Teammate Head to Heads – Force India & Sauber

Time for number three in the teammate head to heads, Force India and Sauber. The first about HRT, Marussia and Caterham is here and the second about Toro Rosso and Williams here. Yet again I have more stats to give as at Sauber both drivers have been on the podium.

Paul di Resta v Nico Hülkenberg – Force India

Very even at Force India, almost matching each other with every stat, only one position off, except in the championship.

Still pretty even, Hülkenberg slightly ahead, only dropping out of Q1 once, BUT it wasn’t his fault, his car stopped in Q1 at the Italian Grand Prix before he could set a time. If you remove the 24th from qualifying then his average qualifying position rises up to 10.68.

Hülkenberg starting to show his skill over di Resta here, with 10 fastest laps faster than di Resta, setting one fastest race lap in the process. He has also finished ahead of di Resta in 10 of the 17 races that they both finished and finished in the points 11 times. Paul di Resta however has been a bit more consistent, retiring fewer times and travelling 300km further, which is around one full race distance. di Resta has also been slightly better on his tyres, but not so much that you would notice, the 2km difference could easily just be down to tyre choice or a retirement.

Kamui Kobayashi v Sergio Pérez – Sauber

Kobayashi, the man without a drive for 2012, is very quick over a single lap, he has qualified on the front two rows three times in 2012, his teammate Pérez hasn’t once. Kobayashi has had fewer retirements too, whereas Pérez hasn’t scored a single point since his announcement of joining McLaren for 2013. If any team owners are reading, sign Kamui up!

Kobayashi may have had the better qualifying positions but Pérez has actually outqualified him more times, as he has been slightly more consistent in qualifying.

Only 10 races where both have finished the race, and they’ve both beaten the other 5 times, but Kobayashi has set a faster lap 10 times, possibly helped by travelling further distance. After removing all fastest laps where one driver retired Kobayashi leads just 6-4. Pérez does have a slightly higher average finish but fewer points finishes.

Not too much here, one fastest lap for each, one front row start and podium for Kobayashi but three podiums for Pérez.

Up next time will be Mercedes, Schumacher v Rosberg with some comparisons over all three years at the team.