2014 - half-time overview

[dj_bytedisaster]

As am I. Had his downswing been for the first few races while he got his head around the new cars then I'd have understood but he still isn't really on Riccardo's pace after half a season. For his paycheque I'd want him nailing the new regs pretty quickly. To put it bluntly I don't think Alonso would ever find himself in the same situation, he'd sort himself out sharpish.

Sorry, the man isn't David Copperfield. In Australia his car blew. In Malaysia he stood on the podium. In Bahrain and China his chassis was cracked. In Barcelona he went from 15 to 5th while Danny Ric started 4th and stayed there. What do you want him to do? Walk over the water? In Canada he was enroute to win, but the team mucked up and danny inherited the win, then his car blew some more until Hungarywhere he was 3rd and fucked over by the SC. The only mistake he's done all season was the spin in HUN when he tried too hard to make up the time he lost by being screwed over with the 1st SC.

[Koz]

Was it ever confirmed that the chassis was cracked or was it just suspected?

[dj_bytedisaster]

Was it ever confirmed that the chassis was cracked or was it just suspected?

Well, the team built him a new one after china. I would hazard a guess they didn't do so out of boredom. It was RB themselves who announced that the chassis had a crack.

[Rollo]

Your top6 drivers of the season so far?
Using a reiterative calculation to eliminate the car benefit:
70.300 Valtteri Bottas
63.102 Fernando Alonso
46.644 Daniel Ricciardo
37.449 Nico Rosberg
35.200 Nico Hülkenberg
34.020 Lewis Hamilton
31.968 Jenson Button
15.238 Sebastian Vettel
09.864 Kevin Magnussen
07.375 Sergio Pérez
05.920 Felipe Massa
00.570 Kimi Räikkönen

How well do you like the new rules by now?
DRS and ERS are gimmicky. Pushing buttons to pass is dumb.
New engines though? I think that that's a good idea as that's where road cars need to go.

Biggest shock/surprise of the season for you?
Williams - though Mercedes power helps.

Who will win the Drivers' title in the end? Who will finish 3rd?
Most likely Rosberg, Hamilton second and Alonso's consistency to bring him in 3rd.

Aside:
Using the old 10-6-4-3-2-1 system:
73 Nico Rosberg
70 Lewis Hamilton
39 Daniel Ricciardo
26 Fernando Alonso
20 Valtteri Bottas
19 Sebastian Vettel
12 Jenson Button
10 Nico Hülkenberg
6 Kevin Magnussen
5 Felipe Massa
5 Sergio Pérez
1 Kimi Räikkönen

[anfield5]

For me the top 6 drivers are
1. Daniel Ricciardo - by far my number 1. He should have been learning from Vettel, instead he is dominating him, and Vettel is a very good driver. Sure he is trailing Rosberg and Hamilton, but he has won twice in a car with an engine that is way short of the Mercs.
2. Fred - as usual he is hauling his red pig around near the front of the queue, just look at where Kimi is and you can see how damn good Fred is.
3. Nico Rosberg - Winning, consistent and seemingly level headed in his approach, hasn't made many if any real errors.
4. Nico Hulkenberg - Similarly to Fred he is outperfoming his equipment.
5. Jules Bianchi - Has scored points for Marussia, is outperfoming better funded, better equipped teams on occasion.

* Didn't include Hamilton, his whinging and complaining and attitude get right up my nose, can't consider a plonker like this as a top driver - sorry Ham Fans, but his performance in Monaco when he turned his back on the podium because Nico beat him was pathetic.

Most unimpressive drivers.

1. Kimi - just look at his performances this season, nothing short of awful. He needs to stop moaning about everything and get his head down
2. Maldonado - still a loose cannon and a danger to every living being on or near a race track
3. other drivers are all performing about as well as can be expected.

[Koz]

Well, the team built him a new one after china. I would hazard a guess they didn't do so out of boredom. It was RB themselves who announced that the chassis had a crack.

Vettel said the decision to revert to the winter testing chassis is to eliminate a flaw as the potential cause of his recent struggles.

"We don't think that there was anything wrong with the old chassis but nevertheless we decided to change," he explained.

"It's more a sanity check rather than a real problem with the other chassis. It's just to try everything we can and basically reset and start again."

Hum.

[steveaki13]

Your top6 drivers of the season so far?
6. Jenson Button - I have gone for a slightly left field selection in the top 6. JB has 60 points, only 9 behind Hulkenberg and considering the tank of a car Mclaren have produced, I think he has done OK to pick up 60 points. If not for silly Mclaren strategy in Hungary he may have added 4 or 6 more.

5. Nico Hulkenberg - He has actually had some bad luck. However he has done a decent job again and scored a lot of points, despite not being at his absolute best.

4. Nico Rosberg - I know Mercedes have a ridiculously fast car, but I have been impressed by his composure and speed to match Lewis all the way. I thought pre season Hamilton might win the title easily once he got going, but Nico has proven he may have more tools in his driving to win this title.

3. Valterri Bottas - Williams have had a very good car. However he has been consistent and un flustered by all the pressure in races. Finally looks the kind of driver we were told he was.

2. Daniel Ricciardo - Regardless of Vettel's issues and not even considering that, I think Daniel has been great. His refusal to be passed by Alonso in Germany and fighting spirit has been a pleasure to watch.

1. Fernando Alonso - I have been amazed at how well Alonso has done and he just about gets my vote at around half way. The Ferrari is 4th/5th best car.

Your 6 least impressive/worst drivers of the season so far?
17. Kimi Raikkonen - Would have been about 20th if not for finally showing a glimpse in Hungary. I really want Kimi to do well, but really his season has been poor.

18. Esteban Gutierrez - Despite an average Sauber I feel he has not been as good as he could be.

19. Max Chilton - I thought he was going to have a decent season in 2014, but he has been average at best.

20. Adrian Sutil - He is in a poor Sauber, but he has dropped the car to many times this season. The only way a Sauber will score points is to stay on track. To many times he has crashed or spun. Although Sauber is a terrible car.

21. Marcus Ericcson - Fairly average season so far, crashes a lot and is quite slow. Having said that he got an 11th place in Monaco.

22. Pastor Maldonado - A terrible car, but Grosjean has 8 points. Maldonado is slower, he makes poor decision and crashes a lot. Worse driver IMO taking car & experience into account.

Others/Rest
7. Sebastian Vettel - Done a decent job when his cars been running, but despite DJ's protests I still feel he has been outperformed by Daniel considering experience.

8. Lewis Hamilton - Done a decent job, but IMO has made too many mistakes, while Rosberg has been consistant. Lewis is still just faster overall, but can't get ahead. His last few races he has been unlucky and come back well. However compared to my expectation of him, he has slightly disappointed.

9. Danni Kyvat - I seem to remember quite a lot of dismissive comments about him when he was announced, but I think he has done a good job in an average car.

10. Kevin Magnussen - For a first year rookie in a poor car, he has done OK. Outqualified Jenson a lot and scored some solid points in that car.

11. Felipe Massa - He has done an OK job when driving cleanly, but has had some unlucky car issues and no matters who's fault, been involved in to many incidents

12. Romain Grosjean - I think in that Lotus with a crashy team mate Romain has done well. He has always been ahead and scored some points.

13. Jules Bianchi - Done a fine job in Monaco to score points for Marussia. Until then had actually not looked as good as last season, but has now put Chilton back in his place.

14. Jean Eric Vergne - Feel slightly sorry for JEV, he maybe should be a bit higher, but struggling to fit everyone in.

15. Sergio Perez - He has clearly had some bad luck, but generally he has gone under the radar and not impressed much in a decent Force India car.

16. Kamui Kobayashi - Despite being bottom of the standings, I think he has done OK. I mean he was jumped by everyone getting high positions in Monaco and so I feel is a bit unlucky.

Best/most interesting race so far?
My most enjoyable race was Hungary, just absolutely crackers battling throughout the field and a 3 to 4 car battle for the win. And not knowing who could win 3 laps from home between 3 drivers was great.

That after Bahrain which I thought was a great race too.

worst race so far?
hmmm...... Probably Spain. That was Mercedes in formation winning by a minute over a midfield with little happening.

How well do you like the new rules by now?

I like the new rules and have done since the season start. I am not worried about the noise after seeing the cars live. They are loud, just not deafening. The teams and cars now seem to be pushing the new technology more and thus is causing worse reliability. Overall decent rules, shame that Mercedes were so far ahead

Biggest shock/surprise of the season for you?
People will probably all go for a shock thats happened. I am going to lay a wild surprise in the making.
Look at the WDC standings and see despite all Mercedes dominance, they have begun too have more failures. I mean Lewis can't get a front start at the moment, Nico retired in Britain and Lewis in Canada.

1.Nico Rosberg 202
2.Lewis Hamilton 191
3.Daniel Ricciardo 131

Its way out their, but Daniel if he wins another race or two through Merc issues and Mercedes keep faultering, could keep Mercedes honest at least for 2nd in the WDC.

A wild one I know, but hey lets be optimistic

Who will win the Drivers' title in the end? Who will finish 3rd?

Having said all that, I still believe Merc will finish 1-2.

I reckon
Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo

[henners88]

My top 6 drivers are:
1. Hamilton - Driven well in a dominant car that has been plagued with unreliability on his side of the garage. We've seen him twice score a podium from the back and some excellent defending against his team mate, once on worn tyres in Bahrain and I have to say Lewis has been thrilling to watch.

2. Rosberg- He's impressed me this year and has shown consistency when at the front. He's not far off the pace of his team mate and has maximised situation's where he's had a clear lead.

3. Alonso - He's driven a difficult Ferrari which we are getting used to seeing now, very well indeed. I've enjoyed watched his on track battle, most notably Silverstone and I think once again he has shown why he is the most complete driver on the grid. Ferrari will be very lucky to hang on to him as I think he is wasted in inferior machinery.

4. Ricciardo - The surprise of the season for many! He has shown consistency and lived up to his old RB testing hype from several years ago where he showed great speed. He has out performed his team mate more often than not and leading him by some margin in the points. Its a shame he can't take advantage of Red Bull's previous form because I think it would be even more of a squeaky bum time for Vettel.

5. Bottas - He's shown with a car that has finally come together that he is a great asset for Williams. He's out performed a much more experienced team mate and scored some impressive podiums.

6. Button - After a very difficult start of the year with the death of his father Jenson has got the job done in a very difficult car. He slips under the radar of most, but I feel he's been consistent and scored more points than drivers with more capable machinery.

The least impressive are:
1. Maldonado - a waste of a seat and showed in Bahrain he can't keep his red mist in check.
2. Perez - Wasted quite a few opportunities in a FI that isn't looking too bad in the hands of his team mate.
3. Massa - He's been fast, but made far too many mistakes and is being shown up by Bottas.
4. Raikkonen - Really should be doing better than he is and hopefully his motivation improves.
5. Sutil - Isn't really showing anything special and feel he has shown his best previously.
6 Ericsson - Inexperience shown on too many occasions.

Worst race: Australia as we were robbed of a great fight for the win.

New Rules: Still hate the sound of the engines and feel the magic has gone from there. I try not to enjoy many of the rules as they are manufactured from season to season to spice up the 'show'.

Biggest shock: Raikkonen not being as close to Alonso as expected and Ricciardo showing he is a match for Vettel.

I think based on performance without mechanical issues getting in the way the championship will end like this:

1st Hamilton - by a small margin
2nd Rosberg
3rd Ricciardo - holding off Alonso for the third spot.

[rjbetty]

Bizarre choice.

Your obsession with Kobayashi is frankly bizarre, I think he is doing the best anyone could in the same situation with a woefully underfunded team running a car that hasn't been updated since preseason.

I'm sorry you object to my opinion, but I'd say your obsession with Kobayashi is rather bizarre, since I certainly don't have one. Where do you rate him then? I actually wouldn't mind seeing him in a top car, it's just that there are many other drivers who I feel can do just as well or better.

I just try to be as objective as I can and don't feel some good overtaking maneouveres dos a world champion make.

but I presume you expect him to win races in the same car.

Nope. But I might reasonably expect if he was a top 4-5 or even top 10 driver to put in 1 or 2 performances a season. It's just that Kobayashi seems to be considered equal or better than drivers like Hulkenberg and Bottas when I'm not convinced that's the case. He's good but so are many others.

There's no hate in that, just an opinion. I said he's done alright.

I'd say the only vitriol has come from yourself sorry to say.

I do agree with the rest of your bottom six but I put it to you that Kimi's performance this season is woeful and certainly worse than Kobayashi's.

It might be, butI also think maybe Kimi is suffering from "no.2 syndrome" like when people didn't think much of Barrichello at Ferrari when over 2002 he probably did a better job than just about anyone else. Being a "no.2" makes drivers look worse than they are. I have Kimi well down in the midfield, but he may look worse than he is because of Alonso. Maybe Kamui should be ahead but this is just a rough assessment. Someone had to be 17th...

[Tazio]

7) Vettel, Seb has had some bad luck, and quite frankly didn't look good early but I think he has driven solidly.
6) Hulk, has had a good season so far with very good results although I think FI may be plateauing
4) Tie I will stick Nico R, and The Boss here, only because it is so hard to rate these freakin' guys driving a car so vastly superior t0 the comp'. Perhaps Lewis deserves to be a little higher, but not Nico IMO although he may well be the next WDC.
3) Bottas , the guy has really impressed, but in fairness should probably behind Da' Boss.
2) Danny Boy. Who'd've thunk it. The kid is having a great season, and is the real deal Don Steel IMO
1) Fred, beside having the coordination and talent, he really has it upstairs, something that JYS pointed out preseason when asked what he thought about the duel with Kimi. This guy is a real treasure, and ranks very high all time IMHO.