Team-mate battles of 2013

Red Bull: It appears that Vettel leads the way here

Ferrari: Massa does indeed look back on form and has outqualified Alonso 2-0 so far! Needs to fight a psychological battle that Alonso is going to wage, and needs to try and finish ahead in the races.

McLaren: Button leads qualifying, but we will see how Perez compares in the race tomorrow - he seemed quicker on Sunday in Melbourne.

Lotus: Kimi all the way

Mercedes: Despite good pace from Rosberg he has been outqualified by Hamilton twice. That probably goes for races too.

Sauber: Hulkenberg by a mile

Williams: It looks like Bottas could pose a real challenge after all

Toro Rosso: Vergne looks stronger so far, 1-1 in quali, but JEV was on course for points in Oz, but Ricciardo was nowhere, though he had car problems.

Caterham: Pic

Marussia: Bianchi looks like impressively taking this one easily, and may be on for a points finish sometime!

Every race is unique with its own set of circumstances and how the results are going to be played out, so I think we have got a bit of a too small sample size at the moment to find any long-term tendencies.

However, among new match-ups this year it has to be said Mercedes has been very close indeed so far. And even if qualifying has been 2-0 in Hamilton's favour, it has been close in changing conditions and you get the feeling it could go either way. I am glad Rosberg has had the pace in the wet too so far this year. We will see, what develops out of this over a full season.

I also see, how Force India had a dilemma before the season whether to hire Sutil or Bianchi, because evidently both drivers have been going well so far!

FA should now play as supportive as Massa does when down on points, yes?

No. He should support him fully and not just play whinging also ran like Massa does when down on points. :vader: :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by P3ws

FA should now play as supportive as Massa does when down on points, yes?

---

Season has just started and as much as I like Massa, Alonso he's a better and faster driver IMHO, so let's just wait a couple of more races...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pino

Season has just started and as much as I like Massa, Alonso he's a better and faster driver IMHO, so let's just wait a couple of more races...

---

I'll be patient Pino, but I'm not holding my breath, because in 2010 RBR could have supported Webber, but chose to "let them go for it"
and vettel won. (tbh webber lost it in Korea tbh. if he had kept his car on track, i think RBR would have been in a much tougher position)
Now if Massa is still ahead of alonso by the time we hit the final fly aways. I'll be shocked if Alonso would support Massa. I think there will be friction in the team and problems.
We will just have to wait and see if alonso has matured from 2007 and prior when he used to go crazy when fisi did better than him.

Khi ch?n mua d?ng c? gia dình phòng b?p, ngoÃ*i công d?ng, ki?u dáng, mÃ*u s?c cung lÃ* y?u t? quan tr?ng. B?i d?ng c? gia dình luôn chi?m t? l? khá l?n trong b?t c? không gian sinh ho?t nÃ*o trong nhÃ*. B?i v?y, mÃ*u s?c c?a phòng b?p dòi h?i có d?c trung s?ch s?, kÃ*ch thÃ*ch c?m giác thèm an vÃ* sinh d?ng. D?ng th?i, toÃ*n b? quá trình gia công n?u nu?ng thu?ng có liên quan v?i vi?c n?u an sau dó, nên yêu c?u môi tru?ng không gian quanh phòng b?p ph?i có s?c thái vui tuoi.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by caothuoan

Khi ch?n mua d?ng c? gia dình phòng b?p, ngoÃ*i công d?ng, ki?u dáng, mÃ*u s?c cung lÃ* y?u t? quan tr?ng. B?i d?ng c? gia dình luôn chi?m t? l? khá l?n trong b?t c? không gian sinh ho?t nÃ*o trong nhÃ*. B?i v?y, mÃ*u s?c c?a phòng b?p dòi h?i có d?c trung s?ch s?, kÃ*ch thÃ*ch c?m giác thèm an vÃ* sinh d?ng. D?ng th?i, toÃ*n b? quá trình gia công n?u nu?ng thu?ng có liên quan v?i vi?c n?u an sau dó, nên yêu c?u môi tru?ng không gian quanh phòng b?p ph?i có s?c thái vui tuoi.

---

I didn't recognize any drivers' names in this post. :D

So the first leg of the championship has been completed. More than 1/5th of the season gone, we can make the first overview. Especially as European season has occasionally brought some shifts in performances, either among teams or also drivers. Sometimes it has been noticed that rookie drivers can up their game after settling in their teams and getting back to circuits they actually know. Also I remember, how in 2010 Webber re-started his championship-challenging campaign in Europe after disappointing flyaway races as he was only 8th in the championship.

It looks like tyres have been hard to adapt to this year, so we have seen some significant gaps between team-mates. Famously we had drivers from five different teams in the Top5 in China with Ricciardo and di Resta making it seven different teams represented in Top8. We also have four different teams represented at the top of the current drivers championship standings. As we remember, last year ended exactly like that (with the same four drivers, but with Hamilton driving for McLaren) – will it be like that again?

I think one could expect some of the gaps to close a bit – but which ones and by how much? And can someone completely turn their game around and come out on top despite a current deficit? In the past we have seen this being the case too. In 2007 Räikkönen was trailing Massa after 4 races, in 2008 it was the other way around – in both seasons the tables turned.

Vettel v Webber – in all seasons they have been together so far, Vettel has been in front after 4 races, so obviously he feels comfortable there, while some of the European circuits suit Webber well. However, current gap is more reminiscent of 2011 rather than 2010/12. Webber has had more unluck as well, but it is a tall order for him to come back from there (32 v 77). It's gonna be a damage limitation in his final (?) season.

Räikkönen v Grosjean – Kimi has been consistently on pace this year, while Grosjean has been doing well only in half of the races. Significant deficit (26 v 67), gonna be a damage limitation and effort to get more than 50% of Kimi's points as well.

Alonso v Massa – Alonso's seasons are usually metronomically consistent, but due to different reasons he has had two low-scoring races already, so Massa looks uncharacteristically close. Massa isn't too far behind (30 v 47), but would expect Alonso to pull away once he gets a string of consistent results.

Hamilton v Rosberg – Obviously they are closer than the points indicate as Nico has had a fair amount of sheer unluck. A points deficit, which is difficult to overcome, but percentage-wise Nico has plenty of room for improvement. Interesting that Hamilton has had an identical start to the season Rosberg himself had in 2010 (2x3rd and 2x5th) – can Mercedes keep it up this time?

Button v Pérez – due to Button's unluck in Malaysia points are closer than their overall performance suggests. However, with a strong drive in Bahrain Pérez has put himself back in the picture and isn't far behind. Can he keep up with Button from now onwards and give a run for his money? (13 v 10 currently)

di Resta v Sutil – another battle, where the point-score has been inflated by the amount of fortune (20 v 6). One would say that both drivers have been performing close so far this year. By the way, I have noticed di Resta had a strong start into the season in 2011 and '12 as well. Can he keep it up this time, can Sutil fight back?

Ricciardo v Vergne – Ricciardo had a standout drive in China, which has turned the tables in his favour at the moment. Vergne must pray for wet races, he looks strong there. But Ricciardo looks consistently more convincing in qualifying, which is playing the game in his favour.

Hülkenberg v Gutiérrez – point standings do not indicate it, but they have pretty much been performing in different leagues so far. For Guti it is all about becoming a competitive F1 driver from now onwards. For Hulk – well, he just better hope the Sauber improves.

Maldonado v Bottas – finally in Bahrain Maldonado actually had a decent race and almost finished in the points. Before that the Finnish rookie was more impressive. What is going to happen from now onwards? Hard to tell. Bottas should improve, but so should the enigmatic Pastor once he is comfortable in the car.

Bianchi v Chilton – Chilton, who had more experience in the car before the season, has been so clearly left behind that you don't see many chances for him. Simply the matter of difference in class (like Alonso-Marques back in the day) – while we are waiting, when will Bianchi get an opportunity in a better team, we are waiting, how long can Chilton hang onto any kind of F1 drive.

Pic v van der Garde – Team-mates in GP2 in 2011 were back then closely matched, but right now the Frenchman is well ahead. Obviously aided by the extra year of experience in F1, but also his youth as he has more room for improvement. Vd Garde should get closer, but will still be left behind overall.

Spot on Jens, as usual.