Formula One: Teammate Comparisons After Spain (Round Five)

Continuing my regular article where I compare Formula One team mates against each other.

I will compare qualifying performance and judge them after the weight of the cars has been announced.

How qualifying results are displayed:

Position Qualified/Driver Name/Qualifying Time/Weight

I will then give my opinion of who had the better race, which is not necessarily the driver with the best result.

How race results are displayed:

Position Finished/Driver Name/Total Race Time/Fastest Lap

Drivers will be awarded one point for qualifying and one point for the race, come the end of the season we will see who did the better job.

Feel free to challenge my opinion.

Brawn GP

Qualifying: Button +1

Button just edges the point over Barrichello, they're both on similar fuel levels and set similar times, but Button did a good job to grab pole.

P1 Button 1:20.527 646kg

P3 Barrichello 1:20.762 649.5kg

Race: Button +1

Button lost out at the start to Barrichello, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

At the first pit stops they switched Button to a two stop strategy, as Brawn were convinced the three stop strategy that Barrichello was on would be quicker.

Barrichello didn't have a particularly good middle stint, and he was poor compared with Button when on the harder tyre, however he did set the fastest lap time.

Button took the win and takes the race point.

P1 Button 1:37:19.202 Fastest Lap: 1:22.899

P2 Barrichello 1:37:32.258 Fastest Lap: 1:22.762

Season: Jenson Button 9 – 1 Rubens Barrichello

McLaren

Qualifying: Hamilton +1

Both were struggling for grip, but Kovalainen didn't make it out of Q1 and Hamilton did.

P14 Hamilton 1:20.805 683kg

P18 Kovalainen 1:21.675 657kg

Race: Hamilton +1

Hamilton had a scruffy start going on the grass to avoid Piquet, but that kept him out of the incident in turn two and he was able to pick his way through unscathed.

Kovalainen had a good start and made up a few places and was running in front of his team mate, but yet again it was his McLaren that suffered with reliability issues and he was forced to retire with a gearbox issue.

Hamilton did well to hold off Glock, and later on after re-joining from the pits he had a battle with Alonso.

Hamilton also had to suffer the indignity of being lapped by Button, but he still takes the race point, mainly by default as we will never know where Kovalainen could have finished.

P9 Hamilton + 1 laps Fastest Lap: 1:23.839

P16 Kovalainen + 59 laps -Retired/Gearbox- Fastest Lap: 1:28.719

Season: Lewis Hamilton 8 – 2 Hekki Kovalainen

Ferrari

Qualifying: Massa +1

Raikkonen didn't make it out of Q1, as yet again Ferrari made a mistake of thinking they were safe!

Massa went all the way to Q3 to claim fourth, and it would have been second fuel adjusted.

P4 Massa 1:20.934 655kg

P16 Raikkonen 1:21.291 673kg

Race: Massa +1

Raikkonen, like Massa had a fantastic start, but was soon forced to retire with a hydraulic issue.

Massa jumped Vettel at the start and was looking good for fourth, somehow though he didn't have enough fuel to make it to the end and had to let Vettel and Alonso pass him so he could slow down to save fuel to make it to the end.

Massa still finished sixth and claimed some world championship points and therefore claims the race point.

P6 Massa 1:38:10.029 Fastest Lap: 1:23.089

P15 Raikkonen + 49 laps -Retired/Hydraulic- Fastest Lap: 1:24.490

Season: Felipe Massa 6 – 4 Kimi Raikkonen

Red Bull

Qualifying: Vettel +1

Similar fuel, but Webber wasn't a match for Vettel's pace.

P2 Vettel 1:20.660 651.5kg

P5 Webber 1:21.049 651.5kg

Race: Webber +1

Vettel lost out at the start to Massa and that pretty much ruined his afternoon, the Red Bull strategists should have done something to get him in front of Massa, but they didn't.

Webber on the other hand had a good strategy, and his long middle stint got him a podium finish in third.

Webber also did the overtaking move of the race to get back in front of Alonso, it was an incredible pass down into turn one. Mark was so late on the brakes, but somehow managed to slow it down and hit the apex of the corner!

P3 Webber 1:37:33.126 Fastest Lap: 1:23.112

P4 Vettel 1:37:38.143 Fastest Lap: 1:23.090

Season: Sebastian Vettel 7 – 3 Mark Webber

Toyota

Qualifying: Trulli +1

Trulli might have qualified behind Glock, but he is slightly heavier on fuel and set roughly the same time and therefore takes the point.

P6 Glock 1:21.247 646.5kg

P7 Trulli 1:21.254 655.5kg

Race: Glock +1

Trulli had a poor start and had to take avoiding action in turn two to miss Rosberg, but ended up going off and lost control, spearing back onto the track and collected the recovering Force India of Sutil.

Glock also had a poor start and other than a slight tussle with Hamitlon it was a quiet drive to tenth.

Glock claims the race point.

P10 Glock + 1 laps Fastest Lap: 1:24.134

P17 Trulli + 66 laps -Crash- Fastest Lap: No time

Season: Jarno Trulli 7 – 3 Timo Glock

Renault

Qualifying: Alonso +1

Piquet is improving, but didn't quite make it into Q3 unlike his team mate. Alonso didn't have a great lap considering his fuel load compared with those around him, but he still beat Piquet and takes the point.

P8 Alonso 1:21.392 645kg

P12 Piquet 1:20.604 677.4kg

Race: Alonso +1

Piquet didn't have a good start and that's about all we saw of him until he finished in twelfth.

Alonso thought he had got by Webber, but it didn't stay that way for long. He kept himself in front of Hamilton and got by Massa who was saving fuel on his way to fifth and some world championship points.

Alonso collects the race point.

P5 Alonso 1:38:02.368 Fastest Lap: 1:23.420

P12 Piquet + 1 laps Fastest Lap: 1:24.286

Season: Fernando Alonso 9 – 1 Nelson Piquet Jr.

Williams

Qualifying: Rosberg +1

Nakajima is still to make it out of Q2 in 2009, while Rosberg has made it into final qualifying at every race so far this year.

Another point for Rosberg.

P9 Rosberg 1:22.558 668kg

P11 Nakajima 1:20.531 676.6kg

Race: Rosberg +1

Quiet afternoon for both Rosberg and Nakajima, Rosberg finished in front with some world championship points and takes the race point.

P8 Rosberg 1:38:24.413 Fastest Lap: 1:23.621

P13 Nakajima + 1 laps Fastest Lap: 1:24.155

Season: Nico Rosberg 10 – 0 Kazuki Nakajima

BMW

Qualifying: Kubica +1

Last time out BMW were nowhere, a load of upgrades and two weeks later and Kubica makes it into Q1.

Kubica may have qualified further up the grid had BMW not mismatched his tyres, even so Kubica takes the point as he beat Heidfeld.

P10 Kubica 1:22.685 660kg

P13 Heidfeld 1:20.676 676.3kg

Race: Heidfeld +1

Heidfeld made places at the start, while Kubica lost places due to a clutch problem.

A clever strategy allowed birthday boy Heidfeld to claim some world championship points and the race point.

P7 Heidfeld 1:38:11.514 Fastest Lap: 1:23.878

P11 Kubica + 1 laps Fastest Lap: 1:24.078

Season: Robert Kubica 7 – 3 Nick Heidfeld

Force India

Qualifying: Sutil +1

Sutil easily beat Fisichella, but despite the upgrades the two are still only battling not to qualify last.

P19 Sutil 1:21.745 675kg

P20 Fisichella 1:22.204 656kg

Race: Fisichella +1

Sutil ran wide into turn one at the start, and on recovering to the track was taken out by the out of control Toyota of Trulli.

Fisichella had a relatively quiet afternoon on his way to 14th and the race point.

P14 Fisichella + 1 laps Fastest Lap: 1:23.796

P20 Sutil + 66 laps -Crash- Fastest Lap: No time

Season: Giancarlo Fisichella 4 – 6 Adrian Sutil

Toro Rosso

Qualifying: Buemi +1

Buemi again put in a fantastic performance, while Bourdais struggled. If Buemi hadn't fallen off the track in Q2, he might have made Q3.

P15 Buemi 1:21.067 678kg

P17 Bourdais 1:21.300 669kg

Race: Buemi +1

Not much either could have done in turn two on the opening lap, but it was Bourdais that ran into Buemi, who might have survived otherwise.

Buemi can have the point.

P18 Buemi + 66 laps -Crash- Fastest Lap: No time

P19 Bourdais + 66 laps -Crash- Fastest Lap: No time

Season: Sebastian Buemi 7 – 3 Sebastian Bourdais