Raikkonen makes biggest gain so far as McLaren slump

Kimi Raikkonen has made the biggest gain in his points tally over the first four races compared to the same period last year.

The Lotus driver, who won the season-opening race in Melbourne, is second in the drivers’ championship with 33 points more than he had this time last year.

Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel are the only other drivers to have posted double-digit gains in their points tallies so far.

Fernando Alonso’s retirement in Malaysia and DRS problems in Bahrain mean he has added just four points over his 2012 total at this point, despite the disadvantage had in these races last year with a less competitive car.

In the constructors’ championship, McLaren’s difficulties with their MP4-28 has wiped 69 points off their points tally compared with this time last year, at which time they were second in the standings.

Sauber are also enduring a difficult start to the season off the back of a strong 2012.

See how all the drivers and teams compared against their 2012 performance after four races in these tables:

Drivers’ championship points

Pos.	Driver	Points	vs. 2012
1	Sebastian Vettel	77	+24
2	Kimi Raikkonen	67	+33
3	Lewis Hamilton	50	+1
4	Fernando Alonso	47	+4
5	Mark Webber	32	-16
6	Felipe Massa	30	+28
7	Romain Grosjean	26	+3
8	Paul di Resta	20	+5
9	Nico Rosberg	14	-21
10	Jenson Button	13	-30
11	Sergio Perez	10	-12
12	Adrian Sutil	6	n/a
13	Daniel Ricciardo	6	+4
14	Nico Hulkenberg	5	+3
15	Jean-Eric Vergne	1	-3
16	Valtteri Bottas	0	n/a
17	Pastor Maldonado	0	-4
18	Esteban Gutierrez	0	n/a
19	Jules Bianchi	0	n/a
20	Charles Pic	0	n/a
21	Giedo van der Garde	0	n/a
22	Max Chilton	0	n/a

Constructors’ championship points

Pos.	Team	Points	vs. 2012
1	Red Bull	109	+8
2	Lotus	93	+36
3	Ferrari	77	+32
4	Mercedes	64	+27
5	Force India	26	+9
6	McLaren	23	-69
7	Toro Rosso	7	+1
8	Sauber	5	-26
9	Williams	0	-18
10	Marussia	0	0
11	Caterham	0	0

Bob Fernley will bring his experience as former deputy team principal at Force India F1 to McLaren Racing’s IndyCar effort in 2019.

Fernley will report directly to McLaren Racing’s CEO Zak Brown.

“Heading back to the Brickyard will be a very special experience for me,” Fernley said at IndyCar.com. “I am proud to be leading this McLaren project and team. The 500 is a hell of a challenge and we have incredibly strong competitors to overcome if we’re to be successful. We will need to prepare well for the month of May and that work starts now.”

Fernley’s appointing come of the heels of last week’s announcement that McLaren will create a brand new team to compete in the 2019 Indy 500.

MORE: Fernando Alonso to return to Indy 500 in 2019

For now, Fernley’s responsibility is to create an entry that is capable of allowing two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso to win the Indy 500 in just his second start. But speculation has been widespread that the entry will be a jumping off point for a much broader involvement in IndyCar.

In 2017, Alonso qualified on the middle of row two (fifth), led 27 laps and succumbed to mechanical failure. His effort was impressive enough to be name Rookie of the Year for the Indy 500.

“Bob is a fantastic operator and someone I respect greatly,” Brown said. “His experience and leadership will be essential for us on this project. He is particularly talented at putting effective teams together and extracting maximum performance with finite resources. The Indy 500 is no easy race and Bob’s is a key role, so I’m delighted he’s on board.”