Power Ranking the Formula 1 Teams After 2014 Russian Grand Prix
The 2014 Russian Grand Prix was a bit of a disappointment.
Formula One arrived in Sochi to find a circuit with greater-than-expected fuel-consumption rates and lower-than-expected tyre degradation.
The result was a tepid, dreary, one-stop race in which most, if not all of the teams, had to aggressively save fuel just to get to the end.
Toro Rosso perhaps suffered the most.
It was far from a "normal" race weekend, so gauging the true performance of the cars was difficult. But amid the uncertainty, one thing is abundantly clear—the Mercedes W05 is still in a class of its own.
Looking at reliability, qualifying and race pace, here's how the teams currently rank.
11. Marussia
1 of 11
Down One
Marussia elected to run a single car at the Russian Grand Prix as injured Jules Bianchi remains in a critical condition in hospital.
Max Chilton qualified in last place, half a second down on Kamui Kobayashi's Caterham. Marcus Ericsson, in the other green car, was a full second faster than the Brit.
He made little progress in the race, electing to pit early for medium tyres before reporting a vibration. The team decided to retire him as a precaution after nine laps.
Having out-paced Caterham for much of the year, a shift appears to have occurred.
Marussia drop one spot to 11th.
10. Caterham
2 of 11
Up One
Marcus Ericsson produced his best qualifying performance in F1 to set the 17th-quickest time, only one-10th of a second shy of getting through to Q2 on a perfectly dry track. Team-mate Kamui Kobayashi was half a second slower in 19th.
The Swede made a decent start and in the early running seemed to have similar pace to Pastor Maldonado's Lotus and Adrian Sutil's Sauber. But he was on the soft tyres, while they were on mediums.
After a switch to the mediums his pace dropped off significantly. Unable to get the tyres working, he made a late second stop for more softs and trailed home in last.
Kobayashi had a strange afternoon. Starting on mediums, he was the slowest car on the track in the early stages, then the team called him in to retire the car. Kobayashi was baffled, as he hadn't noticed anything wrong.
Asked by Sky Sports F1 after his retirement what had caused his premature stop, he said, "Actually nothing. I don’t know what happened, just the team decided to stop." The same site reports he later said the team retired him to save mileage.
Kobayashi then changed his mind when commenting on the team website's race review. The official line is that there was a brake problem, but he only became aware of it later.
Oddness aside, Caterham have looked quicker lately.
They rise one spot to 10th.
9. Lotus
3 of 11
No Change
Lotus seem unlikely to add to the eight points they scored earlier in the year.
Romain Grosjean qualified 16th, edging into Q2 by the narrowest of margins. Team-mate Pastor Maldonado fared less well, a gearbox issue restricting his running and leaving him down in 20th.
Maldonado made reasonable progress on the first lap, rising to 16th, but steadily dropped back and finished 18th, only Ericsson's Caterham behind him.
Grosjean, starting on the softs, was quicker in the early part of the race. After his single pit stop he encountered Adrian Sutil's Sauber.
The German attempted to pass around the outside of Turn 2, but the pair made contact. Sutil was sent into a spin, while Grosjean continued.
The Lotus man received a five-second stop-go penalty and two points on his license for causing the incident.
It seemed a touch excessive given the recent moves towards greater leniency on the part of the stewards, but then consistency has never been their strong suit.
Sutil eventually got past cleanly, leaving Grosjean to finish 17th.
Lotus remain ninth after a weekend to forget.
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8. Sauber
4 of 11
No Change
Sauber gave 19-year-old Russian Sergey Sirotkin his race-weekend debut at his home grand prix. He did a reasonable job, but the positivity didn't carry through into qualifying.
Esteban Gutierrez edged into an 8-7 lead in one of the tightest qualifying battles in the pit lane, setting the 14th-fastest time. Adrian Sutil was four-10ths slower than his young team-mate.
The Mexican held his position off the line and had relatively good pace on the soft tyres in the opening half of the race. But his speed began to suffer towards the end of his 39-lap stint, and after a late stop to switch to the mediums he finished a disappointing 15th.
Sutil took an alternative route, starting with a short stint on the mediums. He slipped back to 19th after a poor opening lap, and though he passed Pastor Maldonado early on, he wasn't quick enough to make further gains.
An early switch to softs saw him catch Romain Grosjean. His first attempt at a pass ended with contact, for which the Lotus man received a penalty.
The second attempt was more successful, moving the German up to 16th. This was where he finished.
Sauber remain eighth, but those elusive first points are as far away as ever.
7. Force India
5 of 11
No Change
Force India's drivers had only twice made it through to Q3 in the five races leading up to Sochi, so confidence can't have been high as they entered Saturday's session.
Nico Hulkenberg was quickest of the pair, but his time of one minute, 40.058 seconds was only good enough for 12th.
Sergio Perez was a 10th slower and a place lower, but inherited Hulkenberg's grid slot when the German took a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
Perez made little progress in the first half of the race, and from Lap 19 onwards found himself in what would become the tightest battle of the race.
Felipe Massa, trying to recover from a poor grid slot and early stop, caught the Mexican but could not get by. Perez defended against the much quicker Williams all the way to the end of the 53-lap race to claim a solitary point for 10th.
Hulkenberg was up to 13th after two laps, and by the time he made his one and only stop was a net 14th.
He looked the quicker Force India, and cruised up to the Perez/Massa battle. But overtaking either proved a step too far, and he finished 12th.
Force India remain seventh, losing out to Toro Rosso due to their poor one-lap pace.
6. Toro Rosso
6 of 11
No Change
Toro Rosso looked set for an excellent drive after Daniil Kvyat qualified fifth for his home race. The 20-year-old Russian's career-best start was secured with a lap of 1:39.277.
It was only seven-10ths down on pole and eight-10ths quicker than team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne's quickest time. The Frenchman started 10th.
But hopes of a good result began to fade as early as the first lap. Kvyat was down to ninth after just two tours of the Sochi Autodrom, and fell back all afternoon as the team struggled more than any other with excessive fuel consumption.
Forced to make a second stop after a lock-up, he ended up 14th, a lap down on the winner.
Vergne made a better start, and hung on to seventh place until his pit stop on Lap 23. But he too suffered as fuel saving became more important in the second half of the race, and 13th was the best he could manage.
Toro Rosso seem to have good pace over one lap and over a race distance. At an average circuit, freed of the need to save so much fuel, we can expect them to go better.
They remain sixth.
5. Ferrari
7 of 11
Down One
Ferrari's weekend kicked off with a disappointing qualifying session.
Fernando Alonso could only manage the eighth-fastest time. With the exception of Bahrain, where he suffered a loss of power, and Silverstone, where Ferrari botched their strategy on a wet track, it was his worst grid slot of the year.
Kimi Raikkonen started ninth, his best lap a tenth slower than his team-mate's.
Alonso made a good start and rose to fourth. He showed strong pace early on, challenging Jenson Button for third before falling back a little. At his one and only stop, a problem with the front jack cost him time, and when he emerged, Button's team-mate Kevin Magnussen had jumped ahead.
His pace on the medium tyres was not enough to challenge the McLarens, but good defensive work saw Alonso hold off Daniel Ricciardo to finish sixth.
Raikkonen lost three places on the opening lap and was a little slower than Alonso all race long. He came home ninth, just ahead of the Force India/Felipe Massa battle.
Ferrari's hopes of beating Williams to third in the constructors' championship are fading. Could they also be vulnerable to the recovering McLaren?
The Scuderia drop a spot to fifth.
4. McLaren
8 of 11
Up One
If Fernando Alonso is indeed moving to McLaren next season, he'll be pleased to see the progress they're making.
Jenson Button's impressive 1:39.121 was good enough for fourth, his best dry-weather grid slot of the year. Kevin Magnussen—the team's best qualifier at the four previous races—was sixth, but a gearbox-change penalty dropped him to 11th.
Button moved up to third on the opening lap when Nico Rosberg pitted. Though unable to hang on to Valtteri Bottas' second-placed Williams, he defended from Fernando Alonso until his one and only stop.
He lost third to the recovering Rosberg, but no one else threatened. The Brit came home in fourth, only 30 seconds down on race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Magnussen had a great opening three laps. He passed both Red Bulls, both Toro Rossos and Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari to run in fifth until the pit stops.
The Dane lost a place to Rosberg but gained one from the slow-stopping Alonso. Returning to the track in fifth, he stayed there to the end.
McLaren now look to be ahead of Ferrari in pure performance. They rise a spot to fourth.
3. Williams
9 of 11
No Change
Valtteri Bottas looked set for the front row after setting two blistering sector times in the dying moments of qualifying, but errors in the final few corners saw him miss out.
He started third.
Team-mate Felipe Massa didn't get the chance to join him. The Brazilian struggled with a fuel-pressure problem in Q1, and could only manage the 18th-fastest time.
Bottas held his position off the line and moved into second when Nico Rosberg stopped on the first lap. He ran at a very similar pace to Lewis Hamilton in the early stages, but dropped back as his tyres began to give up.
He stopped on Lap 25 for a set of mediums, and emerged just ahead of the recovering Rosberg. The Mercedes man passed him under braking for Turn 2 on the 30th lap, dropping the Finn to third.
That's where he remained all the way to the chequered flag, setting the fastest lap in the process. In hindsight, a slightly earlier stop may have been enough to keep him in second.
Massa gambled on a safety car, pitting on the first lap to get rid of the medium tyres and switch to softs. But the third Mercedes never came out, and he found himself stuck behind Sergio Perez after 20 laps.
He was still stuck behind him 33 laps later, recording a disappointing 11th-place finish.
Williams remain third.
2. Red Bull
10 of 11
No Change
If you asked Hermann Tilke to draw a circuit on which Red Bull would suffer, it would probably look a bit like Sochi.
Daniel Ricciardo was the team's top qualifier for the 10th time in 2014, but his best lap was only good enough for seventh. Sebastian Vettel exited the session in Q2 for the fourth time this year after setting the 11th-quickest time.
When the lights went out on Sunday, their fortunes were reversed almost instantly.
Ricciardo dropped to 10th after one lap, but three tours later had recovered to seventh, directly behind his fast-starting team-mate. His request for team orders was ignored and his tyres were struggling, so he made a very early switch to the mediums on Lap 11.
His pace thereafter was good, and he latched onto the rear of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari 15 laps from the flag. But try as he may he couldn't overtake, and finished where he'd qualified—seventh.
Vettel stayed out longer on the softs—perhaps too long. He returned to the track after his stop behind Ricciardo, but didn't have the pace to join the battle with Alonso.
He finished eighth.
Such a result might appear worrying for the team, but Russia—like Austria earlier in the year—was an anomaly. They'll be back fighting for best-of-the-rest at the forthcoming United States Grand Prix.
Red Bull remain second.
1. Mercedes
11 of 11
No Change
The only team to have occupied the same position in every single one of these rankings—going all the way back to the first test in Jerez—secured the constructors' championship in Russia.
Lewis Hamilton had the edge in qualifying, taking pole with a lap two-10ths quicker than team-mate Nico Rosberg, who started second.
When the lights went out on Sunday they went into the first braking zone side by side. It was to be the closest they'd come all day.
Rosberg missed his braking point and suffered a massive lock-up, effectively destroying his front tyres. Stopping for fresh rubber at the end of the first lap left him down in 20th with, if not a mountain, a challenging hill to climb.
Even driving at a conservative pace to keep his tyres healthy, Rosberg was still quicker than anyone not driving a W05. A beautiful late-braking move on Valtteri Bottas saw him take second place on the 30th lap.
The German retained this position to the end, completing a marathon 52-lap stint to claim 18 points.
After watching his team-mate go sailing by in a cloud of white smoke on the opening lap, Hamilton had a less interesting afternoon.
In cruise mode from the first lap onward, he took the chequered flag by 13 seconds for the easiest win of his F1 career.
Mercedes remain first.
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