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Formula One in 2014 has indeed gone through a number of changes. When flagged, these changes were met with skeptical opinions by fans and experts alike.
However nineteen races in, it is fair to say 2014 has been a remarkable year – in terms of racing at least.
In terms of the on-track action, 2014 has witnessed the emergence of Mercedes AMG as a team with the capacity to remain unbeaten over the course of a race weekend.
We’ve also seen the arrival of young, future world champions in the form of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas who respectively sealed out third and fourth in the championship ahead of established stars such as Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.
Race one in Melbourne immediately saw the Silver Arrows dominate. Lewis Hamilton claimed the first pole position of the season, with his teammate and championship rival Nico Rosberg third fastest in the wet.
The two Mercedes AMGs were split by the unlikely hero for Red Bull, Ricciardo, who delighted his home fans by qualifying second.
Hamilton suffered from a mechanical issue which forced him to retire early from race and watch as his teammate and soon-to-be championship rival Rosberg go on and claim maximum points.
Ricciardo also demonstrated why the four-times championship winning Red Bull squad has entrusted their faith in him, and delivered a crowd pleasing second in debut race for the team.
This was painstakingly short lived as due to a fuel flow metre irregularity, the stewards had him excluded from the race result, allowing the McLaren of Jenson Button to finish on the podium behind his new teammate Kevin Magnussen who finished on the podium in only his first race.
The Western Australian’s performance in the opening race had immediately rectified the miserable pre-season the Red Bull team had endured, with plenty of reliability issues more towards the Renault power-unit side of things.
It was not until the Spanish Grand Prix, while Hamilton was in the midst of his four-race winning streak, that Ricciardo’s efforts were vindicated with a podium.
While the appeal had been lost by the team against the FIA for the exclusion in Australia, the Red Bull stormed to another third place finish in Monaco, before capitalising on a rare mechanical error on behalf of the two Mercedes AMGs to win his maiden race in Canada.
The race after Canada in Austria saw Bottas and Williams finally put up a good result, after seven races of head scratching.
The new Flying Finn finished third behind the two AMGs who recovered from a poor qualifying to finish one-two in the race. Williams had during qualifying locked out the front row of the grid, with Felipe Massa taking his first pole position since 2008.
It was this middle part of the season where both Ricciardo and Bottas showed their worthiness to be looked at as future champions.
Both shared the podium at Silverstone, before at Hockenheim Bottas in the dying stages was giving the home favourite Rosberg a run for his money in the lead.
Rain, frustration and car problems opened up the Hungarian Grand Prix to any takers, but it was the Honey Badger himself who denied two-time world champion Alonso to his second race win before the mid-season break.
Having already, unexpectedly won two races, Ricciardo capitalised in Belgium too after Rosberg took Hamilton out of the race. Damage to the German’s car meant that Ricciardo emerged into the lead early and for the first time we were able to see him control the pace at the front for a majority of the race.
After Spa, Ricciardo was able to finish third and on the podium at two more races: Singapore and Austin.
Austin was where he was mathematically ruled out of championship contention, however despite not mounting a challenge for the title this year, finishing third in the standings would have been a huge accomplishment considering the team’s predicament during the pre-season.
And while being unfortunate not to win a race this year, Bottas scored podiums in Russia and the final race in Abu Dhabi, where he shared the podium with Williams teammate Massa for the first time in 2014.
Both drivers this year proved that they could rattle the cages of their well-established teammates, particularly in the case of Ricciardo who for 98 per cent of the year had the measure of the four-times world champion Vettel.
A low-downforce car is where the Australian learnt his trade while at Toro Rosso from 2012 to 2013. Thus slipping into the RB10 that due to the new regulations had less downforce, with the removal of the exhaust blown diffuser.
Bottas on the other hand had quietly accumulated his results to finish fourth overall in the standings. Massa in the end had a stronger finish to the season in terms of results with third at his home race in Brazil and then the second place in Abu Dhabi, but over the span of a full season the Finn had proved why he is held in such high esteem by Sir Frank Williams.
As for next year, the expectation will be high. Both drivers have shown now that they have what it takes to compete with the established stars and world champions.
It will be Ricciardo who will have more weight on his shoulders, with the responsibility of being team leader and mentor to young Daniil Kvyat, as Vettel says auf wiedersehen to Red Bull.
The competition will be fierce in 2015, but it’s safe to say that there will be some exciting young drivers ready to rattle a few cages again.
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