Given all the excitement at the front of the field (which this season features six to eight different teams fighting for the podium) it’s not entirely surprising that the Formula 1 tail-enders are getting even less coverage than usual in 2012. But how are the most recent additions to Formula 1 (I refuse to call them ‘new’ teams, it’s been two and a half seasons now!) getting on?
Well, perhaps the happiest of the three will be HRT. That sounds odd, given that the Spanish minnows are last in the championship and failed to qualify for the first race, but since then their form and rate of improvement has been impressive. After dire predictions about repeated failures to qualify while getting their car sorted, both drivers have made the grid at each race and Pedro de la Rosa in particular has started to trouble the Marussias recently.
Ironically given their recent improvement, it was the team’s first start in Malaysia which provided the standout moment thus far, Narain Karthikeyan running 10th when the race was red-flagged in appalling conditions. Had the race not restarted (always unlikely but possible), he would have picked up half a precious point. As it was, the Indian driver couldn’t hold off faster cars at the restart, but did make the headlines after collisions with Jenson Button (while battling for position) and Sebastian Vettel (while being lapped).
Other than that Karthikeyan has been almost invisible, and although his qualifying form relative to de la Rosa is improving he hasn’t outqualified the Spaniard yet. De la Rosa himself has been superb at times, putting in great qualifying laps in Monaco and Valencia and many strong races. His motivation seems high despite being mired at the back of the grid, and he is doing exactly what the team hoped by leading them on and off the track. Some evidence of his influence can be seen operationally, as the team’s pit stop times have improved immeasurably and they are even making some good strategic calls (such as starting on wets in anticipation of the aforementioned Malaysian monsoon). Considering their lack of budget and personnel, even compared to the teams around them, HRT are doing a decent job.
Despite being a place higher in the constructor’s standings, Marussia will surely be less happy than their Spanish rivals. In Australia things were looking promising, and a 14th place finish for Timo Glock put the team tenth in the Constructor’s Championship until Monaco where Caterham bettered their result. The team are making positive noises about closing the gap to Caterham, but in truth they are being left behind by the green and yellow cars. Marussia are also coming under increasing pressure from HRT, and at certain tracks de la Rosa has been able to get on terms.
One positive is their rookie driver Charles Pic, who is starting to look like the real deal – he’s outqualified team mate Glock in the last two events, and finished a lap ahead of the more experienced German in Hungary and not far behind Petrov’s Caterham. Glock himself, on the other hand, looks increasingly disinterested and his motivation seems to be up and down, as has been the case for the last season or so. He’s still quick when he wants to be (for example in the opening races of the season), but seems less able or inclined to drive around car problems than his young team mate (and has recently shown his frustration at this state of affairs).
Marussia have made some progress this year, but with McLaren providing technical assistance, Pat Symonds in a consultancy role and a far more stable structure than HRT they really should be further ahead of the back row and closer to Caterham than they are.
As for Caterham, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag really. For the second season in a row the team hasn’t achieved its stated aim of challenging the midfield runners on a consistent basis, although they have developed the car enough to occasionally worry the Toro Rossos (as was the case at the end of 2011).
The team’s general performance has been good, as they are only a couple of seconds a lap off the leaders at most tracks – ten years ago that would have put you solidly in the points at race end. But like Marussia, they are perhaps underachieving given their improving infrastructure, Renault engines and former race-winning lead driver Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn, while not perhaps shining quite as brightly as in 2011, has made his mark again this year. His brilliant performance in Monaco, where he held off Button’s McLaren for most of the race, was one of the drives of the season thus far. Button’s post-race moans only served to underline that fact, and it’s no surprise that there’s talk he could be in line for a grander seat.
Vitaly Petrov, meanwhile, has been just as anonymous as Jarno Trulli was last year but has least maintained a good finishing record, keeping Kovalainen fairly honest and driving particularly well to finish 13th in Valencia. It has to be assumed that he’s also brought commercial benefits, although there has been no discernible increase in the number of sponsors logos (Russian or otherwise) on the car.
Quite where Caterham go from here is unclear – scoring points looks as distant a prospect as ever, at least for the rest of 2012, and if they wind up losing Kovalainen they are more likely to go backwards than forwards.
Next week… the midfield teams.
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