Right from the time when Formula One’s new cars with their hybrid turbo engines hit the track in Jerez, Spain for the first pre-season test in January, it was clear that Mercedes had the best package as it racked up the mileage with little trouble. With a dominant package that the Silver Arrows had, it was evident the driver’s title fight would boil down to Lewis Hamilton’s natural speed against Nico Rosberg’s more methodical approach.
Whenever a team produces a dominant car, like Mercedes did this year, it has been difficult to keep the fans interested. But the Merc bosses have to be thanked for allowing their drivers to race each other which kept the title fight alive till the last race. There were some great races and battles between Hamilton and Rosberg — in Bahrain, Spain and Canada to name a few before that infamous clash between the two at the Belgian GP.
Hamilton at times, has let things get to his head and looked lost, but since that clash at Belgium, which ruined his race, he just got his head down and used his natural speed to do the talking and won five races on the bounce. Rosberg, having been reprimanded by his bosses and the media in full public glare, looked clueless to Hamilton’s speed in the races since then especially in wheel-to-wheel battle and losing out from the lead in Monza (Italy), and Suzuka (Japan).
Another highlight of the season was how the young drivers rose up to challenge to deal with new regulations and sometimes even did better than the experienced ones. Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo convincingly outscored his more illustrious four-time champion teammate Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull. Drivers like Finland’s Valtteri Bottas, Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat (who will replace Vettel at Red Bull) also showed lot of promise this season.
While the Japanese GP in changing weather conditions provided some great action, it was also the scene of the first serious injury to a driver in nearly two decades that shocked the sport. Jules Bianchi’s accident when he hit a recovery vehicle on the circuit, towards the end of the race in poor light conditions has shown the sport can never afford to be complacent when it comes to working towards improving safety standards.
Since then, the sport imploded a bit when Caterham and Marussia faced serious financial pressures and missed two and three races respectively near the end of the season.
For a sport that generates revenue of nearly $1.7 billion annually, it is a sad fact that most teams are making losses. It is high time the sport gets its act together before more teams fail.
