Racing Season Re-cap
A look at the winners
by
David Miller
I
t’s been a crazy year in the world
of Formula One and IndyCar—and
what that translates to is a great year.
Anytime either championship comes
down to the last few races, especially in
Formula One—it’s a win for the fans and
the sport.
This year saw a changing of the guard
in Formula One, as Mercedes AMG
stamped their dominance over all; while
Red Bull Racing took a back seat after
years of success. In IndyCar, we finally
saw the culmination of a full successful
campaign from start to finish by the
Aussie, Will Power. He finally captured the
championship that has slipped through
his hands for years to the chagrin of his
teammate Helio Castroneves.
Instead of doing a re-cap of the
season, I wanted to go through the
positives of this year. No need to talk
about the losers, ‘cause why be negative?
We all know that Red Bull Racing’s
Sebastian Vettel was sent back down
to earth, Ferrari looks lost and is now
under a new leader in Sergio Marchionne,
Andretti Autosport’s James Hinchcliffe
couldn’t replicate his winning ways of last
year and A.J. Foyt’s Takuma Sato’s year
was lost filled with errors and bad luck.
A lot of changes for next year
have already been made with Vettel
surprisingly moving to Ferrari, while
Fernando Alonso is expected to leave
Ferrari for a new challenge (possibly
with a new Formula One team). On
the IndyCar scene, Hinchcliffe goes to
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports taking
over for Simon Pagneaud, who leaves to
go to Team Penske.
Enough with next year, now it’s time
to recap this past season. Let’s go
through the winners.
Williams
Williams have been floundering for a
while with dreadful years in 2011 and
2013 with only five constructor’s points.
Things had to change, so they brought
18
THE DRIVER
Mercedes
As stated earlier, there’s no bigger
winner in all of auto racing then
Mercedes. They took a back seat last
year to develop their race car, which
has paid many dividends for 2014,
smoking the competition. Anyone
who questioned Lewis Hamilton on
jumping ship out of McLaren to go to
Mercedes have been silenced. I don’t
know if Hamilton foresaw Mercedes’
domination, but he sure looks like
racing’s version of Nostradamus.
Mercedes has allowed their two
drivers Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to
go at it and that has led to an intense
battle that has captured the attention
of all. It’s possible that Mercedes
had no choice to give their drivers
free reign, as neither of them really
took to team orders throughout the
campaign.
As of this write-up, the season
has not concluded yet, but Hamilton
in Rob Smedley from Ferrari to be their
head of vehicle performance and Pat
Symonds as chief technical officer.
It didn’t hurt that rising star Valtteri
Bottas was paired with Formula
One veteran Felipe Massa to form a
competent team that could work with
has taken over the standings lead
by 17 points over Rosberg. It’s been
a remarkable comeback for the
Brit, who trailed for most of the
season after Canada, but now it’s
Rosberg who has had to endure some
mechanical mishaps.
Both drivers have shown a fight
and determination that has not been
seen since the glory years of Formula
One back in the ‘70s. The last time we
saw a battle like this with two drivers
in their prime, you might have to go
back to the 1997 season that saw
Jacques Villeneuve edge out Michael
Schumacher.
Mercedes has won 13 of 16 races
so far and if it wasn’t for reliability—it
might have been all of them. A
truly spectacular year for the
German automaker in the world of
Formula One. The last three years of
development has been worth it.
the new Mercedes engines that were
brought in to replace Renault.
Bottas has registered five podium
finishes and 14-Top 10s, proving the
reliability of the Williams car. They’re
finally back in contention as one of the
top teams in Formula One.