Interesting read about teammate battles in 2014. On paper, Bottas was Williams’s leading driver, scoring 58% of the team’s points. In qualifying, it was 11-6 to Bottas (excluding Monaco and Russia where Massa was prevented from setting a representative time). In races where neither driver had a mechanical DNF, it was 10-8 to Bottas. However, Massa was a magnet for so many problems in 2014 that this match-up requires careful dissection. Here are the issues outside of each driver’s control. Australia: Massa was taken out at the first corner while ahead of Bottas. He had the pace to be 5th, demoting Bottas to 6th. China: Massa had a 1-minute pit-stop. Otherwise, he was set for 6th, demoting Bottas to 8th. Monaco: If not for his engine failure, Bottas would have been 7th, demoting Massa to 8th. Canada: Massa was taken out by Perez. Otherwise he would likely have been 4th, demoting Bottas to 8th. Britain: Massa had an unavoidable collision with Raikkonen’s car. He made a terrible start and would likely have lost ~20 seconds moving back through the field. That would have been 5th. Hungary: The safety car was unfortunate for Bottas, but Massa had slightly better pace anyway. Belgium: Massa lost an estimated 40 seconds due to tyre debris. He should have been 5th. Russia: Massa adopted a disastrous strategy to make up for issues in qualifying. Had he started further up, he would have at least jumped Perez and Raikkonen for 9th. Brazil: Bottas had multiple issues. He should have finished at least 4th. If we award back these lost results, the new tally is 11-8 to Massa in races and 197-184 to Bottas in points. The Williams drivers were actually very closely matched in 2014. This suggests that Bottas is still some way behind Alonso in absolute terms, given Alonso dominated Massa every year from 2010-2013. But it also means that Bottas’s performance is rapidly on the rise. https://f1metrics.wordpress/2014/11/26/2014-model-based-driver-rankings/
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 14:00:33 +0000
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