After Race 4: China

To no great surprise, Mercedes continued their dominant start to the season as they once again took pole, victory, fastest lap, and led every lap – no one else has done any of these things so far this season (Nico Hülkenberg came closest by leading half a lap in Sepang). However, there was one rather bizarre occurrence in Shanghai – the checkered flag was waved prematurely. Lewis Hamilton took the flag at the end of lap 55 (out of 56) and, according to the regulations, this resulted in the race being called after 54 laps. Ultimately, it made little difference – luckily for the FIA. Not a classic race by any stretch but I reiterate my point from last week that Mercedes should win every race this season provided they can get one car home. Finally, before we get cracking, an astonishing twenty cars finished the race – which is simply phenomenal given this was only the fourth race in the new era of F1.

Lewis scored his first F1 hat-trick (the customary Mercedes team photo will return next week)
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebook)

1. Lewis Hamilton (no change)

It’s going to be difficult to find original things to write for Lewis Hamilton if he carries on at this rate. His third straight victory was his 25^th overall – matching Jim Clark & Niki Lauda, while his 34^th pole position saw him move one clear of Clark and Alain Prost for sole possession of fourth on the all-time list

2. Nico Rosberg (no change)

It was Rosberg’s turn to crack in qualifying as a pair of mistakes saw him start behind the Red Bulls – and he fell further back after a poor start. Such is the pace of the Mercedes, it was only a matter of time before he recovered to complete Merc’s now customary 1-2 finish. He retains his championship lead for another race although he is yet to beat Lewis in a straight race battle.

Following the team battle mayhem of Bahrain, there was just the one this weekend
Source: Red Bull Racing (Facebook)

 =3. Daniil Kvyat (no change), Nico Hülkenberg (up one spot) & Daniel Ricciardo (up two spots)

It’s just not possible to split this trio after four races. I juggled the trio around positions 3-4-5 but figured that this was simply the fairest solution. I mentioned last week how The Hulk only just missed out on moving up to P3 in the F1 Power Rankings, a position which he does now occupy after the Chinese weekend. It was a return to his form of Australia and Malaysia as he comfortably outperformed Sergio Pérez and continued his excellent start to the season.

It was touch-and-go whether Kvyat would retain third spot and I almost dropped him behind the other two as he was the only one who was outqualified by his team-mate. However, this was the teenager’s first time on the track and a storming first lap saw him overtake Jean-Éric Vergne – which resulted in him earning his third points-scoring finish in four races. It has been a dream start to his F1 career.

I could almost copy and paste what I wrote last week for Danny Ric – out-qualified and out-raced his illustrious team-mate and certainly ruffled his feathers on Sunday. Although he once again came up just short of a podium finish, his performance will have no doubt eased the pain of the lost appeal for his Melbourne DQ. He probably deserved to move up one spot – just like Hülkenberg – but, with a tie for third, that wouldn’t have been possible; so he joins the party.

6. Fernando Alonso (up four spots)

Alonso is a big gainer this week, scoring Ferrari’s first podium of the season as the Marco Mattiacci era begins. In a similar manner to Hülkenberg, Alonso once again flexed his muscles in the team battle as he comprehensively destroyed Kimi Räikkönen, having been outqualified by the Finn in Sakhir. Another podium finish next time out in front of his adoring home fans would be a dream result. 

It was Alonso who took best of the rest this week
Source: Scuderia Ferrari (Facebook)

7. Valtteri Bottas (down one spot)

After an eventful opening trio of races, Shanghai proved to be a much quieter – but no less successful – weekend for Bottas. Having been narrowly outqualified by Felipe Massa in qualifying, he then survived first corner contact with Rosberg and settled down into a controlled race – almost stealing sixth off Hülkenberg in the closing stages. The good news for Williams was that they qualified strongly in a wet quali session; the bad news is that they have still yet to fully deliver on their early season promise.

8. Romain Grosjean (up five spots)

Grosjean is another big mover this week as he continued to work his way up the pecking order. A fantastic effort in quali saw him reach Q3 (where he then ran out of intermediate tyres) and he was running strongly in the points until his gearbox failed. It has been an incredibly difficult start for Lotus but Grosjean has done a superb job leading the team.

9. Felipe Massa (up three spots)

Williams’ weekend was discussed in more detail above but it was a disappointing end to what was proving to be a solid weekend for Massa as a mix-up on his rear tyres at his opening pit-stop effectively ended his race. He was very lucky not to have a mammoth accident at the start; surviving a hefty touch with Alonso as he rocketed off the line but had nowhere to go. 

The Williams mechanics suffered from not knowing their left from their right
Source: F1Fanatic

10. Sebastian Vettel (down two spots)

“Tough luck” (it was tempting simply to write those two words and move on). Radio Vettel sent social networks into a frenzy during the race on Sunday as memories of Malaysia 2013 came to the fore. For what it’s worth, what Vettel did was no different to what Massa did in Malaysia this season – yet the same people who criticized Vettel for his “tough luck” comment were those who lauded Massa for his Malaysia actions. It has clearly been a disappointing start to the season for Red Bull and it is clear that Ricciardo has been able to adapt and extract more from the RB10; but Vettel is not a four-time champion for no reason. He will be working furiously to understand his problems and come back stronger in Catalunya. Incidentally, contrary to his post-race comments, it seems pretty clear to me that he ran wide into Turn 1 when Ricciardo did eventually overtake him, rather than deliberately move out the way.

11. Jenson Button (down four spots)

Ron Dennis might be back but McLaren have already reverted back to their 2013 form after a promising start to the new season. Both cars went out in Q3 and had bad starts; and neither challenged the top ten all race long. JB did at least manage to keep ahead of his rookie team-mate.

12. Sergio Pérez (down three spots)

As mentioned earlier, Checo was soundly thrashed by The Hulk again this weekend; his podium heroics of Bahrain were replaced by a lacklustre Q2 effort that saw him start 16^th.  To his credit, an excellent first lap put him into points-scoring contention and he duly obliged by picking up points for the third time this season (out of three races, he was a DNS in Sepang). Still, he was almost half a minute behind his team-mate.

13. Kevin Magnussen (down two spots)

K-Mag has slowly slipped down the F1 Power Rankings after his dream start in Melbourne, echoing his team’s overall performance. He again seemed a tad over-anxious in the opening laps, threatening to cause a collision, but he settled down into a solid race and pretty much matched Button throughout. However, as Pérez found out last season, that might not be enough to save his bacon – especially with Stoffel Vandoorne waiting in the wings. Early days yet, though.

14. Kamui Kobayashi (up two spots)

Another fine weekend for KK as he won the Caterham/Marussia battle in both quali and the race. Of course, he didn’t actually as the chequered flag was waved a lap early; thus nullifying his excellent pass on Jules Bianchi but, luckily for Caterham, at least it was only for 17^th place – a result that will have no bearing on the outcome in the battle for tenth in the constructors’ championship.

Much like Grosjean, Koba has done a good job leading his team
Source: Caterham F1 Team (Facebook)

15. Jean-Éric Vergne (no change)

Mixed weekend for JEV; a good effort in quali saw him reach Q3 but that evaporated on the opening lap with a poor start. Despite being level on points with his rookie team-mate, Vergne has failed to score since the season opener in Melbourne.

=16. Jules Bianchi (up three spots) & Max Chilton (no change)

The Marussia drivers find themselves locked together at P16 in this week’s F1 Power Rankings. After a shaky start to this season, Bianchi finally had a trouble-free weekend as he comfortably shaded his team-mate. Not the best weekend for Max but at least he edged Marcus Ericsson on Sunday.

18. Kimi Räikkönen (down five spots)

Crikey. While Alonso scored his first podium of 2014, Räikkönen struggled all weekend; knocked out in Q2 before finishing over fifty seconds behind his team-mate in the race. 

This was probably the happiest Kimi was all weekend (maybe even all season)
Source: F1Fanatic

19. Esteban Gutiérrez (down one spot)

Sauber’s miserable start to F1’s new era continued as neither car was remotely close to troubling the top ten all weekend long. They’ll hope to close the gap with their Barcelona upgrades – although with other teams sure to do the same, it may not be enough.

 

Tough times at Sauber
Source: F1Fanatic

20. Marcus Ericsson (no change)

Credit the young Swede for outqualifying Chilton but his Sunday afternoon was largely spent alone at the back of the pack. Being the only rookie in the Caterham/Marussia battle, the opening few flyaway races were always going to be difficult; he’ll hope that the more familiar European tracks will help him raise his profile.

21. Adrian Sutil (no change) & 22. Pastor Maldonado (no change)

This duo stay rooted to the foot of the F1 Power Rankings. Maldonado was especially hapless on Friday as he appeared to just drive off the track early in FP1 before crashing in Shanghai’s infamous pit lane. The only good news for Pastor was that he saw the checkered flag, which is a good deal better than what Sutil achieved. Another dreadful weekend for the Swiss team saw their German driver retire with engine trouble in the opening laps.

Oh dear...
Source: FOM TV images

 All views expressed in this blog are my own and no copyright infringement is intended.

After Race 3: Bahrain

Was there a better way for Formula 1 to celebrate its milestone 900^th grand prix? Having passionately watched over a third of all F1 races live (not bad considering I’m only 24, if I say so myself!), I can confidently say that I have never seen so many team-mates battling in a single race – ‘Noah’s Ark’ style races tend to be tedious but this was the extreme opposite. What the race in Sakhir also re-emphasized was the dominance of Mercedes. Nico Rosberg could easily have lapped the field in Melbourne if not for the safety car (and if Merc wanted to) and the way both cars pulled out a 24-second lead within the final dozen laps demonstrates that the team could be on course to complete the perfect season – going one better than McLaren’s 1988 efforts.

This could be a common sight this season
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebok)

1. Lewis Hamilton (no change)

Quite simply, this week’s F1 Power Rankings is a case of ‘winner-takes-all’. Hamilton edged his team-mate in a critical early season battle to take his 24^th career victory in thrilling style – matching the great Juan Manuel Fangio for =10^th on the all-time list. It would not be surprising if Hamilton became the most successful British driver this season in terms of race wins (Nigel Mansell has 31).

2. Nico Rosberg (no change)

Throughout the free practice sessions Rosberg edged closer to Hamilton and finally bettered him in qualifying at the third time of asking in 2014. Unfortunately, his good work unravelled in the first few hundred yards on Sunday as Lewis gained the early advantage and, despite seemingly having the edge at various stages through the race, could not reclaim the lead of the race. On the bright side, he retains his championship lead.

Supreme battling from the Merc team-mates - which set the tone for the rest of the field
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebook)

3. Daniil Kvyat (no change)

The Russian rookie hangs on to third spot in the rankings despite missing out on continuing the points-scoring start to his career by just eight seconds. It was a rather disappointing race for Toro Rosso but Kvyat once again outqualified JEV and brought his car home in one piece.

4. Nico Hülkenberg (no change)

It was touch-and-go whether The Hulk would move up to P3 in this week’s F1 Power Rankings but he just misses out due to his quali error – which ultimately cost him a podium. Despite missing out on Q3, Hülkenberg flew off the line and vaulted himself into podium contention but ultimately lost out to Sergio Pérez in the battle to claim Force India’s first podium of the season (and just second overall). Credit the job he did in holding up Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages, which assisted his team-mate in securing some fizzy rosewater celebrations in the desert night (no champagne on the Middle East podiums).

The Hulk's wait for a maiden podium continues
Source: Sahara Force India (Facebook)

5. Daniel Ricciardo (up two spots)

Ricciardo continued his fine start to the season and finally picked up his first (legal) points for Red Bull, overcoming his ten-place grid penalty. He managed to both out-qualify and out-race his quadruple world champion team-mate and would arguably have made the podium if the race was just one lap longer.

Two Red Bulls in the Ark
Source: Red Bull Racing (Facebook)

6. Valtteri Bottas (up two spots)

Having been scuppered by inclement weather during the first two qualifying sessions of the season, Williams were finally able to show off their car’s outright pace over one lap and it was Bottas who sealed a spot on row two. However, in a reverse scenario to the opening two races, Williams found themselves gradually falling back through the field as they struggled with tyre degradation.

7. Jenson Button (up three spots)

A disappointing end to what was proving to be a quietly solid weekend for JB. He raced comfortably in the points all day long – the only ‘lonely animal’ in the Noah’s Ark top ten – before his clutch troubles shortly after the safety car. More importantly for Jenson, he finally seemed to fully assert his authority over his young team-mate in both quali and the race.

8. Sebastian Vettel (down three spots)

It’s difficult to know what to make of Vettel’s weekend; his car had some technical problems in both quali and the race but he still managed to finish in a solid 6^th position. Mark Webber only managed to outqualify Seb twice last season and Ricciardo has already done that in three races. Such was the frantic racing in the ‘second group’ throughout the race, it’s difficult to know who the SC really helped or hindered but it was heartening for Vettel that he was able to fend off the Williams in the closing stages.

9. Sergio Pérez (up thirteen spots)

With possibly the biggest gain ever seen in F1 Power Rankings – one that even Lazarus would have approved – Checo Pérez finally announced himself in the 2014 season after being AWOL thus far. He converted an impressive FP3 performance into a solid top five quali effort (fourth after the Ricciardo pen) and backed it up with a solid podium drive on Sunday, fending off his team-mate and Ricciardo to take ‘best-of-the-rest’ honours. In my opinion, this was Force India’s best ever race.

It was great to see Checo return to the podium
Source: Sahara Force India (Facebook)

10. Fernando Alonso (down four spots)

Oh dear. It was nothing short of a disastrous weekend for the Scuderia – worsened by the presence of Luca di Montezemolo, and the chairman’s expressions were crystal clear for all to see during the race. Ferrari suffered massively on Bahrain’s long straights (can you imagine what they’ll be like at Monza in front of the Tifosi?!) as Alonso praised the work of Mercedes. Stefano Domenicali is one of the more likeable figures in the paddock but the team principal will surely be feeling the heat from Italy. 

Di Montezemolo was distinctly underwhelmed by what he watched
Source: F1Fanatic

11. Kevin Magnussen (down two spots)

While it’s surely not a sign of things to come, Magnussen’s first three races in F1 have produced gradually worsening results. A brilliant Melbourne was followed up by a rookie error in Sepang and he committed a near identical error (against the same driver) in Sakhir. This time, however, he struggled to maintain relevance and drifted into an anonymous midfield spot before his early exit. On the bright side, he kept up his 100% Q3 record.

12. Felipe Massa (up two spots)

As mentioned earlier, Williams experienced a reversal of the fortunes from the opening two races which cost them a shot at their first podium of the season. The lengthy SC probably didn’t play into their hands either but – like Force India – the order of their two drivers was almost dictated by strategy and undercutting, with both drivers from both teams getting an opportunity to be the ‘lead car’ at some point during the race. It was Massa who prevailed in the Williams battle (aided by a phenomenal start that saw him nullify Bottas’ quali advantage). Admittedly, the gap between the team-mates in the F1 Power Rankings is a tad harsh but we expect more from Massa – just as we do from Button against Magnussen.

=13. Romain Grosjean (down two spots) & Kimi Räikkönen (up two spots)

The former team-mates find themselves locked at no.13 this week after both experienced rather mixed weekends. Grosjean again made it into Q2 – edging out Pastor Maldonado by 0.009secs – and again ran rather competitively in the midfield (finishing less than two seconds behind Kvyat). However, he was involved in an opening lap incident with Jean-Éric Vergne, something that went largely unseen by cameras and thus I cannot necessarily place blame on either driver. Räikkönen managed to qualify four spots above Alonso but all his good work was nullified by the time the Ferraris reached Turn 1 and that was that.

Räikkönen has yet to get the better of Alonso on Sunday
Source: F1Fanatic

15. Jean-Éric Vergne (down four spots)

And speaking of the Grosjean/Vergne incident, here is JEV – sliding down to P15 in the rankings as he was outqualified by his teenage team-mate before his first-lap collision scuppered his Sunday chances. Again, despite Vergne’s radio protestations that “the Lotus guy tried to kill me” – it is difficult to fully assign blame without viewing the incident.

=16. Kamui Kobayashi (down three spots) & Max Chilton (up one spot)

KK was brought in to help Caterham beat Marussia in the standings and he certainly did that on Saturday evening. However, despite flirting with some of the more established midfield runners during the race, he surprisingly found himself having to save fuel after the safety car which ultimately allowed Max Chilton to steal 13^th position and vault Marussia back ahead of the arch-rivals.

18. Esteban Gutiérrez (up one spot)

Stevie G managed to make the front page of British newspapers on Monday. Unfortunately, it was due to his spectacular roll as he was flipped by a hapless Maldonado. Gutiérrez did make it into Q2 but that was the highlight of a dreadful weekend for Sauber.

Source: Getty Images

19. Jules Bianchi (up one spot)

So often in a ‘class-of-one’ last year in the backmarker battle last season, Bianchi’s tough start to 2014 continued as Adrian Sutil inexplicably shut the door on him as the Frenchman tried to overtake. Incredibly, the stewards deemed Bianchi at fault and, to make matters worse, gave him two penalty points (to go with the harsh two points from Sepang).

Bianchi was extremely unlucky to be penalized for this collision
Source: XPB (Auto Motor und Sport)

20. Marcus Ericsson (up one spot)

Such was the hectic action at the sharp end of the grid, we didn’t get to see much of the Caterham/Marussia battle. The two teams seemed fairly well matched on the Sakhir circuit but, unfortunately for the Swedish rookie, he was the odd-man-out as he failed to see the chequered flag. A clean weekend in a difficult situation, it’s the best he can hope for at present.

21. Adrian Sutil (down three spots) & 22. Pastor Maldonado (down six spots)

Halfway through the race, Sutil seemed nailed-on to be rock-bottom of this week’s F1 Power Rankings; he put a mystifying, outrageous block on Grosjean during qualifying (whilst exiting in Q1) before his aforementioned collision with Bianchi in the race. Then came Maldonado… Words can’t describe how poor this incident was. The Venezuelan has faced a lot of criticism for his place in F1 but I have largely backed him – his race victory a case point of his talents, and he had several strong runs in 2012. This incident was inexcusable, what exactly was he aiming to accomplish as he drove towards the first corner upon exiting the pits? For both drivers, it’s hugely surprising they don’t leave here with at least six penalty points, if not more.

All views expressed in this blog are my own and no copyright infringement is intended.

After Race 2: Malaysia

Three things in brief before we get going… 1) It was fantastic to see Petronas earn a 1-2 finish at their home race. In a similar way to Red Bull, they have invested heavily into Formula 1 over the past two decades, even through the tumultuous global recession. This is nothing less than they deserve. 2) We saw the first penalty points handed out this weekend and the first use of the five-second penalty. Generally, I felt the stewards called most decisions correctly and I enjoyed the use of the time penalty. However, I did feel that the awarding of penalty points seemed a tad harsh for the incidents in question. 3) It was incredibly hard to split the midfield in this week’s F1 Power Rankings, especially between eleventh and fifteenth.

All smiles as Mercedes AMG Petronas delivered on their potential
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas Facebook

1. Lewis Hamilton (up one spot)

With his Melbourne woes behind him, Lewis Hamilton roared to his first career Grand Chelem in his 131^st race (it was also the 100^th time he finished in the points). It was a dominant performance from the 29-year-old who was unchallenged on raceday, completing his first race distance in the 2014 car in the process.

 

We hadn't seen a smile on the Malaysian podium since 2012
Source: F1 Fanatic

2. Nico Rosberg (down one spot)

The world championship leader completed the Silver Arrows’ first 1-2 finish since 1955 as he enjoyed a second straight trouble-free weekend to start the new season. However, it will have not escaped his attention that in the three main sessions in which both Mercedes have completed (two qualifying sessions and one race), he has yet to beat his team-mate.

3. Daniil Kvyat (up one spot)

Kvyat continued his mightily impressive start to his F1 career with a second consecutive points finish. He also made it two-for-two in the ‘need a new front wing in qualifying’ after his contact with Fernando Alonso – which was correctly ruled as a racing incident. It has been a dream start for the Russian teenager. 

Kvyat continued his impressive start to the season
Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso Facebook

4. Nico Hülkenberg (up seven spots)

The Hulk is the big gainer this week after a superb top-five finish. I mentioned last week how his 11^th-placed ranking was probably a tad harsh (which was probably due to Force India being the weakest of the Merc teams) but he bounced back to finish well over half-a-minute ahead of any other non-works Mercedes-powered car. He was also the only driver other than Lewis Hamilton lead part of the race (even if it was for only a couple of miles and not over the start/finish line – hence the Grand Chelem stands). 

The Hulk had a fantastic weekend
Source: Sahara Force India Facebook

5. Sebastian Vettel (up seven spots)

I had initially placed Seb in P7 but felt he was ultimately in better shape than those he edged out; Vettel almost stole pole position before taking a solid podium finish – even if his feathers were ruffled on the opening lap by his team-mate! He will have gained satisfaction at re-asserting his status in the team as he comfortably ran ahead of Daniel Ricciardo thereafter, not to mention the immense progress Red Bull have made since testing.

6. Fernando Alonso (up three spots)

I’ve been watching F1 for the best part of two decades and never have I been so flabbergasted by the repairing of a car: the Ferrari mechanics did an unbelievable job fixing the broken suspension on Alonso’s car in qualifying after the Kvyat tangle. Even taking into account the red flag, such a speedy repair is simply unheard of! A rather lonely race ensued on Sunday as he cruised to fourth place; Maranello still have lots of work to do. 

The Ferrari mechanics service Alonso on Sunday - one day after completing a stunning suspension repair
Source: Scuderia Ferrari Facebook

7. Daniel Ricciardo (down one spot)

It was almost a case of déjà-vu for the Aussie as happiness once again turned to despair on raceday. As mentioned earlier, he made a terrifically bold start to overtake his team-mate before he eventually gave way and settled into a comfortable fourth position until one catastrophe after another befell him as he made his final pit-stop, culminating in a ten-place grid penalty for Bahrain – which I felt was somewhat harsh. Some people criticized the stop/go penalty as they felt Ricciardo himself should not have been penalized. Frankly, you win as a team and you lose as a team and that penalty was correct – no-one wants to see a repeat of Mark Webber’s wheel flying down the pit lane.

8. Valtteri Bottas (down three spots)

Another mixed weekend for Bottas, who again needed to fight his way through the field to score points. I initially had him pegged to stay in P5 but, ultimately, his horrific blocking on Daniel Ricciardo rightly earned him a grid penalty and he also became the first driver to receive penalty points on his license. His Sunday performance was excellent, however, and only the disobedience of team orders prevented him from finishing even higher (more on that later).

9. Kevin Magnussen (down six spots)

It was always going to be a tall order for K-Mag to repeat his Melbourne heroics and he takes a bit of a tumble down the F1 Power Rankings. However, he once again outqualified his team-mate and recovered strongly after his early contact with Kimi Räikkönen (another penalty the stewards called correctly). Rookie mistakes will happen but Magnussen showed fantastic resilience.

*His five-second penalty was deserved, the penalty points maybe not so much 

Seconds from disaster...
Source: ESPN/Sutton

10. Jenson Button (no change)

 No change for JB as his solid start to the season continued. He’ll be happy to have overtaken his rookie team-mate in the standings although the 2009 champion will be disheartened at just how far behind the top five he finished.

11. Romain Grosjean (up six spots) & Jean-Éric Vergne (down three spots)

It was fantastic to see Lotus finally complete a race distance after their disastrous pre-season. There’ll be a mixture of agony and ecstasy as they ran competitively in the midfield all afternoon but also came up just short of scoring an astonishing point – despite having a multitude of problems on Friday. Given how far they are behind the rest of the field in terms of mileage and understanding of setups etc, there is reason to believe that this car is a podium-contender once they iron out all the issues (which included an inexplicable diffuser problem in the closing stages). It will have also given the team immense satisfaction to have halted Räikkönen’s charge through the field.

JEV again made Q3 before his race was effectively over within a few metres. His Renault power unit struggled to get going and he was then caught up in the turn 4 incident before his eventual (and expected) early exit.

13. Kamui Kobayashi (up three spots)

A fine weekend for KK as he put the disappointment of his first-corner Melbourne exit behind him with a strong run to 13^th. Kobayashi will need to lead the team this season and he did an excellent job of keeping his nose clean and maximizing the car’s potential. However, I still feel that both Caterham and Marussia should be closer to the rest of the field and not simply guaranteed weekly Q1 exits. Given how 2014 was very much a ‘start from scratch’ situation, the opportunity was there but, ultimately, the costs of implementing the changes was arguably greater than ever – neutralizing the chance they had to gain ground.

14. Felipe Massa (down seven spots)

Williams again will be disappointed at not having maximized their potential as another rain-affected quali set the tone for their weekend. Both drivers methodically rose through the field but one driver was quicker than the other. Bottas repeatedly pleaded his case to the team and Massa was told to move over but nothing happened. Massa has spent the majority of his career playing second fiddle and he was not about to let a sophomore driver gain a critical mental advantage. Just like Vettel last year, Massa ignored the orders (although, funnily enough, they didn’t cause quite as much fuss). He needs to thrash Bottas in Bahrain.

 

Team orders were again disobeyed in Malaysia as Felipe stood firm
Source: Williams Martini Racing

15. Kimi Räikkönen (down three spots)

The Iceman’s dismal start to the season continues although he was at least significantly more competitive in Sepang than he was in Melbourne. However, despite some promising practice times, he was outqualified by Alonso and then had his race ruined by Magnussen. On the bright side, Ferrari have shown good reliability so far.

16. Pastor Maldonado (up one spot)

A short and not-so-sweet race for Maldonado but he does manage to gain a spot in the F1 Power Rankings. He was the innocent victim in the JEV/Bianchi turn 4 crash before his power unit encountered problems early on. As mentioned earlier, there is still reason for optimism at Lotus and they will continue to work their way up the field.

17. Max Chilton (down three spots)

21 races in F1, 21 finishes for Max Chilton: sums him up perfectly, generally keeps his nose clean and reaches the end of the race. A race-long battle with Marcus Ericsson saw him finish an agonizing 0.1secs behind the Swede.

18. Adrian Sutil (down three spots) & 19. Esteban Gutiérrez (up three spots)

Sauber’s shaky start to the season is reminiscent of last season and they can only hope that they manage to once again turn it around. They admitted their car is overweight and, unlike Australia where they got both cars to the finish, the gremlins reared the heads today as neither Sauber finished a race for the first time since Monza 2011. Credit Gutiérrez for his fine job in quali but both drivers had rather anonymous races in the lower midfield. 

Sauber have endured a tough start to the new season
Source: Sauber F1 Team Facebook

20. Jules Bianchi (no change)

Another difficult weekend for young Jules; while he did manage to outqualify his perennial backmarker rivals, his race ended at turn 4. The stewards handed JB two penalty points which was perhaps a tad harsh. He crashed into Maldonado as a result of a puncture earned from contact with JEV. However, the opposing argument is that Bianchi wandered across into Vergne’s path far too prematurely.

21. Marcus Ericsson (no change)

Ericsson recovered well after his qualifying crash and edged out Chilton in the battle to avoid last place on Sunday; job well done.

 

Ericsson's crash brought Q1 to an early end
Source: BBC

22. Sergio Pérez (down three spots)

Checo’s anonymous start to the season continued although we did see more of him on Sunday than we did in Melbourne – unfortunately it was just shots of him in his civvies as his Force India conked out before the race. Thrashed by Hülkenberg in quali again, things can only get better.

All views expressed in this blog are my own and no copyright infringement is intended.