With controversy in world motorsport once again on everyone’s lips, one of the things to be positive about for Red Bull is that Sebastian Vettel retains his place on the top of the Castrol Driver Rankings with pole position and points finishes for two of the three F1 rounds in July.
Following the front wing debacle at Silverstone, in which Mark Webber (ranked third on Castrol’s rankings) was left with an older spec front wing, while his teammate Vettel’s car was fitted with a newer unit. Ferrari added fuel to the fire when Felipe Massa’s was asked to move over for Fernando Alonso in Germany. Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher received a 10-place penalty, following a dangerous move on former teammate Rubens Barrichello…
Team Red Bull has also been scrutinised elsewhere in motorsport, Sprint Cup to be exact. The team was handed fines after it was deemed that its actions are detrimental to stock car racing according to the sport’s rulebook – which concerned equipment that does not conform to NASCAR standards and improperly-attached weight. Also, two sprint cup drivers, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin, were fined for making critical comments about the championship.
Fortunately for Hamlin, his on-track performances, including three wins in June, has helped him retain 12th place on the Castrol rankings. Frenchman and World Rally Championship ace Sebastien Loeb has shot up three places to move into second in the Castrol rankings, overtaking Lewis Hamilton (fourth).
South African Adrian Zaugg has fared well in the past month too, with strong performances in GP2 at Hockenheim – that have seen him climb five places to 211 in the Castrol rankings. Compatriots Dion von Moltke of GrandAm has climbed 34 places to 315 while IndyCar’s Tomas Scheckter has dropped 28 places to 361. Wayne Taylor of GrandAm has dropped 4 places to 760, and Jon Williams (WRC) has climbed three places to 1 074.
Castrol measures and ranks the performances of over 2 000 drivers in every single race across 47 major motorsport series’ every year.
The Castrol Rankings are updated weekly, and you can register for the full results at http://www.castroldriverrankings.com/