From 2013 to 2014, F1’s standings have featured a significant shakeup

With the 2014 Formula One season officially in the rear view mirror, we can look back now on a year-by-year breakdown of the standings, and really see how much is changed.

After Hungary in July, right before the summer break, we examined who’d been the movers and shakers to that point. At year’s end, we can see the changes in finality.

MASSIVE POINTS GAINS (100-PLUS POINTS)

• Daniel Ricciardo, [phone], 20 2013)
• Lewis Hamilton, +195 (384, 189)
• Valtteri Bottas, +182 (186, 4)
• Nico Rosberg, +146 (317, 171)

These four were all 50-plus points up on their 2013 totals as of Hungary and sustained their pace for the final eight Grands Prix of the season. What else do these four have in common? They’re the top four finishers in this year’s World Championship. Ricciardo’s 238-point total compares favorably to his predecessor in similar equipment, as Mark Webber scored 199 in that same seat last year.

MASSIVE POINTS DROPS (DOWN 80 OR MORE)

• Fernando Alonso, -81 (161, 242)
• Romain Grosjean, -124 (8, 132)
• Kimi Raikkonen, -128 (55, 183)
• Sebastian Vettel, -230 (167, 397)

Three of the four listed here are World Champions and race winners, and Grosjean is considered by many as an eventual winner or champion if his car is right, so clearly the collective talent level didn’t contribute to these seismic drop-offs. Instead, Vettel’s sublime 2013 never stood a chance of being repeated, the Ferrari was tough to handle more often than not and the Lotus coupled with a Renault either unreliable, uncompetitive, or both. Even with Alonso’s year-on-year drop off, he still outscored his teammate by more than 100, which showed he still extracted the maximum from his Ferrari.

STAYED RELATIVELY WITHIN RANGE

• Jenson Button, +53 (126, 73)
• Nico Hulkenberg, +45 (96, 51)
• Felipe Massa, +22 (134, 112)
• Sergio Perez, +10 (59, 49)
• Jean-Eric Vergne, +9 (22, 13)
• Jules Bianchi, +2 (2, 0)
• Pastor Maldonado, +1 (2, 1)
• Esteban Gutierrez, -6 (0, 6)
• Adrian Sutil, -29 (0, 29)

Noteworthy here is Button’s year-on-year gains, both Force India drivers helping push that team to its highest ever points total as a Constructor, and the Sauber drivers each failing to score. Not listed here, but Marussia’s Max Chilton is now the only driver to have competed in both 2013 and 2014 and failed to score points in either season.

NO YEAR-ON-YEAR COMPARISON

Rookies Kevin Magnussen (55) and Daniil Kvyat (8) each scored on several occasions during their first seasons. Magnussen’s number is up 6 on Perez’s 2013 totals in the second McLaren; Kvyat’s total of 8 would have been 5 down to Vergne, and 12 down to Ricciardo, of their 2013 numbers. Considering how infrequently the STR scored, and with some great qualifying performances, Kvyat’s season was better on the whole than his final points tally would indicate.

STANDINGS COMPARISON

The sweeping, across-the-board regulation changes produced a big shakeup in the final driver standings, as well.

Vettel’s record-setting 2013 saw him clinch the title in India, well clear of Alonso, Mark Webber, Hamilton and Raikkonen.

Hamilton and Vettel were the only two from that top five to maintain their top-five positions this year. Rosberg, Ricciardo and Bottas end the year sandwiched between F1’s two most recent World Champions. Ricciardo (14th) and Bottas (17th) made significant year-on-year standings jumps.

Alonso fell from second to sixth, Raikkonen from fifth to 12th, and Grosjean from seventh to 14th.

Interestingly, Massa, Button, Hulkenberg and Perez finished in that exact order in the championship for the second straight year. The quartet ended from seventh to 10th this year, while ending eighth to 11th last year.

CONSTRUCTOR’S EVOLUTION

Williams, with its record-setting season, saw a leap from 5 points to 320 this year. Mercedes also gained more than 300 points this year compared to 2013, from 361 to 701, the first Constructor in history to cross that threshold.

Yes, the points system and era is different now, but the level of domination was incredible from the Silver Arrows.

On the opposite end, both Red Bull and Ferrari were down more than 100 points compared to 2013, and Lotus suffered the worst drop-off with a fall of 305 points year-on-year.

FULL BREAKDOWN

         	2013		2014		Change
D. Ricciardo	20 (14)	        238 (3)	        +218, +11
L. Hamilton	189 (4)	        384 (1)	        +195, +3
V. Bottas	4 (17)		186 (4)	        +182, +13
N. Rosberg	171 (6)	        317 (2)	        +146, +4
J. Button	73 (9)		126 (8)	        +53, +1
N. Hulkenberg	51 (10)	        96 (9)		+45, +1
F. Massa	112 (8)	        134 (7)	        +22, +1
S. Perez	49 (11)	        59 (10)	        +10, +1
J. Vergne	13 (15)	        22 (13)	        +9, +2
J. Bianchi	0 (19)		2 (17)		+2, +2
P. Maldonado	1 (18)		2 (16)		+1, +2
E. Gutierrez	6 (16)		0 (20)		-6, -4
A. Sutil	29 (13)	        0 (18)		-29, -5
F. Alonso	242 (2)	        161 (6)	        -81, -4
R. Grosjean	132 (7)	        8 (14)		-124, -7
K. Raikkonen	183 (5)	        55 (12)	        -128, -7
S. Vettel	397 (1)	        167 (5)	        -230, -4
M. Chilton      0 (23)          0 (21)          0, -2
M. Webber	199 (3)	        -
P. Di Resta	48 (12)	        -		
K. Magnussen	-		55 (11)
D. Kvyat	-		8 (15)
M. Ericsson     -               0 (19)
K. Kobayashi    -		0 (22)
W. Stevens      -		0 (23)
A. Lotterer     -		0 (24)

Teams	        2013		2014		Change
Mercedes	360 (2)	        701 (1)	        +341, +1
Williams	5 (9)		320 (3) 	+315, +6
Force India	77 (6)		155 (6)	        +78
McLaren 	122 (5)	        181 (5)	        +5
Marussia	0 (10)		2 (9)		+2, +1
Toro Rosso	33 (8)		30 (7)		-3, +1
Sauber		57 (7)		0 (10)		-57, -3
Ferrari		354 (3)	        216 (4)	        -138, -1
Red Bull	596 (1)	        405 (2)	        -191, -1
Lotus		315 (4)	        10 (8)		-305, -4
Caterham	0 (11)		0 (11)

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