Ko-wasabi

Phil: Well, I have to say, that's a sterling (or should that be Stirling?) effort by my co-blogger to sacrifice a night's sleep for a 2am quali session. I got up too, of course, and made it down to the telly just in time for a replay of Vettel's pole lap, and in my half asleep state found myself wondering why they'd sped the film up going through the Esses, then realised they hadn't.

The race fortunately had enough action to keep me awake. It also had a surprisingly high attrition rate, with Massa, Liuzzi, Petrov and Hulkenberg all being eliminated in first-corner (I watched the 1987 Austrian Grand Prix the other day, which had a similar start-line pile-up started by none other than Martin Brundle), Kubica losing a wheel behind the safety car (this is where being sponsored by Lada gets you), Rosberg's crash and Sutil's engine blowout.

I read an article by Brundle today, in which he named Kamui Kobayashi driver of the day. During the race he'd called him Ko-wasabi, a reference to the ridiculously hot Japanese horseradish paste, and invited Kobayashi to call him Trundle (eh?). By my calculation, Kobayashi overtook Alguersuari, Sutil, Alguersuari again, Sutil again, Barrichello and Heidfeld, and if it hadn't been for a dodgy tyre strategy (staying out far too late on soft tyres) could have been mixing it with Schumi. At last, a Japanese racing driver who can actually race.

As my co-blogger pointed out, Vettel is a lover of statistics. I'd imagine he likes nothing better than to retire to a private place with a nice pie chart and indulge himself. Anyway, here's my contribution to statistical bliss. I looked at drivers who are overperforming (in the car, I mean), versus drivers who are underperforming, by the only relatively transparent method - comparing them to their teammate. The percentage is the margin by which the driver is outperforming (or being outperformed by) his teammate, expressed purely in terms of points scored. Got it? Here we go.

Kubica +83%
Sutil +72%
Kobayashi +63%
Buemi +63%
Barrichello +59%
Rosberg +56%
Alonso +38%
Webber +6%
Hamilton +2%
Button -2%
Vettel -6%
Massa -38%
Schumacher -56%
Hulkenberg -59%
Alguersuari -63%
Liuzzi -72%
Petrov -83%
Heidfeld -85% (only two races driven)

None of Lotus, Virgin, or Hispania drivers are listed as none of them have scored any points.

Three closing observations.
1. Yes, I'm an accountant.
2. Massa isn't doing as badly as my co-blogger thinks he is (!).
3. However, I've heard rumours linking Massa and everyone below him in the table except Alguersuari to being given their P45s by their respective teams (confirmed rumours, in Heidfeld's case).

Only three races to go. Or is it two?