Analysis of the "Class B" runners.

[Down F0rce]

I posted this on another forum, thought you all might be interested in it here too. The new teams in Formula One have often been referred to as "Class B" runners, as if they were in a different series. What if they actually were? What if they had their own championship and were scored separately? I can tell you, after playing around with Excel, that the standings would be as follows:

Drivers:
1st - Chandhok - 136 points
2nd - Di Grassi - 108 pts
3rd - Glock - 98 pts
4th - Kovalainen - 93 pts
5th - Trulli - 90 pts
6th - Senna - 63 pts
7th - Yamamoto - 10 pts

Constructors:
1st - Hispania Racing Team - 209 points
2nd - Virgin Racing - 206 pts
3rd - Lotus - 183 pts

Wins:
Chandok - 1 win (Monaco)
Di Grassi - 2 wins (Malaysia, Europe)
Glock - 2 wins (Turkey, Germany)
Kovalinen - 3 wins (Australia, China, Canada)
Trulli - 3 wins (Bahrain, Spain, Britain)

Second Places:
Chandok - 4 second places (Australia, Malaysia, Canada, Europe)
Di Grassi - 1 second place (Turkey)
Glock - 1 second place (Spain)
Kovalainen - 1 second place (Britian)
Senna - 2 second places (China, Germany)
Trulli - 1 second place (Monaco)

Third Places:
Chandhok - 2 third places (China, Turkey)
Di Grassi - 2 third places (Spain, Canada)
Glock - 2 third places (Europe, Britain)
Senna - 1 third place (Malaysia)

Fourth Places:
Chandok - 1 fourth place (Britain)
Trulli - 1 fourth place (Malaysia)
Senna - 1 fourth place (Europe)

Fifth Places:
Trulli - 1 fifth place (Europe)
Yamamoto - 1 fifth place (Britain)

DNFs:
Chandhok - 2 DNFs (Bahrain, Spain)
Di Grassi - 6 DNFs (Bahrain, Australia, China, Monaco, Britain, Germany)
Glock - 6 DNFs (Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia, China, Monaco, Canada,
Kovalinen - 8 DNFs (Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia, Spain, Monaco, Turkey, Europe, Germany)
Senna - 6 DNFs (Bahrain, Australia, Spain, Monaco, Turkey, Canada)
Trulli - 5 DNFs (Australia, China, Turkey, Canada, Germany)
Yamamoto - 1 DNF (Germany)

Calculated using the current 25-18-15-etc points system. Drivers were only awarded points if they were classified as a finisher i.e. in Bahrain Trulli got 25 points for winning, no other "Class B" drivers finished so he was the only points scorer.

If you'd like to play along at home or make sure I didn't make any mistakes, you can download my Excel file here. If you want to update it yourself, enter the amount of points a driver scores in a race into their relevant box.

So what does this armchair analysis tell us? Well, Chandhok is doing a very good job in the worst car. One win, four seconds and two thirds make him the most consistent finisher in Class B. Funnily enough, his only win - Monaco - has come from a race he didn't even finish (but was still classified, hence his inclusion in the results)! His teams mates, however, have yet to win a Class B race. Pressure on, Bruno...

Lotus are perceived to be the best new team and it's not hard to see why, with the Lotus drivers having three wins each. Lotus seems to finish the highest of Class B - when they finish. They have a total of 13 DNFs, compared to 12 for Virgin Racing and 9 for HRT.

At any race, Lotus will probably win Class B or not finish at all. Kovalainen has three Class B wins in his only three finishes, and Trulli only has one other podium aside from his three wins.

Virgin Racing, despite the faff with their small fuel tank at the start of the year, are actually doing an alright job. They can win Class B as long as Lotus don't finish.

Despite HRT having the slowest car, they have the most amount of points and the fewest amount of DNFs. It may be slow, but it's a fairly solid car!
The hardest races for Class B were Bahrain and Monaco. Trulli was the only finisher in Class B in Bahrain, and there were no finishers in Monaco. However, Chandhok and Trulli completed 90% of the race distance and were classified in the FIA results, and so were awarded points in this table.

The best races for Class B were Britain and Europe, with five of the six cars finishing in both races. The amount of finishers was steadily increasing until Germany when only two finished.

[Down F0rce]

made a couple of mistakes in my calculations, sadly the forum will not permit me to correct my post so here are the actual standings:

Drivers:
1st - Chandhok - 136 points
2nd - Kovalainen - 118 pts
3rd - Di Grassi - 108 pts
4th - Glock - 98 pts
5th - Trulli - 83 pts
6th - Senna - 63 pts
7th - Yamamoto - 10 pts

Constructors:
1st - Hispania Racing Team - 209 points
2nd - Virgin Racing - 206 pts
3rd - Lotus - 201 pts

And updated Excel sheet here: http://www.mediafire.com/?px7hfkv0x6fq5oz

[awrb]

I have done the same thing but got slightly different results, Kovi leading with 118 from chandhok with 99, di Grassi and Glock with 98, Trulli with 90. I haven't checked my working though, so you're probably right.

To be honest though, it's just about consistancy really. There have been so many retirements it's hard to draw anything from these results. Stillinteresting to see though!

[GTRMagic]

The interesting part is that Hispania seem to have benched the bloke who has the better finishing record, and is actually doing his best to keep the show on the road....

[strider]

What puzzles me is how often the new cars have 'hydraulic problems'. Heikki is in the pits right now with exactly that problem and looks like missing virtually all FP2.

[Belatti]

The HRT makes me remember Forti in 1995: 8 secs off the peace but always ended races, although 5 to 7 laps down...

[fourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by Belatti

The HRT makes me remember Forti in 1995: 8 secs off the peace but always ended races, although 5 to 7 laps down...

Hence Martin Brundle's post race joke "I passed them so many times I thought there were forty of them!" He should have been ashamed, and I should be ashamed for quoting him.

[Marbot]

This is actually the most interesting part of the grid. Cars also look like they have to be 'driven'.

Don't forget that Virgin are where they are without the aid of a wind tunnel!

[I Rosputnik]

Originally Posted by Marbot

This is actually the most interesting part of the grid. Cars also look like they have to be 'driven'.

Don't forget that Virgin are where they are without the aid of a wind tunnel!

Crazy to think that Virgin haven't been using a wind tunnel.

[blaffer]

It seems Jerome d'Ambrosio was the third driver with Virgin Racing at the Hungaroring this weekend.

Soucek was not available (SF race at Brands Hatch) and there were contractual issues with Razzia. So Virgin contacted Boullier and he was prepared to lend d'Ambrosio out.

http://www.dhnet.be/sports/moteurs/a...-a-virgin.html