RJ's Overview and analysis of F1 2015 so far

[jens]

USD is perhaps Unlimited Supply of Delusion. Which means that we better hope McLaren gets a podium this year, or we will all feel pretty bad later on thanks to Taz!

As for Bottas. I think team principals have said all kinds of things. In 2007 Kovalainen was as good as Alonso according to Briatore. Frank Williams can say what he says, but we have to judge, what is going on on track. Personally, for me Bottas together with Hülkenberg are like Rosberg or Button - good second tier (or even 1.5) driver, but just misses out the top echelon.

As for burn-out... Well, I think I lack a better word. Also, historically? Have any top drivers had a serious performance slump for one year and then come back the next year like nothing ever happened? Because serious slumps are usually related to decline already. Häkkinen was burnt out in 2001 and you are right, it was a serious thing. He took a "sabbatical", then never came back (to F1).

The one sort-of-slump I can remember is perhaps Prost in 1989. I know it sounds funny, because he won WDC that year, but speedwise he was nowhere near Senna that year and let the Ferraris outrace him as well on occasions. And largely won thanks to reliability. But I firmly think Prost performed notably better in both 1988 and 1990 as a driver, not to mention other seasons.

[rjbetty]

Right I'll drag this up again and try and rank the drivers so far - again!

20.Roberto Merhi - so hard to tell. I do think he has been hampered by lesser equipment. Has moaned a bit but after beating Stevens has played second fiddle a bit more recently.
19.Will Stevens - It's safer to put Stevens ahead, but Merhi is still unproven and I think he could be better.
18.Marcus Ericsson - Has done well of late. Not bad.
17.Pastor Maldonado - A strange year, many incidents but mostly not his fault. Still too unconvincing in his FIFTH year. I have believed in his potential for a long time but there are just too many talented drivers without seats, so I wouldn't mind him going now. He's had a good run.
16.Felipe Nasr - Not convinced he's the next superstar but he's done pretty well. Think the Sauber drivers have been flattered by their car tbh, unlike last year.
15.Carlos Sainz - In any other year he'd be seen as a hot talent. He will do well but will always be in Max's shadow I think.
14.Max Verstappen - down here cos it's only his debut year. For all the crying over his age, he's done a lot better than Maldonado or Sato don't you think?
13.Sergio Perez - Some superb races as usual but I have suspected his tyre saving ability is helped by being a feather-weighted pipsqueak.
12.Kimi Raikkonen - I had thought the bad luck tag was a little bit of an excuse but recently I'm changing my mind. I do think Hulkenberg should have been signed for 2014, but as Kimi is here he's done alright. Qualifying usually terrible frankly, rarely in the top 4 in a top 2 car, but his races usually something else. I would say he shaded Vettel on race pace in the season's first half. Hopefully it can come together for him and he can claim at least 1 more win.
11.Daniil Kvyat - Unfairly criticised after difficult start imo, but as expected giving Ricciardo a very hard time. I'm a believer and look forward to seeing what he can do in future.
10.Nico Hulkenberg - Extra experience should have seen him pip Bottas. His head seems to have dropped again recently as Perez again looks to have the stronger closing part to the season.
9.Felipe Massa - Looking stronger this year than for a long time, and equalling Bottas fair and square,
8.Valtteri Bottas - A relative disappointment against Massa. Had hoped for more star quality after last year rather than just consistency.
7.Nico Rosberg - Maybe a little low but it's a very tight field. Some superb races but elsewhere defeated.
6.Jenson Button - Tough to choose against Rosberg, but I suspect he could push Lewis just as hard this year, and he fights.
5.Romain Grosjean - Maybe a strange choice but I think he's the unnoticed talent right now, more than Hulkenberg.
4.Daniel Ricciardo - Less stellar this year but still at a consistently high level.
3.Fernando Alonso - On reflection I think his qualifying would be shown up slightly this year against someone like Hamilton, can't really blame him as he's joined a mess. But seems on it in races as usual.
2.Sebastian Vettel - Very consistent, still in the hunt, but not sure if he's been absolute A++. Very good in any case.
1.Lewis Hamilton - Easy to put the driver in the best car 1st, but I think on balance he's still done the best job.


The Cars
10.Manor - Ferrari (2014): Well just to state the obvious but I think the Manor is probably the weakest car for obvious reasons.
9.McLaren - Honda: Another obvious choice. I am one who thinks the chassis is actually pretty good. I don't need to state who the weakest link is here.
8.Force India - Mercedes: So far over the season, but with their development they could be rated higher by seasons end. Consider that they are fighting with Lotus even though Pastor hardly has any points, and you can understand why I've ranked them lower.
7.Lotus - Mercedes: An improved chassis but pretty dog slow imo, masked by the Merc and 2 fast drivers.
6.Sauber - Ferrari: What an improvement. No disrespect to Nasr and Ericsson but I think the 2014 line up of Sutil and Gutierrez would have scored quite a lot more points.
5.Toro Rosso - Renault: What a superb chassis. Considering they have 2 rookies (though both stars) and are lumped with that Renault, it shows that chassis must be hot stuff.
4.Red Bull - Renault: Hampered by Renault obviously, but I feel losing the technical sheriff (pretty much) plus his deputy is having an effect, though they've improved lately. I don't underestimate Red Bull though and they are still up there chassis-wise.
3.Williams - Mercedes: A decent chassis but another that's flattered by the Merc imo.
2.Ferrari: Wow didn't see this coming. To think they only came 6th in my GP2 prediction last year.
1.Mercedes: Surprise! Only hope is that I am sure diminishing returns will kick in next year and they won't have it all their way.

[jens]

Well...

To keep it short.,.. Regarding chassis. I do think Red Bull may have a chassis now, which is up there with the best. Early in the season they were struggling somewhat, but their in-season development has been strong, and it has been strong in the past too (recall 2012, 2013). McLaren is hard to rate, but they could have fourth-best chassis behind Mercedes, RBR and Ferrari, and perhaps alongside or just ahead of Toro Rosso.

As for Sauber... I don't think Gutiérrez and Sutil are/were better than Nasr/Ericsson. All pretty much on a similar unspectacular level.

Drivers... the battles in Force India and Williams have been a bit unexpected. Massa and Pérez have been at least a match to their team-mates. Now I can almost understand, why Räikkönen was still retained despite both Bottas and Hülkenberg being under consideration.

[jens]

I think you misunderstood my statement mate. Never did I say I would distribute money. I said I would give every member 1,000 USD, which I have an inexhaustible supply of!

Taz. Singapore was your last saving grace. You have now time worth of 6 races left to collect these 1,000 whatever these are for distribution, but we are all waiting.

[jens]

Trying to follow rj's way and give a ranking for drivers as well.

1.-2. Hamilton & Vettel. Joint first. Hard to separate. Both excellent and have had one serious off-weekend: Vettel in Bahrain and Hamilton in Hungary.
3. Alonso. In a bad car can't showcase his skills, but we know he is a super-talented driver. Considering he seems to be beating another WDC Button, despite just having joined a new team, he must be doing a pretty impressive job yet again though.
4. Ricciardo. Despite a mid-season slump he is still a very good driver, hindered by unluck and mechanical failures this year.

Other than that it gets harder. Rosberg has been underwhelming this year. Last year at least he could qualify well, now he is left behind Hamilton in every department. Button I guess has been okayish and not too far off Alonso, though in such unreliable cars it is hard to rate. Grosjean, Bottas, Massa, Pérez, Hülkenberg, Verstappen, Kvyat, also Räikkönen, are very hard to separate for me. Guess I'll wait till the end of the season.

[Nitrodaze]

Driver Ratings:
1.Fernando Alonso - I see no reason why not. I don't see much wrong here, except his qualifying some times has been short of Jenson. Grade - A
2.Can't decide, but with Hamilton's stats against Rosberg this year, except for points (and how is that even possible, jut 21?) he is going to edge it. Even in Hungary he drove out of his skin, 2 mistakes are a black mark but I'm not sure they're enough to put him far down. I'm more concerned about what looks like lack of concentration sometimes. Even so, I couldn't quite put him below the guy who was whipped by Ricciardo last year - on [I]performance[/b] not just points. Grade - A
3.Sebastian Vettel - Nevertheless he is right there. I'd say he's definitely been steadier than Hamilton, and made more of what he has. It's something I admire, but I can't help feeling if that was the be-all end-all then Nick Heidfeld would be a 7 times world champion. Can you see my point? Can't fault Seb, but what I would really have liked to have seen, was just 1 or 2 seasons in a mess of a Ferrari before reaching where they are now - just to finally see what he's really made of. Parachuting straight into a suddenly sorted Ferrari is really lucky, and I think that's pretty fair to say. Grade - A

4.Daniel Riccccciardo
Still a top driver, if slightly forgotten, and remains the only man to beat Sebastian Vettel over an F1 season (Nick Heidfeld in 2007 doesn't count) - that's beat, not simply scored more points than. Hopefully he can replace Kimi at Ferrari soon. A shame he is locked into contract, especially as he was Ferrari's first choice when Alonso had enough and left. But he just needs to use this time of adversity to grow and be resilient, it will surely give him an advantage over other drivers who've never had that, in the future. He suffers from Kvyat not being well rated - it's actually probably a nightmare scenario, but truth will out (usually...) Grade - B+

5.Jenson Button In a very close group I have put Jenson 5th, since I guess he's still driving with that kick up the bum Ron gave him last year. Not doing badly against Alonso at all, not at all. Shouldn't be much surprise as this was the guy who scored more points than Hamilton one year, when Lewis had a meltdown. I think he should have one more year at McLaren with Magnussen going to Force India, if Hulk goes to Ferrari or Williams, and Vandoorne to cut his teeth at Manor (hint hint McLaren). Grade - B

6.Nico Rosberg Tough to know what to make really. Last season has reversed and now Hamilton qualifies well, and Rosberg goes quicker in races than qualifying. He is still behind though, despite being handed Monaco on a platter, and while at times he has looked fantastic, he has also looked pretty cr@p too. Can't fault his never say die attitude - most people would surely have given up now. If he keeps that attitude, one DNF for Lewis and he's in there! I always rated Rosberg very highly and he's proving that, making Lewis work for it all the time. I would like Rosberg to team up with Vettel one day and duke it out. Grade - B




More to follow...

I fail to see how you could grade Alonso in Grade A when he is having the worst season of his life. Clearly not able to demonstrate if he is performing to his usual high standards. I think grading should be performance based, at lease based on some semblance of factual proof of exellence. Otherwise it becomes a case of subjective personal preference. While l love Alonso and think he is doing the best job possible with the car available to him. He is outside the limelight of where the true quality of 2015 racing is happening.
By the actions that we have seen in recent races, l would for instance put young Verstapenn above Alonso, on the grounds that Max has done more eyebrow raising overtakes than Alonso is able to manage this season. That of course is not to suggest that Max Verstapenn is anywhere near the same calibre of Alonso. But in reality, this season has new stars thrilling the crowd. Max is definitly one of them.

If we go by achievement, skills demonstrated and performance relative to team mate, then the grading would be considerably different to proposed. I am certain that Alonso, as much as we love him, would not be at the top of the grading.

Grade A
Hamilton [Simply unbeatable at the moment]
Vettel [Got more out of an underpowered car to beat Mercedes on a number of occassions]
Rosberg [Clearly as fast as Hamilton and is doing a solid job of securing 2nd place in the WDC]

Grade B+
Raikonen [Showing a revival that promises more to come but l am not 100% sure]
Ricciado [Clearly Redbulls hope of taking the fight to the leaders]
Verstapenn [A bright star with some truely breathtaking overtakes this year]

Grade B
Kyvat [Has managed to show he deserves a place in a redbull car and a few top 6 finishes]
Hulkenberg [Consistently great performances on the back of winning Le Mans]
Perez [No matching his team mate in the new car, and some good top 10 finishes]
Alonso [Finished 6th in with a slow Honda engine in front of both Mercedes, awesome, but not consistently in the top ten]
Grojean

Grade C
Button [Had too many DNF hence was overshadowed by teamate, but finished in the top ten with an underpowered car]
Sainz [Overshadowed by teammate, and a number of top ten finishes]
Massa [ Unlucky again with accidents and DNFs hence overshadowed by teammate.]

Grade D
Maldonado [Too many accidents and mistakes hence over shadowed by teammate]
All others

This is how l am seeing it at the moment. If l was thinking of securing a driver lineup, this is how l would see things if l was looking at the grid only.

Andy Benson of the BBC wrote a beautiful article about Alonso and Mclaren, probably the most analytical blog l have read on the subject so far. It is truly a great read, see it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/34372681