Mid-season Review 2011

O site Manipe F1 fez um review para temporada de F1 até agora. Deixo aqui para vocês conferirem e concordarem ou não! hehe

Manipe F1's mid-season driver star ratings (Part 1)

Amid F1's annual summer break, Manipe F1 looks back on the first half of the season and rates the performances of all 27 drivers, from the front to the very back of the grid. Having rated each driver's performance after all 11 Grands Prix, we combine the results to give you their mid-season rating out of five stars.

Two drivers have started only one race so far this year, so we exclude them from the list of regular drivers, given that there's not enough material on which to rate them properly.

Karun Chandhok, Lotus-Renault (German Grand Prix):

1 estrela

Karun was called in to replace Jarno Trulli at Lotus ahead of a widely-anticipated drive in his home race, the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. The weekend proved to be a baptism of fire for the 27-year-old, spinning numerous times and finishing two laps off the pace of team-mate Kovalainen. The spins were a result of limited experience with the car, brakes and tyres, but one hopes he gained enough tracktime in Germany to avoid anther embarrassing display at his home race in late October.

Pedro de la Rosa, Sauber-Ferrari (Canadian Grand Prix):

3½ estrela

Raced in place of the injured Sergio Pérez at the Canadian Grand Prix, finishing an admirable 12th in a car he had never driven. Unlike Chandhok, he had plenty of experience on the Pirellis as their former official test driver, and was also used to life at Sauber having been their race driver for the first half of last year. He may well have scored points but had to pit for a new nose after making contact with eventual race winner (and McLaren team-mate) Jenson Button.

25. Narain Karthikeyan, HRT-Cosworth (Points: 0, Championship: 25th):

2½ estrela

Returning to F1 after a five-year hiatus was never going to be easy, especially when up against the highly-regarded Tonio Liuzzi at the back-of-the-grid HRT, but he largely lived up to expectations with an underwhelming half-season, despite enjoying an extensive pre-season testing programme.

He's likely to return to the wheel of the F111 at his home Indian Grand Prix at the end of October, but beyond that we're unlikely to see much more of the likeable Narain, with or without Tata money.

24. Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Virgin-Cosworth (Points: 0, Championship: 22nd):

2½ estrela

Jérôme was one of five rookies to make his debut in 2011 and, despite three years of GP2 experience, he has easily been the least impressive of the quintet. Team-mate Glock is highly regarded throughout the F1 community, but Jérôme has only drifted further behind as the season wears on.

He even had to rely on a dispensation from the stewards to get onto the Canadian Grand Prix grid, having failed to get within 107% of the fastest time in three of the four sessions on Friday and Saturday. He'd better hope the money keeps coming from Genii to hold onto his seat, with Canadian hotshot Robert Wickens waiting in the wings.

23. Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Renault (Points: 0, Championship: 19th):

3 estrela

Power steering issues hampered his half-season at the wheel of the Lotus, failing to cope with the ill-developed system as well as team-mate Kovalainen. Nevertheless, he has been able to take the fight to the Finn on occasion, and lies ahead of him in the championship thanks to two 13th places finishes in Australia and Monaco.

With the Hungarian Grand Prix update working wonders for the Italian, he can be hopeful of a much more competitive second half to the year, with Kovalainen setting a competitive benchmark.

22. Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Cosworth (Points: 0, Championship: 21st):

3 estrela

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA helped the 2010 GP2 champion make the jump to F1, but he has more than earned his place at the team in what has been a difficult year for the former champions. After a steady start to his year, he is now regularly beating team-mate Barrichello in qualifying but is lacking some luck to finish in the points.

He was on course for sixth in Monaco before making contact with Hamilton and then qualified an admirable 7th in Silverstone before the rain arrived and scuppered his chances. The difficulties that Barrichello is having in score points puts some perspective on Maldonado's performances, as he continues to exceed expectations at Grove.

21. Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth (Points: 4, Championship: 17th):

3 estrela

Going up against rookie Maldonado, everyone expected Barrichello to rule with an iron fist, but the Brazilian has been ordinary. The poor performance of the FW32 hasn't helped matters, but the ever-dwindling gap to Pastor is not casting him in too great a light.

He's scored points twice this year, but has made some errors too, most notably at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with a number of spins. His experience is helping him stay ahead of Maldonado at present, but he will have to find more over the coming races.

(fonte:manipef1.com)

Bjusss, Tati