Tags: F1
Drivers-v-Constructors: The Imbalance of F1
July 25th, 2005, by Rich.
The battle for the 2005 F1 Drivers Championship looks like it’s a two horse race, but so far, one of the horses is getting all the luck. The table presented here compares the relative preformance of 2005’s two top drivers, as well as a providing an alternative (speculative) championship score that takes account of car failure. The table shows that the current second place driver, Kimi Raikkonen, could easily have found himself in the top spot had his car been more reliable. It also highlights that the two championships (one for drivers and one for constructors) have a scoring system that penalises drivers for their team’s poor reliability, but is more forgiving of the teams.
|
Official Championship
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Race Points
|
Accumulated Points
|
|||||
|
#
|
Location
|
Alonso
|
Raikkonen |
Alonso
|
Raikkonen | Difference |
| 1 | Australia |
6
|
1
|
6
|
1
|
+5
|
| 2 | Malaysia |
10
|
0
|
16
|
1
|
+15
|
| 3 | Bahrain |
10
|
6
|
26
|
7
|
+19
|
| 4 | San Marino |
10
|
0
|
36
|
7
|
+29
|
| 5 | Spain |
8
|
10
|
44
|
17
|
+27
|
| 6 | Monaco |
5
|
10
|
49
|
27
|
+22
|
| 7 | European |
10
|
0
|
59
|
27
|
+32
|
| 8 | Canadian |
0
|
10
|
59
|
37
|
+22
|
| 9 | USA |
0
|
0
|
59
|
37
|
+22
|
| 10 | France |
10
|
8
|
69
|
45
|
+24
|
| 11 | British |
8
|
6
|
77
|
51
|
+26
|
| 12 | Germany |
10
|
0
|
87
|
51
|
+36
|
| 13 | Hungary |
0
|
10
|
87
|
61
|
+26
|
| 14 | Turkey |
8
|
10
|
95
|
71
|
+24
|
| 15 | Italy |
8
|
5
|
103
|
76
|
+27
|
| 16 | Belgium |
8
|
10
|
111
|
86
|
+25
|
| 17 | Brazil |
6
|
8
|
117
|
94
|
+23
|
| 18 | Japan |
6
|
10
|
123
|
104
|
+19
|
| 19 | China |
10
|
8
|
133
|
112
|
+21
|
The first table shows the current, official standings in the drivers championship, as of every race so far, alonso hs led Raikkonen. The table tat follows details the luck that has befallen these two drivers. It would appear that due to reliability issues, Raikonnen could be considered to have had significantly worse luck than Alsonso, who seems to be experiencing a charmed season: or to put it another way, his car has good reliability, so well done Renault.
| Speculative Result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Location |
Alonso
|
Raikonnen
|
|
| 1 | Australia |
6
|
1
|
Result stands. |
| 2 | Malaysia |
10
|
8
|
Raikonnen tyre valve failure. 2nd behind Alonso a probability. |
| 3 | Bahrain |
10
|
6
|
Result stands. |
| 4 | San Marino |
8
|
10
|
Raikkonnen’s left drive shaft failes after 9 laps - win likely. |
| 5 | Spain |
8
|
10
|
Result stands. |
| 6 | Monaco |
5
|
10
|
Result stands. |
| 7 | European |
8
|
10
|
Raikonnen’s tyre spectacularly delaminates & suspension fails 1 lap from winning. |
| 8 | Canadian |
0
|
8
|
Alonso hits the wall, Montoya dominant but black flagged, so 2nd not 1st.. |
| 9 | USA |
0
|
0
|
Six cars raced. |
| 10 | France |
8
|
10
|
Engine failure, Raikonnen -10 grid places. |
| 11 | British |
10
|
8
|
Engine failure, Raikonnen -10 grid places, again. |
| 12 | Germany |
8
|
10
|
Raikonnen engine fails, clearly leading race. |
| 13 | Hungary |
0
|
8
|
Montoya’s car failed (again) from P1, Fisichella’s poor result was due to a racing indicent with 3rd place Ralph Schumacher on the opening lap & not a car failure, so no spec. points. |
| 14 | Turkey |
6
|
10
|
Montoya in 2nd with 2 laps to go is taken off by a Jordan, removing his 20 second lead on Alonso |
| 15 | Italy (Monza) |
6
|
10
|
Kimi qualifies on Pole, with 4 laps more fuel (approx 1 second in laptime), but has (yet another) engine change which drops him to 11th. Alonso didn’t trouble Montoya’s win. |
| 16 | Belgium |
8
|
10
|
Montoya’s suspension goes to pieces and he exits from a strong second place near the end of the race, mitigated by the fact that Fisichella’s engine penalty all but removed him from the equation - so the result stands. |
| 17 | Brazil |
6
|
8
|
Alonso settles for 3rd and the championship - dull race - result stands. |
| 18 | Japan |
6
|
10
|
Raikkonen drops 10 places on the grid due to an engine change, and still wins. |
| 19 | China |
10
|
8
|
Safety (for manole cover) car stymies McLaren strategy, but result stands. |
The final table brings these speculative results together and illustrates that if reliability issues were removed from the drivers championship, then the drivers standings would be significantly different; with Raikkonen leading Alonso.
Compare the speculative points-difference with the real points-difference, the swing is surprisingly large.
|
Speculative Championship
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Race Points
|
Accumulated Points
|
|||||
|
#
|
Location
|
Alonso
|
Raikkonen |
Alonso
|
Raikkonen | Difference |
| 1 | Australia |
6
|
1
|
6
|
1
|
+5
|
| 2 | Malaysia |
10
|
8
|
16
|
9
|
+7
|
| 3 | Bahrain |
10
|
6
|
26
|
15
|
+11
|
| 4 | San Marino |
8
|
10
|
32
|
25
|
+7
|
| 5 | Spain |
8
|
10
|
40
|
35
|
+5
|
| 6 | Monaco |
5
|
10
|
45
|
45
|
+0
|
| 7 | European |
8
|
10
|
55
|
55
|
+0
|
| 8 | Canadian |
0
|
8
|
55
|
63
|
-8
|
| 9 | USA |
0
|
0
|
55
|
63
|
-8
|
| 10 | France |
8
|
10
|
63
|
73
|
-10
|
| 11 | British |
10
|
8
|
69
|
81
|
-12
|
| 12 | Germany |
8
|
10
|
77
|
91
|
-14
|
| 13 | Hungary |
0
|
8
|
77
|
99
|
-22
|
| 14 | Turkey |
6
|
10
|
83
|
109
|
-26
|
| 15 | Italy |
6
|
10
|
89
|
119
|
-30
|
| 16 | Belgium |
8
|
10
|
97
|
129
|
-32
|
| 17 | Brazil |
6
|
8
|
103
|
137
|
-34
|
| 18 | Japan |
6
|
10
|
109
|
147
|
-38
|
| 19 | China |
10
|
8
|
119
|
155
|
-36
|
Understanding the tables: An Example
As of race 12 in Germany, the gap at the front of the Drivers Championship is 36 points, but the gap at the top of the Constructors Championship is only 22 points (Renault on 117 ahead of McLaren-Mercedes on 95) . A child can do the maths and tell you that the constructors championship is closer than the driver’s, yet it’s the drivers championship that is most adversely affected by reliability issues: because the loss of the car for a driver affects 100% of their points earning potential, but only 50% for the constructor. In terms of percentages, the gap in the constructors championship is also smaller - a bad race for Renault against a a McLaren one-two would reduce the constructors gap to 4 points, but on the same weekend the best Raikonnen could hope for would be to reduce gap from 36 to 26 points - in this case that’s an 82% improvement for the team but only a 28% improvement for the driver.
To see how this situation affects drivers, imagine McLaren are running P1+P2 (18points) and Renault are in P3+P4 (11 points). If the lead McLaren fails, then instead of gaining a 7 points they lose 4 points to Renault.
From the driver’s perspective, say it’s the lead car that falls off the road (and for argument’s sake lets say it’s Kimi with Fernando in third place). Kimi only stood to pull out a 4 point lead over Fernando before his exit, but if his car fails he loses 8 points.
So it’s harder to gain points and easier to lose them in the Driver’s Championship, and critically, reliability affects the Driver’s Championship more than it affects the Constructors Championship, so the drivers championship is won by reliability not speed.
Drivers Championship Reform
For the reasons outlined above I’d strongly support reform to the driver’s championship.
Several alternatives spring to mind:
- Perhaps a return to the old system where a driver could discard his worst three results from the season.
- Alternatively, a penalty system could be introduced where the constructor is docked points for failing to complete a race due to hardware malfunction; however such a rule might be difficult to enforce, so a nice combination of the two might be if the constructor was forced to discard their three best results, which would then require them to strongly favour reliability over absolute top speed, this would help to equalise the cars and put the race-winning emphasis back onto the driver.
If you have any observations about any of the races that could help improve my specluative table, or ideas about how the drivers championship could be made more reflective of the on-track results, then please chip in on the comment form below, there’s bound to be bit’s that I’ve missed or not accounted for yet…
