Comments on 'Annual Ratings 2008 - Part One' on F1 Insight

Comment by Felipe Leite

14/11/2008 15:25:16

My list would be different from yours, Clive :) 20 - Coulthard 19 - Sutil 18 - Piquet 17 - Button 16 - Fisichella 15 - Bourdais 14 - Nakajima 13 - Rosberg 12 - Barrichello 11 - Trulli 10 - Glock I believe that DC's season was by far worst than anything. I could remember of only one race when he were OK. The same goes to Sutil, but at least he is in a FI. Piquet had two or three good races. Button seemed not interested at all during the season. Fisichella outclassed Sutil consistently. Bourdais had a good start of the season, then when STR3 debuted he sunk. It took a long time for him to adapt to the new car, and then he started to deliver again. Nakajima is a rookie but commited less mistakes than expected and offered a challenge to Rosberg a number of times. Rosberg started the season well, but I expected him to be more capable of helping williams improve the car, but it was not the case, as we saw it. I believe that what sums up RB's season is "There were times when he dragged that Honda into positions where it really should not have been". And I agree with your sayings on both Trulli and Glock, but I expect a little less from GLock than you in the future :)

Comment by Clive

14/11/2008 15:51:35

I suspect that everyone will have a different list. ;) What surprises me is how closely we agree on the names if not the order. Hopefully that means we're getting it approximately right. I rate Button higher than you do only because he has done well in the past - he does seem to perform better when the car is good and so might begin to shine if Honda can get it right next year.

Comment by Pink Peril

14/11/2008 21:50:43

I tend to agree with your list Clive, except I'd rank Button and Sutil lower. I know Sutil is in a Force India but if he were as good as some would have us beleive, he should be punching above his weight. I am tempted to compare him to drivers such as Alonso and Webber who hauled their Minardi's into places they had no business to be in. I've not seen anything similar in Sutil, except of course when it rains. And even then, he has not exactly shone. I give him another 12 months. And I have long and oft stated that Button is the most overrated driver on the grid. Honda only keep him because he cost them so much $$$ buying out the Williams contract, and they -misguidedly- hope one day he'll prove a return on investment. Cut your losses, I say. I'd also say that by now Rosberg really should be in the top ten, and I have been disappointed by his showing so far. I know he is not in th best car either, but I'm sure another more consistent driver would be able to extract more from it than he can. Still, I am happy for him to stay in F1 - he does provide some nice eye candy for after the race !

Comment by Clive

14/11/2008 22:04:32

I tend to be kinder to Rosberg than you, Peril - the car has been unpredictable this season, good at some circuits and poor at others, and I think this has disguised Nico's talent. in my book, he still gets the benefit of his good performances last season (obviously, since he must be in my top ten as he doesn't appear amongst the lower bunch). He must work hard next year to justify my faith in him, however, and part of that will be staying ahead of Nakajima.

Comment by Toby

14/11/2008 23:47:58

A pretty good evaluation of the ten not-best drivers this year imo, Clive. Glad to see Rosberg not in there. I'd personally have put Barrichello behind Glock and ahead of Trulli, and that's about it! Shame about Nakajima this year. I too thought he might be a diamond in the rough, but while he has improved, it's not to the level I was hoping for - especially in qualifying. Plenty of time for him to improve before next season though. Kovalainen is a driver that could have gone in there, but that is only from comparing his results to his teammates', so I'm glad he didn't slip so low in your estimation.

Comment by Clive

15/11/2008 00:00:44

I found Kovalainen one of the hardest to assess, Toby. He's getting a lot of criticism at the moment, mainly from those who hoped he would run Hamilton close, I think, but he has suffered all the mechanical trouble going at McLaren plus we know his luck is pretty awful even from his year with Renault. Taking it all into account, I think he belongs in the top ten.

Comment by Filipe

15/11/2008 00:02:47

I don't think Sutil is great or anything, but getting a Force India into 4th place in a race that despite being chaotic had very few DNFs is more impressive than anything Alonso did at Minardi when his big claim was that he was often in the 9th row while the team other driver was almost always in the final row (except for Suzuka where he really had a very good race). And Webber also never truly put his Minardi in any amazing place, the only cars he was ocasionally ahead of were the rookie Toyota and bankrupt Arrows. Clive, the thing that I'd put against Rosberg (and the reason I'd have both Toyota drivers ahead of him) is that he throw quite a few races where Williams look competitive (Monaco, Montreal).

Comment by Clive

15/11/2008 00:11:39

I agree, Filipe, Monaco was a tremendous race for Sutil and I think everyone felt the injustice of his failure to finish through no fault of his own. But that is one race (and yet another indicator of his wet weather skills) - and I expected him to do more in later wet races. In these he was a little disappointing and I had to be hard on him for being a specialist who doesn't always shine even in his speciality. Rosberg stays in my top ten purely thanks to his excellent 2007 showing. Yes, he looked poor on occasion this year but I am prepared to give him a little leeway until he has a better car under him. He made mistakes but even the best did the same in 2008!

Comment by Filipe

15/11/2008 06:00:31

Clive, we actually are very much in agreement. I would probably rank Sutil at 18h or 19th myself. I just don't think is very fair to claim that Alonso or Webber did that much more at Minardi (well, they beat their partners, but Sutil got Fisi while they had Tarso Marques and Alex Yoong).

Comment by Lonny

15/11/2008 06:59:02

Pretty solid list. Honda has never been able to produce a good chassis, even going back to the 60s. Whether they don't listen to Button and Barricello or those two have nothig to offer on development is an interesting topic. I'm drawing a complete blank on his name, but the South American driver who went from Newman Haas champcars to Toyota several years ago said Toyota was very unreceptive to several suggestions he made for improving the car. That seems to be the Japanese way, leave the engineering to the engineers.

Comment by Alianora La Canta

15/11/2008 11:52:24

Lonny, that would be Christiano da Matta that said that. Sounds about right for Toyota - they didn't listen to Mike Gascoyne for very long either...

Comment by Lonny

16/11/2008 07:45:54

Thanks Ali! You should be the F1 Wiki.

Comment by Alianora La Canta

16/11/2008 15:40:10

Thanks Lonny - I've got a wiki about (albeit a rather threadbare one); does that count? ;)

Comment by Toby

17/11/2008 01:20:07

Filipe, Rosberg did no less than Lewis Hamilton in Canada. And in Monaco, something broke on the car, which then catapulted him into the swimming pool barriers. He has lost his front wing too many times this season, but I wouldn't hold that against him too much, due to the closeness of the racing this year.

Comment by Rosie

08/10/2012 10:25:31

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