Power Ranking the Formula 1 Teams After 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix
The 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix was far from the best race Interlagos has produced. Another relatively uneventful grand prix was the last thing we needed after the Mexican procession of early November, and what has been a fairly good Formula One season looks like it might end on a low.
But Mercedes look certain to go out on a high after chalking up a record-equalling 11th one-two finish of the year. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locked out the front row with ease and were never seriously challenged in the race; they'll head to Abu Dhabi knowing another maximum is there for the taking.
Ferrari, too, will take heart from their display in Sao Paulo. Though Sebastian Vettel couldn't quite keep up with the Silver Arrows, he was close enough to force them to change their strategy and finished just 14 seconds down on the race winner.
Force India and Williams also had good weekends, but for Sauber and McLaren, the end of the year can't come soon enough. Two of the sport's oldest teams spent the afternoon fighting over 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th—neither will have high hopes of adding to their points tally at the final race.
But Toro Rosso and Lotus—separated by just nine points in the fight for sixth in the constructors' championship—will both have cause for optimism when the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend kicks off on November 27.
Until then, here's how the teams rank.
Note on Team Power Rankings
F1 team power rankings ignore the points table and instead present a snapshot of where each team stands in relation to their competitors based on the three key factors of reliability, single-lap and long-run pace.
The rankings are based on how they would perform if racing on an "average circuit" that places equal emphasis on each area of the car.
All position changes are relative to those in the previous set of rankings, published after the Mexican Grand Prix. You can find them here.
10. Manor
1 of 10
No Change
Manor had their usual weekend and finished well down on the rest.
Alexander Rossi ended his five-race stay in F1—for 2015 at least—by outqualifying his team-mate with a lap of 1:16.151. Will Stevens was 19th, slowest of all the cars to set a lap time.
Both gained a single place on the grid after Daniel Ricciardo's penalty, but they were soon dropped to the rear of the pack. Rossi was ahead initially, but Stevens overtook during the middle stint and pulled clear to take the chequered flag 10 seconds ahead of his team-mate.
Unfortunately, even he was four laps down on the race winner—and two laps down on the next-slowest car.
Manor remain 10th.
9. McLaren
2 of 10
No Change
McLaren didn't get a good result in Brazil, but they did at least get both cars to the finish.
Jenson Button was the team's sole representative in qualifying, and he didn't fare well. The Brit set the 17th-fastest time, behind everyone bar the two Manors. Fernando Alonso's car broke down before he could set a time; he started 20th, while Button moved up to 16th after penalties were applied.
When the lights went out, Button made a decent getaway and ended the opening lap in 13th. He lost the place briefly to Daniel Ricciardo before getting it back when the Red Bull man pitted, but he fell back to 14th after his own first stop.
Felipe Nasr overtook Button early in the second stint, dropping him to 15th, and that was all the car really had in it. Sticking relatively close to the main midfield but unable to mount any sort of challenge, Button came home in 15th—just over half a second down on an ailing Nasr.
Alonso's start was very good, and by the exit of Turn 3, he was up to 14th. However, he got his braking point wrong into Turn 4 and had to run wide to avoid hitting Button; he ended the opening lap in 16th.
The Spaniard overtook Maldonado in the first stint and found himself directly behind Button, a position he occupied for the entire race. Like his team-mate, he lacked the machinery to do any better, and he finished 16th—but he did at least get to the end.
Both McLarens rose one position post-race after Felipe Massa's disqualification, but that didn't make their weekend look any better.
They remain down in ninth.
8. Sauber
3 of 10
No Change
Sauber failed to score for the second race in a row after a disappointing race-day display.
Felipe Nasr put in a strong single-lap showing to qualify 11th, but a penalty for getting in Felipe Massa's way during Q2 dropped him down to 13th. Team-mate Marcus Ericsson's time of 1:13.233 was the 14th-quickest, but he moved up due to penalties for others and started 12th.
Nasr made a good start, passing Ericsson before Turn 1 and ending the opening lap in 12th. A ding-dong fight with Romain Grosjean's Lotus was a highlight of the first stint, but Nasr eventually lost out. His first stop cost him more positions, dropping him behind Jenson Button.
He overtook the 2009 world champion, but his two-stop strategy meant he had to manage his tyres, and his pace wasn't spectacular. He ran as high as ninth in the closing stages but couldn't keep the queue of quicker cars behind and ended up managing a braking issue on his way to finishing 14th.
Ericsson didn't get a good getaway, was crowded out at the entry to Turn 3 and ran wide at the following corner; he rejoined the track down in 18th.
From there, the Swede tried to recover. He was quicker than the McLarens and, after passing Alonso on Lap 28, looked set to make a move on Button, too. However, Pastor Maldonado was also trying to fight through the field—and travelling a little quicker than Ericsson.
The Venezuelan went for a lunge down the inside into Turn 1, hit Ericsson and sent him into a spin; the loss of time saw Ericsson fall totally out of contention.
He closed up on the McLarens as the race headed to its conclusion but was unable to catch them and crossed the line in 17th. This became 16th after Felipe Massa's disqualification, while Nasr rose to 13th.
But Sauber don't move up at all—they stay eighth.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
7. Lotus
4 of 10
No Change
Lotus may look back on this race as one of the biggest moments of their season.
Romain Grosjean led the way in qualifying once again, but even he could only manage 15th with a lap of 1:13.913. Pastor Maldonado was 16th, eliminated in Q1 by the smallest of margins. After penalties were applied to other cars, both rose one position on the grid.
When the red lights went out, Grosjean didn't make the best start of his career, pushing Maldonado onto the grass at the entry to Turn 1. However, the rest of his first lap was good, and he ended up 11th after the first tour of Interlagos.
He pace throughout the opening stint was promising, but he was unable to undercut Max Verstappen despite stopping one lap earlier. The second stint was spent in a three-way battle with Verstappen and the Force India of Sergio Perez.
Rejoining behind the duo after his second stop, Grosjean managed to pass both in the space of four laps to move himself up to a net ninth. That's where he remained all the way to the chequered flag.
Maldonado got off the line well but was pushed off the track by Grosjean at Turn 1. Though he was 18th for a brief moment, incidents for other cars saw him end the opening lap in 15th.
The Venezuelan was the only driver to start on medium-compound tyres, and as a result, his pace was no better than the McLarens in the early laps. But after pitting at the end of Lap 25, he began to make progress on the softs.
He passed Alonso and lined up Marcus Ericsson, following the Swede closely for one lap before taking a dive down the inside into Turn 1. It was somewhat optimistic, and the resulting contact sent Ericsson into a spin. Maldonado survived unscathed but received a five-second time penalty for causing an avoidable accident.
Following the second of his two stops, Maldonado ran as high as ninth before being passed by Grosjean, and as his tyres aged he found himself under pressure from Verstappen. The duel was decided in the Dutchman's favour four laps from home, and Maldonado finished 11th.
He rose into the 10th after Felipe Massa was disqualified, while Grosjean was promoted to eighth.
Lotus scored three more points than Toro Rosso and will enter the final race with a nine-point cushion in the fight for sixth in the championship.
But Interlagos probably suited Lotus more than an average track—so they remain seventh.
6. Toro Rosso
5 of 10
No Change
Toro Rosso got a car into the points for the sixth consecutive race but again let down one of their drivers.
Max Verstappen made it through to Q3 for the fourth race in a row and qualified 10th with a lap of 1:12.739. Carlos Sainz Jr. set the 12th-fastest time. Verstappen rose a single position on the grid after Daniel Ricciardo's engine-change penalty, while Sainz also benefited from Felipe Nasr's grid-drop.
The race start saw Verstappen have an average getaway. After very nearly making his way up to seventh around the outside of Turn 4, he ended the opening lap down in 10th. Sergio Perez was the man who'd demoted him, and though Verstappen was clearly quicker, he spent the first 30 laps staring at the Force India's rear wing.
But on Lap 32, he finally got a good run out of the last corner. Lacking the straight-line speed to get the move completed on the straight, Verstappen produced a beautiful move to go around the outside of Perez into Turn 1.
Romain Grosjean took the position off Verstappen two laps later; unable to fight back against the quicker Lotus, the Dutchman had to settle for stealing 10th from Pastor Maldonado four laps from home. He was later promoted to ninth following Felipe Massa's disqualification.
Sainz had another disappointing afternoon. His engine turned itself off on the formation lap, forcing him to start from the pit lane, then it switched off again after just five corners.
The Spaniard—runaway leader in the race to be crowned 2015's unluckiest driver—was out before he'd even completed a lap.
Toro Rosso's overall pace is a little better than that of Lotus, but they'll need a good two-car finish to have any hope of snatching sixth at the final race.
They remain sixth here.
5. Force India
6 of 10
No Change
Force India secured fifth in the constructors' championship with one race to spare.
Nico Hulkenberg has always gone well around Interlagos, and his time of 1:12.265 was good enough for sixth. Sergio Perez, meanwhile, struggled—he could only manage 13th, missing out on Q3 for the first time in five races. The Mexican started 11th after other drivers took penalties, while Hulkenberg moved up to fifth.
From there, the German had a slightly poor getaway. Fast-starting Valtteri Bottas flew past on the outside, while at the same time Daniil Kvyat muscled through on the inside. Hulkenberg tried to fight back into Turn 4 but couldn't make the move stick, and he ended the first lap in seventh.
The team pulled their driver in for his first stop on Lap 9 and when everything had shaken out, Hulkenberg was up to a net sixth. Kvyat closed up a little bit toward the end of the middle stint, but an earlier stop saw Hulkenberg stay ahead.
The Russian again closed up as the race neared its conclusion, but the straight-line speed of the VJM08 kept it ahead of the Red Bull, and Hulkenberg crossed the line in sixth—equalling his best finish of the year.
Perez got off the line well and, after passing Max Verstappen, ended the opening lap in ninth. But it soon became apparent the Mexican didn't have good race pace, and he spent the rest of the afternoon on the defensive.
Verstappen's daring move around the outside of Turn 1 dropped Perez to a net 10th, and Romain Grosjean followed the Dutchman through to push the Force India out of the points. Daniel Ricciardo was next to demote Perez—doing the deed twice after an undercut had undone his first pass.
Perez struggled with his tyres in the closing stages and ended up trailing home in 13th—less than two seconds clear of Felipe Nasr's Sauber.
Force India remain fifth.
4. Red Bull
7 of 10
Down One
Red Bull had a disappointing race despite receiving an upgraded engine from Renault.
Daniil Kvyat outqualified Daniel Ricciardo for the second race in a row, but his time of 1:12.322 was only good enough for a lowly seventh. Ricciardo—using the new-spec Renault engine that was supposed to be a little bit quicker—could do no better than ninth.
Kvyat, using the old-spec engine, moved up to sixth on the grid after a penalty for Valtteri Bottas, but the Finn's blistering getaway bumped the Russian back to seventh within a few hundred metres of the start.
But Kvyat in turn had a go at Nico Hulkenberg into Turn 1; having won the duel, he ended the first lap in sixth.
The Russian slipped down to seventh after Hulkenberg used the undercut at the first round of stops and spent the rest of the race in the Force India's wheel tracks. Kvyat might have been quicker had he been in clear air, but his Renault engine lacked the grunt he needed to mount a serious attempt at passing.
He followed Hulkenberg home to finish seventh.
Ricciardo took a 10-place grid penalty for fitting the new engine. Having started 19th, he rose to 14th on the opening lap before making a very early stop to get rid of the soft-compound tyres.
This left him facing longer stints than his rivals—something the superior pace of the Red Bull car was only partially able to make up for. Ricciardo got past the McLarens and Saubers, twice overtook Sergio Perez and closed up on Pastor Maldonado at the end, but he ran out of laps to make a move.
He was classified 11th after Felipe Massa's disqualification.
Red Bull slip down a spot to fourth.
3. Williams
8 of 10
Up One
Williams had a good race in the speed stakes but appear to have made a serious operational error.
Valtteri Bottas qualified an impressive fourth on the grid, splitting the Ferraris with a time of 1:12.085. However, a three-place grid penalty for overtaking under a red flag during practice bumped him down to seventh, where he joined team-mate Felipe Massa on the fourth row.
The Finn made a blistering start to challenge Raikkonen for fourth into Turn 1. The two have collided more than once in 2015 and came close to doing it again here, but Bottas gave way and slotted into fifth place.
Like those ahead of him, he had a fairly quite race thereafter. Comfortably quicker than the cars behind but unable to catch those ahead, Bottas two-stopped and took the chequered flag in fifth.
Massa usually goes well at his home race but didn't enjoy the 2015 edition. He spent most of the race trying in vain to pass Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull, but he couldn't get the job done. The Brazilian came home in a disappointing eighth.
However, he was later disqualified after his right-rear tyre—in a measurement taken on the grid—was found to be significantly above the maximum permitted temperature.
But procedural mishaps aside, Williams' pace was impressive, and the points Bottas scored confirmed they will finish third in the championship.
They rise to the same position in the team rankings.
2. Ferrari
9 of 10
No Change
Ferrari had surprisingly good race pace relative to Mercedes—or at least, one of their cars did.
Sebastian Vettel qualified third on the grid with a time of 1:11.804, a little over half a second down on polesitter Nico Rosberg. Kimi Raikkonen set the fifth-fastest time, three-tenths slower than his team-mate, but he completed an all-red second row after Valtteri Bottas took his grid penalty.
Both held their places at the start with Vettel remaining relatively close to the two Mercedes' throughout the opening stint. He pitted on Lap 13 and easily retained his net third place.
Vettel made his second stop a little earlier than expected and opted for softs, forcing Mercedes to switch to a three-stop race. But he could never get close enough to mount any sort of challenge and was 14 seconds behind Rosberg at the chequered flag.
Raikkonen made his first stop one lap earlier than Vettel, maintaining his fourth place. Ferrari then decided to split their strategies and the Finn ran a long, 34-lap second stint to make a two-stopper work.
He ran ahead of Vettel on the track at one point due to making one fewer stop, but he let the German by without any fuss and ended up fourth. He was 14 seconds down on Vettel—but 30 seconds clear of fifth-placed Bottas.
Ferrari remain second.
1. Mercedes
10 of 10
No Change
Mercedes cruised to their 11th one-two finish of the year—equalling their own record from 2014.
Nico Rosberg was again the team's main man over a single lap, taking his fifth consecutive pole position with a time of 1:11.282. Lewis Hamilton was less than one-tenth of a second slower and started second—also for the fifth race in a row.
The two Silver Arrows maintained their positions off the line, with Rosberg holding off a half-hearted attempt by Hamilton to pass around the outside into Turn 1. That was about as interesting as it got, either for the drivers or the viewing public.
Hamilton at least made an effort to overtake, but with following a rival car proving extremely difficult, he couldn't mount a single serious attack.
The relatively close proximity of Sebastian Vettel caused a little bit of drama for the team, forcing them to switch from their planned two-stop race to a three-stopper. This gave the drivers the opportunity to push the tyres a little harder and Rosberg—running in clean air—looked after his better.
After their final stops, the gap between the two W06s was little more than a second, but Rosberg pulled clear to finish almost eight seconds ahead of Hamilton. The Brit was in turn six seconds ahead of Vettel.
A smaller gap than usual, but a gap nonetheless.
Mercedes remain where they've been since the start of 2014—first.
All race, qualifying, timing and penalty data sourced from the FIA, the official F1 website and F1 Fanatic's lap charts.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
