Monaco, Spectacle, and Feuding Teammates
Last weekend was the Monaco Grand Prix. This is the crown jewel of the F1 calendar. It’s spectacle at its highest. It’s also usually boring…like “paint drying” boring. Don’t get me wrong, I love the track. I love driving it on any of the F1 video games I have. But the track is so tight that you’re left with only a few places to make a pass. It can lead to some incredible processional racing.
Qualifying at Monaco is usually the show-stealer. That title definitely applies this year, as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton battled for pole from start to finish. There just doesn’t seem to be anyone else remotely in Mercedes’ league this season.
As Qualifying Session 3 was ticking down to its last few seconds, Rosberg held the best time with a lap of 1:15:989. Silver Arrows teammate Lewis Hamilton had already dropped a 1:16:048 and was on a flying lap at the end of the session. He had already put in his personal best first sector when a local yellow was displayed, basically ruining any chance Hamilton had of reaching P1. The reason for the yellow? Nico Rosberg had gone off track at Mirabeau (turn 5).
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| Monaco Grand Prix Track Map |
Immediately the wheels of conspiracy theory began to spin, recalling the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, when Michael Schumacher “parked” his Ferrari in the Rascasse turn while Fernando Alonso was on a faster qualifying lap. Schumacher was punished by the race stewards and forced to start on the back row. The same scenario was thought to possibly play out this year, but the stewards deemed Rosberg had done nothing wrong. His P1 time stood and Lewis Hamilton was not allowed to complete a flying lap, thanks to having to slow down for the local yellow.
The race itself was a procession, by and large. Nico Rosberg took the win, reclaiming the points lead from Lewis Hamilton. Lewis, though, gave us all a fantastic drive, especially considering that, over the last 12 laps he basically was driving with one eye closed, as a bit of dirt had gotten in his right eye.. Nico’s average finishing position this season is 1.67. Lewis had an aberration at Melbourne, finishing classified as 19th, though having retired with mechanical problems. Lewis is averaging a 4.17 finishing position. Rosberg currently has a 122-118 lead over Hamilton in the Driver’s Standings. Third place is Fernando Alonso, with 61.
The Constructor’s Championship is no closer. Mercedes currently leads the second place team by 141 points. In fact, if Red Bull, Ferrari, and Force India were to combine all of their Constructor’s points, they would lead the Silver Arrows 244-240. This is the most dominant start to a season I can recall a team having since I started watching. The run Mercedes is on is even more dominant than BrawnGP’s 2009 season.
I have to imagine the battle between Rosberg and Hamilton will force the drivers to new heights, and make the championship run worthwhile, even if no one else has a shot. That, or it will end in tears, like the Senna-Prost battles of old…
Fifth Beatle Snubs France, Looks Longingly at Asia
Bernie Ecclestone, the rejected fifth member of the Beatles, is reported to have shut the door on the possible return of the French Grand Prix. Rumors have swirled for the last few seasons that France was hoping to return to the calendar, either at Magny-Cours or at Circuit Paul Ricard.
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| Bernie and (some of) the Beatles |
Neither of those options appear to be on the table, though. Bernie Ecclestone, in his never-ending quest to once and for all slay the mythical beast that used to be enjoyable Formula 1, would rather have races at a personality-devoid circuit in Sochi (piggybacking the Russian Winter Olympics, but in reality piggybacking on Russia’s attempted (however successfully) takeover of Crimea. Bernie would also rather have a grand prix in Baku. Yep…Baku. I’ll let you look that one up and figure out just where the cars would go…
NASCAR Points for Formula 1???
As much as I hate math and hate dealing with numbers, there is something enticing about points systems when it comes to racing. From the basics of consistency in motorsport to the outlandish ravings of a Beatles cover band reject wanting to replace the points with Olympic style medals, points are always good for discussion.
(*NOTE* That Beatles cover band reject also wanted to put sprinklers on tracks to simulate rain conditions. He also wanted to install shortcuts on the circuit, a la Mario Kart, that could be used once or twice per race. No word yet on the building schedule for Rainbow Road.)
Forgiving the fact that this season will feature the points gimmick to end all points gimmicks, double points at Abu Dhabi, the points battle is heating up (if you are a Mercedes fan).
I’m also still a bit of a NASCAR fan, even though I lose more and more interest in oval track racing each season. NASCAR has the “progressive” approach of, essentially, everyone gets a trophy. Every position in a NASCAR race receives points. A standard NASCAR field has 43 cars. Whoever finishes in 43rd place receives 1 championship point.
How would a system like that work in F1? To find out, I had to devise a system similar to NASCAR’s, in which the winner receives a set number of points, plus some bonus points for winning, leading a lap, etc. In the end, the system I landed on goes as follows.
The winner of an F1 race receives 25 points, just like they do currently. Second place, instead of receiving 18 points, would now receive 21. Third place would receive 20; fourth place would receive 19. So on and so forth until the last place car received a single point. So how does this new system shake out against the old one? Just look.
Current Standings
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NASCAR-style Standings
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Pos
|
Name
|
Pts
|
Pos
|
Name
|
Pts
| |
1
|
Rosberg
|
122
|
1
|
Rosberg
|
134
| |
2
|
Hamilton
|
118
|
2
|
Hamilton
|
130
| |
3
|
Alonso
|
61
|
3
|
Alonso
|
108
| |
4
|
Ricciardo
|
54
|
4
|
Hulkenberg
|
101
| |
5
|
Hulkenberg
|
47
|
5
|
Bottas
|
89
| |
6
|
Vettel
|
45
|
6
|
Ricciardo
|
85
| |
7
|
Bottas
|
34
|
7
|
Button
|
84
| |
8
|
Button
|
31
|
8
|
Raikkonen
|
82
| |
9
|
Magnussen
|
21
|
9
|
Vettel
|
81
| |
10
|
Perez
|
20
|
10
|
Magnussen
|
70
| |
The top three are the same, just much closer under NASCAR’s “Everybody Wins” mentality. In fact, while tenth place is 102 points out under the current system, using NASCAR’s points template we find that tenth place is only 64 points out.
For those of you wondering, I’ve also reverse-engineered this entire experiment and charted NASCAR’s season using F1’s points structure. Under the current NASCAR rules, first place gets upwards of 47 points or so, but a win also basically locks a driver in for the “playoffs.” F1 has no “playoff,” as they award season-long consistency (except for that gimmick race at the end).
For NASCAR, I just applied the current F1 system of 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 points for the top ten finishing positions. So what does NASCAR look like under a Formula 1 points structure? Let’s see…
Current System
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F1-Style Points
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Pos
|
Name
|
Pts
|
Wins
|
Pos
|
Name
|
Pts
| |
1
|
Logano
|
378
|
2
|
1
|
Earnhardt Jr.
|
110
| |
2
|
Harvick
|
345
|
2
|
2
|
Gordon
|
103
| |
3
|
Gordon
|
432
|
1
|
3
|
Harvick
|
98
| |
4
|
Ky. Busch
|
408
|
1
|
4
|
Logano
|
98
| |
5
|
Edwards
|
408
|
1
|
5
|
Johnson
|
86
| |
6
|
Earnhardt Jr.
|
394
|
1
|
6
|
Kenseth
|
73
| |
7
|
Johnson
|
388
|
1
|
7
|
Keselowski
|
68
| |
8
|
Keselowski
|
361
|
1
|
8
|
Ky. Busch
|
67
| |
9
|
Hamlin
|
340
|
1
|
9
|
Edwards
|
62
| |
10
|
Ku. Busch
|
215
|
1
|
10
|
Hamlin
|
51
| |
11
|
Kenseth
|
421
|
0
|
11
|
Vickers
|
40
| |
12
|
Vickers
|
365
|
0
|
12
|
Biffle
|
40
| |
13
|
Newman
|
361
|
0
|
13
|
Ku. Busch
|
40
| |
14
|
Biffle
|
351
|
0
|
14
|
Larson
|
35
| |
15
|
Larson
|
344
|
0
|
15
|
Menard
|
32
| |
16
|
Dillon
|
334
|
0
|
16
|
Kahne
|
27
| |
As you can see, the current system makes very little sense, thanks to this “win and you’re in” idea for NASCAR’s postseason. Kurt Busch has one race victory, so he’s basically locked in to the playoff. If this component were not part of the equation, Kurt Busch would currently be 28th in the standings, not 10th. Busch has only two top ten finishes (actually both were top three finishes). Otherwise he’s finished outside the points in every other race.
You can see that the system is more cut and dried under the F1 points. You only get points for where you finish, and only the top ten gets points. Austin Dillon is 16th under NASCAR’s current points. He’s 26th in an F1 style system.
NASCAR is set this season, for the first time, to try an elimination component in its postseason. Sixteen drivers will qualify for the playoff Chase. After the first three races, the lowest four points scorers will be eliminated. After the sixth race, the next four lowest are eliminated. This elimination happens again after the ninth race. The final race of the season will have the four highest scoring drivers in the Chase battle it out, with the highest finisher winning the Championship. Sounds great, right? Just wait until those four drivers (let’s say Johnson, Earnhardt, Kenseth, and Logano) get caught up in a crash and Logano skids on his roof farther down the back-straight than any other driver does. All four have crashed out, but Logano went the furthest. So your champion, with a 37th place DNF, would be Joey Logano.
I would bet money NASCAR changes that little rule in five seasons or less.
