Four successful years of Mercedes in numbers

[erwin greven]

Pole-Positions
2014: 18 (94,7 %)
2015: 18 (94,7)
2016: 20 (95,3)
2017: 15 (75)

fastest laps
2014: 12 (63,2)
2015: 13 (68,4)
2016: 9 (42,9)
2017: 9 (45)

Wins
2014: 16 (84,2)
2015: 16 (84.2)
2016: 19 (90,5)
2017: 12 (60)

Double wins
2014: 10 (52,6)
2015: 12 (63,2)
2016: 8 (38,1)
2017: 4 (20)

podium finishes
2014: 31 (81,6)
2015: 32 (84,2)
2016: 33 (78,6)
2017: 26 (65)

Laps lead
2014: 978 (86,2)
2015: 936 (81,4)
2016: 1009 (83,2)
2017: 712 (59,5)

average amount of points per race
2014: 36,9
2015: 37
2016: 36,4
2017: 33,4

source: http://www.speedweek.com/formel1/news/1 ... uende.html

[PTRACER]

Very grim statistics for 2014-16, and somehow we didn't enjoy 2017 any more despite Mercedes being less dominant?

[erwin greven]

In fact the 2017 statistics are even too flattering for Mercedes. If Ferrari had a more reliable car, remember Kimi not even starting at one gp because of failure of a spark plug. But even then Vettel said in one interview, that Ferrari was lucky too at times. Like at the Hungaroring where he had this steering issue, he remembered.

[theracer120]

I think the consensus is that the quality of the actual racing throughout the field went downhill, and the championship battle ended after the third-last race, whereas last year it went down to the final race (which was the first time that had happened since 2012, which was perhaps the best season in this decade so far with no less than 5 different teams winning).

It has to be said though that the Mercedes domination of this current era has had nothing on the domination that Red Bull (and specifically Vettel) managed to pull off in the prior era on occasion. 2013 started out fairly competitively (perhaps as an extension of 2012), but then Vettel went on to win the last nine races of the season and the championship by the points equivalent of more than six races.

[kals]

and the championship battle ended after the third-last race, whereas last year it went down to the final race (which was the first time that had happened since 2012, which was perhaps the best season in this decade so far with no less than 5 different teams winning).

2014

[theracer120]

and the championship battle ended after the third-last race, whereas last year it went down to the final race (which was the first time that had happened since 2012, which was perhaps the best season in this decade so far with no less than 5 different teams winning).

2014

That's true, I was figuring it out from the final standings and forgot about the double points for the final race that year.

[kals]

and the championship battle ended after the third-last race, whereas last year it went down to the final race (which was the first time that had happened since 2012, which was perhaps the best season in this decade so far with no less than 5 different teams winning).

2014

That's true, I was figuring it out from the final standings and forgot about the double points for the final race that year.

Even without the double points finale, the 2014 title race would have still been decided in Abu Dhabi.

[DoubleFart]

The issue with this year was that we had 50% less overtaking.

[Circuitmaster]

The issue with this year was that we had 50% less overtaking.

Echoing my thoughts from another thread, but less overtaking isn't NECESSARILY bad. I'm not saying that we don't have an obvious ongoing problem with overtaking in F1, but I don't think we should judge a season by the number of overtakes. We have had races in the past few years that had tonnes of overtaking.. but it was so easy that there was little to no excitement attached, and the races were still dull to watch. Balance is key.

[kals]

There was no balance. When the highlight of a race is a battle and / or overtake for a lower end place it is indicative of a wider issue within F1. At Sochi, Singapore and Abu Dhabi there were near zero overtakes. In Brazil the overtakes were thanks to Hamilton and Ricciardo. Plus if it weren't for DRS then Ricciardo wouldn't have done his 2 in 1 overtake in Baku, neither would we have seen Bottas take Stroll on the line. 2017 was shit. End of story.

[Circuitmaster]

There was no balance. When the highlight of a race is a battle and / or overtake for a lower end place it is indicative of a wider issue within F1. At Sochi, Singapore and Abu Dhabi there were near zero overtakes. In Brazil the overtakes were thanks to Hamilton and Ricciardo. Plus if it weren't for DRS then Ricciardo wouldn't have done his 2 in 1 overtake in Baku, neither would we have seen Bottas take Stroll on the line. 2017 was shit. End of story.

I know it's fun to look at the races where there was the least overtaking and use it as proof that F1 has an issue, but that's not really looking at the full picture. If you change the cars to make overtaking easier and to improve the quality of races at circuits like Abu Dhabi and Singapore, then you are inevitably going to make passing insanely easy at the dozen or so circuits where overtaking is currently not as much of an issue.

As long as we have a wide-ish variety of circuits, we will have circuits on which passing is hard to impossible.. but that's almost preferable to seeing cars sweep past each other without the hint of a challenge. And it makes the pass so much more special when it happens..

In short, I liked the cars and tracks in 2017. Just wish the top teams had been a little closer each race. Instead it seemed more like one team would dominate one weekend, then the other team would dominate the next.. which makes for a close championship, but not really close races. I'm well up for 2018 though.

[kals]

The attempted justification that DRS allows cars just to sweep by each other is flawed. There are circuits where it is too effective but more often than not it is ineffective.

But anyhow, suggesting that only focusing on the races where there was little overtaking means then majority of the races. So yeah, that’s looking at the full picture. 30 years I’ve been following F1. If you want to go back to the early to mid-2000’s style racing where it was follow the leader and overtakes in the pits then that’s good for you. But I don’t.