Team Mate Battles - Italian GP

McLaren:
A great race provided by both McLaren drivers on Sunday. Kevin Magnussen’s penalty was erring on the side of harsh, as even Valtteri Bottas felt that a penalty was not completely necessary. It undid a lot of Kevin’s hard work during the race, but receiving the validation of his bosses for his driving style is a positive that Kevin can take away from Monza.
With just 0.065 seconds separating the two McLarens during Q3, it’s fair to say that both seemed to have extracted the maximum from the improving McLaren Mercedes package. It got even better for McLaren fans at the start as Kevin leapt off the line to snatch second place. Inevitably, the slow fade backwards started to happen as Massa snuck past, then Hamilton, then Sebastian Vettel and Ricciardo in the closing stages. Despite losing these positions, Kevin never fell into the grasp of Jenson. Aided by the widest Force India in the world, Kevin was always 2-4 seconds in front of Jenson, with the gap only really ever growing when Jenson engaged in tandem driving with Sergio.
Button had held position at the start, and stayed in the same place relative to Kevin for the entire second half of the race, finishing less than two seconds behind the young rookie. This meant that Jenson finished ahead of Kevin as a result of the addition of 5 seconds to Magnussen’s race time, but that doesn’t take away from the Dane taking the race points. After a justified penalty in Spa, Kevin’s slap on the wrist at Monza wouldn’t have happened if he had been one of the established drivers.
McLaren’s seemingly sudden change in attitude towards Jenson Button after long and ‘interesting’ conversations between Ron and Jenson hint that McLaren’s supposed bids for Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel have failed, and while Magnussen appears to be gaining the upper hand at the team as the season progresses, Jenson’s performances haven’t dipped to a point where they could be described as disappointing. With no other proven winners available, it’s better the devil you know for McLaren 2015. Can Kevin or Jenson sneak a final win for the long standing and successful McLaren Mercedes partnership? At this point, even another podium would do.
Fastest Lap: Jenson Button (8-5 to Kevin Magnussen) (after Round 13)
Qualifying: Kevin Magnussen (21-18 to Kevin Magnussen) (after Round 13)
Race: Kevin Magnussen (45-20 to Jenson Button) (after Round 13)
McLaren: 68-49 to Jenson Button (Total After Round 13)

Lotus:
Not only did Pastor keep it between the ditches for the weekend, he comprehensively saw off Romain Grosjean. After Romain missed FP1 to Charles Pic, the onus was on him to make up for the lost time in FP2 & FP3, something he appeared to do as he lapped only 0.2-0.3 seconds slower in each session. Qualifying really put Romain on the back foot, as a coolant leak meant his Lotus remained in bits as Q1 started. This was fixed as fast as possible by using Pastor Maldonado’s mechanics to help Grosjean’s as the Venezuelan circulated on track, and the Frenchman was able to get out to set a time. He fell short of Pastor’s time, but that wasn’t really that surprising given the start to the session.
The race went wrong immediately for Romain, as a crappy start saw him plunge back to 21st. He worked his way back up to 16th place over the remainder of the race, which was pretty eventful as he suffered gearbox downshift problems, a disintegrating side pod, and some mild front wing damage while being attacked by a Sauber that had forgotten how to stay in a straight line.
Pastor drove a stormer en route to 14th place. Quicker than his team-mate, the Saubers, Caterhams & Marussias but off the pace of the Toro Rossos, he was quite lonely by the time the chequered flag fell, finishing twenty seconds behind Vergne but twelve seconds in front of Sutil.
Fastest Lap: Pastor Maldonado (8-5 to Romain Grosjean) (after Round 13)
Qualifying: Pastor Maldonado (33-6 to Romain Grosjean) (after Round 13)
Race: Pastor Maldonado (40-25 to Romain Grosjean) (after Round 13)
Lotus: 81-36 to Romain Grosjean (Total After Round 13)

Ferrari:
For all of Ferrari’s faults, Fernando Alonso has absolutely no grounds to complain about the reliability of his steeds. The last time Fernando suffered a race ending mechanical failure was in only his third race for the Scuderia at Sepang in 2010, so his luck in that area finally ran out. Luckily, it was during a race of little consequence for his own interests as Ferrari lacked any sort of speed over the weekend.
Despite looking reasonable on Friday, Ferrari’s pace didn’t improve much between FP3 and Qualifying. While the Mercs and Williams boys improved by 1.3-1.6 seconds between the two Saturday sessions, Alonso found just 0.4 seconds, while Kimi could only dig deeper to the tune of 0.2 seconds. This resulted in qualifying positions with little reason for optimism, Fernando 7th and Kimi 12th, with both cars decidedly midfield through the speed traps.
While Fernando held position at the start, Kimi moved forward when Ricciardo scampered across the escape kerbs at the first chicane, before picking off the off-colour Hulkenberg. When both Ferraris lost position at their solitary pitstops, it was Alonso who fared worst, emerging behind the Red Bulls, Bottas & Sergio Perez. With no cars on track to separate them, Kimi slowly crept up to the back of Fernando, and was running within DRS range when the Spaniard’s ERS failed, robbing us of what looked set to become a great scrap for minor points. Raikkonen was unable to move forward through the pack he was trailing, possibly due to an oddly low top speed. While Alonso was able to hit 347 km/h while using DRS, Raikkonen’s top speed was almost a full 10 km/h slower, and this prevented him from attacking any further. Pure luck intervened to ensure he wasn’t taken out by Kyvat’s brake failure, but there was little cause to celebrate as Kimi picked up 9th spot at what is sure to be remembered as one of the Scuderia’s saddest weekends in a long long time.
Very difficult to choose which driver gets the team-mate points, as Alonso claimed to have backed off to save his tyres at the time period where Raikkonen caught him. This is borne out by his lap times, as he circulated around a second a lap slower than the lap he set immediately after his pitstop, slowly increasing his pace again as Raikkonen started sniffing around as pictured above. I have opted for split race points, which may be slightly unfair on Kimi as he looked as though he had unlocked slightly better race pace, but with such a straight line speed deficit he would have found passing Fernando very very difficult. Raikkonen is slowly getting on terms with Fernando despite the huge gap, and if he can keep it up, we may yet get to see the clash of the titans that 2014 alluringly promised 12 months ago.
Fernando’s retirement took place at the same spot he suffered his engine failure while battling Schumacher in 2006, to the delight of the baying tifosi. It must feel somewhat surreal to experience the same circumstance and be met with only melancholic appreciation from the same crowds who celebrated his agony 8 years ago.
Fastest Lap: Kimi Raikkonen (9-4 to Fernando Alonso) (after Round 13)
Qualifying: Fernando Alonso (33-6 to Fernando Alonso) (after Round 13)
Race: Split Points (57.5 – 7.5 to Fernando Alonso) (after Round 13)
Ferrari: 99.5 – 17.5 to Fernando Alonso (Total After Round 13)

Mercedes:
Conspiracies! Conspiracies everywhere! Did Nico Rosberg drop the ball on purpose in Monza to atone for his misdeeds in Spa? Was the first error a practice run for the second? Why did he seem so remarkably blasé afterwards about making critical errors with only himself to blame? Or was it all a cunning ruse to ensure Lewis didn’t gain a psychological edge by not allowing him the possibility of overtaking him on track in a straight fight?
No, let’s not do all that. While conspiracies, rumours and ‘race manipulation’ are all infinitely possible and probable, let’s only deal with the facts at hand. Fact: Nico Rosberg doesn’t like braking into right hand turns when under pressure. We saw it in Canada when he scampered across the escape route when Lewis caught him, we saw it in Monaco at the end of qualifying, and we saw it twice in Monza. While Lewis made the same error at the same chicane on Lap 49 on Sunday, he was willing to sacrifice the tyres for the good of keeping his lead, something Nico was very reluctant to do on Lap 29 with almost half the race remaining. The only conspiracy theory that I will lend any credit to here is the one that suggested Nico didn’t want to be passed on track. Perfectly understandable, and it looked like an inevitability at the point where Nico locked up and delicately took the escape road.
While he never got the chance to use DRS, Rosberg’s top speed through the speed trap was the second slowest of the race, a massive 27 km/h slower than Lewis Hamilton’s. With Lewis just encroaching into the DRS range when Nico missed his braking point, Rosberg would have found it very difficult to stave off a car being driven by an on form Hamilton with a massive straight line speed advantage. Lewis had been quicker throughout the weekend, thanks to his ability to consistently go 0.2 seconds faster through the second sector. The only session that Nico outpaced Lewis was FP2, and that was by less than a tenth of a second, in a session that saw Lewis only come on track with 25 minutes remaining after ignition problems.
Psychologically, Nico knew Lewis was quicker, and while he was temporarily gifted by Lewis having to make a manual start, the pressure to pull away saw Rosberg overdrive. Putting a brave face on at the end of it was the best possible defence against showing how much such a defeat will have shook him.
Some interesting parallels from this race with the 1999 Italian race, which saw race leader (and Keke Rosberg mentored) Mika Hakkinen make a critical error at the old first chicane in his Mercedes powered McLaren. His mistake handed the championship impetus to rivals Eddie Irvine & Heinz Harald Frentzen, and while all looked lost on that day to the inconsolable Finn, he recovered strongly to claim the title. Can Nico respond in the same way? Some calculations being bandied around online say that Rosberg can afford to finish second to Lewis in any of the remaining races, provided he wins two more rounds, regardless of which races. Based on his form this year, the edge for the WDC still lies with Nico.
Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton (7-6 to Lewis Hamilton) (after Round 13)
Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton (21-18 to Nico Rosberg) (after Round 13)
Race: Lewis Hamilton (37.5 – 27.5 to Lewis Hamilton) (after Round 13)
Mercedes: 62.5 – 54.5 to Lewis Hamilton (Total After Round 13)

Red Bull:
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Sebastian Vettel at the moment. After getting used to domination over the last four seasons in perfect harmony with the old regulations, the new formula has really knocked Seb for six. While he’s slowly getting back on terms, this year has seen terrible reliability, uncharacteristic errors from the multiple Champion, and a team-mate who looks every bit as good as Vettel at his best. With only slight mutterings here and there about Vettel’s unhappiness with the status quo as it stands, Sebastian’s maturity and composure while having his reputation tarnished by the new cockerel in the henhouse has been commendable.
Monza was a race that, like others this season, should have seen Vettel come out on top. Looking quick and comfortable on Friday, Vettel was faster in each of the qualifying sessions and lined up just ahead of Ricciardo. Things went even better for Seb at the start, as Ricciardo fluffed his and fell down to 12th, while Vettel elevated himself to 5th spot. Sticking with the McLaren of Magnussen, Red Bull opted to go aggressive with Seb and pitted him on Lap 19 to undercut the McLaren. The strategy had played out beautifully once the stops were over, Vettel emerging ahead and in 4th position, but the writing was already on the wall.
Thanks to Daniel’s poor start, by the time the race settled down he was in 12th place a handful of seconds behind Kimi Raikkonen. With the pace reasonable and the jostling train of cars ahead not pulling out a big lead, Daniel didn’t ask too much of his tyres and kept going when the cars in front stopped. This meant he was able to get to the halfway point of the race, and a full seven laps longer than Sebastian had done for his first stint.
Emerging down in 12th, Daniel started working his way back up, and made some great overtakes on the likes of Raikkonen, Magnussen, Button & Perez when he caught Sebastian who was now struggling on old tyres. With no team orders in play, Vettel resisted initially but was powerless to stop Daniel powering past into the second chicane.
Ironically, if Daniel had made a decent start and had been in the train of cars with Sebastian, he likely would have ended up on a much more similar strategy and finished behind Vettel. That must be grating on Seb. Oddly, despite racing with a chassis that had only been used for Silverstone testing during the Summer, Vettel has requested and will receive a brand new chassis for the Singapore race. While races like Spa and Shanghai showed that Sebastian was unable to perform as he would like, there is little to suggest what might have been wrong with the ‘new’ chassis he raced with on Sunday. Unless he feels a new chassis would have been capable of completing the 33 lap second stint with greater pace, it’s beginning to look as though Sebastian is looking for anything that might signify a fresh start against a team-mate considerably stronger than any he has had up to this point of his career.
Fastest Lap: Daniel Ricciardo (9-4 to Daniel Ricciardo) (after Round 13)
Qualifying: Sebastian Vettel (21-18 to Sebastian Vettel) (after Round 13)
Race: Daniel Ricciardo (60-5 to Daniel Ricciardo) (after Round 13)
Red Bull: 87-30 to Daniel Ricciardo (Total After Round 13)

Article in full with pics and formatting here!

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

Brilliant work Mort, I always enjoy reading your team mates battles comparisons.

The time and effort you put into them is remarkable.

Cheers. The effort is rewarded, they keep me in the FIA's good books! It's funny though. When I started doing these, it took around two hours and 2000 words. It's around 6 hours work now and around 4500 words!