Posted by Bill Thomas at 10:50AM on Tuesday 29 April, 2008 4 Comments
I thoroughly enjoyed the Spanish Grand Prix on the weekend for many reasons. It was a dull old race, as it always is in Spain, but I didn't care.
First and foremost, I'm a Kimi Raikkonen fan. None of the other drivers on the grid matter much in comparison to him as far as I'm concerned - and what a magnificent victory it was, the sort of win that he deserves, lights to flag domination in a reliable, solid car that was the class of the field, against a team mate who was doing his best but couldn't get anywhere near. It was a proper, crushing win from the Ferrari team leader.
I've been doing a bit of number crunching. I'm quite enjoying this. On a track like Barcelona, which the teams know so well thanks to zillions of miles of testing, a track that includes every type of corner - tight and slow, medium, open and fast, plus a long straight - the differences between cars and drivers will always be reduced. It's a great indicator of form, both of the men and the machines. So here's my favourite number from the race - 6. That's the number of laps that Felipe Massa was quicker than Kimi Raikkonen before the second set of pit stops started on lap 46 (after which, the Ferraris were no longer racing). So, 6 of 46, 6 of 46. Hmm. That's 13 per cent.
And Felipe, for all those laps, for all 46, had a lighter car. My my, 6 of 46 in a lighter car. Kimi was on form alright, because Massa isn't a bad driver, as we saw in Bahrain.
In those six laps, the total time advantage for Massa over Kimi tots up to 1.046 seconds, or 0.174 per lap. I can't be bothered to work out the total amount of time Kimi racked up over Massa in those other 40 laps, but it was a hell of a lot more than a second.
My favourite bit of all happened just before that second round of stops. Massa banged in a 1:21.801, the fastest lap of the race up until that point, pushing to put pressure on Kimi in an attempt to maximise his chances.
Then Kimi countered with a 1:21.670, THE fastest lap of the race. He was delayed in the pits but it didn't matter, he had Massa's measure... And on this day, Massa was Kimi's only real competition.
4 Comments for "Lapping it up"
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I was thinking at the time how Massa had a great grip on the race at one point. OK, he didn't win, but he sure reminded Kimi that he was right behind him if the Iceman slipped up.
It goes to show how focussed these drivers can be and how well they know their machines, when they're pushing them to the very limit.
I am a huge kimi fan and he was superb in that race. He simply is just faster than Massa and even managed to qualify 2 places above him despite having a heavier car. As you said, a boring race not much racing action.
The fact of the matter is that Ferrari and Raikkonen are going to be almost unstoppable this season unless another team improves greatly.
Kimi is undoubtedly the best Ferrari driver, and probably the best driver in any of the 6 cars that can win a GP at present. But is he the best driver in F1?
You would have to crunch the numbers, such as comparison with team mates in several teams, and results outside the top six.
It's beyond me, but a statistician of your talent should give it a go. I will wager that the best driver currently in F1 is yet to win a GP...
Do note that in F1, when there are two cars of equal measure, the car trailing will usually log slower lap times. That's how the sport works - because unless you are fast enough to overtake, you need to keep some distance from the car in front for cooling.
If Massa had overtaken Kimi before the first turn, I bet your stats could be reversed for both of them.