so after 6 races..

[Cemz85]

so after six races, does anyone honestly know the pecking order!
Its all over the place, Mercedes was no where in Bahrain and Barcelona, but come good in china and Monte-carlo..
lotus where good at many tracks but again looked off the pace in this race..

All i know is ferrari are the ones that have improved alot! And thats whats important!

[F2002]

In my view, the best place to read the current pecking order is the WCC standings:

1. Red Bull
2. Mclaren
3. Ferrari
4. Lotus
5. Mercedes

Winning a championship is not always only about having the quickest car, and when all factors are taken into consideration, I believe that the above is a reasonable reflection of how things stand.

If Massa can prolong his competitiveness over the medium term, Ferrari may well become the team to beat very shortly. As others have said in other threads, though, we'll have to reserve judgement until Canada because Monaco is not your typical racing track.

[Greig]

No idea of the pecking order really, all I can say is that we are in with a chance :-)

[Hornet]

The most consistent drivers has been Alonso and Lewis so far, the only two drivers that have been scoring points in all 6 races. Both Vettel and Webber have some good days, and some bad days. Mercedes too, sometimes they are there, other times they are not.

If this trend continues, I think the WDC will go down between Alonso and Lewis.

Massa has been improving too, perhaps he's starting to get in tune with the F2012 and can push it. So if Ferrari keeps improving, I think we can start getting both our drivers on the podium consistently. A few bad days for Red Bull and who knows, Ferrari may even be in the WCC hunt. :-D

That's a little far off at the moment, but for the WDC, we have a very real chance this year.

[Rishu]

Different tracks, different conditions suiting different cars. No real pecking order really. Like Hornet said, consistency will be crucial, hence Alonso has a great chance at WDC.
And yes, if he keeps up the good work, Button is not a threat :-D

[FER]

Ferrari is untouchable in terms of In-season development of the car. I'm glad to see us up there that early in the season and I feel titles coming.

[shamim179]

In terms of race pace based on the current performance, I think Ferrari are now at the top followed by Lotus, Red Bull and Mclaren. But I would say it is very close between Ferrari and Lotus with Red Bull slightly further behind. The Lotus seems to be harder on the tyres which is why I rate them 2nd instead of 1st.

In terms of qualifying pace, we are one of the worst if not the worst between these 5 teams . Ferrari need to concentrate on this area and if they make improvements, the WDC and even the WCC is a real possibility. Their race pace is definitely there. We have seen evidence of this even at the start of the season but to a lesser extent than now when we had a poorer car. Although, it was frankly a poor car to begin with, the race pace was still there which is why we made up some places in the race.

I am feeling very upbeat for Ferrari this year. If Ferrari continue to make improvements on their car and Alonso carrys on driving like this, he is the most likely candidate to clinch the WDC. I agree in his view that he sees Hamilton as the biggest threat. Great to see exchanges like this between the two on how they view each other. Tremendous sportsmanship. Despite their difficulties together as team mates in 2007, they have great respect for each other.

[Jose-Lorca Fan]

I think the reason why it is so hard to establish a pecking order is because of unpredictable qualifying sessions.
Whilst i do think that teams such as Williams, Mercedes and Lotus are fast, I don't think they have the necessary capacity and experience to win the Championship, but they will always pose a threat in Qualifying and I think that is what screws up race results eventually.

So for Qualifying:
1 - McLaren & Red Bull, but it is track dependent.
2 - Lotus & Williams, I think they perform consistently on all tracks. Williams lacking a good driver though.
3 - Ferrari & Mercedes, The latter having more raw pace but i also think one will perform better than the other based on the track they race on.

Pecking order based for the race:
1 - Ferrari & Williams, Red Bull I really do think the Williams is a fantastic car...
2 - Sauber I think Sauber have bad race strategies and their drivers make too many mistakes. They really should make the most of the car they currently have
3 - McLaren & Lotus & Mercedes, I think these three teams are great on their day but only perform in certain 'conditions'. Lotus is always said to have good race pace but i think they fail in cooler temps. McLaren is a mystery, only in Australia and China they had good race pace, otherwise they have been pretty average. Mercedes suffers from the same syndrome as Lotus. Because these 3 teams are so inconsistent i have placed them below the others.

Ultimately I think the teams which manages the tires the best will win the championship but that doesn't means you have to win every race. Just pick up point on a regular basis and that should secure the title. Thankfully Ferrari have a car which has performed rather consistently lately and is not really track specific, that's why i think they have a great chance, because they will always be 'there'.

[shamim179]

I would also like to add that I have left out Williams here. Not enough evidence of their form but they do have good race pace.

[sav_pap]

Pecking order?:Hmm
There aren't anymore team clearly with advantage or superior cars.
It's too close to say.
If we analyze Monaco Qualifying times in Q2 we'll find 13 cars within about half a second.
Also if we go back to Spain 2 weeks before we'll find in Q2 all 17 cars participated within a second.
6 races 6 different winners by 5 different teams.
So, for me there is not a clear pecking order.

[sv_godspeed]

taking a span of 25 pts (a race win), we can go right down to 6th and Kimi:



1
Fernando Alonso (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2012/30.html)
Spanish
Ferrari (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2012/2974.html)
76


2
Sebastian Vettel (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2012/822.html)
German
Red Bull Racing-Renault (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2012/2973.html)
73


3
Mark Webber (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2012/21.html)
Australian
Red Bull Racing-Renault (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2012/2973.html)
73


4
Lewis Hamilton (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2012/828.html)
British
McLaren-Mercedes (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2012/2972.html)
63


5
Nico Rosberg (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2012/809.html)
German
Mercedes (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2012/2975.html)
59


6
Kimi Räikkönen (http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2012/12.html)
Finnish
Lotus-Renault (http://www.formula1.com/results/team/2012/2983.html)
51



the only two in that list without a race win so far are Hammy and Kimi...and if they each win one of the next 2 races...:-E

given that we seem to have no "order" developing, i see all of those guys in with a shot at the end of the year with i'd say a slight edge to Alonso (if the F2012 has really been "fixed" and Spain/ Monaco is the true form and Hamilton (if Macca can get their act together)