Hamilton and Massa: Who Has Lost the Most Unnecessary Points?

Championships can often be decided by small details. Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa have both driven brilliantly at times this season, but they have also lost a lot of points for one reason or another. In fact, incidents and errors involving the championship contenders have been a very big feature of the 2008 season. A lot of fans have likened this season to 1999, as the one that nobody wants to win.

Let's have a look through the whole season and assess where Hamilton and Massa have lost points and compare who has lost out more. Who has made the most errors? Who has been let down by their team more? How many points have Hamilton’s various penalties cost him?

The lost points will be categorized between the different ways that points have been thrown away. There are four categories, which comprise of: Reliability, Driver error, Team error, and Penalties.

Sometimes an incident could be more than one of the above.

Where a driver would have finished without one of the incidents can, at times, only be a rough estimate and at times an educated guess. We will never exactly know what a final result will have been without an incident or error occurring for a driver. It’s a case of deciding what the most likely outcome may have been and using that outcome to decide how many points were potentially lost.

Australia

Hamilton took maximum points in Australia with a flawless race victory. Felipe Massa, on the other hand, had a much-more adventurous afternoon. It all starts going wrong when he span at the start whilst trying to pass Kovalainen. This, and a broken front wing, put him to the back of the field. He was fighting his way through the field and had an incident with Coulthard.

In the end, the car pulled over with a reliability issue.

Massa had started fourth and should have, under normal circumstances, without the errors and the reliability gremlin (which may have been caused by his incident with Coulthard), finished second to Hamilton.

Hamilton – Zero points lost

Massa –Driver error and Reliability – Eight points lost

Malaysia

Both Hamilton and Massa had poor weekends in Sepang. Lewis Hamilton got penalized for slowing down too much after his qualifying lap and being on the racing line whilst Heidfeld was still on a hot lap. Along with his teammate Heikki Kovalainen, he got demoted five places on the grid. Felipe Massa, on the other hand, got a perfect pole lap in qualifying.

In the race, Raikkonen was simply faster and got by Massa at the first stops and stayed there. Massa, though, was in a comfortable second position. Massa, however, took a bit too much kerb at one of the fast corners and span into the gravel trap. He was trapped and retired on the spot.

Hamilton, who was starting ninth, could only manage fifth. If he had started where he qualified, a podium would have been a certainty and maybe even second, due to Massa’s error and retirement.

Massa – Driver error – Eight points lost

Hamilton – Penalty – two to four points lost

Bahrain

Massa took a great win in Bahrain and took maximum points.

Hamilton, on the other hand, had a bad weekend. He qualified in a strong third position, but from then on, it all went downhill. Hamilton didn’t get the start procedure right and crawled away from the line.

At the first corner he was down to around ninth or 10th position. He then came up to pass Alonso and hit him. This damaged Hamilton’s car, and he was never able to recover. Hitting Alonso may have been a bit unlucky, but the incident stemmed from the fact that Hamilton lost his focus before the start of the race. So no points scored in Bahrain has to go down as driver error.

If Hamilton hadn’t got the bad start, third would have been his best finishing spot, although he would have had to fight hard with the BMWs to get it.

Massa – Zero points lost

Hamilton – Driver error – Five or six points lost

Spain

No incidents leading to point losses for either Massa or Hamilton at this event.

Turkey

No incidents leading to point losses for either Massa or Hamilton at this event.

Monaco

Hamilton’s clip on the barrier could have cost him dearly at this race. However, he recovered to the pits, and changed to what would turn out to be a winning strategy and took full points.

Massa started well by leading, by the first pit stop Ferrari expected more rain, which in the end never came. This ended his chances of victory.

This wrong weather prediction could certainly have cost Massa second, ahead of Kubica. However, Hamilton would still have won, as he had a lot more fuel, and therefore more flexibility in terms of changing to dry tyres at the same time as fuelling to the finish.

Massa – Team error – Two points lost

Hamilton – Zero points lost

Canada

Hamilton took a great pole position in Canada, and during the first stint was leading the race comfortably.

However, a safety car changed everything. All the front-runners came into the pits. Hamilton stayed in his garage for longer than Raikkonen and Kubica, who got the jump ahead of him. The red light was on at the end of the pit lane. Raikkonen and Kubica stopped at the line, but Hamilton was oblivious to the red light, and by the time he noticed, he had hit the back of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.

Massa had to come in to the pits again on the next lap due to a problem with his first stop. This put him down the back end of the field. Massa did very well to fight back to fifth place, but without having to come in again, he could have mixed with the BMWs for the race win.

It’s very hard to predict where Massa may have finished. He could have finished in any of the three podium spots. Second place would probably have been the most likely, as he would have got stuck behind the Heidfield/Alonso battle as Kubica drove away.

Hamilton, on the other hand, lost a very likely 10 points. He had the fastest car and more fuel than Raikkonen and Kubica.

Massa – Team error- Four points lost

Hamilton – Driver error – 10 points lost

France

Hamilton was given a 10-place penalty in France for the incident in the Montreal pit lane. He qualified third, which turned into 13th. Massa qualified second, behind Raikkonen.

In the early stages of the race, Hamilton overtook Vettel but skipped the chicane on the way to doing so. Hamilton was given a penalty for this and this put his chances of points in jeopardy.

Kovalainen started from 10th, due to a penalty for blocking in qualifying. Kovalainen managed to fight back to fourth position, which, without a drive-thru penalty could have been the same for Hamilton or maybe even third.

Without the penalty, Hamilton would have started third and likely stayed there.

Massa – Zero points lost

Hamilton – Penalty - Six points lost

Britain

Hamilton drove his best race of the season, winning in the wet conditions by nearly a whole minute.

Massa only qualified in ninth place and had a terrible time in the race, spinning five times and scoring no points in the process. Ferrari also made the bad mistake of not fitting full wets onto both the Ferraris at the time of the heavy downpour.

It’s very hard to predict where Massa would have finished without those spins. Raikkonen finished fourth, suffering a poor race himself. Massa, in Italy, finished in sixth place in similar conditions. Fifth or sixth would have been the likely place where he would ended up here

Massa – Driver and team error – Three or four points lost

Hamilton – Zero points lost

Germany

No incidents leading to point losses at this event.

Hungary

Massa made a brilliant start, passing both McLarens on the first lap. He led the whole time from that point onwards but disaster struck three laps from the end when his Ferrari engine blew up. Massa had a comfortable lead and would definitely have scored the 10 points.

Hamilton couldn’t quite match Massa on pace but would have definitely been second had it not been for a puncture. He ended up finishing fifth.

Massa – Reliability – 10 points lost

Hamilton – Reliability – Four points lost

Europe

No point loss incidents to report for either driver at this event.

Belgium

Hamilton won a very memorable race at Spa. It was a tight battle between him and Raikkonen for the whole race. However it was the last three laps when the race was decided. Raikkonen couldn’t cope on a wet track with dry tyres, and Hamilton quickly gained on him. Hamilton had a go into the bus stop chicane but used the run-off area and skipped the end. Raikkonen got back past Hamilton but the duel continued at La Source and Hamilton passed him. They swapped positions a couple more times on that lap before Raikkonen hit the wall.

After the race, the stewards demoted Hamilton to third after deeming that Hamilton hadn’t given the position back fairly to Raikkonen after skipping the chicane.

Massa – Zero points lost

Hamilton – Penalty – Four points lost

Italy

In a wet qualifying session, Hamilton and his engineers made the mistake of choosing the wrong tyre for his qualifying lap in Q2. This made him the miss the best condition in that session and he ended up qualifying 15th. Massa qualified in seventh.

In the race, Hamilton made up ground to seventh place but could have won the race had it started raining again. He wouldn’t have had to come in again and would likely have ended up in first place come the end. However, without that misjudgment in the second part of qualifying, Hamilton with his wet weather expertise could well have challenged for pole position and therefore won the race.

Certainly you would have a thought a finish in the top two would have been near guaranteed.

Massa – Zero points lost

Hamilton – Driver and team error – Six to eight points lost

Singapore

Ferrari were the fastest package in Singapore, and Massa was looking very comfortable for a race victory. However, like in Canada, a safety car changed everything. Massa pitted from the lead and he got a green light from his pit signals. However, the green light was a mistake as the fuel hose was still attached and he took it with him down the pit lane. He had to wait at the bottom of the pit lane for the mechanics to come and remove the hose. Massa then got penalized for unsafe release. He was at the back of the train and never recovered.

Massa – Team error – 10 points lost

Hamilton – Zero points lost

Japan

Hamilton made a slow getaway, and Raikkonen cruised past him. However, Hamilton decided to get back at Raikkonen (despite not needing to) and messed the maneuver up, going wide and losing positions. He ended up in seventh, behind Massa. Hamilton managed to pass Massa at the chicane but Massa tagged him and put Hamilton into a spin.

Hamilton got a drive thru for his incident with Raikkonen at the start, whilst Massa got a drive thru for his incident with Hamilton.

This left both title contenders in lowly positions. Massa managed to fightback to seventh, but Hamilton got no points.

Hamilton would likely have finished in second place, with Massa close behind in third had Hamilton’s bold move not triggered that chain reaction at the start.

Massa – Driver error and Penalty – Four points lost

Hamilton – Driver error and Penalty – Eight points lost

China

No point lost incidents for either driver.

Final Totals and Conclusion

So, overall, when adding up the points lost for both drivers, these are the overall results.

Hamilton

Overall estimated points losses – 45-50 points lost

Driver error – 31 –34 points

Team error – 6-8 points

Reliability – 4 points

Penalties – 20 – 22 points

Massa

Overall estimated points lost – 49-50 points

Driver error – 23 –24 points

Team error – 19-20 points

Reliability – 18 points

Penalties – 4 points

**IMPORTANT: Remember that the team and driver error, reliability, and penalty figures will add up to more than the overall estimated points loss total. This is due to the fact that some of the points losses were a mixture of two of the four categories used in this analysis.**

This data tells us that during the season, Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton have lost around the same amount of points, possibly Massa has lost a few points more. However, the ways in which both drivers have lost points couldn’t be more different.

Most people say that Massa can be extremely erratic and makes too many mistakes. However, looking at these calculations, it seems Hamilton has made more errors than Massa this season. Massa has lost eight to 10 points less than Lewis Hamilton when it comes to driver errors.

The error that Massa may most regret is that spin whilst in a comfortable second at Malaysia. That was a very silly way to lose what would have been eight easy points. If he had got those eight points, he would be leading the championship by one point going into the final race.

The error that Hamilton will most regret is the collision with Raikkonen in the Montreal pit lane. A huge moment of brain fade cost Hamilton a lot of points in this championship. He would have gone on to win that race, but he then incurred a penalty in France, which stopped him from scoring big in that race, too.

That one incident cost Hamilton a potential 16 points in this championship. If Hamilton were to lose this championship, that error in Montreal may well prove the moment Hamilton gets angry with himself over.

Felipe Massa has also lost far more points due to unreliability and errors by his team. When you add up Massa’s losses from reliability and team error, it adds up to a potential 36-37 points. The engine failure in Hungary and fuel hose incident in Singapore cost him two race victories.

In those two races, Massa’s pace was simply stunning and better than key rival Hamilton. Massa lost those two races due to no fault of his own. If he had scored those 20 points in those two races, he would now be world champion. Those two races may well end up being the turning point, which loses Massa the championship.

On the other hand, Hamilton hasn’t suffered as much from team errors and reliability issues. He has only lost a potential 10-12 points when adding the losses from these two categories together.

Whilst Massa has suffered more from unreliability and team errors, Hamilton has suffered far more due to stewards decisions, which have been put under big scrutiny this season.

Hamilton has lost a staggering potential 20-22 points thanks to the stewards. How many of those points he deserved to lose is a very interesting question.

The highest profile decision was that one at Spa, which to many seemed like a very harsh decision. It seemed even harsher to some when Alonso skipped a chicane at Singapore, overtaking two cars in the process, which didn’t even need investigating in the steward’s eyes.

Hamilton maybe could have waited longer to overtake Raikkonen. Raikkonen had no answer to Lewis in the damp conditions on dry tyres in that time of the race. However, the popular opinion was that Lewis was dealt with very harshly indeed, and Massa inherited a victory he didn’t deserve whatsoever.

His 10-place grid penalty for taking Kimi out of the race in Canada was certainly a lot more acceptable, although some will argue he already took the punishment in Canada thanks for a DNF. Is it right to give a penalty in the next race, too? Hamilton’s penalty in Fuji was certainly very harsh like the one in Spa.

Drivers run each other wide at the start of a race all the time. Hamilton was probably the first driver in history ever to get punished for such an incident. Of course, had he not tried the move on Kimi in the first place, there would have been no chance of a penalty being given.

Fans and pundits will be discussing for a long time how many of these points lost, thanks to penalties, Hamilton actually deserved to lose. Massa on the other hand only lost an estimated four points thanks for penalties.

So, in conclusion, it’s clear to see that Massa and Hamilton have lost an awful lot of points this season. Possibly a lot more than you would expect from the two championship contenders.

Having analyzed all the points lost, it seems Massa has made the least errors of the pair this season. Felipe Massa has also suffered more bad luck than Hamilton, as we saw in the team error and reliability categories.

So if Massa loses this championship, he may look back and feel he was a bit unlucky. If Hamilton loses this championship, he should perhaps blame himself more, for, in this writer’s opinion, he has lost more silly points than Massa has.

Even with that harsh call in Belgium, Hamilton has made a few shocking errors that a driver of his talent shouldn’t be making. He should look further than Spa for the points he lost if he ends up losing to Massa in Brazil.