Half-Term Report 2011

With eleven races down, it's half-term review time once again. Who deserves to be given a gold star, and who needs to do more homework?

TOP OF THE CLASS

Sebastian Vettel (D, Red Bull) 1^st, 234pts, 6 Wins

Needless to say, with six wins and four second positions to his name, Vettel is the teacher's pet of 2011 thus far. The foundation of his impeccable finishing record has been his equally impressive form on Saturdays – he's taken eight pole positions, and has begun each race from no lower than third on the grid. Even if he's not in a position to win the race, he has an uncanny knack of being able to register a considerable amount of points and subsequently extend his championship lead at most races regardless. Questions marks have been raised over his ability to race wheel-to-wheel, but one need look no further than his performances at Catalunya, Monaco and Silverstone to see that there's nothing wanting in that department, whilst those alluding to a reputation for making critical errors should realise he's made no more than any other of the championship's leading lights. Although McLaren and Ferrari are now just about a match for the erstwhile dominant Red Bull, it would take a brave man to bet against any other driver closing down that enormous 85 point lead.

Best Moment – Soaking up huge pressure from Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button on worn tyres to win at Monaco.

Worst Moment – His lacklustre performance on home turf two weeks ago.

Lewis Hamilton (GB, McLaren) 3^rd, 146pts, 2 Wins

It's been another roller-coaster season for the de facto McLaren number one. His car hasn't always been the fastest, but Hamilton has nearly always managed to extract the very maximum from it at each race. His victory at China was a product primarily of a shrewd tyre strategy than any particularly outstanding driving on the part of the Brit, but his second win at the Nurburgring was a true testament to his abilities. Some of his passes this year has been phenomenal, making it difficult to argue that he isn't the best in the business when it comes to overtaking. His balls-out approach has landed him in trouble again though, most notably in muscling both Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado into retirement at Monaco, as well as himself at Canada after that foolhardy attempt at passing teammate Button. There have also been occasions where his harshness on his tyres has compromised his result, but his fans will argue that that aggression is precisely why they love him. Hopefully, it won't prevent him from fulfilling his obvious potential in years to come.

Best Moment – Scything around the outside of Alonso to take the lead at the Nurburgring.

Worst Moment – His infamous post-race outburst at Monaco.

Fernando Alonso (E, Ferrari), 4^th, 145pts, 1 Win

Much like Hamilton, when his car has been capable, Alonso has delivered the goods. Not only that, but he has utterly dominated his teammate Massa, and is in the unique position among the 'big five' of having his team wholly and unashamedly behind him. He has appeared on the podium at each of the last four races, including his brilliant victory at Silverstone, a race he would have likely won whether or not Vettel's pit crew had made that error or not. Unfortunately, Ferrari's early teething troubles have all but put him out of contention for this year's title, but his new contract to remain with the Scuderia for another five years should theoretically yield at least one more world title in the future for, some would argue, the sport's most complete performer. He may lack the raw single-lap speed of Vettel or the mesmerising overtaking ability of Hamilton, but he more than makes up for it with his consistency, precision, focus, determination and cunning. He might be out of the running for now, but he'll certainly be back next year.

Best Moment – His crushing display at Silverstone.

Worst Moment – Costing himself a probable podium finish with his contact with Hamilton at Malaysia.

SHOWING PROMISE

Jenson Button (GB, McLaren), 5^th, 134pts, 2 Wins

There's no doubting Button's wet-weather prowess after his incredible performances at both Canada and Hungary, but his form in the dry hasn't been quite as jaw-dropping. Granted, he drove exceptionally at Monaco as well, but Malaysia has been the only place other than the principality at which he has beaten teammate Hamilton in dry conditions, the former arguably not really counting after the 2008 champion's qualifying was ruined by Sergio Perez's crash. At Silverstone and the Nurburgring, Button's qualifying has fallen some way short of Hamilton's too, with some of his starts having also left him with too much work to do. That said, he's been no less consistent than either his teammate or Alonso, and one cannot give him enough praise for that extraordinary comeback at Canada. That sixth sense of knowing which tyre to be on at which time has served him well at McLaren so far, and he'll be undoubted favourite at any other wet races this season.

Best Moment – Recovering from last position to take that win at Canada.

Worst Moment – Having his home race curtailed by an errant front-right wheel after his pit-stop.

Nico Rosberg (D, Mercedes), 7^th, 48pts

It's been another trying year for Mercedes, and this will be more frustrating for Rosberg than for any other member of the Brackley-based team. It could be that we're seeing a potential all-time great having the best years of his career wasted, but the questions surrounding teammate Michael Schumacher's real form make it impossible to gauge just how good Rosberg is. In dry conditions, the Mercedes has not at any point really been capable of a podium, particularly in the dawning of the era of near-perfect reliability, but Rosberg has still manage to be 'best of the rest' in terms of points outside of the three race-winning teams. He has been a near-constant presence in Q3, but more often than not his Mercedes' thirst for tyres has seen Rosberg slip backwards from his grid positions. Still, he has generally extracted the maximum out of his car on most occasions, and as per last year vitally has been showing Schumacher the way home more often than not.

Best Moment – Briefly leading the way in China after taking an early first pit-stop.

Worst Moment – Being comprehensively outclassed by Schumacher at Canada.

Kamui Kobayashi (J, Sauber), 11^th, 27pts

Japan's sole representative on the F1 grid has been doing a sterling job this season. He's racked up points on almost every occasion, using his gift for overtaking to turn often-average grid positions into results comfortably inside the top ten by the time the chequered flag falls. Kobayashi has been tasked with developing the Sauber, which has blossomed nicely into a real upper-midfield contender which as of late has been competing convincingly with the Mercedes and Renaults thanks to its inherent kindness on its tyres. So far he has seen off the challenge of promising teammate Sergio Perez, although as the Mexican gathers experience, he could increasingly become a threat. With both Kobayashi and Perez now under contract at Sauber in 2012, it will be interesting to see which of the pair will put themselves in the better position for a possible 'promotion' to Ferrari or elsewhere thereafter.

Best Moment – Finishing a career-best fifth at Monaco.

Worst Moment – Being disqualified from a deserved seventh place at the first race in Australia for a minor technical infringement.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

Mark Webber (AU, Red Bull) 2^nd, 149pts

After some scorching performances last year, Webber was expected to be a match for teammate Vettel heading into 2011. In the first half of the season however, he has disappointed. He's yet to win a race so far despite three pole positions, and on only one occasion has he been able to finish higher than Vettel. Arguably, there are few drivers who would have been able to do any better, but compared to his excellent season last year, he seems to have lost that extra edge. That said, the season hasn't been a total disaster: he's finished in the top five every single race, meaning the mild-mannered Australian sits ahead of Hamilton, Alonso and Button in the standings; that certainly doesn't happen by accident. It's just a shame he hasn't risen to the challenge of matching his newly-crowned teammate in quite the way many were hoping.

Best Moment – Taking his best finish of the season with second place at Turkey.

Worst Moment – Only managing a distant third at the Nurburgring, despite starting from pole and his excellent record at the track in previous years.

Vitaly Petrov (RU, Renault) 9^th, 32pts

The jury is out just how good Russia's first ever F1 driver really is. Matters haven't been helped by Robert Kubica's absence, who last year provided a useful benchmark with which to compare Petrov. Instead, Petrov is up against the veteran campaigner Nick Heidfeld in the other side of the garage, whose form has been just as erratic as his teammate's. Petrov got off to a flying start with a podium first time out, but as the Renault has gradually slipped down the pecking order, so have his performances. His qualifying form has generally been better than Heidfeld's, usually featuring in Q3, but has never really given the impression of truly outperforming the car since Melbourne. Despite being under contract at Renault next year, Petrov will need a few more solid point-scoring afternoons before he can consider his seat totally safe.

Best Moment – Standing on the podium for the first time in his career at Melbourne.

Worst Moment – Throwing away a clutch of points at Malaysia after launching his car over a large hump in the run-off area.

Adrian Sutil (D, Force India) 12^th, 18pts

Like Kobayashi, Sutil has faced the onslaught of having a promising rookie as a teammate. Also like Kobayashi, he has so far accumulated comfortably more points than said teammate, but like Perez at Sauber Paul Di Resta has shown a considerable degree of promise, particularly with his seventh place finish last time out at Hungary. On the other hand, Sutil squandered a handy starting position with an error on the first lap, and that will hand something of a psychological advantage to the Scot heading into the summer break. That said, Sutil's drive to sixth at the Nurburgring was equally brilliant, and he has generally been the more consistent of the Force India pairing so far. With the driver market looking distinctly static this year, the question is whether Sutil can stay on top of Di Resta for long enough to ensure his market value remains.

Best Moment – Finishing ahead of both Mercedes in sixth at the Nurburgring after a faultless drive.

Worst Moment – Puncturing a tyre after clipping the back of Rosberg during a Safety Car restart at Canada, also receiving a drive-through penalty to add insult to injury.

MUST TRY HARDER

Felipe Massa (BR, Ferrari) 6^th, 70pts

What has happened to the Massa of yesteryear? You know, the one came within a whisker of becoming world champion? The answer is that he is there; he just isn't able to flourish in the Alonso-centric world of Ferrari. With less than half of Alonso's points tally to his name, it has been a bleak year for Massa. He's yet to take a trip to the podium, and has been comprehensively outclassed on almost every occasion by his teammate. The team orders 'scandal' last year at Hockenheim will hardly have done wonders for his confidence, but there's just something extremely frustrating about watching Massa fail to show that sparkle that saw him come so very close to glory in 2008. Once again, after much speculation the Brazilian seems set to stay put at Ferrari for another year, but one wonders whether a switch to a lower pressure environment such as Renault or Williams could possibly unlock that speed we saw three years ago.

Best Moment – Looking like a genuine match for Alonso at China.

Worst Moment – Coming home an ignominious eleventh place after a particularly sub-par performance at Turkey.

Nick Heidfeld (D, Renault) 8^th, 34pts

Kubica's unfortunate injuries had the unexpected side effect of handing his old BMW teammate Heidfeld a sorely needed career lifeline: he had been replaced at Sauber by Perez and looked set to be sitting out the season before Renault gave him this golden opportunity. The season hasn't been a catastrophe, but considering his immense experience and talent, one would expected him to have amassed more than just two more points than his relative novice of a teammate, Petrov. Although he has been scoring on a fairly regular basis since his early podium in Malaysia, qualifying has been the main sticking point – starting so low down the order has occasionally left him prone to accidents, as we saw at the Nurburgring in particular. Although eighth in the standings is about as good as anybody could have hoped for given the quality of the car at his disposal, it's just disappointing that he hasn't achieved more. It would be a crying shame if that spells the end of the F1 road for the likeable German.

Best Moment – Making a blistering start at Malaysia en route to a superb third place finish.

Worst Moment – Costing himself the chance of points by tagging the back of Kobayashi at Canada.

Michael Schumacher (D, Mercedes) 10^th, 32pts

By now, it's probably safe to say that Schumacher's comeback hasn't quite gone according to plan. Podiums, wins, even a eighth world title seemed well within reach, but it was obvious that both Schumacher and Mercedes would have to raise their respective games massively to make those ambitions reality in 2011. Here we are, and Schumacher still seems a shadow of his former self, whilst equally the team are still struggling to keep up with the big boys ahead. Canada and Spain have been the highlights, both tracks where Schumacher has thrived in the past, but there's been little else to celebrate for the sport's most successful ever driver. Inconsistency in qualifying and a rather large share of contact have both impaired his results, and similarly to last year, he trails teammate Rosberg in the points standings. Schumacher has another year left on his current contract, but unless Mercedes can make a giant leap forward pace-wise, it's difficult to imagine Schumacher achieving anything more than what he has done up to now.
Best Moment - Fighting it out for his first post-comeback podium at Canada.
Worst Moment - Clattering into Petrov at Turkey at the expense of his front wing.
What about the Rest?

Perez and Di Resta look set to remain in mortal combat for 'Rookie of the Year' honours this year, with both having shown the occasional glimmer of genius that should both see them land top-line drives in the next few years, even if they haven't been able to touch their more experienced teammates in terms of points. More evenly matched teammates can be found in the Toro Rosso line-up of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersauri, who have both raised their games this year, even if the latter did get off to something of a slow start – the jury is still out as to which of the duo Daniel Ricciardo will replace at the team next year. As for Williams, 2011 has been a dire season so far, with Rubens Barrichello having picked up just four points. He's coming under increasing pressure from teammate Pastor Maldonado, who after taking a while to find his feet is blossoming into a solid midfield driver. Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli are both still considerably lower down the grid for Lotus than their talent deserves to be, as does Timo Glock for Virgin, who has generally outpaced new teammate Jerome D'Ambrosio, the Belgian himself having earned respectability. Vitantonio Liuzzi is doing just about as much as one could ask of a Hispania driver, though he'll do well to keep young teammate Ricciardo at bay for the rest of the year, a driver seemingly set for stardom.