The Underdogs Battle

Nobody normally look to that, but I'm a little bit excited / curious to see who will win this battle? Can Marussia beat Caterham now that they have KERS? Who'll make the biggest step? Can any of them mix with the stabilized teams? Can Bianchi help Marussia develop the car as he already knows very well FI's car? Or Pic will shine and lead Caterham to another 10th position in the championship?
My opinion:
1. In the tests Marussia was often in front or at least very close to Caterham so I think that they are evenly matched. So, I think that will Simonds and with a little help from Bianchi they cand beat Catherham.
2. Marussia will make biggest step.
3. I don't think so.
4. Yes
5. Pic will shine and win the intra battle with Van Der Garden but I won't be enough to mantain the 10th position in the championship

Marussia was on par with Caterham by the end of season and even outqualified them in US despite no KERS which is essential in qualy. So i have confidence they will be ahead car wise. And even more driver wise with Biacnhi behind the wheel - with Razia it would be not so obvious. So ultimate winner of them 4 i think will be Jules.

Marussia was on par with Caterham by the end of season and even outqualified them in US despite no KERS which is essential in qualy. So i have confidence they will be ahead car wise. And even more driver wise with Biacnhi behind the wheel - with Razia it would be not so obvious. So ultimate winner of them 4 i think will be Jules.

If you ask me who would get the best average results, I'd go Bianchi right now, but I suspect neither team will score points again, so it all comes down to 1 fluke result (like Petrov).
Kovalainen, whilst was regularly top tailender, finished behind Glock, Pic and Petrov in the standings because he didn't get the best result on a race where there was drama.

But if the Marussia is on par with Caterham, and the testing fuel loads were even within teams, Bianchi was impressive compared to Chilton, he could well be the best of the backmarkers more often

i really dont care if van der beats pic or bianchi beats chilton , every one of them is fighting 3 cars

I've got the impression from testing that Marussia got a sizeable boost in performance and will be ahead of Caterham this year.

I think you need to add STR into the equation. They may have more pace but they will be in the elimination mix in Q1. Verne and Ricardia are probably under great pressure to keep their seats. Marussia will come out ahead of Caterham. Bianchi was so much faster than Chilton/ Razia.
You'll have to wait till Sepang to see the real pecking order.

Edited by Petroltorque, 05 March 2013 - 13:32.

i think there are certain groups of battle .... with each group having underdogs of it's own


group 1 (Top End)

P1. Red Bull
P2. Mclaren
P3. Ferrari

underdogs are LotusF1 and MGP

Group 2 (MIdfield jumble)

P1. MGP AMG
P2. SauberF1
P3. WilliamsF1
P3. Force India

underdog is STR

Group 3 (bottom tier)

P1. STR

underdogs are CT and MR

Edited by eronrules, 05 March 2013 - 12:34.

i think there are certain groups of battle .... with each group having underdogs of it's own


group 1 (Top End)

P1. Red Bull
P2. Mclaren
P3. Ferrari

underdogs are LotusF1 and MGP

Group 2 (MIdfield jumble)

P1. MGP AMG
P2. SauberF1
P3. WilliamsF1
P3. Force India

underdog is STR

Group 3 (bottom tier)

P1. STR

underdogs are CT and MR

Caterham is not underdog IMHO, but Marussia is.

Caterham will fall behind Marussia, mainly because they ditched Kovy and Petrov.
Not that I'm saying Marussia drivers are much better than Caterham drivers (actually I feel like Caterham has the more solid pairing as a whole, but Bianchi is the best out of the four and that will likely be enough to score that one vital, possibly point-scoring position that will make all the difference in the end), but to me it seems Marussia currently has an performance edge which Caterham could overcome with a experienced driver like Heikki or Vitaly, which they don't have anymore.

Caterham is not underdog IMHO, but Marussia is.

i should've mentioned, my list was based on points-scoring basis, with substantial values. not just mere positions. if we make a group of only CT and MR, then MR is underdog obviously.

Caterham will fall behind Marussia, mainly because they ditched Kovy and Petrov.
Not that I'm saying Marussia drivers are much better than Caterham drivers (actually I feel like Caterham has the more solid pairing as a whole, but Bianchi is the best out of the four and that will likely be enough to score that one vital, possibly point-scoring position that will make all the difference in the end), but to me it seems Marussia currently has an performance edge which Caterham could overcome with a experienced driver like Heikki or Vitaly, which they don't have anymore.

not necessarily, last season, rather than MR making updates, the progress was more due to CT falling behind or making blunders with updates, MR admitted that it's more due to their understanding of the car that they made the progress. but even though both CT and MR has new recruits, C.pic has proved his worth. he's a known quantity.

Edited by eronrules, 05 March 2013 - 12:59.

Marussia will be the new HRT. They have a cronic lack of funding, i'm not sure how the McLaren partnership works, but they are obviously courting Ferrari for 2014, but can Ferrari offer an engine package on the same cost basis as Cosworth?

They need to grab some sponsors... any sponsors!! They should try getting some oop-north companys to sponsor them to at least carry SOME branding on the car. That Yorkshire based broadband company, for example.

Marussia will be the new HRT. They have a cronic lack of funding, i'm not sure how the McLaren partnership works, but they are obviously courting Ferrari for 2014, but can Ferrari offer an engine package on the same cost basis as Cosworth?

They need to grab some sponsors... any sponsors!! They should try getting some oop-north companys to sponsor them to at least carry SOME branding on the car. That Yorkshire based broadband company, for example.

Marussia is the diametric opposite of HRT. HRT was an embarassment whose litany of cockups were too great to recap. Granted Marussia have a limited budget but they've made a much better use of their resources.

Actually, i think this for me sums it up. The teams can be put in different perfomance groups and it will be interesting to see if any teams can regulary jump to the next group.

Bjørn

i think there are certain groups of battle .... with each group having underdogs of it's own


group 1 (Top End)

P1. Red Bull
P2. Mclaren
P3. Ferrari

underdogs are LotusF1 and MGP

Group 2 (MIdfield jumble)

P1. MGP AMG
P2. SauberF1
P3. WilliamsF1
P3. Force India

underdog is STR

Group 3 (bottom tier)

P1. STR

underdogs are CT and MR

I've got the impression from testing that Marussia got a sizeable boost in performance and will be ahead of Caterham this year.

I've got the impression that you weren't following testing very closely:)

Marussia regularly did "quali simulations"... But lets face it, they have no sponsors so it is hardly surprising, they need to look like they are moving forward.

Caterham on the other hand, without their full aero package on the car, instead kept grinding out the miles with a car covered in sensors - 2,778 according to Joe Saward, that's the mileage of 14 races...

Marussia getting faster times in testing is as meaningful as Caterham placing 6th when it rained:)

I think Caterham/Marussia will be quite close to Toro Rosso actually...