Driver Performance Analysis - The Chasing Dogs
- Published on Nov 29th, 2011 by Craig NormansellThe fierce midfield fight is the focus for part two of our driver analysis, otherwise known as the Chasing Dogs.
Mercedes
- Nico Rosberg: Quali - 6th, Race - 7th
- Michael Schumacher: Quali - 10th, Race - 15th
You can't help but feel that Mercedes were to the midfield what Team Lotus were to the "new" teams - ie, far ahead of the cars behind but not quite able to challenge those in front. If Norbert is reading this he won't like it, but unfortunately Mr Haug it's the truth.
Nico couldn't keep a fully charged Adrian Sutil behind him and finished 7th, which is there or thereabouts for the German marque, while Michael Schumacher had a bit of a trip back in time and went wheel to wheel with Senna - only it was 2011 and not 1993.
It's the end of the year and people will see that Nico finished in front, but don't be fooled: Michael was closer this year than last. And now the team has more technical directors than HRT have staff, they are bound to produce a car worthy of these two to challenge for top honours, right?
Messrs Brawn, Costa, Willis and Bell - your challenge has been set.
Badger's Best: Rosberg
Sauber
- Kamui Kobayashi: Quali - 16th, Race - 9th
- Sergio Perez: Quali - 17th, Race - 13th
If you'd been paying attention to the timing screens on Sunday you would've noticed the titanic struggle between Kamui and the Toro Rossos in a scrap of points at the bottom of the top 10. We say watching the timing screen, because the BBC failed to pick up on it. Shame.
Kobayashi started 16th but finished 9th, passing Buemi in the first stint and putting in fast times to stay that step ahead of the plucky Italian outfit. While Buemi and Alguersuari fell back, Kamui got in front of Petrov and got those all important points. 7th on the constructors - done.
Sergio did all right for the Swiss squad, kept his nose clean and stayed in close proximity to the Toro Rossos. That was it. No contest really.
Badger's Best: Kobayashi
Renault
- Bruno Senna: Quali - 9th, Race - 17th
- Vitaly Petrov: Quali - 15th, Race - 10th
Hold the front page. Vitaly Petrov is a polished Grand Prix driver. There, we said it. Unbelievable.
Remember last year? The Russian did nothing but ring up a repair bill the size of Maldonado's sponsor purse and generally just fund Renault through the season. This year though, he's been a bit of a revelation. There's been that podium at the start of the year, and now regular points. It's like he's a different driver.
But then there's Bruno. The guy just can't get a consistent weekend together, and that's probably hurting his chances of staying at the newly re-reborn Lotus (is that even a term?). Of Petrov, Senna, Grosjean and Sutil, who all have a chance of taking the seat alongside Kimi Raikkonen, who would you pick?
Toro Rosso
- Sebastian Buemi: Quali - 14th, Race - 12th
- Jaime Alguersuari: Quali - 13th, Race - 11th
So, close but no cigar for the little Italian team. Which is ironic, considering they were eventually beaten by cigar lover Peter Sauber.
It was the right thing to do to split the strategy for both drivers in terms of weather set-up; Buemi went for more wing in case it rained, so was naturally slower than Jaime all weekend, with the Spaniard going for the dry. And....that was pretty much it really.
No offence to Toro Rosso, but after Kobayashi jumped them both, there was nothing for them to do but fall behind Petrov and finish line astern. No glory for them this year, but considering they pretty much started from scratch in 2009, it's a big improvement.
As for the drivers, it's crunch time for the Red Bull brass for who stays and who goes. Just like Renault, there's plenty of competition for seats with Vergne and Ricciardo knocking on the door, but both the current drivers have proved they can be fast and score points, and ultimately that's what they want, right?
To gamble or to continue? That's the question here.
Badger's Best: Alguersauri (thanks to a coin toss)
Comments and Discussion
Petrov!
If by ``all right'' you mean spinning in the middle of the race, then yes, Perez did all right.
The Petrov situation is quite interesting. I thought that he had a contract for 2012, and more importantly, that he was bringing quite a bit of funds with him. And as you say, his performance hasn't been too bad, although he was out-qualified by Senna 5:3.
I don't think either Torro Rosso drive is good enough for red bull. While both at least showed their strong under pressure effectively the entire season. Hats off to Alguersauri who came from behind to top Buemi this season but not by enough to convince me he's anything other than cool under pressure. IMO swap Alguersauri with Riccardo. Being spanish he'd fit into HRT nicely and red bull get to keep him around just incase. If he fails to outperform La Rosa then you know he isn't good enough. Keep Buemi as a benchmark for Riccardo and possibly replace one halfway through the season with Vergne
>> although he was out-qualified by Senna 5:
Ok. Let's see.
Belgium: Petrov had a spin in Q3, spoiling tyres. I can't blame him though, cause he had power-steering problems through whole weekend
Italy: Magnificent quali by PET. Was torpedoed by Liuzzi in first corner. If not, SEN wouldn't have his only 2 points.
Singapore: Renault sucked so bad, i don't even wanna talk about it.
Japan: SEN was given better place because of number his car. Lost it right on the grid.
Korea: Better performance by PET. Up until the point where he launched himself off the MSC's car. But his race still was better then struggling Senna's.
India: PET was given 5-grid penalty and still finished ahead.
Abu Dhabi: Better performance by PET. Despite dismal strategy.
Brazil: First time SEN beat PET in quali fair and square. But in the race he managed to steer into MSC (and yes, MSC steered into SEN, race incident).
In my view, from that four i would choose Petrov. He's faster than Senna. Sutil's performance is questionable compared to PET. And it would be new team for him (not the best team, btw). It's a bet with him. Grosjean is just another variable that they don't need.
May be i'm biased, cause i'm Russian. But still, if not PET then SUT.
I think Senna is the better bet. It's widely acknowledged he's re-energised the team back at base through his enthusiasm and being a generally nice chap. His race performances haven't been amazing, but he's proved in GP2 he can race properly and he's made some silly mistakes (such as Belgium) but at the same time I don't think he was responsible for the collision in Brazil so the result didn't fairly reflect his performance. He's also shown he can pull it out of the bag in qualifying when he needs to in both Belgium and Italy.
Sutil I feel has had his go. He's never sparkled and makes too many mistakes. He can be quick sometimes but too often he does a Trulli and disappears from sight.
Petrov has improved but I still think he's more of a solid number 2 and didn't really seize the opportunity he had this year to establish himself as the number 1. Maybe Ferrari should consider him instead of Massa.
Petrov landing at Ferrari after what he did in Abu Dhabi 2010? What are you drinking? Vodka Red Bull?
I can't think of a single reason Ferrari would want Petrov. Apart from his money. But being as Santander are their main backers, and given Santander's push in to LatiN America, Perez is a far more likely candidate if money's the only criteria. Perez has the added bonus of being better than Petrov too.
Next he'll be saying alonso will end up at ferrari after what he did in 2005 and 6!!!...oh wait
ferrari will take anyone who's quick enough, petrov hasn't been as bad as everyone has made out and bruno needs a full year starting with a pre season test before you can really judge him. He's had what 6? 7? races this year. The redbull drivers had more mileage in their car before the season started.
What did Alonso actually do? Put an awesome move on Schumacher in the 130R curve? Win the F1 WDC? I don't think that would hurt anyone's
chances for landing a drive at Ferrari. Being a mobile obstacle would on the other hand do. Fair play to Petrov, though, he was just doing his race. Don't get me started on my Renault-helping-Red-Bull conspiracy theory, though.