PACKAGE RATINGS AFTER MONZA, RACE 2012/13

After race 2012/13, the Italian GP at Monza, my season average ratings show the following ranking and values:

Rank	Package	Rating
1	Hamilton/McLaren-Mercedes	100.0
2	Vettel/Red Bull-Renault Grosjean/Lotus-Renault Raikkonen/Lotus-Renault	100.1 100.1 100.1
3	Alonso/Ferrari	100.2
4	Schumacher/Mercedes	100.4
5	Webber/Red Bull-Renault	100.5
6	Button/McLaren-Mercedes Rosberg/Mercedes Massa/Ferrari Perez/Sauber-Ferrari	100.6 100.6 100.6 100.6
7	Maldonado/Williams-Renault	100.7
8	Kobayashi/Sauber-Ferrari	100.8
9	Di Resta/Force India-Mercedes Hulkenberg/Force India-Ferrari Senna/Williams-Renault	100.9 100.9 100.9
10	Ricciardi/Toro Rosso-Ferrari	101.2
11	Vergne/Toro Rosso-Ferrari	101.3
12	D’Ambrosio/Lotus-Renault	101.4
13	Kovalainen/Caterham-Cosworth Petrov/Caterham-Cosworth	102.3 102.3
14	Glock/Marussia-Cosworth Pic/Marussia-Cosworth	103.3 103.3
15	De la Rosa/HRT-Cosworth	104.4
16	Karthikeyan/HRT-Cosworth	104.4

Bear in mind these are season averages, calculated on running totals. The base figure of 100.0 for the Hamilton/McLaren-Mercedes, is the fastest. It can be read as a percentage or as a lap time of 100.0 seconds. The rest follow at a minimum of one decimal intervals upwards. So a package rated at 100.1 (the Vettel/Red Bull-Renault) is 0.1% or 0.1 second per lap slower. The Ricciardo/Toro Rosso-Ferrari at 101.2 is 1.2% or 1.2 seconds per lap slower and the de la Rosa and Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworths rated at 104.4 are 4.4 seconds per lap off-pace. These are not driver ratings, but are for driver-and-car, the whole package.

Is Sebastian counting his championship chickens correctly?

I do not count races that had safety car deployments nor race times when a package suffers a grid penalty. These factors ‘ unnaturally’ skew times and results. Races in which an individual package suffers obvious trouble have also been excluded. Only those events in which packages ran well are counted. Then truer speed differences can be measured.

Package Ratings do vary race-to-race, but once the season is underway, the average movement is gradual, if at all. Compared to my last table done after race 2012/9, the changes in most ratings have been minimal. Greatest movements have been by the Button/McLaren-Mercedes which improved by 0.3 and the Perez/Sauber-Ferrari which slowed by 0.3. The Petrov/Caterham-Cosworth improved by 0.2. All the rest stayed as they were at 2012/9 or moved up or down by just 0.1. That is by one hundredth of a second per lap! The racing is indeed close.

However, some packages, or rather the cars, changed significantly since race 2013/3 in China. The Alonso/Ferrari rated then at 100.64 and has now improved to 100.2. More dramatically, the Raikkonen/Lotus-Renault rated 100.9 in China and improved to 100.1 now. The Button/McLaren-Mercedes average slowed from 100.4 in Shanghai to 100.6 now, reflecting Jenson’s mid-season struggles with set-up. Two experienced drivers Kovalainen and Glock have had their team-mates Petrov and Pic close the gap and now rate equal. There is so much that can be read into the detailed stats. However it is the overall, season average trends that matter here. Speed and consistency are paramount.

The Hamilton/McLaren-Mercedes has consistently rated fastest of all at 100.0, closely chased by the Grosjean and Raikkonen Lotus-Renaults and the Vettel Red Bull-Renault all on 100.1.The Alonso/Ferrari package is on 100.2, then perhaps surprisingly the Schumacher/Mercedes is next on 100.4. Michael must be driving well, for he has pulled ahead of team-mate Rosberg for the first time since his 2010 comeback. Or is Nico becoming disillusioned with the team’s inability to win?

As everyone is rightly saying, 2012 has to be one of the closest and most exciting seasons of all.

***