As we all know this championship was predicted to have three issues: the reliability, the design of the cars and the strange sound of the engines.
Reliability turned out to be not the main issue. All the drivers had problems, but this is something that has always happened and always will in motor sport.
As for the design I confess that it is a matter of taste – I wrote a post disliking the cars and I have not changed my opinion.
The engine sound was always something I did not like either – it was too quiet and soft.
The championship itself was extremely competitive with Mercedes dominating unequivocally. The financial issue was a very black spot – Marussia failed to start 3 races and Caterham 2 for this reason.
The darkest moment of the season occurred with Jules Bianchi in Japan on October 5th. A violent accident which left him at death’s door (his condition remains very severe).
Reliability turned out to be not the main issue. All the drivers had problems, but this is something that has always happened and always will in motor sport.
As for the design I confess that it is a matter of taste – I wrote a post disliking the cars and I have not changed my opinion.
The engine sound was always something I did not like either – it was too quiet and soft.
The championship itself was extremely competitive with Mercedes dominating unequivocally. The financial issue was a very black spot – Marussia failed to start 3 races and Caterham 2 for this reason.
The darkest moment of the season occurred with Jules Bianchi in Japan on October 5th. A violent accident which left him at death’s door (his condition remains very severe).
Analysis team by team, driver by driver
Mercedes
An almost perfect year: 18 poles, 16 wins, 11 one-two finishes, 31 podiums and 701 points. The numbers really speak for themselves.
Lewis Hamilton – 1st with 384 points, spent much of the season in 2nd place, but a man with 7 poles, 11 wins, 16 podiums and 384 points can only be world champion.
Nico Rosberg – 2nd with 317 points, had one excellent championship – 11 poles, 5 wins, 15 podiums, totalled 317 points, but in the moment of truth he did not resist.
After dominating the last 4 years, the team has not resisted to the Mercedes. However, I do not consider that they have had a bad season: 3 wins, 12 podiums and 405 points.
Daniel Ricciardo – 3rd with 238 points – coming from Toro Rosso, the Australian driver was one of the revelations of this season. He was the only non-Mercedes driver to win. In fact, he won 3 times having risen to the podium 8 times.
Sebastian Vettel – 5th with 167 points. It was not a good season for the man who had won the last 4 titles. He took to the podium only 4 times and was hit across the board for his alleged number 2.
The return to good results for one of the historical F1 teams. They managed to get the only non-Mercedes pole, claiming 9 podiums and achieved 320 points.
Vallteri Bottas – 4th with 186 points. The young Finnish driver showed in the 2nd season in F1 that he is a driver to take into account for top teams. He had a great season with 6 podiums.
Felipe Massa – 7th with 134 points. The veteran Brazilian driver was far less consistent than his teammate, but accomplished to get a pole in Austria. He took to the podium 3 times.
It was a season to forget. They had no poles – as in 2013, no wins (something that has not happened since 1993), only two podiums, no drivers in the top 5 and the worst result in the constructors championship since 2009 – a 4th place with 216 points.
Fernando Alonso – 6th with 161 points. Nobody can acuse the Spanish driver for not trying, but the problem is that he never had stuff up to his capabilities. He bids farewell to Ferrari with two podiums.
Kimi Raikkonen – 12th with 55 points. Did the “ice man” participate in this season? A disastrous season, where the best he got was a 4th place.
The mythical team is not in a very good place. They haven’t won the drivers championship since 2008 and the constructors since 1998. This year they had an irregular season having added 181 points and achieved two podiums in the opening race.
Jenson Button – 8th with 126 points. As always, the former world champion fought with the weapons he had, but the season will not leave him great memories, despite all his efforts. He managed only one podium.
Kevin Magnussen – 11th with 55 points – he expected to have a great season after a 2nd place in the initial run, but throughout he has never been consistent having stayed a long way away from his teammate.
It is the typical mid-table team, which sometimes annoys top teams. It was an extremely interesting season, where they scored 155 points (their best result) and achieved 1 podium.
Nico Hülkenberg – 9th with 96 points – 4 times he was 5th as he had a very consistent season having finished 17 races
Sergio Pérez – 10th with 59 points- he got the only podium for the team, after a quite regular season.
It is the Red Bull “B team” and had a season within our expectations. 30 points, having had a 6th place as a season best.
Jean Eric Vergne – 13th with 22 points – he had the best result of a 6th place and he has always been an extremely combative driver.
Daniil Kvyat – 15th with 8 points. The young Russian managed three 9th places and I think he satisfactorily fulfilled his first year in Formula 1.
It was a tremendous disappointment. They only achieved 10 points against the 303 of 2012 and the 315 of 2013. I know that it was a difficult year, but the results were very weak for a team with their background of 6 drivers titles and 7 constructors titles. I hope things improve in 2015.
Roman Grosjean – 14th with 8 points. The French driver did what was possible, having obtained a best result of 8th place twice. In my opinion he is a driver with value, even though he needs some finishing touches.
Pastor Maldonado – 16th with 2 points. The Venezuelan is an impatient driver, as he makes too many errors for my taste and even in a team in crisis he should have done much better than what we did. He scored once (one 9th place) and spent part of the season involved in accidents and incidents.
It was a strange year. They scored for the first time in their history, failed to start the last 3 races of the season and saw Bianchi suffer the most serious F1 accident in the last 20 years. Are they going to be in F1 next year? I don’t know.
Jules Bianchi – 17th with 2 points. It’s hard to talk about the young French driver. He’s fighting for his life and whatever happens he was the first driver to score for Marussia- a 9th place in Monaco.
Max Chilton – he is a reliable driver (on 39 races he only retired on 3 occasions as he managed a rally of 26 races without any DNFs, but got no points). Has he been better this season? Two 13th places.
The disappointment of disappointments – zero points – something that has never happened before (the team has been part of F1 since 1993). Being any worse was impossible.
Adrian Sutil – Two 11th places as his best in a season. It will not leave him with good memories.
Esteban Gutierrez – A 12th place was the best he could manage. In my opinion, he is one of the weakest of the current F1 drivers. Give him a Mercedes and I bet that he won’t go far.
Caterham
They were another team that dipped into financial problems. Did what they could? I do not doubt, but it was too little …
Kamui Kobayashi – two 13th places was the best he could manage.
Marcus Ericsson – I know it was his first season, but a very poor performance. At his best he achieved an 11th place.
Will Stevens – he only participated in the last race of the season and drove his car to the end in 17th place.
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