What's The Points - Abu Dhabi Update

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
    What’s The Points – Canada Update
    What’s The Points – Valencia Update
    What’s The Points – Great Britain Update
    What’s The Points – Germany Update
    What’s The Points – Hungary Update
    What’s The Points – Belgium Update
    What’s The Points – Italy Update
    What’s The Points – Singapore Update
    What’s The Points – Japan Update
    What’s The Points – Korea Update
    What’s The Points – Brazil 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 count-back.

1		Vettel		256		Vettel		104		Vettel		84
2		Alonso		252		Alonso		101		Alonso		81
3		Webber		242		Hamilton		100		Webber		76
4		Hamilton		240		Webber		97		Hamilton		74
5		Button		214		Button		87		Button		61
6		Massa		144		Massa		57		Massa		36
7		Rosberg		142		Rosberg		55		Rosberg		28
8		Kubica		136		Kubica		52		Kubica		26
9		Schumacher		72		Schumacher		25		Schumacher		11
10		Barrichello		47		Barrichello		15		Barrichello		6

As the concept of this points comparison is to highlight the differences thrown up, the previous two races have been a bit depressing with both finishing with top-ten orders unaffected by the points regime employed. It was always unlikely the different systems would differ in which driver would have become ‘Champion, but at least a little variation appears at the last gasp with Hamilton third over Webber under last year’s points as opposed to Mark having the advantage of Lewis by this year’s points and by 10-6-4-3-2-1. Hamilton on the fifteen occasions he scored this season always did so within the top-six, but falls behind the Australian driver by this season’s points because Webber took three eighths and a ninth which are proportionally given greater reward than before, and under 10-6-4-3-2-1, Mark gains the advantage because he took more wins and podiums than Hamilton with more reward for outright results.

This is the order purely on count-back.

		Wins	Seconds	Thirds	Podiums
1	Vettel	5	2	3	10
2	Alonso	5	2	3	10
3	Webber	4	4	2	10
4	Hamilton	3	5	1	9
5	Button	2	3	2	7
6	Massa		2	3	5
7	Kubica		1	2	3
8	Rosberg			3	3

Vettel had more fourth-places than Alonso so would have won also under this scheme (and the medal system proposed by Uncle Bernie with the title won by most wins with points to separate any ties). As before, Rosberg’s consistency did one place better over Kubica under points than count-back.

Alonso (as I did) premised that the title would go to the driver with the most podiums, but failed to make top-three in Abu Dhabi to give himself the eleventh podium that would have won the title. In retrospect, it was decided by which driver had the most top-fours, with Alonso losing by four points and a fourth-place worth twelve points (or six points more than he got in the race for seventh).

These are the points if given to engines:

	Engine	Score		Average per Team
1	Mercedes	736		245·3
2	Renault	661		330·5
3	Ferrari	453		151·7
4	Cosworth	69		17·3

Renault scored 47 with the new World Champion’s race-win supplemented by points-finishes for Kubica, Petrov, and Webber. Mercedes had second, third, fourth with the two McLarens and Rosberg, scoring 45. Ferrari’s best finish was Alonso’s seventh-place with Alguersuari and Massa taking the last two points-places, giving only nine points. Cosworth did not score.

The scores by nationality of drivers are:

	Nation	Points	Scoring Drivers
1	Germany	545	6
2	Britain	454	2
3	Spain	263	3
4	Australia	242	1
5	Brazil	191	2
6	Poland	136	1
7	Japan	32	1
8	Russia	27	1
9	Italy	21	1
10	Switzerland	8	1

Germany already had this one in the proverbial bag, 37 points for the win and Rosberg’s fourth-place just rubbing it in. Britain defended with the remaining podium places for 33. Kubica’s fifth added ten for Poland. Petrov’s eight points for sixth saw Russia gain a place to eighth overall. Both current Spanish drivers, Alonso and Alguersuari, scored, totaling eight points. Webber took four points for Australia, and Massa one point for Brazil.

This is the Nations’ Cup only counting the score of the highest driver in a race for each country. I have also decided to use 10-6-4-3-2-1, partly because I think it a better scoring regime, partly because it meant less work. Thus, for example, the McLaren 1-2 in China would give Britain 10 points for the win, nothing for second, and Rosberg’s third place would give Germany 4 points, with nothing for Vettel’s sixth place.

	Nation	Points
1	Britain	103
2	Germany	100
3	Spain	81
4	Australia	76
5	Brazil	42
6	Poland	26
7	Russia	3
8	Japan	1
9	Italy	1

With Vettel’s late season surge and McLaren’s slump, Britain’s lead was diminishing but Lewis’s second-place in Abu Dhabi was enough to win this despite Vettel’s race-victory. The next scoring driver was Kubica for fifth (Poland) followed by Russian driver Petrov.

This next table shows the standings based on qualification using current points.

1	Vettel	384
2	Webber	336
3	Alonso	232
4	Hamilton	222
5	Button	146
6	Massa	142
7	Kubica	122
8	Rosberg	121
9	Barrichello	58
10	Schumacher	56
11	Hülkenberg	49
12	Sutil	21
13	Petrov	11
14	Liuzzi	10
15	Kobayashi	5
16	de la Rosa	4

Vettel took his tenth pole of the season. Robert Kubica failed to make Q3 for the only time this season, so only the two Red Bull drivers were top-ten (indeed top-six) for every race. Button qualified fourth, two places ahead of Massa, to take fifth-place off the Brazilian. Barrichello before Abu Dhabi was tied with Schumacher, behind on count-back, but Rubens qualified seventh, two places ahead of his ex-Ferrari team-mate, to grab ninth overall. Petrov qualified tenth, edging his team-mate out of Q3 and taking 13th-place off Liuzzi..

The drivers not to have made Q3 at any point this season include the new-team drivers, Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi, and Nick Heidfeld.

These are the fastest-lap points with the number of outright fastest laps in brackets.

1	Webber	267	(3)
2	Alonso	248	(5)
3	Vettel	236	(3)
4	Hamilton	231	(5)
5	Button	157	(1)
6	Kubica	138	(1)
7	Massa	122
8	Rosberg	120
9	Schumacher	72
10	Petrov	63	(1)
11	Barrichello	54
12	Sutil	46
13	Buemi	43
14	Alguersuari	39
15	Liuzzi	26
16	Kobayashi	25
17	Hülkenberg	21
18	de la Rosa	9
19	Heidfeld	2

The top-five in this discipline in Brazil were Hamilton, Button, Rosberg, Vettel, and Kubica. No changes in overall position.

This is the Super-Championship position, adding up the scores for the World Championship, qualification, and fastest-laps. In brackets are the total number of wins, poles, and outright fastest-laps.

1	Vettel	876	(18)
2	Webber	845	(12)
3	Alonso	732	(12)
4	Hamilton	693	(9)
5	Button	517	(3)
6	Massa	408
7	Kubica	396	(1)
8	Rosberg	383
9	Schumacher	200
10	Barrichello	159
11	Sutil	114
12	Petrov	101	(1)
13	Hülkenberg	92	(1)
14	Kobayashi	62
15	Liuzzi	57
16	Buemi	51
17	Alguersuari	44
18	de la Rosa	19
19	Heidfeld	8

Click here to see my Google documents laps-and-distance-completed spreadsheet.

See also RG’s final update for his championship for new teams.

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