F1 is back finally, unlike most other websites of great repute we’re not doing a preview well in advance of the season, bugger that, we’ve waiting until qualifying to double check our initial thoughts are close enough.
After spending months of scouring the internet for scraps of F1 related information we finally get some real action to enjoy. Not that bite sized pieces of will Marussia/Manor make it to the grid, how bad the McLaren Honda will be this year, or anything Hamilton-Scherzinger related aren’t truly excellent and riveting things to read.
Contrary to popular belief, 2014 was a classic season. Sure one team was far superior to the rest of the grid, but unlike previous seasons where certain red cars were dominant, the Mercedes were allowed to fight each other all the way to the end of the season, even at their own detriment at times in 2014. But that’s all you can hope for when one car is dominant – fairness and fighting.
It went to Lewis Hamilton in the end, and deservedly so when comparing bad luck and total wins.
Other good things to come out of 2014 were the emergence of Dan Ricciardo as a surprise frontrunner, giving four time World Champion Sebastian Vettel the hardest time he’s experienced in F1 which eventually saw him off to Ferrari for 2015. The other good feeling from 2014 was the resurgence of most F1 neutrals favourite team Williams. The team turned around their downward Tyrrell-like spiral to be the second fastest car throughout most of the year.
Not to be forgotten in 2014 was some of the best racing seen in F1 for a long time behind the silver front runners, which more than made up for the lack of big noise coming from the new generation turbo engines. One can only hope it continues this year, but just a little further up the grid.
2015 Testing brought the usual stories of fast runs for sponsors and sandbagging for the real pace setters, but expert opinion by the end of the time leaves the top of the 2015 order looking similar to 2014 with Mercedes looking the quickest gain.
Behind them, the chasing pack seems to have bunched up, with Williams still looking the next best and looking to close the gap to Mercedes. However Ferrari have been as revitalised by Vettel’s arrival as his arrival at Ferrari has done for him, and even Kimi sounds content with a hint of excitement at his 2015 prospects. Red Bull will be amongst that group but haven’t had the best running in pre season, but the same story from last year didn’t stop them being relatively compeditive in 2014. The dark horse of the pack could be Lotus whose change to Mercedes engines looks to have provided as big a step forward as Williams received last year. This will be a bonus for all 1st lap crash fans, as a Grosjean and Maldonaldo further up the grid means extra trouble is awaiting the first lap and corner in 2015.
After that the picture is less clear. McLaren Honda’s off season seemed to produce as many problems as laps completed, and the strange crash which has now kept Alonso from coming to Melbourne adds to the mystery of what the Honda-McLaren partnership will bring. Honda themselves are an enigma with their participation and disappearance from F1 throughout history. They probably still regret paying for and selling for a pound the 2009 F1 championship winner.
Then there’s Sauber whose winter pace is in equal proportion to their lack of sponsors or a decent paint job. An ongoing court case from van der Garde over his omission from the team’s 2015 line up provides off field distraction right up to the weekend.
There’s also Force India who have copied the McLaren livery and quality running in testing by being the last of the established teams to release their car on the second day of the last test. Another mystery to solve in 2015 will be whether they make it to the end of the season, will they be faster than McLaren, and why doesn’t Hulkenburg get a better drive.
Another mystery is the Red Bull nursery team Toro Rosso. The term nursery is closer to the truth this year for than before with their two drivers aged just 17 and 20 this season. Whether youthful exuberance will end in broken cars and tears, or stars of the future will be worth watching in 2015.
Finally there’s Manor, who used to be Marussia, who used to Virgin. They have battled hard to get to the Australian GP, and with just the one driver nominated thus far looked primed to bring up the rear of the grid in style with their modified machine for 2015.
Here’s our rundown of the 2015 season ahead, we’ll keep it brief and heart foundation light hearted as we’re even bored of our stuff at this stage. We put them in order of where we think they’ll be in the pecking order.
MERCEDES
Testing looked ominous for the rest of the field, the first qualifying has confirmed the worst for the other teams, and fans hoping for something other than a silver car in front this year.
They were playing with the other cars throughout the first sessions of the year, out qualifying the rest on harder tyres and breaking their hearts on softs.
Like last year, it will be a battle in two out the front, and like last year it looks like Lewis Hamilton has the edge. An edge he maintained in the first session leaving Rosberg to ponder what German tactics he can come up with to annoy his British teammate. We can be assured with someone like Niki Lauda in charge that they will continue to be allowed to race. So although the title race looks over for everyone else, there is still the intra team battle which got quite heated last year, and who doesn’t want to see hate.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – Lewis Hamilton
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 16
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – MERCEDES are the BAYERN MUNICH of F1 – in a class of their own and relegating anyone else involved to minor placings.
WILLIAMS-MERCEDES
Williams has a lot of fans and well wishers, and most would have been happy with their return to the front in 2014 after some very ordinary years past. There’s just something about Williams that makes F1 fans happy at the thought of them returning to the front of the pack.
Things look the same for this year also, and whilst the gap to the front looks marginally closer, the chasing pack have significantly gained momentum, and that title for the Garfunkel of F1 is really up for grabs this year.
Bottas looks a real prospect, and will surely break his duck this year with a little luck. Massa will have to avoid being the trouble magnet he was at times last year, and another year of being outpaced by his younger rival may mean a trip further back down the grid or Brazilian stock cars. It looks like Bottas on paper.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – Valteri Bottas
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 1
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – WILLIAMS are the SOUTH SYDNEY of F1 – One of the Dominant teams of yore, still popular and returning to the front after years of mediocrity, now the drought breaking title awaits.
RED BULL-RENAULT
After years of niggle between Vettel and Webber, which also brought total domination, Red Bull had to settle for third best last year with wins only for new boy and the happiest man in F1 Dan Ricciardo. It was bad enough for Sebastian Vettel who decided he exchange his Red Bull for just plain red at Ferrari.
The Achilles heal last year was the Renault engine, and the problem looks to have worked it’s way all the way up the leg so far in 2015. Testing proved some issues, and practice hasn’t been any better, with Ricciardo already disposing of one of the designated 5 engines for the season and totally missing P2.
The side interest will be in Danii Kyvat for his promotion from junior team Toro Rosso for 2015. He did the standard signed contract for 2015-achieve very little for the rest of the season at the end of 2014, and that kind of performance won’t be tolerated in the senior team as it could be ignored further back down the grid.
Will they win a race, on pace it doesn’t look likely, but Ricciardo pulled out some above the top shelf racing last year to win races others probably wouldn’t.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – Dan Ricciardo
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 1
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – RED BULL is the RED BULL of F1. Hard to compare something that is unlike another. There’s probably a knife snorting wall climbing whilst on fire extreme challenge they’re looking to sponsor.
FERRARI
The big transfer for 2015 was Vettel heading to Ferrari this year leaving Red Bull behind, and behind compared to Ferrari looks where Red Bull might be this year. He certainly got the better deal out the musical chairs than Alonso and his move to McLaren/Karts from 1995.
Alonso sure looks to have the timing of an innocent bystander as the Ferrari looks much better this year confirming the upturn in testing, whereas his McLaren looks awful in the hands of others.
With Kimi making positive noises about the new car, if you are able to tell Kimi being positive or providing anything in press statements, it does look like Ferrari are the real deal in 2015.
The Melbourne sessions so far put Ferrari right up with Williams, and with their world champion drivers in the team they should and probably will be next best in F1 in 2015. Hopefully that mean more Kimi pressers, which are entertaining because he’s different.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – Seb Vettel
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 2
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – FERRARI is the TIGER WOODS of F1. A dominant force a long while, still trading on their past achievements and “aura”.
LOTUS-MERCEDES
Lotus were very ordinary at times in 2014, and testing and the first Australian GP sessions have proved much improvement this season. Whether this means a challenge to the team above remains to be seen.
The drivers look the weak link as their habit of getting into incidents and hot headedness might start to wear thin if the season moves along the same lines as last year. Although, given their inability to pay Kimi, few other drivers would bother with them.
With more name changes than Prince (or whatever he’s called these days) with be hoping the dumping of the Renault engine after which the team was actually called at some stage for a Mercedes will catapult them up the grid like Williams. Or at least further away from the back of the gird and out of Q3.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – Too close to call – Look for value in betting for first retirement throughout the year.
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 0
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – LOTUS is the PRINCE of F1 – plenty of name changes and went into obscurity last year.
TORO ROSSO-RENAULT
The junior Red Bull team decided to be very junior this year with not only two debutants, but two drivers whose combined age may not match Jenson Button.
In Sainz and Verstappen they have young’uns with the best possible pedigree with Carlos being the son of former Rally Ace with the same name and Max’s dad being the wild Jos Verstappen.
Whether the genes will be enough at their age, the car has looked OK in Testing and 2014 Aust GP meaning that any major improvements from last year could see the senior team with its pants around it’s feet again.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – Max Verstappen – if he’s in at his age he must have something.
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 0
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – TORO ROSSO are the Lochie Daddo of F1 – the little brother which only has a career because of it’s older kin.
FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES
Was the last car launched in the last test, and it appears to be hurting them already with their names towards the end of the timesheets so far.
They do have an advantage over the arse end of the grid with the drivers who being quality not just a big fat sponsorship to their team.
The behind the scenes worries a bit though, with their owner Vijay Mallya always seeming to be in court for something or other financial related. Will they make the year, probably, but what kind of performance will the get throughout the year as they catch up. Surely the Hulk will land a top level drive befitting of his talents.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – Nico Hulkenburg – will hopefully finally get that top seat his talent deserves, or will find out why the top teams don’t rate him.
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 0
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – FORCE INDIA are the Pyramid scheme of F1. A good idea on paper, but only a matter of time before collapse.
SAUBER-FERRARI
Started the year off with some impressive testing times, giving long term sceptics plenty of fodder of low fuel sponsor runs.
No one however could have predicted the mess in the team to start the season off, with three paid up drivers certainly not fitting two. Guido van der Garde sued Sauber for the drive in 2015 he was promised in a Victorian court. This was news to Sauber and their drivers Felipe Naser and Marcus Ericsson and the lost the appeal.
The sight of van der Garde hanging around pits of Friday whilst Sauber did not fire up the other two cars looked pretty bad for a sport which seems to thrive on tension and politics.
Thankfully van der Garde dropped his action over the Australian GP to allow the team to run itself, not with assistance from Victorian Law. Whether that means no further dramas is debatable and in our opinion unlikely. VDG better watch what he whistles more, his actions might break the Sauber bank and leave him with no drive anyway.
On the track Sauber will be looking for the last of the remaining Top 10 places to begin with, and based on running this year so far, is not too ridiculous a goal to set.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – Felipe Nasr – hard to judge – lucky guess here I suppose.
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 0
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – SAUBER are the dodgy relative at a family function of F1. A brief introduction and wearing awful colours like the brown of brown of your relative . they will be interesting for the first 2 minuted and virtually invisible just a few rounds later.
MCLAREN
The signing of Fernando Alonso and new engine with oodles of history should have been a good omen for a quality 2015. It hasn’t been, in testing nor the race in 2015. Even their star man Alonso can see that 2015 is a write off already and is taking his time to return after a nasty crash in testing.
When the car is running, and that’s not all that often, it is relatively slow and the demise of Caterham and Marussia has left team like McLaren this year with the real prospect of bring up the rears for everyone at Sunsuper. The Qualifying session confirmed that car has some real issues and will likely bring up the rear this year if Manor don’t turn up to some races.
With Alonso out until apparently the next race after Melbourne, some nice humble pie was on offer when they drafted in Kevin Magnussen for Alonso. One can see if things don’t get better that Kevin Magnussen will get a seat anyway next year and Button will probably walk.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – ALONSO when he returns.
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 0
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – MCLAREN are the IKEA FURNITURE WITHOUT AN INSTRUCTION – sure you might get there eventually but not without suffering and a lot of wasted time.
MANOR RACING
The off season was the saga of whether this team will make the gird and whether they’d be compeditive.
The answer to the first question is yes, the second one looks to be no, but how would you know if they have never run.
Whilst they should be applauded for sticking to it and making it against the odds, the point seems to be missing if they can’t afford to do any running.
WINNER OF BATTLE OF THE DRIVERS – Whoever gets a car.
WINS FOR THE YEAR – 0
GURGLER’S CR@P COMPARISON – MANOR RACING are the Birdman Rally contraption of F1 – sure it looks good and was a big effort, but when you fall off into the water straight after leaving the pier, it does seems a sad waste of time. Always happy to be proven wrong.
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