Pre-season predictions are always fun, so here’s my take on how the Formula One season will unfold.
Driver’s Championship winner: Lewis Hamilton
Yes Lewis’ second season at Mercedes will yield the team a second driver’s championship in five years and a second individual award driving for his second team.
I’m sensing a pattern here.
Regardless, Lewis drove a remarkable season ending Sebastian Vettel’s streak, with wins in Australia, Bahrain, Silverstone, Singapore the inaugural race in Russia and the penultimate race in Brazil.
He was very consistent, only finishing outside of the points twice – in Monaco, where he was involved in a first lap accident, and Monza, where electrical problems cost him victory, two laps from the flag.
Constructor’s Championship winner: Mercedes
Nico Rosberg and Lewis combined efficiently and to take out the Constructor’s Championship with three races remaining.
The F1 W05 proved to be a very strong competitor both on Saturday and Sunday including three front-row lockouts and another four one-two finishes.
2014 was a strong season for Mercedes and they will hope to continue their dominance through to 2015.
Best rookie: Kevin Magnussen
A three-horse race finished with the Dane in the fastest car taking the accolades. He had a strong debut season, ending with two podiums and breaking McLaren’s barren run in the rains of Kuala Lumpur.
Reliability and inexperience was an issue for the sporadically quick Daniil Kvyat, failing to finish ten of the nineteen races.
Biggest disappointment: Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull
Four Driver’s Championships in a row did nothing to help Vettel in a season where both he and his team struggled.
Their pre-season issues were not rectified until the first mid-season test, but even then they were only able to conjure a single win in fortunate conditions and a handful of podiums.
Is this the end of the Red Bull era?
Biggest surprise: Williams
The iconic team bounced back with intent with the experience of Felipe Massa and the talent of Valteri Bottas.
Their in-season development was definitely helped by the fact that Pastor Maldonado couldn’t halt their progress by crashing unnecessarily.
Biggest controversy: Early season reliability of the new engines
Only 15 of the 22 runners finished the season opener in Melbourne, with five of the seven retirements citing engine-related problems.
Things didn’t go much better in Malaysia where the torrential rain meant that only twelve runners made it to the line with six engine problems.
In total, the first four races yielded 20 engine victims. Fans and teams alike demanded the return of the old engines for the 2015 season.
Number of tyre blowouts: Minimal
Pirelli increased the durability of their products. There was only one non-accident related blowout in 2014, predictably at Silverstone.
Funniest moment: Will be provided by Kimi Raikkonen
Whether it be a hilarious press conference, an annoyed radio message, or taking the wrong road back to the track, Kimi released the tension by just being Kimi.
This will be the last season for: Felipe Massa and Adrian Sutil
The likeable Brazilian announced his retirement from the sport at his home race, ending a 12-year career with plenty of ups and downs, sometimes in the same race.
A poor season on track from Adrian Sutil meant he was dropped in favour of a younger model for 2015. He immediately announced his shift DTM.
Let’s see how many of my predictions will come to fruition. It’s going to be a fun season.
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