The gone and soon to be forgotten

[teabagyokel]

Fenderman - I don't get how Chilton retiring behind a Caterham would have improved the result of said Caterham.

 

[Il_leone]

teabagyokel Caterham had no experienced F1 driver proof that there is no substitute for experience

 

[Fenderman]

It wouldn't, I am talking about the teams in response to The Lion. What I am saying is that Marussia finished ahead of Caterham in the final 2013 standings partly because Max Chilton did not DNF. Since neither Caterham nor Marussia scored any points their position in the championship was dictated not only by the actual places they finished but also by how many races in which they were classified. So I'm suggesting that had Chilton clocked up a couple DNF's the WCC table may have been different. I am not saying that either of the two Caterham drivers would have been individually better off.

 

[The Pits]

Isn't the result defined simply on count back where no points are scored? Hence the only relevant result is the 13th place?

 

[Fenderman]

Thanks The Pits - If that's so then I've been talking bollocks as far as the championship table is concerned - guilty as charged m'lud. However, that doesn't disguise the fact that both teams are more or less equally crap due to poor resources that place them in a totally iniquitous and embarrassing position simply so that F1 can artificially inflate the grid. But as I said earlier I am guilty (along with The Lion) of derailing the thread so I'm leaving it there on that one!

 

[Mephistopheles]

Not true, I'm afraid. Marussia finished ahead due to Bianchi's 13th place at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Chilton actually finished every race behind both Caterham drivers in the Championship.

I fixed that for you pet... Just in case some people were unaware of the fact...

 

[Fenderman]

Interestingly the other under-performing team, whose drivers remain with us (quick allusion to the OP), had both their chaps finish every race was .... y'all know the answer to that one . An exclusive little club, methinks. Of course Max can still lay claim to be the only rookie to do that in 2013.

 

[teabagyokel]

Fenderman - Button was classified in Malaysia, Perez was classified in Monaco etc.

Chilton actually finished the 4th most laps last year - behind Perez, Button and Vettel, due to the fact that he could lose up to 3 laps per event and thus easily compensate for the losses of the other three in their sole DNFs.

If you count finishing to be completing every lap of the race, then the most actual finishes was for Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso with 18, with Chilton ahead of Bianchi but equal to Van Der Garde on 3!

 

[Mephistopheles]

race of the lap

So you only have to complete a certain percentage of the event to be classified as having completed the race or is that just classified as finishing so at Monaco 1996 only four drivers completed the race but more than four finished the race, I'm confused now and I have given myself a headache.

 

[teabagyokel]

Mephistopheles - I think you need to finish 90% of the race distance or more in order to be classified. Therefore, if you complete too few laps (as Timo Glock did in Australia in 2011) you are not classified as a finisher although you did not retire. However, if you retire in that final 10% you are considered a classified finisher and thus given a position - which is how Pironi and de Cesaris made the podium having not finished the 1982 Monaco GP.

In Monaco in 1996, only Olivier Panis, David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert finished the race, but Frentzen, Salo, Hakkinen and Irvine were also classified with the first three eligible for points. You have to be classified to pick up points which is why Trulli and Raikkonen did not take the 2 and 1 points respectively at Indianapolis in 2005.

 

[Fenderman]

F1 ... ya gotta love it if only for the convolutions of the regulations. Hmm, sounds like a reggae number comin' on ...

 

[teabagyokel]

The most bonkers expression of this kind of stuff was in 2005 when quali running order was decided by the previous race order. We had teams putting retired cars out for half an hour to pick up one scarcely relevant place in quali two weeks later.