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Post by Shireblogger on Nov 24, 2014 22:02:09 GMT 1
A great season for Lewis, during which he has grown in maturity, increasingly relying on his brains and less on pure testosterone. Nico Rosberg is a real talent, and Lewis out drove him on almost every occasion.
Congratulations.
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Post by paulgilb on Nov 24, 2014 23:49:26 GMT 1
Hamilton definitely deserved the title - and it's good that double points did not affect the title.
As for the Formula E race last weekend, it seemed OK, although the coverage was a bit 'lacking' i.e. no real mention of how exactly di Grassi and Buemi went from 18th and 19th on the grid to finish 2nd and 3rd.
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Post by paulgilb on Nov 27, 2014 0:24:42 GMT 1
Some stats/facts re Abu Dhabi and 2014:
Only 3 different winners in 2014 - equals 1950, 1952, 1963 and 1988 (the first 2 featured an Indy 500 winner as one of the three drivers).
Mercedes' 18th pole of the season (equalling Red Bull in 2011, also from 19 races) and 16th win of the season (beating McLaren's 15 in 1988 and Ferrari's 15 in 2002 and 2004).
First season without a win for either Ferrari or McLaren since 1980, and first season since 1957 that none of Ferrari, McLaren, Williams or Lotus won a race.
Vettel's first full season without a win (and his first full season without a pole).
The only beneficiary of double points was Perez (who was one of the few people in favour of the rule), at the expense of Raikkonen and Magnussen.
Longest gap between 2 titles since Lauda in 1977 and 1984.
First Brit in a non-British car to win the title since Jackie Stewart in 1969 (and first Englishman since Mike Hawthorn in 1958).
First time since Abu Dhabi 2009 that the top 3 finishers all had double-digit cars.
First driver since Emerson Fittipaldi (1972/74) to win his first 2 titles with different teams.
First driver since Senna (1988/90) to win his first 2 titles in non-consecutive years.
Will Stevens became the first driver since Jean-Denis Deletraz in 1994 to make his debut in November. He also became the 3rd driver to make his F1 debut for Caterham in 2014 - the last team to manage this was Super Aguri in 2006 (Ide, Montagny, Yamamaoto).
First time since Jacques Villeneuve in 1998 that the defending champion did not win a race. First time ever that the defending champion has not won a race despite driving a race-winning car.
Williams scored more podiums in 2014 than in 2005-13 combined.
Williams' 66 points in Abu Dhabi is the most a team has ever scored in 1 race.
Ferrari finished 9th and 10th in both of 2014's twilight races.
Only the second season in which every race winner won at least 3 races (the other was 2007).
The last 3 occasions on which the championship was decided by the championship leader winning the final race (1996, 1998, 2014) all saw the championship challenger fail to score in the final race.
Hamilton will have the same number of career wins on his 30th birthday as M Schumacher did on his.
Hamilton has had 2 poles and 2 wins in Abu Dhabi but never in the same year (same as Silverstone).
Bottas has finished both his Abu Dhabi GPs in the same position that he started.
First win-less season for Raikkonen since 2006, and first podium-less season since 2001 (excluding the years in which he didn’t compete).
Each of the last 3 seasons has seen Grosjean compete in 19 races.
No non-mechanical DNFs for Maldonado this season (who would have thought that 2 years ago?).
Second race in a row that Sutil has started 13th and finished 16th.
First season without a Ferrari win, and first season without a front-row start, since 1993.
First season without a Red Bull pole since 2008.
3rd consecutive Abu Dhabi GP in which a World Champion has been excluded from qualifying.
If the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2 system was used, all Drivers’ Championship positions would be the same. Under the 10-6-4-3-2-1 system, Magnussen would be ahead of Perez.
11 poles for Rosberg in 2014 but no title – second to Senna’s 13 poles in 1989.
8 consecutive front-row lockouts for Mercedes – equals McLaren in 1989 and Williams in 1993. First Abu Dhabi GP with no Red Bull on the front row.
Perez has started 11th (his favourite position!) in 3 of his 4 Abu Dhabi GPs.
First time since 1999 that a driver who failed to score in the first race won the title. Both seasons’ first races were won by the Championship runner-up.
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Post by Robin on Nov 27, 2014 10:36:45 GMT 1
Some fantastic stats there, thanks for sharing
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Post by Panda on Nov 27, 2014 19:56:02 GMT 1
Thank you paulgilb for the ever-entertaining stats throughout the season. Interesting battle for the title but it would be nice to see two or three teams with a car capable of challenging next year.
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Post by -Big Dan- on Nov 27, 2014 21:35:53 GMT 1
It's been announced that, mercifully, both double points and standing restarts after safety car periods have been dropped for next season.
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Post by Panda on Dec 10, 2014 13:09:41 GMT 1
Round 3 of Formula E in Uruguay this weekend and after becoming a free agent, Jean-Eric Vergne will drive for Andretti, in place of Charles Pic.
Mexican driver Salvador Duran will drive for Amlin Aguri in place of the popular but slow Katherine Legge.
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Post by -Big Dan- on Dec 11, 2014 4:51:35 GMT 1
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Post by Panda on Dec 11, 2014 11:41:06 GMT 1
The right decision based on 2014 performances. Magnussen clearly has a lot of potential and I'm glad McLaren have retained him as reserve driver, ahead of a likely return in 2016. But right now, Button has more to offer in terms of his ability as a racer and the experience he brings to the team in the first season with Honda power.
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Post by Robin on Dec 11, 2014 12:45:05 GMT 1
Great news, really pleased that Button will still be there next year. He adds a lot of personality to F1
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Post by paulgilb on Dec 13, 2014 0:00:52 GMT 1
Round 3 of Formula E in Uruguay this weekend and after becoming a free agent, Jean-Eric Vergne will drive for Andretti, in place of Charles Pic. Mexican driver Salvador Duran will drive for Amlin Aguri in place of the popular but slow Katherine Legge. Vergne is actually replacing Franck Montagny (Pic had already been replaced by Matthew Brabham). Also, Antonio Garcia replaces Ho-Pin Tung at China Racing (who will thus not have a Chinese driver).
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Post by Panda on Dec 14, 2014 0:38:48 GMT 1
Decent Formula E race this evening, won by Buemi after a load of safety car spells. Vergne was threatening to win late on, after taking pole on his debut, but his car failed on the penultimate lap.
I have to say, I don't see the point of the 'minimum pit stop time' rule.
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Post by paulgilb on Dec 14, 2014 12:40:04 GMT 1
Vergne's unreliability jinx not confined to F1 it seems...
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borneoman
Member
love is tough, when enough is not enough
Posts: 34,344
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Post by borneoman on Dec 14, 2014 15:20:55 GMT 1
but I thought Alonso was replacing Button in McLaren?
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Post by Panda on Dec 14, 2014 17:08:13 GMT 1
but I thought Alonso was replacing Button in McLaren? That was the assumption but Button's superior performance compared to Magnussen convinced them to keep him on.
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Post by paulgilb on Jan 26, 2015 0:25:42 GMT 1
F1 2014 stats:
Victories Hamilton – 11 (6 from pole, 4 from 2nd, 1 from 6th) Rosberg – 5 (3 from pole, 2 from 3rd) Ricciardo – 3 (1 from 4th, 1 from 5th, 1 from 6th)
Podiums Hamilton – 16 Rosberg – 15 Ricciardo – 8 Bottas - 6 Vettel - 4 Massa – 3 Alonso – 2 Magnussen – 1 Button – 1 Perez – 1
Pole Positions Rosberg – 11 Hamilton – 7 Massa – 1
Fastest Laps Hamilton – 7 Rosberg - 5 Vettel – 2 Raikkonen – 1 Massa – 1 Perez – 1 Bottas – 1 Ricciardo – 1
Races Led Hamilton – 15 Rosberg – 15 Ricciardo – 4 Massa – 3 Alonso – 2 Bottas – 2 Perez – 1 Hulkenberg – 1 Button – 1 Vettel – 1
Laps Led Hamilton – 495 Rosberg – 483 Ricciardo – 72 Alonso – 32 Massa – 30 Perez – 11 Hulkenberg – 5 Bottas – 4 Vettel – 1 Button – 1
Entrants per race: 22-22*-22-22-22-22*-22-22-22-22-22-22-22-22*-22-21-18-18-20 (*=non-starter) Classified finishers per race: 13-15-17*-20-20-14-14***-19-17*-18-16-18*-20-17-21**-19-15-17*-17 (*=car that didn’t reach the chequered flag)
Team-mate comparison Team-mates - Quali (inc penalties) - Race - Double DNFs - Points VETvRIC - 8-11 - 5-13 - 1 - 167-238 ROSvHAM - 12-7 - 7-12 - 0 - 317-384 RAIvALO - 3-16 - 3-16 - 0 - 55-161 GROvMAL - 14-5 - 8-8 - 3 - 8-2 MAGvBUT - 10-9 - 4-15 - 0 - 55-126 PERvHUL - 8-11 - 7-10 - 2 - 59-96 GUTvSUT - 7-12 - 8-7 - 4 - 0-0 VERvKVY - 9-10 - 9-8 - 2 - 22-8 MASvBOT - 6-13 - 9-10 - 0 - 134-186 CHIvBIA - 4-11 - 5-9 - 1 - 0-2 ERIvKOB - 5-10 - 5-7 - 3 - 0-0 ERIvLOT - 0-1 - 1-0 - 0 - 0-0 KOBvSTE - 1-0 - 0-1 - 0 - 0-0
DNFs by team (including classified non-finishes): Team - Mechanical - Crash/Accident - DQ/Other - Total SAU - 8 - 7 - 0 - 15 LOT - 13 - 1 - 0 - 14 CAT - 12 - 1 - 0 - 13 STR - 9 - 1 - 0 - 10 MAR - 3 - 4 - 0 - 7 FOR - 2 - 5 - 0 - 7 RBR - 5 - 0 - 1 - 6 WIL - 1 - 4 - 0 - 5 MER - 5 - 0 - 0 - 5 MCL - 3 - 0 - 0 - 3 FER - 2 - 1 - 0 - 3
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Post by paulgilb on Jan 26, 2015 0:26:23 GMT 1
Constructors’ Championship
11th Place – Caterham-Renault (MAL) (0 pts) Drivers: M Ericsson (SWE), K Kobayashi (JAP), A Lotterer (GER), W Stevens (GBR) Laps Raced: 1432 (11th)
Having covered more laps in testing than the other Renault-powered teams, Caterham had some decent performances in the early part of the season, with Kobayashi starting 14th in Australia (the team’s best start all season), and the drivers finishing 13th and 14th in Malaysia and 11th and 13th in Monaco – the former (achieved by Ericsson) equalling the team’s best result (although it was overshadowed by Marussia finishing 9th). However, reliability was weak, with 7 mechanical DNFs in the first 9 races. However, financial problems caused their performance to drop in the latter part of the season (during which Andre Lotterer replaced Kobayashi for 1 race in Belgium), and the team went into administration following the Russian GP. Thanks to a crowdfund, they (unlike the similarly-affected Marussia) were able to return for Abu Dhabi, with Will Stevens replacing Ericsson (who had left the team). They finished 11th and last for the second year in a row. They had 12 mechanical DNFs (including 1 DNS) and 1 non-mechanical DNF. Australia, Canada, and Hungary all saw double DNFs.
10th Place – Sauber-Ferrari (SUI) (0 pts) Drivers: E Gutierrez (MEX), A Sutil (GER) Laps Raced: 1790 (9th)
Having finished 7th with 57 points last year (and scored 4 podiums the year before), 2014 was a disaster for Sauber. They started the season off the pace, with a car that was overly heavy. Even though things improved part-way through the season, operational errors (such as in Austria when the team accidentally told Sutil rather than Gutierrez to stop), reliability, driver errors, and financial troubles meant that points eluded them throughout, with the team’s best result being 11th and 12th in Australia and 11th in Hungary. They had more retirements than any other team – 8 mechanical (1 of which was still classified) and 7 non-mechanical (one of which was still classified). These included double DNFs in Malaysia, Bahrain, Monaco (where both cars crashed when running promisingly, especially Gutierrez), and Germany; and Sutil’s first-lap collision with Perez in the USA after qualifying 9th (their best of the year).
9th Place – Marussia-Ferrari (RUS) (2 pts) Drivers: M Chilton (GBR), J Bianchi (FRA) Laps Raced: 1523 (10th)
Despite problems in testing, Marussia initially had the better of Caterham, with Chilton managing 13th-place finishes in Australia and Bahrain, before Bianchi scored the team’s first points with 9th-place in Monaco (which led to the team finishing 1 place higher overall than in 2013). However, this was the high point for the team – in the following race in Canada the two cars collided on the first lap, and then financial problems struck, with the team initially replacing Chilton with Alexander Rossi for Belgium before reversing the decision during first practice. They did however manage to qualify 12th on the grid courtesy of Bianchi in Britain (he was the highest of all the Ferrari-powered cars). The low point of the season came in Japan, where Bianchi crashed heavily. This led to the team only entering one car for Russia. After that, they went into administration and missed the final 3 races. They only had 3 mechanical (1 of which was still classified) and 4 non-mechanical (1 of which was still classified) DNFs, as well as a non-classified finish for Bianchi in Australia. As a result of their relatively small number of DNFs, they completed more racing laps than Caterham, despite competing in 1 race fewer (and entering only 1 car for another race).
8th Place - Lotus-Renault (GBR) (10 pts) Drivers: R Grosjean (FRA), P Maldonado (VEN) Laps Raced: 1800 (8th)
Having finished 4th overall with 315 points in 2013, Lotus had a disastrous start to 2014, losing Kimi Raikkonen and 2 designers to Ferrari, and both cars breaking down in the first race in Australia. The team made progress – Grosjean reached Q3 in China and qualified 5th in Spain, finishing 8th in the latter race and matching that result in Monaco. However, the ban on their FRIC suspension set them back, and they only managed 2 further points courtesy of Maldonado in USA (this was also their only other Q3 appearance). They were the least reliable team, with 13 mechanical DNFs (of which 2 were still classified and 1 was a DNS), including double DNFs in Australia, Canada, and Belgium, and 1 non-mechanical DNF (despite having two drivers with crash-prone reputations).
7th Place – Toro Rosso-Renault (30 pts) Drivers: J-E Vergne (FRA), D Kvyat (RUS) Laps Raced: 1895 (7th)
The 2014 Toro Rosso was a reasonably fast car – reaching Q3 on 16 occasions (4 more than Force India), with Kvyat starting 5th in Russia and Abu Dhabi. However, they only managed 12 points-scoring finishes, of which only 1 (Vergne’s 6th in Singapore) was higher than 8th. This was mainly due to unreliability – they had 9 mechanical DNFs (including double DNFs in Monaco and Austria), and 1 non-mechanical DNF. Most of these came early on in the season (only Kvyat’s DNF in Abu Dhabi came in the last 9 races). However, they also had several grid penalties (including 3 instances of the drivers going over their power unit allocations), and on occasions had poor race pace compared to qualifying (especially in Russia where both drivers finished outside the points despite starting 5th and 9th). Despite scoring 3 points fewer than in 2013, they finished 1 place higher overall.
6th Place – Force India-Mercedes (155 pts) Drivers: S Perez (MEX), N Hulkenberg (GER) Laps Raced: 1927 (6th) Laps Led: 16 (5th)
Thanks to their Mercedes engines and an early start on their 2014 car, Force India made a great start to 2014, with Hulkenberg scoring in the first 10 races and Perez finishing 3rd in Bahrain (having started 4th – their joint best start of the season along with Hulkenberg in Britain) – the team were lying 2nd in the standings after 4 races. They could have had another podium in Canada but for Perez colliding with Massa on the final lap. Despite developing their car throughout the season, they were out-developed by other teams, and suffered as a result. They made a brief resurgence in Abu Dhabi, finishing 6th and 7th (their best result since Bahrain). They had 2 mechanical DNFs (1 of which was a DNS) and 5 non-mechanical DNFs (1 of which was still classified). These included double DNFs in Hungary (where Hulkenberg crashed into Perez, eliminating Hulkenberg on the spot, before Perez crashed out later) and USA (where Perez crashed out and Hulkenberg ran over the debris, leading to his retirement). These were the only 2 races in which neither driver scored. Despite scoring 78 points more than in 2013, they still finished in the same place overall.
5th Place – McLaren-Mercedes (181 pts) Drivers: K Magnussen (DEN), J Button (GBR) Laps Raced: 2231 (1st) Laps Led: 1 (6th)
After a disappointing 2013, McLaren made a great start to 2014, finishing 3rd and 4th on the road in Australia to take the lead of the Constructors’ Championship even before Ricciardo was disqualified (which moved the drivers up to 2nd and 3rd). However, this was a false dawn, as neither driver equalled their Australian result subsequently. A double DNF in Bahrain (where Button, who was still classified, was looking set for a possible podium) was followed by 2 more point-free races. However, they scored in every race after that, with Button managing 4 further 4th-place finishes (including in Britain where he started 3rd), to overtake Force India and finish in the same position as in 2013 (with 59 more points than in 2013). This was due to upgrades, reliability (apart from the double-DNF in Bahrain, their only other DNF was a mechanical failure for Button in Singapore when he was looking set for a good result – 3 DNFs was the joint lowest of any team in 2014), and being the fastest team in the pits. However, their pit crew was not entirely faultless, ruining Button’s chance of a podium in Hungary by keeping him on intermediates (just after he had led the team’s only lap of the season).
4th Place – Ferrari (216 pts) Drivers: K Raikkonen (FIN), F Alonso (ESP) Laps Raced: 2143 (2nd) Laps Led: 32 (4th)
Despite a new engine formula yielding the opportunity to start afresh, Ferrari’s 2014 season was a disaster (failing to win a race for the first time since 1993), mainly due to the Ferrari engine being the weakest of the three. However, Alonso’s ability to punch above his car’s weight served the team well, only once starting lower than 9th and only twice failing to finish in the top 9 (these were both mechanical failures). He managed 2 podium finishes (3rd in China, 2nd in Hungary), despite never starting higher than 4th. Raikkonen struggled a lot more with the car, normally only competing for the lower points places, although he did have a couple of good weekends – in Monaco, he was looking set for a podium before colliding with Chilton and Magnussen, and in Belgium he finished 4th. Raikkonen only had 1 DNF (a crash in Britain), meaning that Ferrari scored the joint-lowest number of DNFs (3). The team finished 1 place in lower in the championship than in 2013, with 138 fewer points.
3rd Place – Williams-Mercedes (320 pts) Drivers: F Massa (BRA), V Bottas (FIN) Laps Raced: 2064 (5th) Laps Led: 34 (3rd)
After only scoring 5 points in 2011, winning a race in 2012, then only scoring 5 points again in 2013 (finishing 9th overall), a switch to the Mercedes engines helped Williams to their best season since 2003. The car was very fast in a straight line and very fuel efficient – however, its main weakness was in the wet. Partly due to several wet qualifying sessions early on in the season, they took some time to fulfil their potential. Massa had a shot at victory in Canada, but thanks to a pit-stop blunder he dropped down the field, and ended up colliding with Perez on the last lap. In the following race they locked out the front row (with Massa taking the only non-Mercedes pole of the season), and finished 3rd and 4th. This started a run of 4 podiums in 5 races for Bottas (including 2 2nd places). Bottas would add 2 more podiums, and Massa would score 3 (including a 2-3 in the final race in Abu Dhabi). They only had 1 mechanical DNF (Bottas in Monaco), the fewest of any team, but 4 non-mechanical DNFs (Massa’s still-classified collision in Canada plus 3 first-lap collisions).
2nd Place – Red Bull-Renault (405 pts) Drivers: S Vettel (GER), D Ricciardo (AUS) Laps Raced: 2065 (4th) Laps Led: 73 (2nd)
Despite a torrid time in testing, Red Bull were competitive from the start of the season, with Ricciardo qualifying 2nd in Australia (he crossed the finish line 2nd but was disqualified for a technical infringement – this was the only race in which the team did not score) and Vettel qualifying 2nd in Malaysia (and finishing 3rd). They never managed a pole position, but did manage 5 front-row starts and scored every time they finished, managing 12 podiums including 3 wins (all of which came when Mercedes hit problems), all courtesy of Ricciardo (who comfortably outperformed Vettel), in Canada, Hungary and Belgium. They did push the rules to the limit and beyond – as well as Ricciardo’s disqualification at the start of the season, they were also excluded from qualifying in Abu Dhabi due to illegal front wings. As well as Ricciardo’s disqualification, they had 5 DNFs (all mechanical). They finished 1 place lower than in 2013, with 191 fewer points.
1st Place – Mercedes (701 pts) Drivers: N Rosberg (GER), L Hamilton (GBR) Laps Raced: 2111 (3rd) Laps Led: 978 (1st)
Runners-up in 2013 (with 360 points), Mercedes were dominant in 2014, managing pole position in all bar one race (Austria), locking out the front row on 12 occasions. The first 6 races saw 5 1-2 finishes (only spoilt by Hamilton’s DNF in Australia), 4 of them Hamilton-led. This included a memorable scrap in Bahrain, and a Monaco win for Rosberg in which he went down an escape road in qualifying (preventing Hamilton from beating his time). The next 6 races were not quite so good – despite Rosberg starting 5 of them from pole position, a combination of reliability problems (Hamilton and Rosberg suffering DNFs in Canada and Britain respectively, Rosberg also suffering problems in Canada, and Hamilton having problems in qualifying in Germany and Hungary), Hamilton’s qualifying slip-ups in Austria and Britain, and a collision in Belgium (which led to Hamilton’s retirement) meant that they only won 3 of them (with Ricciardo winning the other 3). Following some stern words from the management, they were back to dominance in the final 7 races, with Hamilton winning all bar one (and Rosberg winning the other, in Brazil), and scoring 5 1-2 finishes (the exceptions being Singapore and Abu Dhabi, when Rosberg had reliability problems – only the former was race-ending). Their superlative performance yielded their first Constructors’ Championship (as this did not exist during 1954-55, when Mercedes were also dominant).
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Post by paulgilb on Jan 26, 2015 0:27:07 GMT 1
Drivers’ Championship
24th Place – Andre Lotterer (GER) (Caterham-Renault) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 21st Best finish: n/a
A surprise one-off replacement for Kobayashi in Belgium (having not driven an F1 car in over a decade), debutant Lotterer qualified 21st (almost a second ahead of team-mate Ericsson) but suffered a race-ending mechanical failure on the second-lap. He was the only driver to outqualify his team-mate at every race he entered, but the only driver not to finish ahead of a team-mate.
23rd Place – Will Stevens (GBR) (Caterham-Renault) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 17th Best finish: 17th
A one-off replacement for Ericsson in Abu Dhabi, debutant Stevens qualified 17th and finished there. He was the only driver not to outqualify a team-mate in 2014, but the only driver to beat his team-mate at every race he entered.
22nd Place – Kamui Kobayashi (JAP) (Caterham-Renault) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 14th Best finish: 13th (x2)
Having been out of the sport since 2012, Kobayashi used crowdfunding to finance a return to F1 for Caterham in 2014 (his 5th season in total including a 2-race spell for Toyota in 2009). The first race in Australia was mixed – he failed to set a timed lap on Friday, reached Q2 on Saturday (he started 14th, his best of the season), but suffered a brakes failure at the first corner of the race, causing him to crash into Massa. This was the first of 7 mechanical DNFs (including a DNS in Singapore), the second of which was a similar brake failure in Spain. His first 2 DNFs were each followed with a 13th-place finish – in Malaysia (where there were 15 finishers) and Monaco (where there were 14 finishers) – these were his best results of the season. He was dropped for Belgium in favour of Lotterer, but returned in Italy where he outqualified Ericsson by almost 0.9s (despite not taking part in FP1 and the circuit only having 6 corners) and finished 17th (ahead of both Marussias). He missed USA and Brazil due to the team’s financial problems, but returned in Abu Dhabi. 22nd is his lowest Championship placing (even lower than the 18th he managed in 2009 when he only competed in 2 races).
21st Place – Max Chilton (GBR) (Marussia-Ferrari) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 17th (x3) Best finish: 13th (x2)
Having finished every race in his debut season in 2013, Chilton’s 2014 started off reasonably well, with 13th-places in Australia (albeit last of the classified finishers – he nearly reached Q2 but ended up starting from the pit-lane due to a car problem) and Bahrain (of 17 classified finishers) and 15th in Malaysia (of 15 finishers). However, the rest of the season was not so good – he never qualified higher than 17th (which he managed in Australia, Spain, and Britain), only started higher than Bianchi on 4 occasions (and on 3 of those occasions Bianchi had a problem in qualifying), and made several mistakes in races: in Monaco he crashed with Raikkonen behind the safety car (which helped Bianchi to finish 9th), in Canada he crashed into Bianchi on lap 1 (eliminating both drivers – this was his first DNF), and crashed out in Italy. He very nearly didn’t race in Belgium – he was due to be replaced by Alexander Rossi only for the decision to be reversed during FP1. Following Bianchi’s crash in Japan, Chilton was the only Marussia in Russia, and retired with mechanical failure after 10 laps. The team’s financial problems meant that he did not compete in the final 3 races. He finished 2 places higher overall than in 2013.
20th Place – Esteban Gutierrez (MEX) (Sauber-Ferrari) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 11th Best finish: 12th
Gutierrez started his second season in F1 by only qualifying 20th in Australia, but due to attrition ended up 12th in the race. This would be his best result of the season – mainly due to problems with the car (he had 4 mechanical DNFs, 1 of which was still classified, including Hungary when he had a chance of points), but did also have 3 non-mechanical DNFs (including Monaco when he crashed whilst running in the points and Britain when he collided with Maldonado), and also had a dangerous incident with Grosjean in Italy which earned him a penalty. He had a glimmer of hope of scoring in Brazil when he qualified 11th (his best of the season) and passed Raikkonen at the start, but dropped back due to tyre problems, finishing 14th. He finished 4 places lower overall than in 2013.
19th Place – Marcus Ericsson (SWE) (Caterham-Renault) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 16th Best finish: 11th
The first part of Ericsson’s debut season was tough, with the car being a struggle. In the first 11 races, he never qualified higher than 19th (3 times in the first 7 races he crashed in qualifying), had 4 mechanical DNFs and crashed early on in Hungary. He did however benefit from attrition in Monaco to finish 11th (ahead of Raikkonen), the team’s best result of the season, but this was overshadowed by Bianchi finishing 9th for Marussia. After the mid-season break, some alterations to the car allowed Ericsson’s performances to improve (although he did start last in Belgium, Italy and Singapore – the second of these being a pit-lane start due to ignoring yellow flags in practice). He finished 15th in Singapore (ahead of Bianchi), and qualified 17th in Japan and 16th (his best of the season) in Russia. The team missed USA and Brazil due to financial problems, and although they returned for Abu Dhabi, Ericsson had already left the team.
18th Place – Adrian Sutil (GER) (Sauber-Ferrari) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 9th Best finish: 11th (x2)
Sutil’s 7th season in F1 (he did not race in 2012) and his first for Sauber was a disappointing one, due to an uncompetitive car. In Australia he finished just outside the points in 11th after being the only driver to make just one stop. He matched this result in Hungary (where he also qualified 11th), less than 1 second behind 10th place, despite losing time in the pits queued up behind Gutierrez. He had 5 mechanical DNFs and 4 non-mechanical DNFs. The latter included a spin in Japan (he was still classified) which ultimately led to Bianchi’s season-ending crash, and a first-lap collision with Perez in the USA (having achieved his only Q3 appearance of the year, starting 9th). This was his first pointless season (excluding 2012) since 2008, and 18th is his lowest Championship position since 2008 (when he finished 20th).
17th Place – Jules Bianchi (FRA) (Marussia-Ferrari) (2 pts) Best qualifying: 12th Best finish: 9th
Bianchi’s 2nd season in F1 did not start too well – he stalled on the grid in Australia, forcing a pit-lane start and a loss of 6 laps, leading to a non-classified finish (although he was faster than Chilton once his problems had been sorted out). This was followed by a DNF in Malaysia following collisions with Vergne and Maldonado, couple of incidents with Sutil in Bahrain dropped him down to last place (although he did still finish 16th, last of the runners), and crossing the finish line behind Kobayashi in China following a late pass that was officially annulled due to a flag blunder. His highlight of the season was undeniably Monaco, where he started 21st due to a gearbox change (this was the only time he started lower than 19th), overtook several cars at the start, made a pass on Kobayashi mid-race, and through attrition crossed the finish line 8th, which became 9th after a 5-second penalty for serving an earlier 5-second penalty (for lining up in the wrong grid slot) behind the safety car. These would be Marussia’s only points of the season, and led to them finishing ahead of Sauber and Caterham. This was followed by a first-lap collision with Chilton in Canada (which eliminated both cars). In Britain, he suffered problems in both Friday Practice sessions, but qualified 12th in the wet (he was the highest Ferrari-powered car) – this is Marussia’s best qualifying ever – and managed to finish 14th in the race. After this race he was called up by Ferrari for testing duties. His final race came in Japan, when he was running 3rd at one point (by making a late first pitstop), but crashed heavily in the rain late on. His injuries ruled him out of the rest of the season (and Marussia’s financial problems meant that the team missed the final 3 races). He had 2 non-mechanical DNFs (1 still classified), 2 mechanical DNFs (1 still classified), and the non-classified finish in Australia. He finished 2 places higher overall than in 2013.
16th Place – Pastor Maldonado (VEN) (Lotus-Renault) (2 pts) Best qualifying: 10th Best finish: 9th
After 3 years with Williams, Maldonado moved to Lotus (who had won races in 2012 and 2013) for 2014. However, the car was poor, and Maldonado only started inside the top 10 once (10th in USA). In that race he managed to finish 9th despite picking up 2 separate penalties for speeding. These were his only points of the season, although he did have good races in Italy (finishing in 14th ahead of Grosjean and both Saubers) and Singapore (finishing 12th ahead of Grosjean despite going out in Q1). He had 7 mechanical DNFs (including a DNS in Monaco having reached Q2 for the first time in 2014 and a classified DNF in Britain), but despite several on-track incidents (notably a collision with Gutierrez in Bahrain which resulted in 3 separate penalties and a collision with Ericsson in Spain having also crashed in Q1), he did not have a non-mechanical DNF. His 2 points in 2014 were still more than in either 2011 or 2013 (1 point in each season), and he finished higher in the Championship than in those seasons, and only 1 place lower than in 2012 (when he managed 45 points).
15th Place – Daniil Kvyat (RUS) (Toro Rosso-Renault) (8 pts) Best qualifying: 5th (x2) Best finish: 9th (x3)
Kvyat’s debut season got off to a good start – in Australia he qualified 8th (despite hitting the wall in Q3) and became F1’s youngest ever points scorer by finishing 9th. He followed this up with 10th places in Malaysia (passing Gutierrez early on and keeping Grosjean behind him towards the end) and China. However, despite some very good qualifying performances, his only other points finishes were 9th in Britain and Belgium (holding off Hulkenberg in the latter). The main reason he didn’t score more points was reliability – he had 5 mechanical DNFs, including Monaco (where he had qualified 9th), Austria (where he qualified 7th and passed Ricciardo early on having dropped back at the start), and Abu Dhabi (where he was promoted to 5th on the grid by Red Bull’s exclusion and passed Raikkonen early on having dropped back at the start). He had also started 5th in Russia but dropped back due to a poor start and tyre and fuel issues to finish 14th. He also had 3 grid penalties for power unit changes, including in Italy where he ended up starting 21st but could easily have scored points had he not had a brake disc failure (he finished 11th). He had no non-mechanical DNFs – his main incident was a collision with Perez in Germany, but his eventual DNF in that race was mechanical. Despite scoring fewer than half the points of his team-mate, he was promoted to Red Bull for 2015.
14th Place – Romain Grosjean (FRA) (Lotus-Renault) (8 pts) Best qualifying: 5th Best finish: 8th (x2)
In his 3rd full season in F1 (plus 7 races for Renault in 2009), and following on from a great end to 2013, Grosjean’s season started disastrously, with various mechanical problems leading to a pitlane start in Australia and eventually a race-ending mechanical failure. He finished just outside the points in the next 2 races (including keeping Raikkonen behind him in Malaysia) before qualifying 10th in China (he retired with a gearbox failure). This was followed by his best performance of the season in Spain – despite problems in practice, he qualified 5th and finished 8th (thanks to power unit problems). He finished 8th again in Monaco (although he only crossed the finish line 9th) despite a first-lap puncture and running 55 laps on one set of super-soft tyres. This would however be his last points finish of the season – mechanical problems, a stalling of their development and a ban on their FRIC suspension meant that the rest of the season was spent in the lower half of the field. He did come close to points in the USA, where he was running 9th before Vergne hit him, dropping him down to 11th (and promoting his team-mate into the points). He had 6 mechanical DNFs (1 of which was still classified) and 1 non-mechanical DNF (crashing during a Safety Car period in Hungary). He scored 124 points fewer than in 2013, and finished 7 places lower overall.
13th Place – Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA) (Toro Rosso-Renault) (22 pts) Best qualifying: 6th Best finish: 6th
Vergne’s 3rd season in F1 started off well in Australia, qualifying 6th (his best ever) in the wet (despite going off-track several times in practice) and finished 8th. However, he then only finished 2 of the next 7 races – 4 were mechanical failures, and the other was as the result of a crash with Maldonado in Bahrain. He did manage an 8th place in Canada (where he ran ahead of Alonso early on) in amongst these DNFs. From Britain onwards he finished every race inside the top 13, 5 of them inside the top 10. This included a 6th-place (his best finish ever) in Singapore (despite receiving 2 five-second penalties), thanks largely to his pace towards the end, and 9th in the wet in Japan (finishing on very worn tyres). However, by this point it had already been announced that he would be replaced at Toro Rosso for 2015. He scored 9 points more and finished 2 places higher than in 2013.
12th Place – Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) (Ferrari) (55 pts) Best qualifying: 5th Best finish: 4th Fastest laps: 1
Raikkonen’s 12th season in F1 (he did not compete in 2010-11) and his first season on his return to Ferrari was a disappointing one. Generally he was no match for his team-mate Alonso (although he did improve towards the end of the season). Only 3 times did Raikkonen outqualify Alonso (including his best of 5th in Bahrain), and only outscored Alonso on 3 occasions (and on 2 of those Alonso suffered a race-ending mechanical problem). He did have a couple of good races – in Monaco, he started 6th and moved up to 3rd early on, but incidents with Chilton and Magnussen dropped him out of the points (he managed fastest lap). In Hungary, he only started 16th after not doing a second run in Q1 but ran long stints to finish 6th. And in Belgium an aggressive 2-stop strategy helped him to finish 4th (in fact he was passed for 3rd by Bottas with only 5 laps to go). He only failed to finish once – in Britain, where he crashed on the first lap after only qualifying 18th (this and Hungary were the only 2 occasions where he started lower than 12th). He finished every other race inside the top 13. This was his first winless season since 2006 (excluding his absent years), and first year without a podium since 2001 (his debut year). 12th is his lowest Championship position.
11th Place – Kevin Magnussen (DEN) (McLaren-Mercedes) (55 pts) Best qualifying: 4th (x2) Best finish: 2nd
Rookie Magnussen starred on his debut, qualifying 4th in the wet in Australia, and despite nearly spinning at the start (one of several risky first-laps), finished 3rd on the road which became 2nd after Ricciardo was disqualified. However, he did not come close to equalling this result in the rest of the season, and despite the two drivers being pretty evenly matched in qualifying this was one of only 4 occasions on which he finished ahead of his team-mate Button (including 1 race where Button did not finish). He did qualify 4th again in Germany, but was hit by Massa at the first corner, dropped to the back of the field and recovered to finish 9th. After the mid-season break he became involved in a couple of incidents – a move on Alonso in Belgium earned him a post-race penalty which dropped him from 6th to 12th, and having started 5th and run 2nd early on in Italy, he collided with Bottas, earning a penalty which dropped him to 10th. His second-best result of the season came in Russia where he started 11th due to a gearbox change (the only time in the final 8 races that he started outside the top 10 – he only started outside the top 10 on 5 occasions all year) and recovered to finish 5th (helped by a botched pit-stop from Alonso). His only DNF was a clutch failure in Bahrain (where his race had already been ruined due to contact with Raikkonen early on).
10th Place – Sergio Perez (MEX) (Force India-Mercedes) (59 pts) Best qualifying: 4th Best finish: 3rd Podiums: 1 Fastest laps: 1 Races led: 1 Laps led: 11
After being ousted from McLaren after just 1 season, Perez’s 4th season in F1 started with him only qualifying 16th in Australia but managing to finish 10th despite a first-lap puncture. A gearbox problem in Malaysia prevented him from even starting the race (this was the only time he failed to finish due to a mechanical problem). However, in Bahrain he qualified 4th (his joint-best ever, and one of only 5 occasions that he started inside the top 10 in 2014), and despite a brake lock-up at the first corner, finished 3rd (passing Massa twice and Hulkenberg en route), having not managed a podium with McLaren in 2013. The next few races saw Perez get involved in several incidents: in Monaco he was knocked out on lap 1, then in Canada, despite only qualifying 13th, he made several passes and looked as though he might have a shot at victory. However, electrical problems led to him dropping down the field before he collided with Massa on the final lap (he was classified 11th). This earned him a grid penalty for the next race in Austria, where he ended up leading for 11 laps due to a long first stint, before an attacking final stint saw him finish 6th and manage fastest lap. In Hungary, he crashed into the pit wall having managed to escape unscathed after being hit by Hulkenberg. He then managed 5 consecutive points-scoring finishes (finishing ahead of Hulkenberg in 4 of them). This included Italy, where he qualified 10th (ahead of both McLarens) and finished 7th. His run of points finishes came to an end in the USA, when he collided with Sutil on the first lap. He scored 10 points more than in 2013, and finished 1 place higher overall (equalling the 10th-place he managed in 2012).
9th Place – Nico Hulkenberg (GER) (Force India-Mercedes) (96 pts) Best qualifying: 4th Best finish: 5th (x4) Races led: 1 Laps led: 5
Hulkenberg’s 4th season in F1 (he didn’t compete in 2011) was a season of two halves. In the first 11 races he never qualified lower than 11th, with his best being 4th in Britain, and scored points in all of the first 10 races. This included 5th places in Malaysia, Bahrain, Monaco (including a pass on Magnussen) and Canada (the latter 3 of these were all achieved from 11th on the grid). His run ended in Hungary, where he crashed out after colliding with team-mate Perez (having run wide a few laps earlier). After the mid-season break, Hulkenberg’s performance slumped somewhat (partly thanks to the team’s development slowing), and he did not start higher than 12th in any of the last 8 races (including Belgium where despite the rain he only qualified 18th). He suffered a couple of mechanical problems in the races – his gearbox failed in Japan (however, due to the red flag he was still considered a finisher but earned a grid penalty for Russia), and suffered a power unit failure in the USA. In Brazil he led briefly due to an alternative strategy before finishing 8th (and nearly passing Raikkonen for 7th). In Abu Dhabi, the team sorted out an aerodynamic problem, and Hulkenberg finished 6th (ahead of both Ferraris) despite a 5-second penalty. He scored 45 points more than in 2013, and finished 1 place higher overall (this is his best season to date in both regards).
8th Place – Jenson Button (GBR) (McLaren-Mercedes) (126 pts) Best qualifying: 3rd Best finish: 3rd Podiums: 1 Races led: 1 Laps led: 1
Button’s 15th season in F1 started with him only qualifying 10th in Australia but gained several places in the pitstops (1 of which was during a safety car) to finish 4th on the track. Ricciardo’s disqualification moved him up to 3rd, his first official podium since 2012. He finished behind team-mate Magnussen, but overall Button comfortably had the beating of Magnussen in 2014. A 6th place in Malaysia was followed by 3 consecutive no-scores (Magnussen also failed to score in any of these 3 races), including a classified DNF in Bahrain due to clutch failure (without which he had a chance of a podium). He got back onto the scoreboard with 6th in Monaco followed by a surprise 4th place in Canada (benefiting from the Massa-Perez crash on the last lap plus a double overtake on Alonso and Hulkenberg). 2 races later in Britain, he qualified 3rd in the rain (his best of the season) and finished 4th (just behind Ricciardo), his best Silverstone result. This was the first of 5 consecutive points finishes, which came to an end in Singapore with an electrical failure when he was looking set for some decent points (the only race where he was not classified). One of these points finishes was Hungary, where he led his only lap of the season, but dropped back after pitting for intermediates (anticipating further rain) instead of dry tyres, finishing 10th (he was running ahead of eventual winner Ricciardo when he pitted). In Japan, he was looking set for a podium but needed to change his steering wheel, dropping him to 5th. This was followed by Russia, where he started and finished 4th. Following a point-less weekend in USA (he started 12th due to a gearbox penalty, and finished there after suffering rare tyre degradation), he managed 4th in Brazil (he could have managed a podium if he had pitted 1 lap earlier and jumped Massa) and 5th in Abu Dhabi. He score 53 points more than in 2013, and finished 1 place higher.
7th Place – Felipe Massa (BRA) (Williams-Mercedes) (134 pts) Best qualifying: 1st Best finish: 2nd Podiums: 3 Fastest laps: 1 Races led: 3 Laps led: 30
Massa’s 12th season in F1 (he did not compete in 2003, and missed 7 races in 2009) was one of two halves. In the first 10 races he scored points on only 4 occasions. These included 4 race-ending collisions – he was taken out at the first corner of the season by Kobayashi; collided with Perez on the last lap in Canada (he was classified 12th) where he had led 2 laps, managed fastest lap, and had the pace to win, but had to make a second pit stop and dropped back; crashed on lap 1 in Britain following Raikkonen’s crash; and collided with Magnussen at the first corner in Germany (having qualified 3rd) – this was the only one of the 4 for which he was primarily at fault. He also collided with Alonso at the start in China. In between these, he managed a 7th place in Malaysia having ignored team orders (as a result of this, he ended up finishing ahead of Bottas more often than not in races where both finished), and the only non-Mercedes pole position of the season in Austria, where he led 14 laps, however he dropped back to 4th in the race. The turning point of his season came in Hungary, where he was running 2nd due to an early safety car, finishing 5th after running 2 stints on the medium tyre. He only failed to score twice after this (in Belgium where he picked up debris from the Rosberg-Hamilton collision, and Russia where he failed to make it out of Q1, the latter being the only race in the second half of the season where he started lower than 9th), and managed 3 podiums: 3rd in Italy, 3rd in Brazil (despite speeding in the pits and stopping in the McLaren pit-box by mistake later on), and 2nd in Abu Dhabi (where he led 14 laps and tried to put Hamilton under pressure for the win). He scored 22 points more than in 2013 (he managed his highest total since 2010), finishing 1 place higher overall.
6h Place – Fernando Alonso (FER) (Ferrari) (161 pts) Best qualifying: 4th (x3) Best finish: 2nd Podiums: 2 Races led: 2 Laps led: 32
Alonso’s 13th season in F1 (he did not race in 2002) and 5th season with Ferrari was another story of outperforming his machinery and scoring consistently. Only once did he not start inside the top 9 – that was in Britain, where a spin in Q1 led to him starting 16th from which he recovered to 6th despite receiving a 5-second penalty for starting too far forward. This race featured a memorable battle between Alonso and Vettel which Vettel eventually won. His best start was 4th, achieved in Malaysia (despite colliding with Kvyat), Austria (despite a mistake on his first Q3 run), and Belgium (which was ruined when his team were still working on the car after the 15-second signal). He finished in the top 9 in every race apart from 2 mechanical DNFs (Italy and Japan). He managed 2 podium finishes: a well-timed pit-stop allowing him to finish ahead of both Red Bulls in China (finishing 3rd) and a 2nd place in Hungary, where despite missing out during the first Safety Car, he passed Rosberg and Vergne after the restart and led 27 laps before being overtaken by Ricciardo, finishing 2nd (he completed the final 32 laps on one set of soft tyres). The other race he led was Austria. He also fared well at other circuits where his car performance disadvantage was less of an issue: he finished 4th in Monaco and in Singapore (losing out to both Red Bulls following a Safety Car). No driver outperformed his team-mate by as much as Alonso did in 2014. This was his first winless season since 2009, and his first season without a pole or win since 2001 (excluding 2002). He scored 81 points fewer than in 2013, and finished 4 places lower overall (his worst season since 2009 in both respects).
5th Place – Sebastian Vettel (GER) (Red Bull-Renault) (167 pts) Best qualifying: 2nd (x3) Best finish: 2nd Podiums: 4 Fastest laps: 2 Races led: 1 Laps led: 1
In his 8th season in F1 (including a part-season in 2007), and having won the Championship in the previous 4 years, Vettel had a disappointing 2014, beaten by his team-mate Ricciardo. He was close to Ricciardo in qualifying – in fact, Vettel managed 3 front-row starts (2nd in Malaysia, Britain and Hungary), 1 more than Ricciardo, but on Sundays Ricciardo had a more decisive advantage as he was able to make his tyres last longer, often jumping ahead of Vettel (in fact, all 3 of Ricciardo’s wins came in races where he started behind Vettel and Vettel finished). Vettel had 3 DNFs, all mechanical (Australia, where he had missed Q3, Monaco, and Austria, where he also missed Q3), but finished every other race inside the top 8, including 4 podiums: 3rd in Malaysia, 3rd in Canada (where he was jumped by Ricciardo in the pitstops due to traffic, but overtook Perez and dodged the Massa-Perez collision towards the end), 2nd in Singapore (where he was helped by a safety car and managed to complete 35 laps on a single set of soft tyres – this was also the only race where he led a lap), and 3rd in Japan. He also managed an impressive 4th in Spain (with fastest lap, which he also managed in the USA), having only started 15th due to a gearbox failure in Q3 and subsequent penalty. This was his first season without a pole position since 2007, his first winless season since 2007, and his worst championship position since 2008. He scored 230 points fewer than in 2013.
4th Place – Valtteri Bottas (FIN) (Williams-Mercedes) (186 pts) Best qualifying: 2nd (x2) Best finish: 2nd (x2) Podiums: 6 Fastest laps: 1 Races led: 2 Laps led: 4
In his 2nd season in F1, Bottas had a few missed opportunities at the start of the season, such as in Australia where he started 15th due to a gearbox change, made up some ground before hitting the wall and recovering again to finish 5th (helped by a Safety Car). He received another grid penalty in Malaysia (this time for blocking), starting 18th and finishing 8th after Massa ignored team orders to let him through. He started 3rd in Bahrain, but tyre problems dropped him to 8th (again behind Massa) in the race. He tangled with Rosberg at the start in China (finishing 7th), finished 5th in Spain, and then had his only DNF of the season in Monaco (an engine failure having only qualified 13th). After a disappointing 7th in Canada (due to traffic and running wide), his season came to life with 4 podiums in 5 races between Austria and Belgium. In Austria he nearly managed pole but was beaten by Massa, whom he jumped in the race, finishing 3rd (he led 3 laps). In Britain he only started 14th after dropping out in Q1, but passed several cars en route to 2nd (also helped by Rosberg retiring from the lead), and he both started and finished 2nd (ahead of Hamilton who had crashed in qualifying) in Germany. He could have had a podium in Hungary were it not for an ill-timed Safety Car and a slow pitstop, but returned to the podium in Belgium, where he led a lap before his first pitstop, managed to pass Rosberg (although Rosberg did get back in front), and benefited from his car’s strong straight-line speed to finish 3rd. In the second half of the season, he was consistent in qualifying (he started 3rd 6 times in the final 9 races, and nearly managed pole in Russia but for a mistake on his final run), and scored points in all bar one race (that was Singapore, where due to steering and tyre problems, he dropped from 7th to 11th on the last lap). He managed 2 further podiums: Russia (where he finished in 3rd just 4 seconds behind Rosberg and managed fastest lap) and Abu Dhabi (where he finished 3rd albeit behind his team-mate). He scored 182 points more than in 2013, and finished 13 places higher overall.
3rd Place – Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) (Red Bull-Renault) (238 pts) Best qualifying: 2nd (x2) Best finish: 1st (x3) Podiums: 8 Fastest laps: 1 Races led: 4 Laps led: 72
In his 4th season in F1 (including a part-season in 2011), Ricciardo was up against reigning 4-time champion Vettel at Red Bull. He started by qualifying 2nd in the wet in Australia and crossed the finish line in 2nd before being disqualified due to a fuel flow rate infringement. His troubles continued in Malaysia, where after running 3rd early on, an unsafe release led to a non-finish plus a grid penalty for Bahrain. However, after the first 2 rounds he only had 1 further no-score (a suspension failure in Brazil), and whilst he only had 1 front-row start after Australia (2nd in China), he only started outside the top 9 on 2 occasions, both due to penalties (Bahrain and a wing infringement in Abu Dhabi). Ricciardo often lost out at the start of races, but his strength was in wheel-to-wheel combat, where he managed several notable passes, generally making up positions in the races. He managed 8 (official) podium finishes including 3 victories (the only non-Mercedes driver to win in 2014). These came in Canada, where he started 6th, got up to 3rd in the pitstops, then passed Perez and Rosberg (who was suffering electrical problems) in the last 6 laps to take the win (only leading 3 laps in the race); Hungary, where he qualified 4th but was able to pit immediately when the Safety Car came out, emerging in the lead before he made another pitstop, after which he passed Hamilton and Alonso for the win; and in Belgium, where he qualified 5th and benefited from the Rosberg-Hamilton crash and a mistake by Vettel to win. He only led 1 other lap outside of his victories – in Singapore. Other notable drives included: Bahrain, where he started 13th due to his penalty and passed Vettel twice en route to 4th; China, where he qualified 2nd and despite a poor start, passed Vettel to finish 4th; Monaco, where he finished just behind Hamilton in 3rd; Germany, where he started 5th, dropped down to 15th at the start (after having to avoid the Massa-Magnussen collision) but recovered to 6th; Italy, where he started 9th and finished 5th after a pass on Vettel; USA, where he had a poor start but jumped both Williams drivers in the pits to finish 3rd; and Abu Dhabi, where he started from the pit-lane and finished 4th (4 places ahead of Vettel) and managed fastest lap. His consistency meant that he had clinched 3rd place in the Championship (best-of-the-rest behind the Mercedes drivers) before Abu Dhabi (a double points race). He scored 218 points more than in 2013, and finished 11 places higher overall.
2nd Place – Nico Rosberg (GER) (Mercedes) (317 pts) Best qualifying: 1st (x11) Best finish: 1st (x5) Podiums: 15 Fastest laps: 5 Races led: 15 Laps led: 483
Rosberg’s 9th season in F1 saw him in one of the most dominant cars in F1 history. He never started a race lower than 4th (and only started off the front row 4 times), and managed 11 pole positions, on average qualifying better than team-mate Hamilton. However, on the 14 occasions both drivers finished, Rosberg only finished ahead on 4 occasions. He took victory and fastest lap in Australia (despite wheel hub damage towards the end) after Hamilton suffered an early reliability problem. Then came 4 consecutive 2nd-place finishes (all behind Hamilton), including Bahrain where he took pole and had softer tyres in the final stint but couldn’t pass Hamilton (but he did manage fastest lap, which he also managed in China), and Spain where he had the pace to beat Hamilton but made a poor start. Then came the first controversial moment of his season – going off in qualifying in Monaco, which helped him obtain pole position, and hence the victory. The next 4 races were the best period of his season – in Canada he started on pole, but was passed by Hamilton before both cars developed power unit problems. Whilst Hamilton’s was race-ending, Rosberg managed to hold on to 2nd (only being passed late on by Ricciardo). In Austria he qualified behind both Williams cars but jumped both of them in the pits, going on to win. In Britain he managed pole on a drying track but his gearbox failed just as Hamilton was coming up to attack him for the lead. A lights-to-flag win in Germany (helped by Hamilton’s qualifying problems) was followed by Hungary, where he managed pole but was undone by an ill-timed Safety Car following by braking problems on the restart. He ended up 4th (with fastest lap), behind Hamilton who had started from the pits. Then came the second controversial moment of his season: in Belgium, he started on pole, dropped behind Hamilton at the start, then collided with him as he tried to pass. This ultimately led to Hamilton’s retirement, while Rosberg only finished 2nd due to a damaged front wing followed by a lock-up whilst battling Vettel (but he did manage fastest lap). After Belgium, he was generally no match for Hamilton – even though he did manage 4 pole positions in the final 7 races (Japan, USA, Brazil, Abu Dhabi), he only beat Hamilton once (in Brazil, which was helped by Hamilton running wide at one point), and had 2 no-scores: in Singapore where his car developed terminal problems before the race, and in Abu Dhabi (in which he still had a chance of the Championship) he was jumped by Hamilton at the start before his car developed problems and he dropped down to 14th. Malaysia, China, Singapore, and Russia were the only races in which he did not lead any laps. He managed 146 points more than in 2013, and finished 4 places higher overall.
1st Place – Lewis Hamilton (GBR) (Mercedes) (384 pts) Best qualifying: 1st (x7) Best finish: 1st (x11) Podiums: 16 Fastest laps: 7 Races led: 15 Laps led: 495
Hamilton’s 8th season in F1 started with him taking pole in Australia but retiring early on due to an engine problem. Then came a run of 4 consecutive wins: a lights-to-flag win from pole with fastest lap in Malaysia, a famous victory in Bahrain where he missed out on pole but got past Rosberg early on and kept Rosberg behind him, and wins from pole in China and Spain (despite handling issues allowing Rosberg to catch him in Spain). Then came a run of 7 races in which he only won once. In Monaco he was controversially beaten to pole by Rosberg and stayed behind him in the race. Then in Canada he was beaten to pole by Rosberg and suffered a race-ending brake failure. In the next 4 races (Austria, Britain, Germany, Hungary) he only qualified 9th (after mistakes on both Q3 runs), 6th (after abandoning his final Q3 lap and getting caught out by the drying track), 20th (due to a brake failure in qualifying), and 22nd (where a fire in Q1 caused him to start from the pit lane) but finished 2nd (thanks to a good first lap), 1st (thanks to Rosberg retiring ahead of him – he managed fastest lap), 3rd (mainly due to overtaking including a pass on Raikkonen and Ricciardo, although he did damage his front wing when trying to pass Button – he managed fastest lap) and 3rd (despite spinning on the first lap, he managed to overtake several cars and finish ahead of his team-mate who had started on pole, ignoring a request to let Rosberg through). Then came Belgium, where he qualified 2nd behind Rosberg and got ahead of him at the start before Rosberg collided with him. He eventually retired due to the damage. From this point on he was near faultless – although he only started 3 of the final 7 races (Italy, Singapore, Russia) from pole, he managed 6 wins - including Italy where his start mode failed at the start and he forced Rosberg into a mistake to regain the lead and set fastest lap, and Japan and USA where he passed Rosberg for the lead - and 1 second place (in Brazil, where he stayed out 1 lap too late and spun, spurning his chance to jump Rosberg). He also managed fastest lap in Singapore, Japan, and Brazil. His win in Abu Dhabi (where Rosberg failed to score) clinched his second title (following 2008), with 195 points more than in 2013 (when he finished 4th). Prior to 2014 he had never won more than 5 races in a season, although he had previously managed 7 poles in a season (2008, 2012). Australia, Monaco, Austria and Germany were the only races where he did not lead any laps.
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Post by paulgilb on Jan 26, 2015 0:27:18 GMT 1
Drivers’ Championship
24th Place – Andre Lotterer (GER) (Caterham-Renault) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 21st Best finish: n/a
A surprise one-off replacement for Kobayashi in Belgium (having not driven an F1 car in over a decade), debutant Lotterer qualified 21st (almost a second ahead of team-mate Ericsson) but suffered a race-ending mechanical failure on the second-lap. He was the only driver to outqualify his team-mate at every race he entered, but the only driver not to finish ahead of a team-mate.
23rd Place – Will Stevens (GBR) (Caterham-Renault) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 17th Best finish: 17th
A one-off replacement for Ericsson in Abu Dhabi, debutant Stevens qualified 17th and finished there. He was the only driver not to outqualify a team-mate in 2014, but the only driver to beat his team-mate at every race he entered.
22nd Place – Kamui Kobayashi (JAP) (Caterham-Renault) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 14th Best finish: 13th (x2)
Having been out of the sport since 2012, Kobayashi used crowdfunding to finance a return to F1 for Caterham in 2014 (his 5th season in total including a 2-race spell for Toyota in 2009). The first race in Australia was mixed – he failed to set a timed lap on Friday, reached Q2 on Saturday (he started 14th, his best of the season), but suffered a brakes failure at the first corner of the race, causing him to crash into Massa. This was the first of 7 mechanical DNFs (including a DNS in Singapore), the second of which was a similar brake failure in Spain. His first 2 DNFs were each followed with a 13th-place finish – in Malaysia (where there were 15 finishers) and Monaco (where there were 14 finishers) – these were his best results of the season. He was dropped for Belgium in favour of Lotterer, but returned in Italy where he outqualified Ericsson by almost 0.9s (despite not taking part in FP1 and the circuit only having 6 corners) and finished 17th (ahead of both Marussias). He missed USA and Brazil due to the team’s financial problems, but returned in Abu Dhabi. 22nd is his lowest Championship placing (even lower than the 18th he managed in 2009 when he only competed in 2 races).
21st Place – Max Chilton (GBR) (Marussia-Ferrari) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 17th (x3) Best finish: 13th (x2)
Having finished every race in his debut season in 2013, Chilton’s 2014 started off reasonably well, with 13th-places in Australia (albeit last of the classified finishers – he nearly reached Q2 but ended up starting from the pit-lane due to a car problem) and Bahrain (of 17 classified finishers) and 15th in Malaysia (of 15 finishers). However, the rest of the season was not so good – he never qualified higher than 17th (which he managed in Australia, Spain, and Britain), only started higher than Bianchi on 4 occasions (and on 3 of those occasions Bianchi had a problem in qualifying), and made several mistakes in races: in Monaco he crashed with Raikkonen behind the safety car (which helped Bianchi to finish 9th), in Canada he crashed into Bianchi on lap 1 (eliminating both drivers – this was his first DNF), and crashed out in Italy. He very nearly didn’t race in Belgium – he was due to be replaced by Alexander Rossi only for the decision to be reversed during FP1. Following Bianchi’s crash in Japan, Chilton was the only Marussia in Russia, and retired with mechanical failure after 10 laps. The team’s financial problems meant that he did not compete in the final 3 races. He finished 2 places higher overall than in 2013.
20th Place – Esteban Gutierrez (MEX) (Sauber-Ferrari) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 11th Best finish: 12th
Gutierrez started his second season in F1 by only qualifying 20th in Australia, but due to attrition ended up 12th in the race. This would be his best result of the season – mainly due to problems with the car (he had 4 mechanical DNFs, 1 of which was still classified, including Hungary when he had a chance of points), but did also have 3 non-mechanical DNFs (including Monaco when he crashed whilst running in the points and Britain when he collided with Maldonado), and also had a dangerous incident with Grosjean in Italy which earned him a penalty. He had a glimmer of hope of scoring in Brazil when he qualified 11th (his best of the season) and passed Raikkonen at the start, but dropped back due to tyre problems, finishing 14th. He finished 4 places lower overall than in 2013.
19th Place – Marcus Ericsson (SWE) (Caterham-Renault) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 16th Best finish: 11th
The first part of Ericsson’s debut season was tough, with the car being a struggle. In the first 11 races, he never qualified higher than 19th (3 times in the first 7 races he crashed in qualifying), had 4 mechanical DNFs and crashed early on in Hungary. He did however benefit from attrition in Monaco to finish 11th (ahead of Raikkonen), the team’s best result of the season, but this was overshadowed by Bianchi finishing 9th for Marussia. After the mid-season break, some alterations to the car allowed Ericsson’s performances to improve (although he did start last in Belgium, Italy and Singapore – the second of these being a pit-lane start due to ignoring yellow flags in practice). He finished 15th in Singapore (ahead of Bianchi), and qualified 17th in Japan and 16th (his best of the season) in Russia. The team missed USA and Brazil due to financial problems, and although they returned for Abu Dhabi, Ericsson had already left the team.
18th Place – Adrian Sutil (GER) (Sauber-Ferrari) (0 pts) Best qualifying: 9th Best finish: 11th (x2)
Sutil’s 7th season in F1 (he did not race in 2012) and his first for Sauber was a disappointing one, due to an uncompetitive car. In Australia he finished just outside the points in 11th after being the only driver to make just one stop. He matched this result in Hungary (where he also qualified 11th), less than 1 second behind 10th place, despite losing time in the pits queued up behind Gutierrez. He had 5 mechanical DNFs and 4 non-mechanical DNFs. The latter included a spin in Japan (he was still classified) which ultimately led to Bianchi’s season-ending crash, and a first-lap collision with Perez in the USA (having achieved his only Q3 appearance of the year, starting 9th). This was his first pointless season (excluding 2012) since 2008, and 18th is his lowest Championship position since 2008 (when he finished 20th).
17th Place – Jules Bianchi (FRA) (Marussia-Ferrari) (2 pts) Best qualifying: 12th Best finish: 9th
Bianchi’s 2nd season in F1 did not start too well – he stalled on the grid in Australia, forcing a pit-lane start and a loss of 6 laps, leading to a non-classified finish (although he was faster than Chilton once his problems had been sorted out). This was followed by a DNF in Malaysia following collisions with Vergne and Maldonado, couple of incidents with Sutil in Bahrain dropped him down to last place (although he did still finish 16th, last of the runners), and crossing the finish line behind Kobayashi in China following a late pass that was officially annulled due to a flag blunder. His highlight of the season was undeniably Monaco, where he started 21st due to a gearbox change (this was the only time he started lower than 19th), overtook several cars at the start, made a pass on Kobayashi mid-race, and through attrition crossed the finish line 8th, which became 9th after a 5-second penalty for serving an earlier 5-second penalty (for lining up in the wrong grid slot) behind the safety car. These would be Marussia’s only points of the season, and led to them finishing ahead of Sauber and Caterham. This was followed by a first-lap collision with Chilton in Canada (which eliminated both cars). In Britain, he suffered problems in both Friday Practice sessions, but qualified 12th in the wet (he was the highest Ferrari-powered car) – this is Marussia’s best qualifying ever – and managed to finish 14th in the race. After this race he was called up by Ferrari for testing duties. His final race came in Japan, when he was running 3rd at one point (by making a late first pitstop), but crashed heavily in the rain late on. His injuries ruled him out of the rest of the season (and Marussia’s financial problems meant that the team missed the final 3 races). He had 2 non-mechanical DNFs (1 still classified), 2 mechanical DNFs (1 still classified), and the non-classified finish in Australia. He finished 2 places higher overall than in 2013.
16th Place – Pastor Maldonado (VEN) (Lotus-Renault) (2 pts) Best qualifying: 10th Best finish: 9th
After 3 years with Williams, Maldonado moved to Lotus (who had won races in 2012 and 2013) for 2014. However, the car was poor, and Maldonado only started inside the top 10 once (10th in USA). In that race he managed to finish 9th despite picking up 2 separate penalties for speeding. These were his only points of the season, although he did have good races in Italy (finishing in 14th ahead of Grosjean and both Saubers) and Singapore (finishing 12th ahead of Grosjean despite going out in Q1). He had 7 mechanical DNFs (including a DNS in Monaco having reached Q2 for the first time in 2014 and a classified DNF in Britain), but despite several on-track incidents (notably a collision with Gutierrez in Bahrain which resulted in 3 separate penalties and a collision with Ericsson in Spain having also crashed in Q1), he did not have a non-mechanical DNF. His 2 points in 2014 were still more than in either 2011 or 2013 (1 point in each season), and he finished higher in the Championship than in those seasons, and only 1 place lower than in 2012 (when he managed 45 points).
15th Place – Daniil Kvyat (RUS) (Toro Rosso-Renault) (8 pts) Best qualifying: 5th (x2) Best finish: 9th (x3)
Kvyat’s debut season got off to a good start – in Australia he qualified 8th (despite hitting the wall in Q3) and became F1’s youngest ever points scorer by finishing 9th. He followed this up with 10th places in Malaysia (passing Gutierrez early on and keeping Grosjean behind him towards the end) and China. However, despite some very good qualifying performances, his only other points finishes were 9th in Britain and Belgium (holding off Hulkenberg in the latter). The main reason he didn’t score more points was reliability – he had 5 mechanical DNFs, including Monaco (where he had qualified 9th), Austria (where he qualified 7th and passed Ricciardo early on having dropped back at the start), and Abu Dhabi (where he was promoted to 5th on the grid by Red Bull’s exclusion and passed Raikkonen early on having dropped back at the start). He had also started 5th in Russia but dropped back due to a poor start and tyre and fuel issues to finish 14th. He also had 3 grid penalties for power unit changes, including in Italy where he ended up starting 21st but could easily have scored points had he not had a brake disc failure (he finished 11th). He had no non-mechanical DNFs – his main incident was a collision with Perez in Germany, but his eventual DNF in that race was mechanical. Despite scoring fewer than half the points of his team-mate, he was promoted to Red Bull for 2015.
14th Place – Romain Grosjean (FRA) (Lotus-Renault) (8 pts) Best qualifying: 5th Best finish: 8th (x2)
In his 3rd full season in F1 (plus 7 races for Renault in 2009), and following on from a great end to 2013, Grosjean’s season started disastrously, with various mechanical problems leading to a pitlane start in Australia and eventually a race-ending mechanical failure. He finished just outside the points in the next 2 races (including keeping Raikkonen behind him in Malaysia) before qualifying 10th in China (he retired with a gearbox failure). This was followed by his best performance of the season in Spain – despite problems in practice, he qualified 5th and finished 8th (thanks to power unit problems). He finished 8th again in Monaco (although he only crossed the finish line 9th) despite a first-lap puncture and running 55 laps on one set of super-soft tyres. This would however be his last points finish of the season – mechanical problems, a stalling of their development and a ban on their FRIC suspension meant that the rest of the season was spent in the lower half of the field. He did come close to points in the USA, where he was running 9th before Vergne hit him, dropping him down to 11th (and promoting his team-mate into the points). He had 6 mechanical DNFs (1 of which was still classified) and 1 non-mechanical DNF (crashing during a Safety Car period in Hungary). He scored 124 points fewer than in 2013, and finished 7 places lower overall.
13th Place – Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA) (Toro Rosso-Renault) (22 pts) Best qualifying: 6th Best finish: 6th
Vergne’s 3rd season in F1 started off well in Australia, qualifying 6th (his best ever) in the wet (despite going off-track several times in practice) and finished 8th. However, he then only finished 2 of the next 7 races – 4 were mechanical failures, and the other was as the result of a crash with Maldonado in Bahrain. He did manage an 8th place in Canada (where he ran ahead of Alonso early on) in amongst these DNFs. From Britain onwards he finished every race inside the top 13, 5 of them inside the top 10. This included a 6th-place (his best finish ever) in Singapore (despite receiving 2 five-second penalties), thanks largely to his pace towards the end, and 9th in the wet in Japan (finishing on very worn tyres). However, by this point it had already been announced that he would be replaced at Toro Rosso for 2015. He scored 9 points more and finished 2 places higher than in 2013.
12th Place – Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) (Ferrari) (55 pts) Best qualifying: 5th Best finish: 4th Fastest laps: 1
Raikkonen’s 12th season in F1 (he did not compete in 2010-11) and his first season on his return to Ferrari was a disappointing one. Generally he was no match for his team-mate Alonso (although he did improve towards the end of the season). Only 3 times did Raikkonen outqualify Alonso (including his best of 5th in Bahrain), and only outscored Alonso on 3 occasions (and on 2 of those Alonso suffered a race-ending mechanical problem). He did have a couple of good races – in Monaco, he started 6th and moved up to 3rd early on, but incidents with Chilton and Magnussen dropped him out of the points (he managed fastest lap). In Hungary, he only started 16th after not doing a second run in Q1 but ran long stints to finish 6th. And in Belgium an aggressive 2-stop strategy helped him to finish 4th (in fact he was passed for 3rd by Bottas with only 5 laps to go). He only failed to finish once – in Britain, where he crashed on the first lap after only qualifying 18th (this and Hungary were the only 2 occasions where he started lower than 12th). He finished every other race inside the top 13. This was his first winless season since 2006 (excluding his absent years), and first year without a podium since 2001 (his debut year). 12th is his lowest Championship position.
11th Place – Kevin Magnussen (DEN) (McLaren-Mercedes) (55 pts) Best qualifying: 4th (x2) Best finish: 2nd
Rookie Magnussen starred on his debut, qualifying 4th in the wet in Australia, and despite nearly spinning at the start (one of several risky first-laps), finished 3rd on the road which became 2nd after Ricciardo was disqualified. However, he did not come close to equalling this result in the rest of the season, and despite the two drivers being pretty evenly matched in qualifying this was one of only 4 occasions on which he finished ahead of his team-mate Button (including 1 race where Button did not finish). He did qualify 4th again in Germany, but was hit by Massa at the first corner, dropped to the back of the field and recovered to finish 9th. After the mid-season break he became involved in a couple of incidents – a move on Alonso in Belgium earned him a post-race penalty which dropped him from 6th to 12th, and having started 5th and run 2nd early on in Italy, he collided with Bottas, earning a penalty which dropped him to 10th. His second-best result of the season came in Russia where he started 11th due to a gearbox change (the only time in the final 8 races that he started outside the top 10 – he only started outside the top 10 on 5 occasions all year) and recovered to finish 5th (helped by a botched pit-stop from Alonso). His only DNF was a clutch failure in Bahrain (where his race had already been ruined due to contact with Raikkonen early on).
10th Place – Sergio Perez (MEX) (Force India-Mercedes) (59 pts) Best qualifying: 4th Best finish: 3rd Podiums: 1 Fastest laps: 1 Races led: 1 Laps led: 11
After being ousted from McLaren after just 1 season, Perez’s 4th season in F1 started with him only qualifying 16th in Australia but managing to finish 10th despite a first-lap puncture. A gearbox problem in Malaysia prevented him from even starting the race (this was the only time he failed to finish due to a mechanical problem). However, in Bahrain he qualified 4th (his joint-best ever, and one of only 5 occasions that he started inside the top 10 in 2014), and despite a brake lock-up at the first corner, finished 3rd (passing Massa twice and Hulkenberg en route), having not managed a podium with McLaren in 2013. The next few races saw Perez get involved in several incidents: in Monaco he was knocked out on lap 1, then in Canada, despite only qualifying 13th, he made several passes and looked as though he might have a shot at victory. However, electrical problems led to him dropping down the field before he collided with Massa on the final lap (he was classified 11th). This earned him a grid penalty for the next race in Austria, where he ended up leading for 11 laps due to a long first stint, before an attacking final stint saw him finish 6th and manage fastest lap. In Hungary, he crashed into the pit wall having managed to escape unscathed after being hit by Hulkenberg. He then managed 5 consecutive points-scoring finishes (finishing ahead of Hulkenberg in 4 of them). This included Italy, where he qualified 10th (ahead of both McLarens) and finished 7th. His run of points finishes came to an end in the USA, when he collided with Sutil on the first lap. He scored 10 points more than in 2013, and finished 1 place higher overall (equalling the 10th-place he managed in 2012).
9th Place – Nico Hulkenberg (GER) (Force India-Mercedes) (96 pts) Best qualifying: 4th Best finish: 5th (x4) Races led: 1 Laps led: 5
Hulkenberg’s 4th season in F1 (he didn’t compete in 2011) was a season of two halves. In the first 11 races he never qualified lower than 11th, with his best being 4th in Britain, and scored points in all of the first 10 races. This included 5th places in Malaysia, Bahrain, Monaco (including a pass on Magnussen) and Canada (the latter 3 of these were all achieved from 11th on the grid). His run ended in Hungary, where he crashed out after colliding with team-mate Perez (having run wide a few laps earlier). After the mid-season break, Hulkenberg’s performance slumped somewhat (partly thanks to the team’s development slowing), and he did not start higher than 12th in any of the last 8 races (including Belgium where despite the rain he only qualified 18th). He suffered a couple of mechanical problems in the races – his gearbox failed in Japan (however, due to the red flag he was still considered a finisher but earned a grid penalty for Russia), and suffered a power unit failure in the USA. In Brazil he led briefly due to an alternative strategy before finishing 8th (and nearly passing Raikkonen for 7th). In Abu Dhabi, the team sorted out an aerodynamic problem, and Hulkenberg finished 6th (ahead of both Ferraris) despite a 5-second penalty. He scored 45 points more than in 2013, and finished 1 place higher overall (this is his best season to date in both regards).
8th Place – Jenson Button (GBR) (McLaren-Mercedes) (126 pts) Best qualifying: 3rd Best finish: 3rd Podiums: 1 Races led: 1 Laps led: 1
Button’s 15th season in F1 started with him only qualifying 10th in Australia but gained several places in the pitstops (1 of which was during a safety car) to finish 4th on the track. Ricciardo’s disqualification moved him up to 3rd, his first official podium since 2012. He finished behind team-mate Magnussen, but overall Button comfortably had the beating of Magnussen in 2014. A 6th place in Malaysia was followed by 3 consecutive no-scores (Magnussen also failed to score in any of these 3 races), including a classified DNF in Bahrain due to clutch failure (without which he had a chance of a podium). He got back onto the scoreboard with 6th in Monaco followed by a surprise 4th place in Canada (benefiting from the Massa-Perez crash on the last lap plus a double overtake on Alonso and Hulkenberg). 2 races later in Britain, he qualified 3rd in the rain (his best of the season) and finished 4th (just behind Ricciardo), his best Silverstone result. This was the first of 5 consecutive points finishes, which came to an end in Singapore with an electrical failure when he was looking set for some decent points (the only race where he was not classified). One of these points finishes was Hungary, where he led his only lap of the season, but dropped back after pitting for intermediates (anticipating further rain) instead of dry tyres, finishing 10th (he was running ahead of eventual winner Ricciardo when he pitted). In Japan, he was looking set for a podium but needed to change his steering wheel, dropping him to 5th. This was followed by Russia, where he started and finished 4th. Following a point-less weekend in USA (he started 12th due to a gearbox penalty, and finished there after suffering rare tyre degradation), he managed 4th in Brazil (he could have managed a podium if he had pitted 1 lap earlier and jumped Massa) and 5th in Abu Dhabi. He score 53 points more than in 2013, and finished 1 place higher.
7th Place – Felipe Massa (BRA) (Williams-Mercedes) (134 pts) Best qualifying: 1st Best finish: 2nd Podiums: 3 Fastest laps: 1 Races led: 3 Laps led: 30
Massa’s 12th season in F1 (he did not compete in 2003, and missed 7 races in 2009) was one of two halves. In the first 10 races he scored points on only 4 occasions. These included 4 race-ending collisions – he was taken out at the first corner of the season by Kobayashi; collided with Perez on the last lap in Canada (he was classified 12th) where he had led 2 laps, managed fastest lap, and had the pace to win, but had to make a second pit stop and dropped back; crashed on lap 1 in Britain following Raikkonen’s crash; and collided with Magnussen at the first corner in Germany (having qualified 3rd) – this was the only one of the 4 for which he was primarily at fault. He also collided with Alonso at the start in China. In between these, he managed a 7th place in Malaysia having ignored team orders (as a result of this, he ended up finishing ahead of Bottas more often than not in races where both finished), and the only non-Mercedes pole position of the season in Austria, where he led 14 laps, however he dropped back to 4th in the race. The turning point of his season came in Hungary, where he was running 2nd due to an early safety car, finishing 5th after running 2 stints on the medium tyre. He only failed to score twice after this (in Belgium where he picked up debris from the Rosberg-Hamilton collision, and Russia where he failed to make it out of Q1, the latter being the only race in the second half of the season where he started lower than 9th), and managed 3 podiums: 3rd in Italy, 3rd in Brazil (despite speeding in the pits and stopping in the McLaren pit-box by mistake later on), and 2nd in Abu Dhabi (where he led 14 laps and tried to put Hamilton under pressure for the win). He scored 22 points more than in 2013 (he managed his highest total since 2010), finishing 1 place higher overall.
6h Place – Fernando Alonso (FER) (Ferrari) (161 pts) Best qualifying: 4th (x3) Best finish: 2nd Podiums: 2 Races led: 2 Laps led: 32
Alonso’s 13th season in F1 (he did not race in 2002) and 5th season with Ferrari was another story of outperforming his machinery and scoring consistently. Only once did he not start inside the top 9 – that was in Britain, where a spin in Q1 led to him starting 16th from which he recovered to 6th despite receiving a 5-second penalty for starting too far forward. This race featured a memorable battle between Alonso and Vettel which Vettel eventually won. His best start was 4th, achieved in Malaysia (despite colliding with Kvyat), Austria (despite a mistake on his first Q3 run), and Belgium (which was ruined when his team were still working on the car after the 15-second signal). He finished in the top 9 in every race apart from 2 mechanical DNFs (Italy and Japan). He managed 2 podium finishes: a well-timed pit-stop allowing him to finish ahead of both Red Bulls in China (finishing 3rd) and a 2nd place in Hungary, where despite missing out during the first Safety Car, he passed Rosberg and Vergne after the restart and led 27 laps before being overtaken by Ricciardo, finishing 2nd (he completed the final 32 laps on one set of soft tyres). The other race he led was Austria. He also fared well at other circuits where his car performance disadvantage was less of an issue: he finished 4th in Monaco and in Singapore (losing out to both Red Bulls following a Safety Car). No driver outperformed his team-mate by as much as Alonso did in 2014. This was his first winless season since 2009, and his first season without a pole or win since 2001 (excluding 2002). He scored 81 points fewer than in 2013, and finished 4 places lower overall (his worst season since 2009 in both respects).
5th Place – Sebastian Vettel (GER) (Red Bull-Renault) (167 pts) Best qualifying: 2nd (x3) Best finish: 2nd Podiums: 4 Fastest laps: 2 Races led: 1 Laps led: 1
In his 8th season in F1 (including a part-season in 2007), and having won the Championship in the previous 4 years, Vettel had a disappointing 2014, beaten by his team-mate Ricciardo. He was close to Ricciardo in qualifying – in fact, Vettel managed 3 front-row starts (2nd in Malaysia, Britain and Hungary), 1 more than Ricciardo, but on Sundays Ricciardo had a more decisive advantage as he was able to make his tyres last longer, often jumping ahead of Vettel (in fact, all 3 of Ricciardo’s wins came in races where he started behind Vettel and Vettel finished). Vettel had 3 DNFs, all mechanical (Australia, where he had missed Q3, Monaco, and Austria, where he also missed Q3), but finished every other race inside the top 8, including 4 podiums: 3rd in Malaysia, 3rd in Canada (where he was jumped by Ricciardo in the pitstops due to traffic, but overtook Perez and dodged the Massa-Perez collision towards the end), 2nd in Singapore (where he was helped by a safety car and managed to complete 35 laps on a single set of soft tyres – this was also the only race where he led a lap), and 3rd in Japan. He also managed an impressive 4th in Spain (with fastest lap, which he also managed in the USA), having only started 15th due to a gearbox failure in Q3 and subsequent penalty. This was his first season without a pole position since 2007, his first winless season since 2007, and his worst championship position since 2008. He scored 230 points fewer than in 2013.
4th Place – Valtteri Bottas (FIN) (Williams-Mercedes) (186 pts) Best qualifying: 2nd (x2) Best finish: 2nd (x2) Podiums: 6 Fastest laps: 1 Races led: 2 Laps led: 4
In his 2nd season in F1, Bottas had a few missed opportunities at the start of the season, such as in Australia where he started 15th due to a gearbox change, made up some ground before hitting the wall and recovering again to finish 5th (helped by a Safety Car). He received another grid penalty in Malaysia (this time for blocking), starting 18th and finishing 8th after Massa ignored team orders to let him through. He started 3rd in Bahrain, but tyre problems dropped him to 8th (again behind Massa) in the race. He tangled with Rosberg at the start in China (finishing 7th), finished 5th in Spain, and then had his only DNF of the season in Monaco (an engine failure having only qualified 13th). After a disappointing 7th in Canada (due to traffic and running wide), his season came to life with 4 podiums in 5 races between Austria and Belgium. In Austria he nearly managed pole but was beaten by Massa, whom he jumped in the race, finishing 3rd (he led 3 laps). In Britain he only started 14th after dropping out in Q1, but passed several cars en route to 2nd (also helped by Rosberg retiring from the lead), and he both started and finished 2nd (ahead of Hamilton who had crashed in qualifying) in Germany. He could have had a podium in Hungary were it not for an ill-timed Safety Car and a slow pitstop, but returned to the podium in Belgium, where he led a lap before his first pitstop, managed to pass Rosberg (although Rosberg did get back in front), and benefited from his car’s strong straight-line speed to finish 3rd. In the second half of the season, he was consistent in qualifying (he started 3rd 6 times in the final 9 races, and nearly managed pole in Russia but for a mistake on his final run), and scored points in all bar one race (that was Singapore, where due to steering and tyre problems, he dropped from 7th to 11th on the last lap). He managed 2 further podiums: Russia (where he finished in 3rd just 4 seconds behind Rosberg and managed fastest lap) and Abu Dhabi (where he finished 3rd albeit behind his team-mate). He scored 182 points more than in 2013, and finished 13 places higher overall.
3rd Place – Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) (Red Bull-Renault) (238 pts) Best qualifying: 2nd (x2) Best finish: 1st (x3) Podiums: 8 Fastest laps: 1 Races led: 4 Laps led: 72
In his 4th season in F1 (including a part-season in 2011), Ricciardo was up against reigning 4-time champion Vettel at Red Bull. He started by qualifying 2nd in the wet in Australia and crossed the finish line in 2nd before being disqualified due to a fuel flow rate infringement. His troubles continued in Malaysia, where after running 3rd early on, an unsafe release led to a non-finish plus a grid penalty for Bahrain. However, after the first 2 rounds he only had 1 further no-score (a suspension failure in Brazil), and whilst he only had 1 front-row start after Australia (2nd in China), he only started outside the top 9 on 2 occasions, both due to penalties (Bahrain and a wing infringement in Abu Dhabi). Ricciardo often lost out at the start of races, but his strength was in wheel-to-wheel combat, where he managed several notable passes, generally making up positions in the races. He managed 8 (official) podium finishes including 3 victories (the only non-Mercedes driver to win in 2014). These came in Canada, where he started 6th, got up to 3rd in the pitstops, then passed Perez and Rosberg (who was suffering electrical problems) in the last 6 laps to take the win (only leading 3 laps in the race); Hungary, where he qualified 4th but was able to pit immediately when the Safety Car came out, emerging in the lead before he made another pitstop, after which he passed Hamilton and Alonso for the win; and in Belgium, where he qualified 5th and benefited from the Rosberg-Hamilton crash and a mistake by Vettel to win. He only led 1 other lap outside of his victories – in Singapore. Other notable drives included: Bahrain, where he started 13th due to his penalty and passed Vettel twice en route to 4th; China, where he qualified 2nd and despite a poor start, passed Vettel to finish 4th; Monaco, where he finished just behind Hamilton in 3rd; Germany, where he started 5th, dropped down to 15th at the start (after having to avoid the Massa-Magnussen collision) but recovered to 6th; Italy, where he started 9th and finished 5th after a pass on Vettel; USA, where he had a poor start but jumped both Williams drivers in the pits to finish 3rd; and Abu Dhabi, where he started from the pit-lane and finished 4th (4 places ahead of Vettel) and managed fastest lap. His consistency meant that he had clinched 3rd place in the Championship (best-of-the-rest behind the Mercedes drivers) before Abu Dhabi (a double points race). He scored 218 points more than in 2013, and finished 11 places higher overall.
2nd Place – Nico Rosberg (GER) (Mercedes) (317 pts) Best qualifying: 1st (x11) Best finish: 1st (x5) Podiums: 15 Fastest laps: 5 Races led: 15 Laps led: 483
Rosberg’s 9th season in F1 saw him in one of the most dominant cars in F1 history. He never started a race lower than 4th (and only started off the front row 4 times), and managed 11 pole positions, on average qualifying better than team-mate Hamilton. However, on the 14 occasions both drivers finished, Rosberg only finished ahead on 4 occasions. He took victory and fastest lap in Australia (despite wheel hub damage towards the end) after Hamilton suffered an early reliability problem. Then came 4 consecutive 2nd-place finishes (all behind Hamilton), including Bahrain where he took pole and had softer tyres in the final stint but couldn’t pass Hamilton (but he did manage fastest lap, which he also managed in China), and Spain where he had the pace to beat Hamilton but made a poor start. Then came the first controversial moment of his season – going off in qualifying in Monaco, which helped him obtain pole position, and hence the victory. The next 4 races were the best period of his season – in Canada he started on pole, but was passed by Hamilton before both cars developed power unit problems. Whilst Hamilton’s was race-ending, Rosberg managed to hold on to 2nd (only being passed late on by Ricciardo). In Austria he qualified behind both Williams cars but jumped both of them in the pits, going on to win. In Britain he managed pole on a drying track but his gearbox failed just as Hamilton was coming up to attack him for the lead. A lights-to-flag win in Germany (helped by Hamilton’s qualifying problems) was followed by Hungary, where he managed pole but was undone by an ill-timed Safety Car following by braking problems on the restart. He ended up 4th (with fastest lap), behind Hamilton who had started from the pits. Then came the second controversial moment of his season: in Belgium, he started on pole, dropped behind Hamilton at the start, then collided with him as he tried to pass. This ultimately led to Hamilton’s retirement, while Rosberg only finished 2nd due to a damaged front wing followed by a lock-up whilst battling Vettel (but he did manage fastest lap). After Belgium, he was generally no match for Hamilton – even though he did manage 4 pole positions in the final 7 races (Japan, USA, Brazil, Abu Dhabi), he only beat Hamilton once (in Brazil, which was helped by Hamilton running wide at one point), and had 2 no-scores: in Singapore where his car developed terminal problems before the race, and in Abu Dhabi (in which he still had a chance of the Championship) he was jumped by Hamilton at the start before his car developed problems and he dropped down to 14th. Malaysia, China, Singapore, and Russia were the only races in which he did not lead any laps. He managed 146 points more than in 2013, and finished 4 places higher overall.
1st Place – Lewis Hamilton (GBR) (Mercedes) (384 pts) Best qualifying: 1st (x7) Best finish: 1st (x11) Podiums: 16 Fastest laps: 7 Races led: 15 Laps led: 495
Hamilton’s 8th season in F1 started with him taking pole in Australia but retiring early on due to an engine problem. Then came a run of 4 consecutive wins: a lights-to-flag win from pole with fastest lap in Malaysia, a famous victory in Bahrain where he missed out on pole but got past Rosberg early on and kept Rosberg behind him, and wins from pole in China and Spain (despite handling issues allowing Rosberg to catch him in Spain). Then came a run of 7 races in which he only won once. In Monaco he was controversially beaten to pole by Rosberg and stayed behind him in the race. Then in Canada he was beaten to pole by Rosberg and suffered a race-ending brake failure. In the next 4 races (Austria, Britain, Germany, Hungary) he only qualified 9th (after mistakes on both Q3 runs), 6th (after abandoning his final Q3 lap and getting caught out by the drying track), 20th (due to a brake failure in qualifying), and 22nd (where a fire in Q1 caused him to start from the pit lane) but finished 2nd (thanks to a good first lap), 1st (thanks to Rosberg retiring ahead of him – he managed fastest lap), 3rd (mainly due to overtaking including a pass on Raikkonen and Ricciardo, although he did damage his front wing when trying to pass Button – he managed fastest lap) and 3rd (despite spinning on the first lap, he managed to overtake several cars and finish ahead of his team-mate who had started on pole, ignoring a request to let Rosberg through). Then came Belgium, where he qualified 2nd behind Rosberg and got ahead of him at the start before Rosberg collided with him. He eventually retired due to the damage. From this point on he was near faultless – although he only started 3 of the final 7 races (Italy, Singapore, Russia) from pole, he managed 6 wins - including Italy where his start mode failed at the start and he forced Rosberg into a mistake to regain the lead and set fastest lap, and Japan and USA where he passed Rosberg for the lead - and 1 second place (in Brazil, where he stayed out 1 lap too late and spun, spurning his chance to jump Rosberg). He also managed fastest lap in Singapore, Japan, and Brazil. His win in Abu Dhabi (where Rosberg failed to score) clinched his second title (following 2008), with 195 points more than in 2013 (when he finished 4th). Prior to 2014 he had never won more than 5 races in a season, although he had previously managed 7 poles in a season (2008, 2012). Australia, Monaco, Austria and Germany were the only races where he did not lead any laps.
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Post by Shireblogger on Jan 26, 2015 0:29:50 GMT 1
F1 2014 stats: Team-mate comparisonTeam-mates - Quali (inc penalties) - Race - Double DNFs - Points VETvRIC - 8-11 - 5-13 - 1 - 167-238 RAIvALO - 3-16 - 3-16 - 0 - 55-161 Stats suggest that Ferrari have landed themselves with two decidedly second-rate ex-World Champions for 2015.
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