Otay, as I've already mentioned 'bout being late to
thee party once again... As typical here
in Nofendersville, this tiny story mushroomed into a three-part harmony, albeit
I doubt any of our lowest three ranked Constructors are singing in harmony,
with the exception of Marussia currently punching above its perceived weight!
And hence, here goes with some very brief first-half 2014 F1 season
assessments, albeit technically just past the half-way mark, having compiled results thru the Hungarian Grand
Prix...
(9) MARUSSIA
Engine: Ferrari
Points: 2
(Car #/Driver/Country/Points)
4. Max Chilton; Great Britain: 0
17. Jules Bianchi; France: 2-points
Races :
Rounds 1-11
Bianchi) 18/R; 19/R; 20/16; 19/18; 19/18;
19/9; 19/R; 19/15; 12/14; 18/15; 16/15.
Chilton) 17/13; 21/15; 22/13; 21/19; 18/19;
20/14; 18/R; 21/17; 13/16; 21/17; 19/16.
Head-to-Head
Qualifying = Bianchi 8-3.
Race = Bianchi 7-3.
(* = 1-Double Retirement)
What can I say 'bout my sentimental
Back-marker team, especially having become the first of the two remaining 2010
F1 series 'Newbies to "Break their 'Duck" and finally score their
debutant Grand Prix points after four-plus years of frustration! Even if Jules Bianchi, whose one of my favourite
newcomers massively utilized "The Chrome Horn" treatment upon his
competitors, most notably arch nemesis Constructor Caterhams "K-Squared"
(Kamui Kobayashi) in order to score
a Top-10 finish in thy Principality, nee Monaco...
Yet team-mate Max Chilton is no slouch, even
if being outperformed by Monsieur Bianchi, as the Briton has a massive tally of
finishing races, as both drivers are surely doing the best with the sluggish
Ferrari PU, albeit, probably ranking
second out of the three current engine manufacturers supplying the grid with
this year's overly complex Power Units.
Thus will this Minnowesqe Constructor be able
to cling onto its lofty ninth place points standing? And will Bianchi manage to
score any further points? Only time will
tell, obviously...
(10) SAUBER
Engine: Ferrari
Points: 0
Drivers
21. Esteban Gutierrez; Mexico: 0
99. Adrian Sutil; Germany: 0
Races : Rounds
1-11
Gutierrez) 19/12; 12/R; 15/R; 18/16; 14/16;
17/R; 22#/14; 18/19; 14/R; 14/14; 14/R.
Sutil) 14/11; 18/R; 18/R; 14/R; 17/17; 18/R;
16/13; 17/13; 16/13; 17/R; 12/11.
Head-to-Head
Qualifying = Gutierrez
6-5.
Race = Sutil 5-3*.
(* = 3-Double Retirements)
Really not sure what's happened to this long
established mid-field team this year, who are without doubt the second biggest disappointment
on the grid after the Lotus F1 concern. As how galling must it be for this once
proud F1 Constructor to be trailing the much smaller, and presumably lesser(?)
funded Marussia team, whom also utilize the Ferrari powertrain in the back half
of its recalcitrant (Sauber) C33 chassis.
As
surely Adrian Sutil has to consider this season to be somewhat of a
nightmare, especially with the fact that it appears that his younger Mexican
team-mate Esteban Gutierrez has apparently
gotten the upper-hand upon him somewhat in regards to their intra-squad scrum so far.
thus, obviously about the only bright spot the Himwil based squad can hope for is
to somehow springboard ahead of that
pesky Russian-flagged concern Marussia in the battle for ninth place in this
year's Constructors points standings...
(11) CATERHAM
Engine: Renault
Points: 0
Drivers
9.
R-Marcus Ericsson; Sweden: 0
10. Kamui Kobayashi;
Japan: 0
(R = Rookie)
Races :
Rounds 1-11
Kobayashi) 15/R; 20/13; 19/15; 18/17; 21/R;
21/13; 20/R; 20/16; 22/15; 20/16; 18/R.
Ericsson)
20/R; 22/14; 21/R; 20/20; 20/20;
22/11; 21/R; 22/18; 21/R; 22#/18; 20/R.
(# = No Time)
Head-to-Head
Qualifying = Kobayashi
9-2.
Race = Kobayashi 6-2*.
(* = 3-Double Retirements)
Really cannot be too shocked over Caterham's
woeful performance this year, as I'm more disappointed by Tony Fernandes's
decision to cut 'N run instead of building his team into a winner - having
decided to sell his Formula 1 team to a bunch of mysterious Swiss-Middle East
money men...
As for the 3-way Rookie battle so far,
Sweden's Marcus Ericsson seems completely off the radar map thanks in large
part to the disappointing season Caterham's having, largely due to the
downtrodden Reggie' (Renault) Power Unit's apparent lack of pace - with Seb'
Vettel going so far as to mention how they're lacking on the "easy
part," nee straights, which is a subtle way of saying that the Renault's
are currently lacking horsepower!
And thus, with no disrespect to Ericsson, I'm
not overly surprised that he's being upstaged by his veteran team-mate
"K-Squared," (Kamui Kobayashi)
who's got experience as a Formula 1
driver, including seat-time with the ex-Toyota F1 works effort.
Hence, it'll be interesting to see how much surgery
Dr. Colin Kolles can perform on the last place Constructor, having installed
his former driver Christijan
Albers as the team's principal, along with the continuous
axing of staff, with accusations of sue v counter-sue having been the latest
headlines concerning the Leafield-squad, in regards to forty employees having
been given their pink-slips! Yet on the positive side, now comes word that a
serious technical upgrade is on the way, possibly as early as Spa, to which
hopefully will improve the struggling
team's performance...
DISCLAIMER
No
Fenders is NOT responsible for ANY
Statistical Anomalies/Mistakes, albeit I've compiled the following information
by painstakingly reviewing each 'N every Qualifying & Race Results to the
best of my ability - simply for use in this story...