Formula One is through the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix, the 11th round of the season, and now hits the three-week summer break.
The Hungarian GP sent the 2013 season into its summer break a year ago as the 10th round of the year – Austria was added for 2014 to add the extra round.
Anyway that in mind, this offers a golden opportunity to see who’s either gone up or down in terms of points scored through the first half of the season.
Here’s the breakdown:
BIG GAINS (50-PLUS POINTS UP)
- Daniel Ricciardo, +120 (131 2014, 11 2013)
- Nico Rosberg, +118 (202, 84)
- Valtteri Bottas, +95 (95, 0)
- Lewis Hamilton, +67 (191, 124)
- Nico Hulkenberg, +62 (69, 7)
Three young stars and the pair of Mercedes teammates headline this group; all but Ricciardo have a Mercedes power unit in the back of the car this year as well. Bottas hadn’t scored at all last year – he only did so once, in fact, at the 2013 United States Grand Prix in Austin – while Ricciardo’s jump from Toro Rosso to Red Bull and Hulkenberg’s from Sauber to Force India have also paid dividends.
Ricciardo compares favorably to his predecessor at Red Bull, Mark Webber, at this time frame last year. While Webber had 105 points and was winless through Hungary last year, Ricciardo is on 131 with a pair of victories. That number could be higher too, had it not been for the 18 points lost following his Australian Grand Prix disqualification from second place.
HOLDING STEADY (WITHIN 25 POINTS OF 2013 TOTALS)
- Jenson Button, +21 (60, 39)
- Sergio Perez, +11 (29, 18)
- Jules Bianchi, +2 (2, 0)
- Pastor Maldonado, -1 (0, 1)
- Jean-Eric Vergne, -2 (11, 13)
- Fernando Alonso, -18 (115, 133)
- Felipe Massa, -21 (40, 61)
- Adrian Sutil, -23 (0, 23)
Button and Perez have improved upon where they were as teammates with McLaren a year ago. While Bianchi’s gotten on the scoreboard, Maldonado and Sutil have dropped off – although neither has had a car worth much of anything this year. Vergne went scoreless after Hungary a year ago so looks to improve upon that in the second half. Meanwhile ex-Ferrari teammates Alonso and Massa have driven even better, most of the time, than their results would indicate. The fact Alonso hasn’t sustained a massive points loss given the machinery at his disposal is nothing short of miraculous.
NEW YEAR, BIG POINTS LOSSES (DOWN 40 OR MORE)
- Romain Grosjean, -41 (8, 49)
- Sebastian Vettel, -84 (88, 172)
- Kimi Raikkonen, -107 (27, 134)
In a word, ouch. While Vettel has still scored regularly and Grosjean at least has the excuse the Lotus-Renault has been a rough package this season, Raikkonen has been made to look awful in his return to Ferrari. Lotus was at 183 points combined through 10 races a year ago with Raikkonen and Grosjean – a year later and that number is 8. Williams, by contrast, now has 135 points whereas a year ago at this time they had 1. Shows the value of a good power unit.
NO YEAR-ON-YEAR COMPARISON
- Esteban Gutierrez, Max Chilton (both scoreless)
- Kamui Kobayashi (wasn’t in F1 in 2013)
- Kevin Magnussen (37 2014, no 2013)
- Daniil Kvyat (6 2014, no 2013)
- Marcus Ericsson (0 2014, no 2013)
Gutierrez and Chilton have a combined 60 starts between them (30 apiece) and a single score in their F1 careers – Gutierrez’s seventh at Suzuka last October. Kobayashi was highly unlikely to score in his Caterham this season while the three rookies have generally impressed this season.
