Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Formula One: Elo Ratings, Post-Australian Grand Prix

Hamilton got bogged down at the start, Ferrari appeared to have the race in hand, and the new Haas F1 team was in position to pick up a point. For a while 2016 Australian Grand Prix seemed to be a break from the last two seasons. But on lap 17 Alonso and Gutierrez collided, sending Gutierrez into the sand trap and Alonso barrel rolling and flipping into the wall.

Source: bbc.co.uk
Alonso walked away with only a slight limp, but the race was red-flagged.

During the red-flag period teams were allowed to work on the cars and change the tires, essentially getting a free, half-hour long pit stop. When the race resumed under the safety car, most drivers had chosen the hardest tire available this weekend, the medium compound.

Inexplicably, though, Ferrari opted for the soft compound, meaning that their drivers would need to pit again before the end. On the restart Vettel was able to streak away from Rosberg, but wasn't able to put a solid gap between himself and the Mercedes before his tires wore out. Although Raikkonen had it even worse.

Oops
Source: jalopnick.com
In the end it was Rosberg leading a Mercedes 1-2, with Vettel joining them on the podium. The big winner of the day, though, was Romain Grosjean and the Haas F1 team, as they finished sixth in their debut.

Rank+/-Driver TeamRating+/-
1 -- HamiltonMercedes 1670 --
2 -- RosbergMercedes 1656 +19
3 -- VettelFerrari 1385 +28
4 -- RaikkonenFerrari 1338 --
5 +1 RicciardoRed Bull 1244 +46
6 -1 MassaWilliams 1236 +28
7 -- HulkenbergForce India 1180 +3
8 +1 BottasWilliams 1140 -4
9 -1 PerezForce India 1084 -92
10 -- VerstappenToro Rosso 1078 -25
11 -- Sainz Jr.Toro Rosso 1077 -4
12 -- KvyatRed Bull 1017 --
13 +2 GrosjeanHaas 985 +93
14 -1 MagnussenRenault 915 -11
15 +1 PalmerRenault 866 +23
16 -2 ButtonMcLaren 865 -38
17 -- AlonsoMcLaren 829 --
T-18 +1 EricssonSauber 779 --
T-18 -- NasrSauber 779 -34
20 -- HaryantoManor 731 --
21 -- GutierrezHaas 724 --
22 -- WehrleinManor 683 -32

Other winners include Ricciardo (finished 4th) and Massa (finished 5th). Jolyan Palmer finished 11th in his debut, beating his more experienced teammate. Sergio Perez had a bad day, going backwards four spots to finish 13th, and dropping one spot in our ratings. Button, Nasr, and Verstappen also had bad days, with Verstappen now a mere point ahead of his teammate in our ratings.