(I have purchased a replacement computer. Heaven knows how many hours I have taken, and still need to take to get it how the last one was. I installed my old hard-drive into the new PC as a secondary drive to transfer my files, only to be denied access to them as I had used a password on my last machine! By the time I had worked out how to hack my own hard-drive, and gone through a very laborious process to do so, that was half-a-day lost. So sorry for being a week late.)
Previous entries:
What’s The Points
What’s The Points – China Update
What’s The Points – Spain Update
What’s The Points – Monaco Update
What’s The Points – Turkey Update
Below is a comparison of the World Championship positions for this year’s points (left), last year’s points-system (middle) and the older 10-6-4-3-2-1 approach (right). Ties are decided by countback.
| 1 | Hamilton | 109 | Hamilton | 44 | Button | 34 | ||||||
| 2 | Button | 106 | Button | 43 | Hamilton | 34 | ||||||
| 3 | Webber | 103 | Webber | 40 | Webber | 32 | ||||||
| 4 | Alonso | 94 | Alonso | 38 | Alonso | 27 | ||||||
| 5 | Vettel | 90 | Vettel | 37 | Vettel | 27 | ||||||
| 6 | Rosberg | 74 | Kubica | 29 | Kubica | 16 | ||||||
| 7 | Kubica | 73 | Rosberg | 29 | Rosberg | 15 | ||||||
| 8 | Massa | 67 | Massa | 26 | Massa | 14 | ||||||
| 9 | Schumacher | 34 | Schumacher | 13 | Schumacher | 7 | ||||||
| 10 | Sutil | 23 | Sutil | 7 | Sutil | 2 |
The positions under all points-systems are similar, including that the top-five are separated by less than the points for a win. Hamilton’s second win in two races has him join Jenson and Mark on two victories. Webber drops from first to third in all three systems with the McLaren drivers 1-2 all round.
Nico Rosberg gains a position by this year’s points. He seems a very consistent driver, although it is difficult to tell if that is consistent-good or consistent-mediocre. Apart from thirteenth after a troubled race in Spain, Nico has finished 3rd to 7th in every other race. Last season, there were six winners and thirteen drivers that managed podiums. Rosberg had eight finishes in 4th, 5th or 6th, all the other races he was 8th or worse, and was seventh in points at the end of the season. Of course, his team-mate, Michael Schumacher, is an uncertain benchmark. In his debut season at Williams, Rosberg was partnered with Mark Webber, getting four points to the Australian’s seven, which is not that indicative either. It will be interesting if finally we see Rosberg in a fast team against an established talent.
Massa fell back with his fifteenth place. This is the first time this season he has finished outside the top nine. Webber remains the only driver to have scored every race this season with ninth or better. Red Bull have been fastest most the season and Mark has had the reliability, but poor performances in the first two GPs have let him down.
These are the points if given to engines:
| 1 | Mercedes | 358 |
| 2 | Renault | 272 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 170 |
| 4 | Cosworth | 8 |
McLaren beat RBR with Mercedes having Rosberg and both Force Indias also in the points. Kubica managed seventh for Renault but Petrov had a stinker. Fernando made the podium and Buemi contributed 4 points with a season-best eighth but Ferrari are blighted by two weak customer teams. Cosworth did not get any points.
The top six scores by nationality of drivers are:
| Nation | Points | Scoring Drivers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 222 | 5 |
| 2 | Britain | 215 | 2 |
| 3 | Australia | 103 | 1 |
| 4 | Spain | 97 | 2 |
| 5 | Brazil | 74 | 2 |
| 6 | Poland | 73 | 1 |
With Vettel, Rosberg and Schumacher, plus Sutil and Hulkenberg chipping in, Germany looked to be strong in this competition, but a second consecutive British one-two has slashed the lead by 22 points to just seven. Brazil look under danger from Poland with Massa and Barrichello both having a bad time in Canada.
See also RG’s Canada update for his championship for new teams.
