Ferrari playing with numbers

The second half of the season begins with a run of three Grands Prix in four weeks. In the next two days, Scuderia Ferrari personnel will head off for the English round, as the renovated Silverstone hosts the British Grand Prix. After that it will be time for the Nurburgring and Budapest, prior to the summer break.

Therefore this is the right time to take stock and we have compared this season with last year’s. Playing with the numbers leads to some interesting curiosities. First of all an explanation of the methodology applied to the data: we have taken the performance of the top six drivers and the first three teams in the current classification, looking at the same eight races run in 2011 and 2010, therefore leaving out the Bahrain Grand Prix, which last year kicked off the season with a fantastic one-two finish for Ferrari.

Obviously, the figure that really stands out is the difference in performance from Sebastian Vettel, who last year had scored 103 points, whereas today, he has 186 to his name. However, who would have thought that second in terms of having made progress from last year to this is Fernando Alonso (+16, from 71 to 87,) followed by Mark Webber (+10, from 99 to 109.) The other three drivers are doing less well now than in 2010: Jenson Button (-6, from 115 to 109,) Felipe Massa (-7, from 49 to 42) and Lewis Hamilton (-15, from 112 to 97.) In the team classification, Red Bull has improved by 93 and Ferrari by 9, whereas McLaren has gone down (-21) and in terms of podium finishes, the reigning champions have improved both in terms of quantity (+4) and quality (+2 wins) on last year. Ferrari is numerically the same (three podiums with an increase in second places from one to two,) while McLaren are down by three, with their win tally halved.

Clearly, these comparisons are just an arithmetical exercise and they do not take into account the current hierarchy and the true levels of competitiveness between the cars, however they are cause for thought. Knowing how the second half of 2010 evolved, one could say that not all is lost, but one has to be realistic and keep one’s feet on the ground. What is certain is that the numbers are useful for putting things in perspective.