rjbetty's 2012 driver review

[rjbetty]

25.Narain Karthikeyan: The most underrated driver in F1, Narain is much better than many many drivers who have been around. That he's slowest says everything about the quality of the field these days, not him.

24.Jean-Eric Vergne: Has struggled. In hindsight, Toro Rosso would have been so much better keeping Alguersuari on, or even Buemi, as a yardstick for Ricciardo.

23.Jerome D'Ambrosio: Couldn't have asked for more on his one-off filling in for Grosjean at Monza really, given the current regulations.

22.Bruno Senna: Unfortunately, there's no way Bruno's first full season can be seen as much other than a disappointment really. Maldonado has shown that the Williams is actually a top car. So to be consistently starting well down the midfield almost every time is not really good enough. The race performances were more convincing however, and Bruno has shown himself to be more reliable than his team-mate, but sadly not as fast, which is what matters. He looks like a very good driver, but so many drivers are at a high level these days. But I have a feeling that Bruno would be a late bloomer if he could just get the chance. Missing practice for most races has been a big loss for him. It is interesting that he seemed to get quicker and quicker through a weekend. This shows that if he could get practice 1 time, he might do much better. If he loses his Williams drive, expect him to find another home at somewhere like Caterham.

21.Pedro de la Rosa: It's a good sight to see someone over the age of 40 pushing so hard with a positive attitude for F1's smallest team. Has led HRT very well, so it's sad to see it looks like the end of the road for them.

20.Charles Pic: The best 2nd driver Marussia have had so far. Has really compared well to Glock, and on talent alone looks like he has a future in F1. His connections (he is managed by the respected OIivier Panis, and his Godfather is Panis' first team-mate Eric Bernard) are a great asset.

19.Timo Glock: Hmmm I'm not sure Timo is close in performance to Vettel. I don't think Vettel would be outperformed by Charles Pic so often.

18.Daniel Ricciardo: Has defied my expectations by easily beating Vergne in qualifying. 6th on the grid in Bahrain was fantastic, but as has often been the case, this was spoiled by a scrappier race. As such, he was behind his team-mate in the points standings.

17.Vitaly Petrov: Has qualified only 1/4 sec behind Kovalainen, and is often his equal in the races. Very good for what I feel is an underrated driver. A possible point may have been on in Valencia, but Vitaly says not.

16.Kamui Kobayashi: Some say he's a top 5 driver and should be in a Ferrari. That causes me to sigh. He's good, but there are more deserving drivers. Spectacular style is nice, but who's got all the podiums and near race wins for Sauber this year (apart from one)?
I feel he should have done a bit better in a car this good, if he's really that hot. Looks a bit cowed by Perez and his results.

15.Felipe Massa: Rubbish. But getting better. In fact I was very impressed with the end of the season. This is near to what he must have been in 2008. Did well to finish 7th in the end considering that start. I'm still not sure he's one of the very top few drivers so many say he is. Excuses only last so long. I think it's Hockenheim 2010 that did him in, not the crash. The man himself says so. The crash isn't an issue I don't think - I say it's got everything to do with the fact that there are so many great drivers in the top cars now and Felipe is simply being shown up. The truth hurts, but I had to face up to it when my all-time favourite Fisichella went against Alonso in 2005-6. However, if he can drive next season like he finished this one, Alonso might be throwing more tantrums soon.

14.Paul di Resta: Professional, more than solid. Very high quality performances, replicating Alonso in getting the best from each race early in the season, but seems to be getting shown up a little by Hulkenberg lately. But he suffered a massive KERS failure at Spa, and has had other problems elsewhere. Beat Vettel once in F3, but then Eddie Irvine beat Barrichello just the one year too...

13.Pastor Maldonado: Brilliantly fast, and the win was incredible. Has blown away Senna, but has otherwise wasted many opportunities in a top car. Pastor may have been better off making hay, as there is no guarantee the sun will keep shining this brightly i.e. the car might not always be this competitive...

12.Heikki Kovalainen: Did his usual great job, but as Caterham slipped back, so did he. His attitude was a disappointment, undoing much of the good work of the last 3 years regarding his reputation.

11.Nico Rosberg: Often fast, but a disappointment this year. Outshone by Michael who has struggled less with the car. His points total advantage over his team-mate is an utterly misleading statistic. Great win in China, but too often shown up in races, lagging well behind Schumacher.

10.Romain Grosjean: Being quicker than Kimi in qualifying in your first full season is something very impressive! Shame about all the crashes. Similar to Maldonado, but doing it on less experience (but a better car though). Like Maldonado, should have won a race this year.

9.Sergio Perez: To be almost winning races in a Sauber in only your 2nd season at age 22 looks like something pretty special, and he well beat the highly rated Kobayashi. He is now bragging about winning the title in his first year at McLaren - that would be great if he has the goods to back up those bold claims. Reality and experience suggest that it's more likely that his wild and OTT ending to 2011 might cause Martin Whitmarsh to find his patience being tried next year.

8.Michael Schumacher: Truth be told, Michael has been much more impressive this year. This is surely true in all but the final points tally. A pole position on merit in Monaco was taken away as a result of one of his few errors of judgment in the first half of the season. I personally believe he would have won that race (though it's obviously not a guarantee). I have been absolutely shocked at the amount of misfortune Michael has suffered. It almost can't be real. I can only think this must be somehow balancing out his season of 10 years ago. During those years, Michael seemed to enjoy an inordinate amount of fortunate circumstances. This is much like Fisichella's 2005 season for Renault, where it was important for Flav to establish Alonso ahead of him. Michael has often qualified and started in the top 4 this season. A possible podium was on in China; he retired from 2nd with mechanical failure. Remarkably, it took until Valencia to enjoy a race without significant problems; and there he finally delivered his first podium performance to claim 3rd. Sadly since then, reflecting Fisichella's 98 season, the car has lost it's way badly. This seems to have hit Michael really hard, to the point where he's tired and has had enough. Therefore, he has announced his retirement, and this time it will almost certainly be the end. It looks like Michael has finally got racing out of his system, to the point where he doesn't want to race anything else. He looks now like he just wants the season to end, and though he's resigned to a low-key finish, it's highly unlikely to be the farce that his old rival Damon Hill suffered.

7.Nico Hulkenberg: A slow but solid start saw Nico consistently just a tiny bit behind di Resta, who was grabbing the glory. But from Valencia onwards, Nico has really asserted himself, and after India, shades di Resta in both qualifying and the points standings. Hulkenberg took 5th in Valencia, started 4th at Hockenheim, grabbed 4th (his best finish) at Spa, and has followed this up with a 7th-6th-8th from Japan-Korea-India. His high points have been higher than di Resta's, which is telling. Paul has qualified as high as 6th, but Nico has started from 4th. I also don't know if Paul could have matched what Nico did in Brazil 2010 either.

6.Mark Webber: Had KERS problems a lot. Looks kinda grumpy as he could see the title slipping away again. Only 2 podiums - but both were wins. Is recently being left behind by Vettel again...

5.Jenson Button: This year has shown that 2011 was an aberration. He was ahead of Lewis much more through optimisation than speed. The gap in pure pace between them has been shown this year. Jenson has still done very well though. But the way he seems so at mercy of whatever "balance" his car feels like having on a particular day shows he is not superior to Alonso, who suffers no such problems (but in fact looks like the best of the best at making up car deficiencies - one of the truest marks of a great I think)

4.Kimi Raikkonen: The speed itself has been a little disappointing for what has probably the best car for at least part of the season (James Allison said before the season that this car was (very) good - equal to their 2005 title-winning car - I think he was right!) Given that, maybe more should have been expected. But then again, having been rallying for 2 years, Kimi's racecraft and consistency have been outstanding.

[rjbetty]

And the Top 3:

3.Lewis Hamilton: I don't blame Lewis for leaving really, but maybe he's got to decide whether he wants to be a racing driver or a celebrity who also takes part in races. There's only room for one priority. Shame, cos his talent is so far above even Jenson's super-high standards. Lewis has looked stale at McLaren, but his driving has almost always been sensational this year. Has totally dominated Jenson in qualifying, almost never being headed fair-and-square. In the races has performed mostly immaculately but his team have badly let him down, and lost him the championship. His only real mistake that I can think of is colliding with Maldonado in Valencia, which I believe was mostly not his fault. The only thing about that though, is that it probably wouldn't have happened to Alonso. It looks like Lewis just needs to learn how to choose his battles, and realise you don't need to win every one. But then again, I'm sitting here typing this on my laptop. I wouldn't expect him to take that from me. But I just think of the times Michael Schumacher let Montoya through rather than crash. He saw the bigger picture.

2.Sebastian Vettel: The doubts remain over his ultimate standing in F1. Sebastian has enjoyed Adrian Newey cars and is always showered with love from Christian Horner and Dr. Marko. The favouritism is pretty obvious. But to be fair, Seb has actually used that advantage in a way Hamilton seems unable to so far.

1.Fernando Alonso: Regardless of what anyone thinks of Alonso, no-one can seriously argue that this season (far exceeding Robert Kubica's 2010 I feel) has not been anything short of exceptional. To lead the championship for so long in a dreadful a car as the 2012 Ferrari is something that shouldn't have been possible. To win from 11th on the grid in Valencia with only 2 truly leading cars dropping out, in that car, no less, was quite staggering. The way he took position from other drivers too showed extreme skill. Richly deserves to win another title now, and it would be some injustice for Vettel to reach that landmark first largely through driving an Adrian Newey car.

I'm not an Alonso fanboy; I just give credit where it's due.

(I wrote this a while back but have updated it and switched a few)

[gloomyDAY]

I'm not sure why so many people are buying into this hoax that Ferrari had a bad car. Ferrari just couldn't get the car dialed in for qualifying, but their race pace was exceptional. Also, Ferrari had a stronger car than their Red Bull rivals initially, but Ferrari lost the development war in the end. There's no way in hell that I'm going to buy into Ferrari's PR that Master Chief Alonso was the saving grace for the team, especially since Massa was beating him in qualifying towards the end of the season as well.

[ioan]

To lead the championship for so long in a dreadful a car as the 2012 Ferrari is something that shouldn't have been possible.

Yes sure, the dreadful car that made it to 2nd in the WCC.
Any other pearls?

[ioan]

I'm not sure why so many people are buying into this hoax that Ferrari had a bad car.

I am sure I know, however I'll keep it civilized and won't make it public in here.

[keysersoze]

Although I may not agree with all of your rankings and comments, much of what you wrote was accurate. Thanks for your effort and thoughtful analysis, rj.

FWIW, I'd switch Vettel and Hamilton, move Romain, Massa and Pastor up a bit, move Hulkenberg, Schumacher, and Kovalainen down.

[kfzmeister]

(Alonso) richly deserves to win another title now, and it would be some injustice for Vettel to reach that landmark first largely through driving an Adrian Newey car.

Yeah.

Also like the kind words about Nahrain. Very well said.

[rjbetty]

Yes sure, the dreadful car that made it to 2nd in the WCC.
Any other pearls?

The driver of that car scored way more than twice as many points as his team-mate.

[zako85]

I appreciate the effort of the poster.

However, while reading this, I suddenly realized that it's pretty much impossible to put together a strict ranking that can't be criticized based on the lack of objectivity. And I'd agree. After all, it's ok to rank two teammates relative to each other, but how do you rank drivers who drive completely different cars?

In the light of incomplete information, I think a much better method is to rank the EQUIVALENCE CLASSES of drivers relative to each other, rather than try to construct a strict ranking of driver by driver. It's highly likely that some drivers placed within each equivalence class might not be equal in the strict ranking sense, but we will never know that with a good precision. In this sense, it would have been much less controversy in stating:

Equivalence class 1: {Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel} (listed in alphabetical order)
Equivalence class 2: {someone,someone,someone, etc}

PS: By the way, I'd have already disagreed on Kovalalien vs Petrov ranking. Both are good (probably as good as say Perez or better), but I'd rank Petrov at least as good or higher than his 2012 teammate. If Petrov and Kovalalien had been in F1 roughly for the same amount of time, I'd put both in the same equivalence class. However, considering that Petrov has spent less time with the team as well as in F1 overall, I'd give him an edge here. Specially considering, he is the one who bumped his team back into 10th place in WCC.

[IceWizard]

11.Nico Rosberg: Often fast, but a disappointment this year. Outshone by Michael who has struggled less with the car. His points total advantage over his team-mate is an utterly misleading statistic. Great win in China, but too often shown up in races, lagging well behind Schumacher.

Very true, I think Rosberg has been one of the most underwhelming drivers on the grid this season and am fully expecting him to get shown up by Hamilton next season. Then again, I said the same about Hamilton when Button joined McLaren so not counting my chickens just yet.