Drivers’ Championship
| Pos | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Felipe Massa | 39 |
| =2 | Fernando Alonso | 37 |
| =2 | Sebastian Vettel | 37 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | 35 |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg | 35 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | 31 |
| 7 | Robert Kubica | 30 |
| 8 | Mark Webber | 24 |
| 9 | Adrian Sutil | 10 |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | 9 |
| 11 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 8 |
| 12 | Rubens Barrichello | 5 |
| 13 | Jaime Alguersuari | 2 |
| 14 | Nico H?â??lkenberg | 1 |
| =15 | Bruno Senna | 0 |
| =15 | Sebastien Buemi | 0 |
| =15 | Vitaly Petrov | 0 |
| =15 | Jarno Trulli | 0 |
| =15 | Heikki Kovalainen | 0 |
| =15 | Karun Chandhok | 0 |
| =15 | Pedro de la Rosa | 0 |
| =15 | Kamui Kobyashi | 0 |
| =15 | Timo Glock | 0 |
| =15 | Lucas di Grassi | 0 |
Constructors’ Championship
| Position | Team | Points |
| 1 | Ferrari | 76 |
| 2 | McLaren | 66 |
| 3 | Red Bull | 61 |
| 4 | Mercedes | 44 |
| 5 | Renault | 30 |
| 6 | Force India | 18 |
| 7 | Williams | 6 |
| 8 | Toro Rosso | 2 |
| =9 | HRT | 0 |
| =9 | Lotus | 0 |
| =9 | Sauber | 0 |
| =9 | Virgin | 0 |
2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
rfs
4th April 2010, 10:49
Look at that gap between Schuey and Rosberg!
Ninad
4th April 2010, 11:22
29 points!! 1 race win and they get close too……
Never say never in F1………
George
4th April 2010, 12:06
Almost like what he did to Nakajima last year :3
F1silverarrows
4th April 2010, 14:31
Rosberg is a class driver, it’s a shame most people don’t rate him closer to Hamilton. He is the dark horse this year for the title “for sure”-for all you rubens and massa fans out there.
Salty
4th April 2010, 19:24
Absolutely right. Rosberg has stepped up to a higher level this year I feel though, more than the step up to Mercedes alone can be accounted for. Rosberg put in some good quick qualifying performances with Williams, but never really seemed to underline it on the Sundays.
But this year, with the prospect of Michael Schumacher as team mate, it was always going to be a case of pulling out all the stops, or look forward to 10 years of being branded a F1 also-ran who was a shoe-in because of his name. Bravo Nico, extremely positive response to what could have been a career killer.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. We are 3 races in and Schumacher has been out of any competitive racing for 3 years. He said himself it would take several races to get up to speed. Today was mechanical failure after a positive start, not an aging egoist being beaten by all the young dudes.
steph
4th April 2010, 20:18
Brundle said on the f1 forum that Rosberg has to step it up a gear as he hasn’t shown if he is hungry enough. He may be good but I completely agree with Brundle
Salty
4th April 2010, 21:56
From last year, I think Rosberg has stepped up Steph, but yes, he still needs to do more than hold station in the race, as he did today.
Schumacher’s result today had nothing to do with driver ability and everything to do with car reliabilty, though Michael had made some ground toward the front, whereas Nico had fallen back a smidge.
Again, early days, but we were all relishing the in-team battles at Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes this season, during the off season. Seems they are bearing fruit already ;)
Calum
5th April 2010, 8:43
He has to get the monkey off his back to be a true contender, and I am sure he will eventually win a race this season.
bob
4th April 2010, 10:51
Drivers ranking is so close…
Damon
4th April 2010, 10:57
1. Massa 39
…
7. Kubica 30
The first 7 split by only 9 points! When you can score 10 points for a 4th place.
I think there’s gonna be 5 drivers fighting for the WDC. What a season!
Patrickl
4th April 2010, 11:03
Yeah, before the race I was wondering if this might happen since the highest ranked drivers were all so far behind.
In fact it’s like the championship starts from scratch for these drivers.
IDR
4th April 2010, 11:05
Very impressive Kubica, lets see if he can maintain his position
2 Minutes To Midnight
4th April 2010, 11:33
Let’s just hope that the rest of the race in this season will be exiting like in the Australian GP… :)
bob
4th April 2010, 16:35
BTW 10 points are given to 5th place :)
But yeah, after old system there should be 4 points between 1st and 7th
Damon
4th April 2010, 17:17
Oh, yes, my mistake.
sumedh
4th April 2010, 11:02
Massa is yet to win a race!!
But still, his driving has been good.
If he hadn’t passed Button, we would have had 4 drivers on 37 points !!!
Damon
4th April 2010, 11:08
All of the first 8 drivers have been on the podium already.
Todfod
4th April 2010, 11:26
I really dont think Massa has been driving too well. He got ripped apart by Alonso in Bahrain, and was not as quick as Alonso in Australia. Inspite of Alonso’s downshifting problem today, he looked much quicker than Massa. I think Massa is just lucky to be leading his teammate and the World Championship.
cyanide
4th April 2010, 11:55
Haven’t we been through this in 2008 already? Give the man a break.
Scribe
4th April 2010, 12:52
er no, Raikkonen did not look quicker than Massa for a lot of 2008. Massa looked the dominant partner an not ahead by luck. This time Alonso is definatley driving better.
Patrickl
4th April 2010, 13:06
Though, Raikkonen was much faster (and leading the WDC) through the beginning of 2008. Until they developed the car away from him.
When they got the car back, Raikkonen was instantly faster than Massa again too. Although he crashed out of most races in an effort to do a do or die and get back points.
cyanide
4th April 2010, 15:33
I was referring to Massa taking the fight to Hamilton and almost winning the WDC.
Ed
4th April 2010, 11:13
Nice to see Massa in the lead, despite not showing his best in any of the races so far.
Great work by Kubica as well, he has already gone up a lot in my books this year.
TommyB
4th April 2010, 15:57
It sure is great that it’s so close but lead of the WDC certainly flatters Massa at the moment after two so-so races but he is consistent I guess.
Most impressed with Kubica this year though, in the title race in a Renault is unbelievably impressive.
Jian
4th April 2010, 11:15
Points according to the old system: Kubica would be higher up, actually 2nd place finishers are the losers of this new point system. Hamilton would be in the lead if his team held his 3rd place in Melbourne.
Massa 39 16
Alonso 37 15
Vettel 37 15
Rosberg 35 14
Button 35 13
Hamilton31 12
Kubica 30 13
Webber 24 9
rampante
4th April 2010, 11:33
What 3rd did Hamilton have in Aus? This year he finished 7th and it was never his at any point of the race. “if” has no place in F1. “If” all the drivers who have not survived had car problems before they crashed etc.
Jian
4th April 2010, 12:00
Well mate, this is a blogpage where we are allowed to speculate right? Beside Ham had a 6th place, he held a 3rd place when the team pulled him in.
You might not find it interesting but I do since I think his driving warranted something more the last few races. Especially considering that the error last time was neither car failure or driver error but a strategic blunder. You might think it doesn’t matter but I do and that’s it.
Scribe
4th April 2010, 12:56
Thats intersting, if McLaren held out Massa was never going to get by him in Aus, an he may have eventualy got Kubica though thats debatable. Hmm! Hammy could have been leading! well this does brighten my day. I mean it would have been luck an probably tempory but hey you can say the same about Massa’s lead. Ah well such is racing.
My hopes for McLarens championship grow day by day. They can definately match Ferrari on race pace, seems there quali improving an tupgrades are on the way. Hopefully McLaren will keep on getting quicker.
Patrickl
4th April 2010, 13:19
Since Hamilton was third and they called him in unnecesary, it’s fair to say Hamilton could have stayed out and taken that third.
Then again if McLaren had simply let their drivers go out early in Q1 this weekend they might have been further up the field too. Hamilton was fastest all weekend. Would have been interesting to see where he could have ended up when he could have started from the front.
Mike
6th April 2010, 11:11
My understanding is that McLaren pulled him early to give him advantage, remember that the driver who pits earliest gains the time nowadays… So I am surprised that a lot of Mclaren bashing is going on.
If it had worked, We would be saying how great they (The McLaren strategists) are, It wasn’t nearly even close to a real mistake. A real mistake came in Malaysia.
Miketbh
4th April 2010, 11:41
Great for Massa getting to the top, but it’s seemed to me he is trying too hard to avoid an incident and isn’t being aggressive enough.
Hopefully he’ll start attacking again soon.
steph90
4th April 2010, 11:44
I don’t really beleieve in luck. If you aren’t leading you just have to put yourself in a position to get the points to get ahead and Massa has done that. It’s not the classiest way nor the most exciting but well done to him. I feel he has more to give but good on him getting round Button even if Button’s tyres were shot.
Alonso is the driver impressing me most of late. Hamilton has done slome good passes but not sure Mclaren are up there with RBR yet.
RBR should win this title. They have the car, they have the driver.Alonso is the best at the mo’ in my opinion but RBR should get this job done. Whether they will is a different matter and I’m certainly not giving up on Ferrari. Thr fact RBR are so far ahead means they have the furthest to fall.
steph90
4th April 2010, 11:46
Sorry for double post but completely forgot that I loved Rob’s “good boy, beaut-iful” moment and the stewards were right about Hamilton
Calum
4th April 2010, 11:52
How were the stewards right? They didn’t actually do anything…
James_mc
4th April 2010, 11:55
They gave Hamilton a warning for his weaving down the straight in front of Petrov. Due to the events of recent years, I was fully expecting a drive-through/post-race penalty/hanging/public castration of Hamilton because of it.
George
4th April 2010, 12:02
Yeah I think it was fair, it was a bit naughty but wasn’t in the braking zone, and he had the straight line advantage.
Scribe
4th April 2010, 13:00
It was a bit naughty, warning naughty. He was trying to tow break, which is different to say the weaving Massa did in the breaking zones in Auz to Webber. As they didn’t punish that they can’t punish this. All the same, Petrov could have taken the slingshot after the first weave an had him up the inside for corner one.
Hope Petrov scores soon, he deserves some points.
Icthyes
4th April 2010, 15:21
Massa is there despite Alonso having had the measure of him in every weekend so far. What that says about Massa is that he gets the job done, and shouldn’t be written off for the championship by any means, especially when we get to some of his favourite circuits.
My corollary to that is that Massa does need to start putting in the performances we know he’s capable of. If not for a spin (though his own fault) and a dodgy gearbox (not his fault), Alonso would be at the top of the table now. And have we seen Fernando at his best either?
If Massa gets beat by Alonso over the season it will be no shame or reflection on Massa, but he has to step up if he wants to avoid it.
torrit
6th April 2010, 14:58
“(…)If not for a spin (though his own fault)(…)”
I thought that Button ran into him
kowalsky
4th April 2010, 11:47
vettel looks like the only real world champion material at the moment, the rest all made mistakes. His only problem up to today was with reliability. His driving, flawless.
George
4th April 2010, 12:05
I dont remember the Ferraris or Rosberg making mistakes, and Hamilton and Webber only minor mistakes (Button was just slow).
Damon
4th April 2010, 12:34
I detest your definition of a champion.
A champion is never scared of taking risks and never scared of making mistakes if they are a result of going as close to the limit as possible.
One could be flawless, make no mistakes and finish 7th or 8th at every race, or 2nd for that matter. Is he a champion? No.
Patrickl
4th April 2010, 13:21
Vettel didn’t have to take any risks. He’s driving by far the fastest car on the grid.
Remember what happens when Vettel actually IS forced to take risks. He almost invariably crashes out of the race.
Damon
4th April 2010, 17:19
Great point, Patrickl.
Salty
4th April 2010, 18:43
That’s rather harsh on the other 7 drivers at the top of the table I think. Vettel certainly drove well today, but was never really under any pressure due to a rather unusual qualifying put his nearests rivals, apart from team mate Webber, at the back of the grid.
Another factor to take into account has been the adjustable ride-height system which Red Bull has been deploying during qualifying this year. Once the other teams can bring this to a race weekend, I expect we will see a closer battle for the front row.
But hats off to Seb today, nice clean drive. Great 1-2 for the team.
David A
4th April 2010, 20:58
@kowalsky- I agree entirely.
David A
4th April 2010, 21:02
Only joking, you’re only belittling the other drivers challenging with him who include 3 actual WDCs. Plus what everyone else said.
Salty
4th April 2010, 22:01
Um… 4 WDCs. With a total of 11 WDC titles between them. Seb has none yet. But has a very good chance this year to be honest. Newey has given a very fast driver a very fast car. Does put me in mind of the glory days for Williams.
David A
4th April 2010, 22:27
I knew it was 4 WDCs, but I basically meant “in the hunt challenging him” or something like that, since Schumi is getting quite far behind. I’m not writing him off and I want him to do well by the way.
Salty
4th April 2010, 22:34
Ditto about him defying the buggars ;)
Stuart
4th April 2010, 11:51
The championship leader is yet to win a race… So pooee to Bernies 25 points scheme to put more emphasis on number of wins!
Calum
4th April 2010, 11:54
The thing is though, that if you get a bit of winning consistency, you will be mile ahead. Think about it, today was the first “easy” race in that pole went on to win, every other race has been thanks to circumstances.
George
4th April 2010, 12:03
This way is better than the medals system at least, consistancy should be rewarded.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
4th April 2010, 12:04
But not over-rewarded, which what I think the new points system does.
Patrickl
4th April 2010, 15:48
Yeah, the “new” points system only devalues the 2nd place. Other than that it’s identical to the old system.
They should have brought back the 10-6-4-3-2-1 system and stretched that to 10 places by multiplying it by 10.
Or make th system a pure sliding score. Start with a 100 points and make the next place worth 60% of the previous one.
100
60
36
22
13
8
5
3
2
1
Damon
4th April 2010, 17:26
No, no, that’s just awful. With such big numbers, you have then scores like:
835
713
678
651
…where there is far too many digits, and the 3rd digit is actually quite irrelevant/redundant.
This is much more clearer and eye-friendly:
83
71
67
65
…and allows easy calculations, WITHOUT the need for a calculator.
Icthyes
4th April 2010, 21:37
Personally, I thought there were only two alternatives:
1) 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, with a winner-takes all system for the WDC
2) Double last year’s points and fill the gaps in between. So 20-16-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1
I really think they should have gone with the second one. Not only does it shy away from rewarding the lower Top 10 too much, but it’s sensible and easy to follow. Off the top of my head, I still can’t remember what comes after 18 points for 2nd. Best of all, we have the old 4-point difference that served the 10-6-4-3-2-1 so well, but still gives 2nd great value (and even better than 3rd than the old system), and makes 3rd two points better than 4th instead of one, which I think underscores the achievement of a podium a lot more (one might say twice as much ;-)). Of course, the current system makes them even more rewarding, but I can’t help think it’s too much when you consider outside factors such as reliability which can leave drivers far behind if they fall out of the big points by bad luck.
Jian
4th April 2010, 12:45
This table shows that the new system is not a big deal expect for them runnerups in the race, they lose out compared to before. 4th finish lose out slightly while from 6th place to 10th place all gain with the new system in relation to the old one. The gain being especially big for the 7th place finishers, cue Massa taking the lead today (he “lost” out being 2nd in Bahrain)
10 10
7.2 8
6 6
4.8 5
4 4
3.2 3
2.4 2
1.6 1
0.8
0.4
F1silverarrows
4th April 2010, 14:17
Rosberg is looking good and taking his chances well and looking like the dark horse for the WDC. When Ross Brawn finishes the car we should see more from Rosberg and maybe a fair few wins through the season.
7 drivers though in the running for the title with webber coming back to make 8 drivers, roll on China I say.
BBT
4th April 2010, 14:57
Nice to see Massa on top. :-)
David A
4th April 2010, 21:10
It absolutely is, considering what he’s bee through! :D
Icthyes
4th April 2010, 15:24
Four drivers within 7 points – the margin of victory over 2nd, of course it’s close because we’ve only had three races, but a lot closer than I entertained! Two drivers – including a serious championship contender – being only a few points off as well just underscores it.
The situation reminds me a little of 2007, Hamilton ahead without having won a race, let’s see if Massa can step up a notch and lead from the front, or if there will rather be a lot more chopping and changing. Great stuff, F1 2010!
Andrew White
4th April 2010, 16:00
Has Massa ever led a championship before?
bob
4th April 2010, 16:40
He was leading in 2008 i Think
bob
4th April 2010, 16:42
Just found. Last time after France 2008:
Massa 48
Kubica 46
Raikkonen 43
Hamilton 38
sato113
4th April 2010, 16:02
good for Massa. Hopefully that will spur him on to beat Alonso.
BTW, Alonso is 2nd and Vettel is 3rd. there is no ‘=2nd’ Alonso is ahead due to previous finishing positions.
bob
4th April 2010, 17:14
both have one win, one 4th and one retirement, so =2 :)
sumedh
4th April 2010, 18:45
No, Alonso is classified finisher at Sepang while Vettel is not at Melbourne.
So, Alonso is indeed 2nd and Vettel 3rd
sato113
4th April 2010, 20:17
yeah, Alonso is classified as 13th in sepang.
bob
4th April 2010, 20:18
whoops, yeah, didnt notice that :) Thanks. So Alo really is second :)
David A
4th April 2010, 21:11
So he only lost 4 places with the retirement lol
Bartholomew
4th April 2010, 19:11
Massa is no good. Soon he will start throwing races away.
Fast Fred will fry the opposition this year, including Red Bull. And he is light years better than his teammate Tentative Phil
David A
4th April 2010, 21:13
Massa is no good? A pair of poor performances (where he still managed to rack up points) and you feel you can sum him up like that?
bob
4th April 2010, 21:48
Best system was 10-6-4-3-2-1 cause then P8 wanted to do something instead of getting 4 points without risking to get 6 or 8
bob
4th April 2010, 21:54
After 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system:
Massa 16
Alonso 15
Vettel 15
Rosberg 14
Button 13
Kubica 13
Hamilton 12
Webber 9
Sutil 4
Schumi 3
Liuzzi 2
Bari 1
After 10-6-4-3-2-1 system:
Alonso 13
Vettel 13
Massa 10
Button 10
Kubica 9
Rosberg 7
Hamilton 6
Webber 6
Sutil 2
Schumi 1
Damon
5th April 2010, 18:11
It should be Button ahead of Massa, because of him having a win.
Alonso 13
Vettel 13
Button 10
And all three race winners at the top. That’s the best point system, no doubt!
cpeterip
5th April 2010, 0:32
On Speed channel in the US we saw a shot of the Redbull mechanics all standing around the rear suspension of Vettel’s car-obviously to block the camera from seeing the setup! Are the FIA looking into what Redbull have there as obviously they themselves think they have something to hide??