Pre-Season Testing Championship 2014

[sushifiesta]

I said I wasn't going to do this again last year as it's just a completely pointless exercise... but I've got dragged in to it again as it's a bit of fun to play with some basic stats and it does give some indication of how everyone's testing is going. I'll keep it pretty simple and just post some basic tables. So here we go, pre-season testing championship 2014, with this format:

• Points are awarded based on ranking in fastest time and number of laps completed by a team (adding together the laps completed by multiple drivers if necessary) on each day at each test.
• 1st place is worth 11 points, 2nd place 10 points and so on down to 1 point for 11th. No time/no laps completed means no points.
• The points above are multiplied by which day of testing it is, so the scores from the first day at Jerez are multiplied by 1, and the scores from the last day at the second Bahrain test are multiplied by 12.

Jerez Results

LAPS

Winners: Day 1: Ferrari, Day 2: Mercedes, Day 3: McLaren, Day 4: Mercedes

1) Mercedes, 106pts
2) Ferrari, 96pts
3) McLaren, 85pts
4) Williams, 74.5pts
5) Sauber, 71.5pts
6) Force India, 65pts
7) Caterham, 46pts
8) Toro Rosso, 39pts
9) Red Bull, 27pts
10) Marussia, 25pts
11) Lotus, 0pts

TIME

Winners: Day 1: Ferrari, Day 2: McLaren, Day 3: McLaren, Day 4: Williams

1) Williams, 101pts
2) Ferrari, 95pts
3) McLaren, 87pts
4) Mercedes, 81pts
5) Force India, 79pts
6) Sauber, 53pts
7) Toro Rosso, 37pts
8) Caterham, 30pts
9) Marussia, 24pts
10) Red Bull, 21pts
11) Lotus, 0pts

OVERALL

Winners: Day 1: Ferrari, Day 2: Ferrari/Mercedes/McLaren, Day 3: McLaren, Day 4: Ferrari

1) Ferrari, 191pts
2) Mercedes, 187pts
3) Williams, 175.5pts
4) McLaren, 172pts
5) Force India, 144pts
6) Sauber, 124.5pts
7) Caterham and Toro Rosso, 76pts
9) Marussia, 49pts
10) Red Bull, 48pts
11) Lotus, 0pts


Mercedes have stolen most the headlines but Ferrari have also had a very productive test and end up leading overall by this system, just a couple of points ahead of Mercedes with the two very closely matched. Just behind them you have a very close battle between Williams and McLaren that Williams come out on top of thanks to McLaren missing the first day.

Down the bottom we have the shock story of the test, Red Bull had the least productive test of anyone and were even pipped to 9th place by Marussia whose car wasn't even in the country for the first two days. Having said that, even at this very early stage it looks unlikely to me that Marussia and Caterham are going to be making inroads in to the more established teams. They'll be hoping for lots of reliability issues for the others.

If you've read this, commiserations for being as pathetically obsessed with F1 as I am.

 

[Greenlantern101]

sushifiesta I have started to update my spread sheet for doing a 2014 sandbagging factor (SBF) compensated prediction for the Melbourne qually results.

It will be interesting to see if my SBF predictions are similar to your testing championship final result as they are worked out very differently.

 

[sushifiesta]

I've pretty much given up on it being a predictor for performance when the season starts but I think it at least shows who's got the most out of testing.

 

[sushifiesta]

Right then, the first Bahrain test has finished. Here are the results:

FIRST BAHRAIN TEST

Laps

Winners: Day 1: Sauber, Day 2: Williams, Day 3: Williams, Day 4: Mercedes

1) Williams, 235.5 pts
2) Mercedes, 231 pts
3) McLaren, 202 pts
4) Caterham, 194 pts
5) Ferrari, 190 pts
6) Force India, 158.5 pts
7) Sauber, 147 pts
8) Toro Rosso, 117 pts
9) Red Bull, 109 pts
10) Lotus, 102 pts
11) Marussia, 30 pts

Times

Winners: Day 1: Force India, Day 2: McLaren, Day 3: Mercedes, Day 4: Mercedes

1) Mercedes, 258 pts
2) McLaren, 256 pts
3) Ferrari, 218 pts
4) Force India, 212 pts
5) Williams, 169 pts
6) Red Bull, 126 pts
7) Toro Rosso and Lotus, 111 pts
9) Sauber, 104 pts
10) Caterham, 99 pts
11) Marussia, 13 pts.

Overall

Winners: Day 1: Force India, Day 2: Ferrari, Day 3: Williams/McLaren, Day 4: Mercedes

1) Mercedes, 489 pts
2) McLaren, 458 pts
3) Ferrari, 408 pts
4) Williams, 404.5 pts
5) Force India, 370.5 pts
6) Caterham, 293 pts
7) Sauber, 251 pts
8) Red Bull, 235 pts
9) Toro Rosso, 228 pts
10) Lotus, 213 pts
11) Marussia, 43 pts

There was a battle developing between McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes in the first half of the test but a couple of strong days at the end for Mercedes and a difficult day for Ferrari mean they take the win for the Bahrain test, and deservingly so. The other Mercedes teams all complete the top 5.

Caterham manage to end up above Sauber by trundling around and doing lots of laps (and Sauber picked up almost no points for day 4) in a mini victory for Renault, but otherwise the improvement of the Renault teams since Jerez was not really anywhere near big enough.

Marussia had an absolute nightmare of a test and barely managed to get out the garage at all... again.

OVERALL STANDINGS

Laps

Winners: Jerez: Mercedes, Bahrain 1: Williams

1) Mercedes, 337 pts
2) Williams, 310 pts
3) McLaren, 287 pts
4) Ferrari, 286 pts
5) Caterham, 240 pts
6) Force India, 223.5 pts
7) Sauber, 218.5 pts
8) Toro Rosso, 156 pts
9) Red Bull, 136 pts
10) Lotus, 102 pts
11) Marussia, 55 pts

Times

Winners: Jerez: Williams, Bahrain 1: Mercedes

1) McLaren, 343 pts
2) Mercedes, 339 pts
3) Ferrari, 313 pts
4) Force India, 291 pts
5) Williams, 270 pts
6) Sauber, 157 pts
7) Toro Rosso, 148 pts
8) Red Bull, 147 pts
9) Caterham, 129 pts
10) Lotus, 111 pts
11) Marussia, 37 pts

Overall

Winners: Jerez: Ferrari, Bahrain 1: Mercedes

1) Mercedes, 676 pts
2) McLaren, 630 pts
3) Ferrari, 599 pts
4) Williams, 580 pts
5) Force India, 514.5 pts
6) Sauber, 375.5 pts
7) Caterham, 369 pts
8) Toro Rosso, 304 pts
9) Red Bull, 283 pts
10) Lotus, 213 pts
11) Marussia, 92 pts

Mercedes and McLaren leap frog Ferrari to take the first two spots and the Mercedes powered teams dominate the standings. The customer Ferrari teams seem to be struggling somewhat, with Sauber just barely ahead of Caterham and Marussia way down at the bottom.

Red Bull move up the table... but only from 10th to 9th. Lotus aren't too far behind them despite missing the first test.

It's still all to play for as in this system the last test is worth more than the first two put together!

 

[Tuscan1969]

Will this be the year Caterham beat an established team....maybe Torro Rosso????

 

[sushifiesta]

I won't be surprised if either Caterham or Marussia pick up a point or two in the early season but I haven't really seen much to suggest that either of them will be able to beat an established team across a whole season yet.

 

[sushifiesta]

An interesting start to the last test has seen Ferrari close to within half a point of Mercedes, with Williams only a further 6pts behind them and Force India only 25pts behind Williams. All to play for in the last couple of days, which are worth up to a total of 506 points between them!

 

[sushifiesta]

So then, testing is over. Who is looking good for Melbourne?

SECOND BAHRAIN TEST

Laps

Winners: Day 1: Williams, Day 2: Ferrari, Day 3: Caterham, Day 4: Sauber

1) Williams, 387pts
2) Force India, 363pts
3) Sauber, 311.5pts
4) Ferrari, 293pts
5) Mercedes, 284.5pts
6) Caterham, 268pts
7) Toro Rosso, 221pts
8) McLaren, 199pts
9) Marussia, 176pts
10) Red Bull, 173pts
11) Lotus, 85pts

Time

Winners: Day 1: Force India, Day 2: Force India, Day 3: Williams, Day 4: Mercedes

1) Williams, 411pts
2) Ferrari, 388pts
3) Force India, 371pts
4) Mercedes, 364pts
5) McLaren, 248pts
6) Toro Rosso, 228pts
7) Marussia, 211pts
8) Red Bull, 183pts
9) Sauber, 165pts
10) Caterham, 87pts
11) Lotus, 83pts

Overall

Winners: Day 1: Williams, Day 2: Ferrari/Force India, Day 3: Mercedes/Williams, Day 4: Williams

1) Williams, 798pts
2) Force India, 734pts
3) Ferrari, 681pts
4) Mercedes, 648.5pts
5) Sauber, 476.5pts
6) Toro Rosso, 449pts
7) McLaren, 447pts
8) Marussia, 387pts
9) Red Bull, 356pts
10) Caterham, 355pts
11) Lotus, 168pts

The second Bahrain test belonged to the two "smaller" Mercedes teams, with Williams taking the spoils followed by Force India. Toro Rosso managed to get amongst McLaren and Sauber in a more productive test for them, and Marussia finally managed to get more than a handful of laps together. But where does this leave the overall standings?

FINAL STANDINGS

Laps

Winners: Jerez: Mercedes, Bahrain 1: Williams, Bahrain 2: Williams

1) Williams, 697pts
2) Mercedes, 621.5pts
3) Force India, 586.5pts
4) Ferrari, 579pts
5) Sauber, 530pts
6) Caterham, 508pts
7) McLaren, 486pts
8) Toro Rosso, 377pts
9) Red Bull, 309pts
10) Marussia, 231pts
11) Lotus, 187pts

Time

Winners: Jerez: Williams, Bahrain 1: Mercedes, Bahrain 2: Williams

1) Mercedes, 703pts
2) Ferrari, 701pts
3) Williams, 681pts
4) Force India, 662pts
5) McLaren, 591pts
6) Toro Rosso, 376pts
7) Red Bull, 330pts
8) Sauber, 322pts
9) Marussia, 248pts
10) Caterham, 216pts
11) Lotus, 194pts

Overall

Winners: Jerez: Ferrari, Bahrain 1: Mercedes, Bahrain 2: Williams

1) Williams, 1378pts
2) Mercedes, 1324.5pts
3) Ferrari, 1280pts
4) Force India, 1248.5pts
5) McLaren, 1077pts
6) Sauber, 852pts
7) Toro Rosso, 753pts
8) Caterham, 724pts
9) Red Bull, 639pts
10) Marussia, 479pts
11) Lotus, 381pts

Williams steal the 2014 pre-season testing championship from under the noses of Mercedes! Reliability issues hampered Mercedes and McLaren and they slip down the table. I think you can possibly break the standings in to three categories:

Williams, Mercedes, Ferrari, Force India and McLaren - had a pretty productive testing and will be going to Melbourne thinking they should be able to get a good points haul.

Sauber, Toro Rosso and Caterham - Struggled for one reason or another but will be going to Melbourne thinking they can at least get one of their cars to the finish.

Red Bull, Marussia, Lotus - Pre-season testing was an absolute disaster. Will be a miracle if they manage to get to the end in Melbourne.

It will be very interesting to see what happens in Melbourne because pre-season testing was absolutely crazy!

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

Have been reading about Williams long run pace being pretty special ... if they can pair that with top 4 to 6 qually we could be in a for a treat ...