virtue of posting qualifying times that were outside the 107 per cent limit (i.e. their fastest times were more than 7 per cent slower than the fastest time of the session, which equates to the HRT cars being lapped once every 14 laps of the circuit). Both cars subsequently qualified in Malaysia but failed to greet the chequered flag on race day, while they trailed the field of cars to finish home in both China and Turkey, between two and five laps off the leaders. Motivation must be difficult to come by for Karthikeyan and Liuzzi, both of whom have previously raced in more competitive cars on the Formula One circuit.
22. Timo Glock (Virgin)
Not classified, 16th, 21st, DNS
21. Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin)
14th, Retired, 20th, 20th
Virgin are being kept off the bottom of the Formula One rung in 2011 by HRT, beating only Kobayashi (once in qualifying) and the HRT cars in terms of both qualifying and classified finishers at all races to date. Of the combined five classified finishes to date (Glock was not classified as a finisher in Australia as he was nine laps off the leaders), their best results have involved only being lapped twice. As marketing exercises undertaken by Sir Richard Branson go, running around at the tail of a Formula One grid surely ranks among the most expensive.
20. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus)
Retired, 15th, 16th, 19th
19. Jarno Trulli (Lotus)
13th, Retired, 19th, 18th
The late and great Colin Chapman would not recognise the current Lotus outfit in any way, shape or form. Long gone are the days of World Championships for the likes of Jim Clark and Mario Andretti in the 1960s and 1970s, or even the breeding ground provided by Lotus in the early and mid 1980s for a young Nigel Mansell and subsequently Ayrton Senna. The two Lotus cars qualified 19th and 20th in each of the first three races, advancing to 18th and 19th in qualifying at Turkey only when Kobayashi had trouble with the Sauber in Q1. The only saving grace for Lotus is their partnership (of sorts) with the more successful Renault team. Thankfully, this is the last of the three teams who have run sequentially last, second last and third last on every qualifying gird to date. Although the next team are still sufficiently poor for its drivers to be bracketed together.
18. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
Retired, Retired, 18th, 17th
17. Rubens Barrichello (Williams)
Retired, Retired, 13th, 15th
You know that the bottom rungs of Formula One are in a dire state when a team with four retirements in the first four races, a best race finish of 13th and only one qualifying position of better than 15th (Barrichello qualified 11th in Turkey) are only the fourth worst outfit in the paddock. How the mighty have fallen – Drivers' World Championships have been claimed by Alan Jones, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve when driving for Williams, with the final four of these occurring over just a six year span from 1992 to 1997. Much as with Lotus, Williams are but a shadow of their former (glorious) self.
16. Sergio Perez (Sauber)
DSQ (8th across the line), Retired, 17th, 14th
We are finally up to the mid-table teams where driving nous matters – hoorah! Unfortunately for the young Mexican, he has been well and truly in the shadows of his teammate Kamui Kobayashi for much of the early going. Whilst this is to be reasonably expected given his inexperience, Formula One is a fickle business and he will need to close the gap to his teammate over ensuing races to give himself the best chance of retaining the drive for 2012.
15. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)
equal 11th in championship – 6 pts
Retired, 9th, 8th, 12th
I grew up with Michael Schumacher rising through the ranks – a brief stint at Jordan where his talents became abundantly clear, two drivers’ championships at Benetton and then a well-documented run as the darling of the Tifosi during his days at Ferrari. He walked away from the sport as potentially the greatest of all time, though comparisons between eras are subjective by nature. Now he is running around in midfield, consistently well beaten by teammate Nico Rosberg in both qualifying and race conditions. The best parallel I can draw is with like Michael Jordan returning for the Washington Wizards after his once-in-a-lifetime career with Bulls. I didn’t want to remember Jordan that way and I don't want to remember Schumacher this way. For the sake of your legacy, please walk away from the sport now.
14. Jaime Alguersuari (STR)
11th, 14th, Retired, 16th
The STR (Scuderia Toro Rosso) driver has yet to post any championship points in 2011, but his performances to date, particularly in the first three races, have only been marginally worse than those of teammate Sebastien Buemi. Nonetheless, it has been half a step backwards for the Spaniard, who outshone Buemi on a number of occasions in 2010. With Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo all but assured a Toro Rosso seat in 2012, the clock is ticking for Alguersuari already.
13. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
equal 13th in championship – 2 pts
9th, 11th, 15th, 13th
Sutil is another driver who has started the 2011 season in slightly disappointing fashion, with his rookie teammate being able to race on terms with him from the get go. For a driver whose star appeared to be on the rise in 2010, the first four races have been something of a reality check for the German.
12. Paul di Resta (Force India)
equal 13th in championship – 2 pts
10th, 10th, 11th, Retired
Flipping the discussion for Sutil around, it has been an impressive beginning to a career in Formula One for di Resta – Force India appear to have found a good ‘un. If his performances continue to show this level of promise, he may well enter the sights of the more competitive teams at the front end of the grid when deciding upon their 2012 driver pairings.
11. Sebastien Buemi (STR)
equal 11th in championship – 6 pts
8th, 13th, 14th, 9th
Something of an oddity as a Swiss driver in a paddock historically dominated by Germans, French, Brits, Italians and Spaniards, Buemi has answered the 2010 challenge of his younger teammate and resumed his position as the number one Toro Rosso driver, at least for the time being. His pace has been very good thus far, making it to ‘Q3’ (i.e. the third sector of qualifying, which is restricted to the fastest ten cars) on two occasions and scoring championship points in Australia.
10. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
10th in championship – 8 pts
DSQ (9th across the line), 7th, 10th, 10th
Kobayashi looks to be the most promising driver to emerge from the Land of the Rising Sun since Takuma Sato and if he can wriggle his way into a slightly more competitive car in 2012, an appearance or two on the podium is not out of the question. He has advanced to the Q3 session in two of the four races to date and crossed the finish line ‘in the points’ at each race, albeit that both Saubers were subsequently disqualified in Australia for rear wing infringements. His drive in Turkey was particularly impressive, overcoming qualifying dramas to recover from last on the grid to grab another championship point.
9. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
9th in championship – 20 pts
Retired, 12th, 5th, 5th
He is one of the more difficult drivers to line up with respect to performance. Is he clearly the number one driver in team because Schumacher is washed up, or has he finally taken the leap? I’m leaning towards the former, as his performances prior to joining Mercedes were underwhelming, and a teammate who is into his early 40s is not a fair barometer of his relative strengths. His strong finishes in China and Turkey were encouraging, but the likelihood of a much more competitive teammate in 2012 (more on my theory on who that might be shortly) does not augur well for him.
8. Nick Heidfeld (Renault)
equal 7th in championship – 21 pts
12th, 3rd, 12th, 7th
7. Vitaly Petrov (Renault)
equal 7th in championship – 21 pts
3rd, 17th, 9th, 8th
Older fans of the sport may remember a long-standing partnership in the 1970s and 1980s between Lotus and John Player Special (a cigarette producer) that led to a long line of Lotuses turned out in black livery with gold trim and lettering. They were always among the the best-looking cars on the grid, and it is nice to see the same colour scheme return in 2011 under the Renault banner. Results have been mixed for a team who sadly lost their number one driver (Robert Kubica) in the off-season when he badly injured his right hand in a crash. Petrov appeared to step up from the number two role with a fantastic drive in Australia, but replacement driver Heidfeld (a driver at this level for a number of teams in the past, most recently BMW-Sauber) returned fire with an equally impressive performance in Malaysia. The battle for the number one role at Renault may continue for a number of races to come.
6. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
6th in championship – 26 pts
7th, 5th, 6th, 11th
5. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
5th in championship – 43 pts
4th, 6th, 7th, 2nd
All is not well at Ferrari. After a 2010 season where Alonso remained in the driver’s championship frame through to the final race, the Maranello outfit are well off the early pace this season (albeit that Alonso’s sterling drive in Turkey did offer some encouragement) and appear to be clearly the third best team in the paddock. Alonso has yet to qualify on the first two rows of the grid while Massa has only made it to the first three rows on one occasion. Alonso does have a history of departing teams who are unable to put a highly competitive car in his hands, so the pressure will be intense to deliver improved performances in the upcoming months.
4. Jenson Button (McLaren)
4th in championship – 46 pts
6th, 2nd, 4th, 6th
Was Jenson Button the luckiest World Champion of all time? Consider the following sequence of events. He drives for Honda for much of the 2000s, a team well outside the championship hunt. He reneges on a deal with Williams to stay with Honda in 2006 – the two current Williams drivers hold spots 17 and 18 on this list. Honda gives up the ghost at the end of 2008 but salvation comes in the form of Ross Brawn, the technical/ race guru who had a long-standing partnership with Michael Schumacher at Benetton and then Ferrari. The first ever Brawn car, pulled together out of the Honda wreckage, wins its first Grand Prix race and dominates the first-half of the 2009 championship – Button is paired with perennial number two driver Rubens Barrichello and builds a vast lead in the championship. Red Bull make a late season surge but Brawn (and Button) have an unassailable lead and he takes the Drivers’ Championship. Brawn sells the team to Mercedes and their performance drops off the pace – not that this matters to Button, who signed at McLaren and has been the number two to Lewis Hamilton ever since. Exactly how much lightning in a bottle did Jenson Button catch in 2009?
3. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
3rd in championship – 55 pts
5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd
While Webber’s drive in China, hauling himself up from 18th on the grid) was an absolute gem, the fact remains that Vettel has beaten him in both qualifying and on race day in every Grand Prix this season, making it abundantly clear that Webber is the number two driver at Red Bull. While there is no shame in this outcome, Webber is a proud man and the relationship between the two appears tenuous at best. This is not a new phenomenon between teammates battling for the championship title – Alonso and Lewis Hamilton lasted only a season as teammates at McLaren, while in the late 1980s there were fall outs between Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet at Williams and perhaps most famously, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna at McLaren. Webber has recently left the door open for a switch of teams in 2012, and I think he’ll head for Mercedes – an organisation for whom he has driven previously in sports car races (including the Le Mans 24 Hour race) – to join Nico Rosberg. This would leave a seat open at Red Bull. While there would be a temptation to sign Alonso, the relationship between he and Vettel is unlikely to be workable. Give the relationship between Red Bull and ‘sister’ team Toro Rosso (Vettel himself was recruited from there), I expect the seat will go to one of Alguersuari or Buemi, though a play for Paul di Resta is a possibility.
2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2nd in championship – 59 pts
2nd, 8th, 1st, 4th
The logical threat to a second championship victory for Sebastian Vettel after falling just short in 2010, Hamilton (along with Vettel and Alonso) are clearly the three best-calibre drivers in the sport today. The question then becomes one of which driver is armed with the best machinery, and right now it appears to be the Red Bull outfit with their noses in front. A quick side note: I prefer teams named after the chassis manufacturer rather than a sponsor – give me a Williams, Ferrari or McLaren over a Benetton, Red Bull or Virgin Racing any day. At any rate, Hamilton has a significant task ahead to chase down the championship leader, but his drive in China suggests that he may well be up to the task – anyone who can win the heart of Nicole Scherzinger has to be regarded as a man who gets what he wants.
1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
Championship leader – 93 pts
1st, 1st, 2nd, 1st
In Vettel’s honour, I am going to be Germanic in my efficiency here. Four pole positions. Three race wins and a second placing, creating a substantial (34 point) lead in the championship. Reliability issues aside, the prohibitive favourite to take a second consecutive title. Sufficiently young to have scope for a Schumacher-like run of titles over the next decade if he can find himself in the right cars in the right years. Hmmm…. that looks even more boring on paper than it appeared in my head – ironic given that the racing to date has been the most exciting in years.
The next five races on the calendar cover the Spanish, Monaco, Canadian, European (this year held at Valencia) and British Grand Prix. Can Hamilton pose a serious title threat to Vettel? Can Webber lift a notch and re-open the debate about the number one driver at Red Bull? Will an HRT car overtake anyone not parked by the side of the road this year? It promises to be an intriguing season, and one that Making the Nut will revisit after Silverstone to reassess the pecking order.
Thanks to Clive Mason/Getty Images AsiaPac for use of the photo
