At one point it seemed likely that the Mercedes F1 team would clean sweep the 2014 grand prix season and claim a comfortable one-two championship finish. But even a significant speed advantage hasn’t been enough to resist a plucky Aussie.
Daniel Ricciardo is the only driver outside of the Mercedes F1 duo to win a grand prix this season – three of them, no less – and emerging as the only genuine title rival to Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
As that relationship sours with the tangle in the Belgium Grand Prix, the latest escalation in an intra-team feud that has overshadowed Mercedes’ success, Ricciardo is in a prime position to take advantage of any opening.
Yes, Mercedes retains a significant speed advantage over its rivals. And it should be able to exploit that at the high-speed Monza circuit, home to the Italian Grand Prix and next up on the schedule.
But the gap will close at the remaining tracks, where Mercedes may struggle to contain Hamilton and Rosberg. As the incident in Belgium proved, Rosberg is willing to get aggressive with his teammate while Hamilton will be out for revenge.
Team orders often can’t prevent on-track contact, so the gap they have in terms of speed and points is very much at risk given the inevitable combat that will come.
Ricciardo is 35 points behind Hamilton and 64 points off Rosberg, so within striking distance and with enough of a buffer to the rest to emerge as the only Merc threat – 35 points ahead of next-best Fernando Alonso, who is hamstrung by an uncompetitive Ferrari, and 58 points ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Ricciardo’s three wins have all come from capitalising on Mercedes’ off days – again, the only driver to do so in 2014. And had he been able to keep the points from his second place at the Australian Grand Prix, he’d be just 17 points off Hamilton.
It’s not just the Rosberg-Hamilton feud that could hand Ricciardo the title. Remember the new-for-2014 double points season finale at Abu Dhabi, where a maximum of 50 points will be on offer?
This controversial ruling, still disliked by many fans and personnel in the series, could prove a nightmare for Mercedes come the end of the season.
If Rosberg and Hamilton are going head-to-head for the title in a winner takes all scenario, streets ahead of the rest of the field in the season finale, who is to say that the rivalry and egos won’t take over and lead to some type of collision, like in Belgium?
Ricciardo, in an ever-improving Red Bull Renault with confidence sky high, could again be in pole position to take advantage.
What seemed so very unlikely at the start of the season could become increasingly likely; Mercedes’ feud opening the door for its only rival.
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