Team Mate Battles - Hungary

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A little late with this, been working through old articles offline to change weighting and layout a little. Scores on this article are still working off the old weighting, but if they suddenly change, you'll know I've gotten through all the articles and have changed scores to reflect!

Marussia:
Bianchi was ahead of Chilton in qualifying, but not by much…just 0.2 seconds. That was as close as Chilton got, with the two Marussias mired solidly at the very back for the entire race. Both drivers admitted the race drained them, as with little balance being offered from their cars, they were constantly fighting to get around the tight Hungaroring. Chilton even said that the race ‘was the hardest of his career’. Caterham look like they are pulling ahead in the battle of the backmarkers.

Fastest lap: 1-0 to Max Chilton
Qualifying: 1-0 to Jules Bianchi
Race: 1-0 to Jules Bianchi

Marussia: 25-5 to Jules Bianchi



Caterham:

Caterham will be delighted to have been solidly ahead of Marussia this weekend, as well as Van Der Garde briefly battling with the Williams of Bottas in the early stages. Pic and Van Der Garde were evenly matched this weekend, with Charles having the upper hand in qualifying, before Giedo fought back in the race, jumping both his team-mate and Bottas off the line. As their strategies played out, the two Caterhams did swap positions once or twice through the stops, but it was Van Der Garde who came home first.

Fastest lap: 1-0 to Giedo Van Der Garde
Qualifying: 1-0 to Charles Pic
Race: 1-0 to Giedo Van Der Garde

Caterham: 22-8 to Charles Pic



Toro Rosso:

The race looked promising for Toro Rosso, with Daniel Ricciardo, once again, producing a great performance in qualifying to make Q3 and 8th place. Vergne could only make it into 14th, which doesn’t sound quite so bad when you consider that was immediately behind the McLaren of Jenson Button. During the race, neither car had any pace, with Daniel falling backwards, ultimately finishing behind Vergne. While Jean-Eric should be pleased to beat Daniel at this time of increased attention on them both, the Frenchman downplayed the achievement, saying:

‘It means nothing, especially when we are outside the points. I’d rather finish behind him inside the points.’

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Jean-Eric Vergne
Qualifying: 1-0 to Daniel Ricciardo
Race: 1-0 to Jean-Eric Vergne

Toro Rosso: 15-15 each



Sauber:

Hulkenberg was slightly unfortunate to not score a point at the Hungaroring, having had a decent race. The German driver admitted after the race that his second stop had been a little hectic, due to some gearbox maladies, and while leaving the pit lane, clicked off his speed limiter a mite too early. As a result, he got a drive through penalty, and finished 11th, just missing out on the 10th spot that he felt the penalty cost him.

Gutierrez, whom rumours would have you believe may not see out the season, had his usual mediocre weekend, failing to make it out of Q1, not gaining any places off the line, always being off Hulkenberg’s pace, before retiring with a gearbox issue on lap 28.

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Nico Hulkenberg
Qualifying: 1-0 to Nico Hulkenberg
Race: 1-0 to Nico Hulkenberg

Sauber: 24-6 to Nico Hulkenberg



Williams:

A point for Williams! Finally, I can start the Williams section for the first time in 2013 with something positive. While it’s unlikely to kick start any celebrations at Grove, or a major improvement for the remainder of the season, that one point now separates the former behemoth of the sport from the inexperienced Caterhams and Marussias.

While Maldonado & Bottas lined up alongside each other at the start, Pastor made a great getaway to be up to 11th after Lap 1, while Valtteri fell backwards to 19th. It didn’t get any better for the Finn, as his power steering failed, before his engine also seized, due to hydraulic issues.

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Pastor Maldonado
Qualifying: 1-0 to Pastor Maldonado
Race: 1-0 to Pastor Maldonado

Williams: 18.5-11.5 to Valterri Bottas



Force India:


An exceptionally poor weekend from Force India, with lack of pace, unreliability with both cars suffering hydraulic problems, as well as lack of balance. The battle for fifth place between Force India & McLaren looks like it could go to the wire, with McLaren no longer looking quite as dire as they did earlier in the season.

Sutil’s 100th Grand Prix weekend didn’t go according to plan, what with his early retirement on lap 19, but at least he outqualified Di Resta. Paul fell by the wayside yet again in Q1, but made a great start to look like he may be able to fight for some points late in the race. Unfortunately, his car started having hydraulic issues as well, and while he finished the race, it was only in a lowly 18th place.

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Paul Di Resta
Qualifying: 1-0 to Adrian Sutil
Race: 1-0 to Paul Di Resta

Force India: 16-14 to Adrian Sutil

McLaren:

Sergio Perez very much had the upper hand on Saturday, qualifying a reasonable ninth position, with Jenson a lowly 13th, but a great decision by McLaren to start Jenson on the harder tyres worked wonders for Button’s race, even if Sebastian Vettel will never agree with that. Opting to gain track position when the others pitted, Jenson was always going to create a train behind him at some point, and that nearly proved to be his undoing, through no fault of his own. Grosjean’s slow fade to the left on braking for the chicane was very foolish, and Jenson was lucky to keep going with no damage.

Sergio’s race was dictated by his first stint. Losing a position at the start, coupled with an early pitstop due to lack of pace on his used tyres, meant that he rarely got to run in free air, and ended up being bundled away by Jenson. Still, a reasonable race from the Mexican, with Jenson’s lack of pace on Saturday perhaps resulting in a better race strategy.

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Sergio Perez
Qualifying: 1-0 to Sergio Perez
Race: 1-0 to Jenson Button

McLaren: 17-13 to Jenson Button

Jenson Button has scored 39 out of 57 points for McLaren, 68% of their points.
Sergio Perez has scored 18 out of 57 points for McLaren, 32% of their points.
Sergio Perez has scored 46% of Jenson Button’s points total.



Lotus:

It all looked really good for Romain Grosjean in the early stages of the race. Having done the hard work of outqualifying his team-mate, lining up close to the front, and maintaining his position through the first lap (including a nice robust defence against Alonso), it all came undone when the Frenchman failed to realise that F1 cars (nor any other type of car for that matter) don’t disappear after you’ve gotten alongside them, resulting in a post-race penalty.

Apart from that, there was little wrong with Romain’s race. He even made amends for his error by producing one of the sweetest overtaking moves this season by passing Alonso around the outside, before he got a penalty for that as well. The question mark of spatial awareness still remains, as well as his killer instinct, as we rarely see Grosjean overtake his rivals on track, with Romain remaining resolutely behind Alonso for 20+ laps towards race end, and steadfastly behind Sebastian at the Nurburgring. Having said that, Vettel was unable to pass Kimi towards race end either, the Finn having employed a dangerously optimistic 2 stop strategy. Despite driving on significantly worn tyres, Raikkonen held off Sebastian to take a commendable second place. What could he have done if he had qualified where Romain did?

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Kimi Raikkonen
Qualifying: 1-0 to Romain Grosjean
Race: 1-0 to Kimi Raikkonen

Lotus: 23-7 to Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen has scored 134 out of 183 points for Lotus, 73% of their points.
Romain Grosjean has scored 49 out of 183 points for Lotus, 27% of their points.
Romain Grosjean has scored 36% of Kimi Raikkonen’s points total.



Mercedes:

Lewis. Nico is beginning to be overshadowed by Hamilton, and an anonymous race in Hungary won’t help his quest for glory, even if it wasn’t all his fault. Lining up a decent 4th place, Nico was unlucky to be tapped by the front wing of Massa’s Ferrari, sending him off the track and losing plenty of positions. The race pace of the Mercedes looked decent, with Rosberg & Hamilton’s best race times only being bettered by the Red Bulls, but Nico was only in 9th place when the Mercedes engine let go. Lewis produced a good drive, but benefitted greatly from Sebastian’s first stop delay to emerge behind Button. Luck doesn’t usually smile on Lewis, so his first win for Mercedes will be welcomed with open arms, but what would have happened had Vettel emerged just ahead of that McLaren?

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Lewis Hamilton
Qualifying: 1-0 to Lewis Hamilton
Race: 1-0 to Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes: 19.5-10.5 to Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has scored 124 out of 208 points for Mercedes, 60% of their points.
Nico Rosberg has scored 84 out of 208 points for Mercedes, 40% of their points.
Nico Rosberg has scored 67% of the points total of Lewis Hamilton.



Ferrari:

Fernando’s magic wasn’t enough to challenge for a podium in Hungary, qualifying and finishing in fifth place, despite Nico Rosberg’s (who started ahead of him) various ailments. Felipe Massa couldn’t complete a lap without an incident, running into the back of Nico Rosberg on lap 1. Following this, the resulting wing damage was enough to prevent Felipe from running his tyres optimally, as well as costing him lap time, but wasn’t bad enough to warrant or necessitate a wing change. Fernando had the upper hand all weekend, but the Spaniard’s championship challenge is fading.

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Fernando Alonso
Qualifying: 1-0 to Felipe Massa
Race: 1-0 to Fernando Alonso

Ferrari: 22-8 to Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso has scored 133 points out of 194 for Ferrari, 68% of their points.
Felipe Massa has scored 61 points out of 194 for Ferrari, 32% of their points.
Felipe Massa has scored 46% of the points total of Fernando Alonso.



Red Bull:

Sebastian admitted after the race that the defining factor in his race, emerging behind Jenson Button after his first stop, was his own fault, due to losing more time than expected entering the pit lane. Coupled with his front wing damage from brushing off the McLaren, Vettel was fortunate to continue without trouble to finish the race in 3rd place. Mark briefly looked like he might have been able to join in the challenge for the victory as his strategy to start on the hard tyres started to pay off, but 4th place was his reward. Not bad when you consider the gremlins that, yet again, hit his car on Saturday.

Fastest Lap: 1-0 to Mark Webber
Qualifying: 1-0 to Sebastian Vettel
Race: 1-0 to Mark Webber

Red Bull: 25-5 to Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel has scored 172 points out of 277 for Red Bull, 62% of their points total.
Mark Webber has scored 105 points out of 277 for Red Bull, 38% of their points total.
Mark Webber has scored 61% of the points total of Sebastian Vettel


Until the Belgian GP…