Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Half Term Review of F1 Season so far and My top Formula 1 drivers of 2012 so far

The half term review of Formula 1 season so far, with the next race is in three weeks time. Last year I use twitter (@JHonMotorsport) for the half term review. But, instead of using twitter from last season, I will typing it on the blog itself this season. Which I will say one sentence that will be positive with each team. And one sentence that will be negative for each team. Also, I will include with this post my Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of 2012 so far below.

Red Bull:
+ Best car on the grid so far with the RB8.
- Their advantages are disappearing with areo spec and engine mapping name as a few.

McLaren:
+ Fastest car on the grid when need to win (Melbourne, Montreal and Hungaroring)
- Have not been constantly that may cost McLaren a constructor championship and Lewis Hamilton a drivers championship.

Ferrari:
+ Best driver on the grid with Fernando Alonso, with one of the ugliest Ferrari F1 car ever that took Alonso on top the driver standings so far, has done some brilliant driving this season too (Sepang, Valencia and Hockenheim).
- Filipe Massa has been the weakest link in the team, only 25 points compare to Alonso 164 points in the drivers standings so far, that may cost Ferrari a constructors championship this year.

Mercedes
+ Mercedes first win as a constructor since Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1955 Italian Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg at this seasons Chinese Grand Prix.
- Michael Schumacher been unluckiest driver this season, should have more points he has got with 29 points so far this season, the only crumb of comfort is a third place podium at Valencia.

Lotus
+ The first time for six seasons for the team, the car is at its best to challenge for both championships if the luck is there with some great driving between returning Kimi Räikkonen and Romain Grosjean so far this season.
- Both Kimi Räikkonen and Lotus are missing out a few race wins this season (Bahrain, Barcalona and Hungaroring).

Force India
+ Both Paul di Resta and Nico Hülkenberg are showing why they have the potential to be in any top four team within Formula 1 so far this season
- VJM05 is lacking all-round pace to give great results for the team this season and getting a sixth or a seventh place in the constructors championship for Force India

Sauber
+ Some impressive races from both Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez this season that could give Sauber a shot of finishing fifth in the constructors championship, if the luck is there.
- C31 needs some more race pace to be more constantly because the car can give Kobayashi and Pérez a few more podiums this season.

Scuderia Toro Rosso
+ Both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne are showing why they are in Formula 1 with some decent performances
- STR7 is showing why both drivers isn't competitive this season with only 6 pionts so far.

Williams
+ A better car and year from last season, which gives Pastor Maldonado a famous race win at Barcelona for Williams Renault.
- Pastor Maldonado has cost Williams too many points this season that the team a possibility of having a possible top five in the constructors championship this season, but with too many silly mistakes that cost him some points positions since winning at Barcelona.

Caterham
+ Some impressive race performances from both Heikki Kovalainen (Monaco and Valencia) and Vitaly Petrov (Sepang and Valencia) this season.
- Caterham have improved their performance to catch up with the midfield teams this season, but not close enough to catch up with the midfield teams above.

HRT
+ Despite his only 41, but Pedro de la Rosa is still showing how pace his still got to give for HRT this season.
- Narain Karthikeyan pace isn't impressive this year, despite his bringing in sponsorship from India.

Marussia
+ Charles Pic has been impressive during his debut season, even out performing team-mate Timo Glock in recent races.
- Despite Marussia have got a wind-tunnel to develop their car this season, but they are not catching up the likes of Caterham in race-pace, more like HRT are catching up Marussia for race-pace at this part of the season so far.

I did this last season for my end of season review of my
Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of 2011. So it returns, my Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of 2012 so far this season, this is the part who was in my top 10 so far this season, not in championship order, so his list doesn't includes Felipe Massa, Bruno Senna or Pastor Maldonado for example. So here is my list below.

My Top Formula 1 drivers of 2012 so far this season:

1. Ferando Alonso (Ferrari) - Best driver on the grid this season so far with strong possibility of winning the drivers championship.
2. Mark Webber (Red Bull) - Being constant with his finishes this season and winning important races this season (Monaco and Silverstone), can still win the drivers championship.
3. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) - Only one win so far from the double world champion, should be more wins if Vettel had a bit more luck, can still win the drivers championship still the second half of the seson.
4. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) - Still fast as ever, but still inconstant by the constantly of McLaren this season, still can win the drivers championship.
5. Kimi Räikkonen (Lotus) - Return of the former champion back into F1, been constant this season, still can win the drivers championship but need wins to win it.
6. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) - Some great results this season (Shanghai and Monaco), but Mercedes inconstantly has cost Nico a challenge for the drivers championship this season.
7. Jenson Button (McLaren) - Started well in Melbourne, then after Shanghai things started to feel apart, poor luck and no luck with the Pirelli tyres that possibly cost him a second drivers championship this season.
8. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) - His first stint in F1 was poor, his second stint to the sport is way better, and few podiums so far this season and more to come from the GP2 Champion.
9. Sergio Pérez (Sauber) - Race pace is great as ever, when he uses old tyres for a one stop strategy to collect impressive points for the Sauber and could have won in Sepang, Ferrari drive possible for 2013.
10. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) - Despite the luckless start to the season, and showing some of his old form, Schumacher can match the pace of the best on his days.

End of a super long post/blog for now. A new shorter post soon. That is all. Bye.

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