Comparing the 2015 teammates: Ferrari

This team will be very interesting to follow just like last year. Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen's friend is taking Fernando Alonso's place. Both Kimi and Sebastian had their worst season's ever last year and they both are hungry for getting their reputation back. Can't wait to see what happens here! Kimi is probably ending his career soon and Sebastian's career has "just begun" and he is already a four time world champion.

Now on with the comparing!

I'll start with Räikkönen. First I will write the year, then the teammate/teammates and then the points with other information. Remember that before 2010 you only got 10-1points for 1st - 8th, and before 2003 10-1 points for 1st - 6st.


2001 - Nick Heidfeld. Kimi lost by 3 points but retired 7 times. He was a very inexperienced driver but got a chance in F1 by driving faster than Barrichello and Schumacher at Mugello. Only difference was that they had Ferrari's and Kimi had a Sauber. He also broke Mugello's track record.

2002 - David Coulthard. Kimi lost by 17 points but retired 10 times. McLaren was forced to buy Kimi from Sauber for the 2002 season because he had a three year contract with them.

2003 - David Coulthard. Kimi won by 40 points and was 2nd in the drivers championship. Lost by 2 points to Michael Schumacher who retired once, when Kimi retired 3 times, and was dropped from first place to second in the Brazilian GP. He also got a penalty in the Australian GP when leading the race. A good year for Kimi with a lot of bad luck.

2004 - David Coulthard. Kimi won by 21 points, got 4 podiums including a victory when Coulthard didn't get a single podium that year.

2005 - Juan-Pablo Montoya/Alexander Wurz/Pedro de la Rosa. Kimi got 42 points more than his three teammates combined. Wurz and de la Rosa drove one race each and Montoya drove the rest. Kimi was 2nd in the championship 21 points behind Fernando Alonso. Kimi had a faster car but it broke in 4 races (European GP 11th in the results because retired from the lead on the last lap). Alonso's car was more reliable so the championship was easily his.

2006 - Juan-Pablo Montoya/Pedro de la Rosa. Kimi got 20 points more than his teammates combined. Montoya got fired from McLaren after crashing into Kimi in the US Grand Prix. Pedro de la Rosa took Montoya's place.

2007 - Felipe Massa. Kimi won by 16 points and became world champion in his first year at Ferrari.

2008 - Felipe Massa. Kimi lost by 22 points and retired in 4 races. In the first race he was 2nd behind Heikki Kovalainen but after a safety car-episode both Kimi and Heikki dropped to the back. Very bad luck for the Finns again. Kimi was third in the championship.

2009 - Felipe Massa/Luca Badoer/Giancarlo Fisichella. Kimi got 12 points more than his teammates combined. He also took the only victory for Ferrari that year.

2010 - DID NOT RACE

2011 - DID NOT RACE

2012 - Romain Grosjean/Jerome D'Ambrosio. Kimi got 111 points more than his teammates combined. He was third in the championships.

2013 - Romain Grosjean. Kimi won his teammate even though he didn't drive in the last 2 races and also retired in 2. When he left Lotus he was third in the championship but obviously lost the position when he didn't drive for the rest of the season.

2014 - Fernando Alonso. Kimi's worst season ever and with the best teammate he has ever had didn't help the situation. Kimi lost in almost everything against the Spaniard. Alonso got 161 points and Kimi got only 55. Kimi was better in a few GP's (Monaco for example) but it doesn't help if everything else goes wrong. Many said that the car was entirely designed for Alonso. Even Ferrari's workers have said that it was Alonso's team and in 2015 it will be Ferrari's team again. 

Then it's Vettel's turn!

Sebastian Vettel started his career in F1 in the year 2007 by replacing Robert Kubica for one race at BMW.

He drove a better race than his more experienced teammate Nick Heidfeld and took his first point with 8th place.

Toro Rosso were really impressed with Sebastian Vettel and replaced their American driver Scott Speed with Vettel.

2007 - Vitantonio Liuzzi. Vettel drove in only 7 races but still got a better result than Liuzzi who had driven in all races. Vettel even lead a race but crashed with Mark Webber who drove for Red Bull. Anyway he took 4th place in China which was Toro Rosso's all time best result till than point. Vettel celebrated the 4th place like he won the championship. After that people even said that this guy could be better than Schumi. I didn't think so but now I'm not sure anymore..

2008 - Sebastien Bourdais. Bourdais had come from the Champ Car series to F1 with high hopes but all his dreams were crushed when Vettel beat him in every race that he finished. Vettel even took a pole position and won a race with Toro Rosso which shocked the world. Toro Rosso has never managed to do that again after Vettel.

2009 - Mark Webber. Vettel joined Red Bull as Webber's junior teammate. He was there to learn more from the more experienced driver but ended up beating him on his first season with Red Bull and almost won the championship as well. Vettel also won Red Bull's first victory and took the team's first pole position that year.

2010 - Mark Webber. Vettel won 5 races and his first championship for Red Bull and himself. That was the second time he won the more experienced Mark Webber. He won him by 14 points.

2011 - Mark Webber. Webber and nobody else had a chance against Vettel that year. He had over 120 points more than Jenson Button who was second. If we compare Vettel and Webber then the situation was 392-258 in the end. Massive difference! Vettel won 11 races and took his second championship for himself and the team as well.

2012 - Mark Webber. This year Vettel won his teammate again by over 100 points. Webber was 6th in the championship and Vettel became the 3 time world champion.

2013 - Mark Webber. This year Webber lost by almost 200 points! That's just crazy. Vettel scored more points in one season than anyone else in Formula One history. He also won 13 races that season which was the same as Michael Schumacher's world record.

2014 - Daniel Ricciardo. For the first time there was a teammate who did better than Sebastian. Some say that it was because the new car/tyres didn't fit Sebastian driving style and that the new regulations made Ricciardo even better. Who knows... All I can say is that Ricciardo did a fantastic job Vettel didn't. Just like Kimi. Ricciardo won three races and Vettel didn't win at all. Ricciardo got 238 points and Vettel got 167. Enough said.

Info about my "Comparing the 2015 teammates" -series

I am continuing with this series right away tomorrow. I just want to say that I will not compare Sauber's or Toro Rosso's teammates with each other because they have just a little or no experience at all in Formula One.


I could say this at least about Sauber's drivers:

Felipe Nasr will dominate Marcus Ericsson in 2015. Why you say? I don't know... just a feeling I have and maybe Nasr is a better driver. I hope the Swede does well though because he seems like a nice guy.

If you want me to say something quick about Toro Rosso's drivers then here goes:

Carlos Sainz Jr. is a bit older than Max Verstappen and has a little more experience so he might have the upper hand. It might look good though if the young Verstappen would be a new superstar. I would really like that!


So now I covered Toro Rosso and Sauber very quickly. Before this I have already compared Mercedes, Lotus, Williams and Force India so I still have to compare the following teams: McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull.

If you haven't read the previous posts then please check out these links:

http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2015/02/comparing-2015-teammates-force-india.html
http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2015/02/comparing-2015-drivers-williams.html
http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2015/02/comparing-2015-teammates-lotus.html
http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2015/02/comparing-2015-teammates-mercedes.html

Grand Prix Golden Years

Here's a good documentary for you guys!

Pre-season testing in numbers - who went fastest, and furthest

On the basis of 12 days of pre-season testing, it is reigning champions Mercedes who enter the season on a high, having set the quickest times and completed the most laps. But who came closest to matching the Silver Arrows - and who might be struggling in Melbourne?

We crunch the numbers for both the final test and the pre-season as a whole in order to shed some light on what the competitive order might look like when the season gets underway in less than two weeks' time...

This week's unofficial aggregate test times from Barcelona:
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 22.792s, 254 laps
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 23.022s, 124 laps
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 23.063s, 179 laps
4. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m 23.262, 205 laps
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 23.276s, 216 laps
6. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1m 23.469s, 272 laps
7. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1m 24.023s, 300 laps
8. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1m 24.191s, 218 laps
9. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 24.200s, 191 laps
10. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1m 24.276s, 245 laps
11. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1m 24.527s, 224 laps
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 24.638s, 200 laps
13. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 24.939s, 235 laps
14. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 25.113s, 130 laps
15. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 25.225s, 39 laps
16. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 25.327s, 138 laps
17. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1m 25.947s, 159 laps
18. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 26.705s, 176 laps

Total distance run - by team: 
1. Sauber, 545 laps - 2,536 km
2. Ferrari, 488 laps - 2,271 km
3. Toro Rosso, 442 laps - 2,057 km
4. Williams, 384 laps - 1,787 km
5. Mercedes, 378 laps - 1,759 km
6. Lotus, 367 laps - 1,708 km
7. Force India, 365 laps - 1,699 km
8. Red Bull, 359 laps - 1,671 km
9. McLaren, 177 laps - 823 km

Total distance run - by power unit:
1. Mercedes, 1,494 laps - 6954 km
2. Ferrari, 1,033 laps - 4808 km
3. Renault, 801 laps - 3,728 km
4. Honda, 177 laps - 823 km

Longest stints - by tyre compound:
Supersoft compound - 5 laps (Marcus Ericsson; Sergio Perez; Felipe Nasr; Nico Hulkenberg)
Soft compound - 15 laps (Felipe Massa; Nico Rosberg)
Medium compound - 26 laps (Marcus Ericsson)
Prototype medium compound* - 28 laps (Kimi Raikkonen)
Hard compound - 27 laps (Felipe Nasr)
Intermediate compound - 6 laps (Lewis Hamilton; Daniil Kvyat)

*Being assessed by Pirelli for development purposes

Third test comparison - Year on Year*
2014 (Bahrain) - 3,308 laps (17,901 km) completed in four days
2015 (Barcelona) - 3,505 laps (16,313 km) completed in four days
That's a 2.7 percent decrease

2014 fastest lap in qualifying at Barcelona - 1m 25.232s (Lewis Hamilton)
2015 fastest lap in testing at Barcelona - 1m 22.792s (Nico Rosberg)
That's 2.9 percent increase

*Bahrain hosted the third pre-season test in 2014

Overall mileage across the 12 days of pre-season testing - by driver:
1. Nico Rosberg, 759 laps - 3,463 km
2. Felipe Nasr, 649 laps - 2,976 km
3. Max Verstappen, 617 laps - 2,834 km
4. Sebastian Vettel, 602 laps - 2,768 km
5. Marcus Ericsson, 596 laps - 2,732 km
6. Carlos Sainz Jr, 589 laps - 2,700 km
7. Kimi Raikkonen, 580 laps - 2,655 km
8. Lewis Hamilton, 533 laps - 2,434 km
9. Felipe Massa, 492 laps - 2,258 km
10. Valtteri Bottas, 491 laps - 2,255 km
11. Daniel Ricciardo, 486 laps - 2,243 km
12. Pastor Maldonado, 486 laps - 2,231 km
13. Daniil Kvyat, 457 laps - 2,109 km
14. Romain Grosjean, 355 laps - 1,640 km
15. Sergio Perez, 285 laps - 1,327 km
16. Nico Hulkenberg, 271 laps - 1,262 km
17. Jenson Button, 224 laps - 1,033 km
18. Pascal Wehrlein, 161 laps - 749 km
19. Fernando Alonso, 117 laps - 536 km
20. Susie Wolff, 86 laps - 400 km
21. Jolyon Palmer, 77 laps - 358 km
22. Kevin Magnussen, 39 laps - 182 km

Overall mileage across the 12 days of pre-season testing - by team:
1. Mercedes, 1,340 laps - 6,121 km
2. Sauber, 1,245 laps - 5,709 km
3. Toro Rosso, 1,206 laps - 5,534 km
4. Ferrari, 1,182 laps - 5,423 km
5. Williams, 1,069 laps - 4,913 km
6. Red Bull, 943 laps - 4,352 km
7. Lotus, 918 laps - 4,230 km
8. Force India, 669 laps - 3,114 km
9. McLaren, 380 laps - 1,751 km

Overall mileage across the 12 days of pre-season testing - by power unit:
1. Mercedes, 3,996 laps - 18,378 km
2. Ferrari, 2,427 laps - 11,132 km
3. Renault, 2,149 laps - 9,886 km
4. Honda, 380 laps - 1,751 km

(source: f1.com)

Bottas puts Williams on top on final day of pre-season testing

Valtteri Bottas signed off the 2015 pre-season in style by going fastest for Williams on the final day of testing at Barcelona on Sunday.

The Finn hit the front early and was never deposed, as a qualifying simulation on Pirelli's supersoft tyre yielded a 1m 23.063s - which left him almost half a second clear of the chasing pack.

"It was a really good day and a great way to finish the test," Bottas said. "One of the main points we have learnt is that the FW37 is very reliable. The car we are taking to Melbourne is very competitive and should make for an interesting start to the season."

Sebastian Vettel was second fastest for Ferrari, while Sauber's Felipe Nasr was the last man to get within one second of Bottas's benchmark in third. Like Bottas, Vettel and Nasr set their best times in morning runs on the supersoft.

Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen improved several times in the afternoon, eventually slotting into fourth ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian also made gains in the afternoon, having missed much of the morning with an ERS problem.

McLaren's day was similarly disrupted by technical gremlins. Jenson Button was only able to get out for two untimed laps in the morning, as a sensor problem meant the Honda power unit had to be removed. The afternoon proved slightly more productive as Button slotted into eighth, although he managed just 30 laps in total. Nasr, by comparison, was the day's busiest driver with 159 laps.

"Looking back at the last four weeks, our winter test programme has been difficult," racing director Eric Boullier admitted. "The lack of mileage means we won't be as ready as we'd have liked, but we can take away the positive that all the running and data gathering we've done have confirmed that we're achieving the targets we set ourselves. 

"Even if it's likely to be a difficult start to the season, we know we can develop hard and fast, and that we'll surely unlock the huge potential that lies within the McLaren-Honda MP4-30."

Sergio Perez also broke past 100 laps in what was his first day in the delayed Force India VJM08, with the Mexican's best time - a 1m 25.113s - just enough to shade Nico Rosberg's Mercedes for sixth.

Rosberg nevertheless had the honour of setting the outright best time of the test, after recording a blistering 1m 22.792s on day two.

Lotus's Pastor Maldonado rounded out the timesheet in ninth, and also triggered the red flags when he hit the barriers at Turn 4. Lotus subsequently said a "systems issue compromised Maldonado's braking".

"It was a shame to end the day early, but that was the only issue we've had like this during testing," Maldonado explained. "I was able to brake and slow, just not as much as the maximum otherwise possible. The car was not too badly damaged and I am fine, so we can look to the positive that we have a lot of information to take the car in the right direction."

Verstappen and Ricciardo also caused stoppages when they came to a halt on circuit. 

Teams now have just under two weeks for final preparations ahead of the season-opening 2015 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix. Opening practice commences at 1230 local time on Friday, March 13.


Unofficial Sunday testing times from Barcelona:
1. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 23.063s, 89 laps
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1m 23.469s, 129 laps
3. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1m 24.023s, 159 laps
4. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1m 24.527s, 85 laps
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 24.638s, 72 laps
6. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 25.113s, 130 laps
7. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 25.186s, 148 laps
8. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 25.327s, 30 laps
9. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 28.272s, 36 laps

(source: f1.com)

Hamilton doubles up for Mercedes in Spain

For the second day running it was a Mercedes atop the timesheet on Saturday, as the Formula One teams carried out their penultimate day of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

Felipe Massa set the morning pace for Williams on Pirelli’s supersoft tyre, but it was Lewis Hamilton who clocked the ultimate benchmark - a 1m 23.022s, recorded on soft rubber - a quarter of a second up on the Brazilian.

Kimi Raikkonen all but matched Massa’s time to finish third, also on a qualifying-type supersoft run in the Ferrari, while Carlos Sainz put Toro Rosso fourth, albeit over a second down on Hamilton’s marker.

In a productive day’s running, only two drivers failed to reach the 100 lap mark - Hamilton on 76, and Kevin Magnussen, who managed 39 on his first outing in the 2015 McLaren. Busiest man of the day was Nico Hulkenberg, who put another 158 laps on the new Force India following its Friday debut.

The day’s two red-flag stoppages both came in the final hour, with first Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber coming to a halt at Turn 3 and then Sainz’s Toro Rosso stopping at the same corner.


Unofficial Saturday testing times from Barcelona:
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 23.022s, 76 laps
2. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m 23.262s, 102 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 23.276s, 136 laps
4. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1m 24.191s, 132 laps
5. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 24.200s, 116 laps
6. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1m 24.477s, 123 laps
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 24.939s, 158 laps
8. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 25.225s, 39 laps
9. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 25.742s, 128 laps

(source: f1.com)

Rosberg and Mercedes fire ominous warning on day two

Mercedes finally hit the front in 2015 pre-season testing on Friday, as Nico Rosberg set an imperious new benchmark on day two in Barcelona.

Elsewhere there was encouragement for McLaren, as Jenson Button completed more than 100 laps on the team's most successful day to date, and Force India, who rolled out their new car for the first time and clocked up close to 80 laps across the afternoon.

But it was Mercedes who stole the show. Despite being the early favourites given their dominance in 2014, the Silver Arrows had not troubled the top of the timesheets over the opening nine days of testing. That changed, however, as the team bolted on Pirelli's soft compound for the first time this year, allowing Rosberg to clock a blistering 1m 22.792s on his first run.

The German came close to bettering that on subsequent runs, but it was ultimately good enough to keep him comfortably top, more than a second clear of the field - and more than 2.5s faster than Lewis Hamilton's 2014 pole time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Williams locked out second in Mercedes' wake courtesy of Valtteri Bottas, who took over from day-one pacesetter Felipe Massa, with Sauber's Felipe Nasr fractions of a second down the road in third.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was fourth, albeit 2.5s off Rosberg's pace, while Button earned McLaren fifth place, a welcome boost to add to their lap tally. 

Lotus's Pastor Maldonado shaded Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen and Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat for eighth, with Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the day's runners in ninth for Force India.

Verstappen was one of the day's busiest men with 139 laps, although his running was cut slightly short by an electrical problem on the STR10.

"Another good day as we did a lot of laps," Verstappen said. "From my perspective, the most important part was this afternoon's race distance, when the pace looked very promising. It was my first time driving the car with the latest updates and they seemed to be working very well and I felt very comfortable with it."

Button also hit issues late on when he stopped out on track between Turns 7 and 8, bringing out the red flags for only the second time of the day. Kvyat had prompted the first stoppage when he was instructed to halt out on track as a precaution after Red Bull discovered a hydraulic sensor issue.


Unofficial Friday testing times from Barcelona:
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 22.792s, 106 laps
2. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 23.995s, 90 laps
3. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1m 24.071s, 141 laps
4. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1m 25.339s, 143 laps
5. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 25.590s, 101 laps
6. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 26.705s, 140 laps
7. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1m 26.766s, 139 laps
8. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1m 26.965s, 84 laps
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 28.412s, 77 laps

(source: f1.com)