5. Silver Arrows flying high
[Not a valid template]Last year’s championship runners-up were the most impressive team throughout pre-season testing, the odd first corner accident unfortunately caught on camera aside. Fast pace and good reliability mean the likelihood of either Nico Rosberg or Lewis Hamilton raising the winner’s trophy in Melbourne remains high. The key question, however, is can they maintain this momentum?
Just three races into its Grand Prix return after a 55-year hiatus, Mercedes Grand Prix had its first podium finish (Rosberg, Malaysia ‘10). Another would follow immediately afterwards, but there’d be just one more podium finish in the next 36 races. The team’s ‘first’ victory again came in the season’s third race (Rosberg again, China ’12) but the season would yield just two more podium finishes and – remarkably – only two points-scoring finishes in the final seven races.
2013 proved a turning point with the arrival of Hamilton and three victories for the F1 W04, but the team’s traditional late-season dip in form saw Lotus take the fight to Red Bull rather than Brackley. Given the well-documented struggles most of the front-runners have endured in Jerez and Bahrain though, and if Mercedes can keep its momentum running into the final races, the F1 W05 could prove the car to beat in 2014.
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6. Vettel… don’t count him out yet
[Not a valid template]Not since 15 August 2013 has anybody other than Sebastian Vettel won a Formula 1 Grand Prix. And even then, you have to go back to 30 June to find a time when the German wasn’t on the podium. Riding the crest of a four-time championship wave, Red Bull Racing was on a high heading into 2014. Problems delivering the new RB10 though have left the Milton Keynes–based squad on the back foot, severe cooling issues with Renault’s new F1-2014 V6 leaving Red Bull massively under-prepared: across the last three-day Bahrain test, only minnows Marussia completed fewer laps than Red Bull. Turnaround with Melbourne just over a week away seems unlikely.
It’s tempting – and even a little hopeful – to wipe out Red Bull Racing’s chances altogether in 2014, but that would be ludicrous. A slow start does not a disastrous season make: caught on the hop by new regulations for 2009, reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton took just three points-finishing positions in the first eight races; Hungary onwards, he won twice and took three podiums. To discount the RB10 entirely – penned by F1’s miracle man, Adrian Newey – would be beyond foolish.
Then there’s Vettel. Not since 2008 has the German started the F1 season without – arguably – one of the strongest cars on the grid. As Multi-21 proved, he’s a man desperate to win, and a year in the doldrums will not sit well for a man who’s won more championships than Ayrton Senna, Jim Clark, and Emerson Fittipaldi. Expect toys to be thrown from the pram on a regular basis, but expect the #1 car to start making in-roads sooner rather than later.
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7. Double points and banana skins
[Not a valid template]It’s official. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale will award double points in just one of the knee-jerk reactions to Vettel’s record-breaking run of nine straight wins in a season last year. We can now either look forward to a four or maybe even five-way season decider at the final race or, more likely, another win for the standings leader and a more complimentary advantage over the rest of the field.
And this has got us thinking. If double points are now a legitimate regulation in F1 (and we were only a stone’s throw from the final three races all awarding double points), why not go the full Mario Kart and introduce some more left-field solutions to ‘improve the show’. Such as…
– Power-up boxes dotted around each circuit, with bonus points available if the driver drives off-circuit to get them. Power-ups will include boost, a green shell or two, a couple of banana peels, and the ability to shrink your opponents.
– Ramps. Re-designing a Formula 1 nose is clearly no issue, and this new reg will require only a raised floor and slightly stiffer suspension. And nuts of steel.
– A race through a shopping mall. We’ve heard there’s a pretty big one in Dubai that’s looking for some more promotion…
– In an effort to bring more Italian drivers to the grid and produce the nation’s first champion since 1952, Italian plumbers will be offered two spots on the grid. Supersonic hedgehogs will be an acceptable alternative
– FULL GALLERY OF SHOTS AVAILABLE HERE – CLICK – Shots from Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain courtesy of David Benson
