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| Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Pertonas |
Lewis Hamilton has the most wins on the young season, with 4 top step finishes. His teammate, Nico Rosberg, has two wins, but when he's not won he's finished second, so he leads the points at the moment, 140-118 over Hamilton. Rosberg was our pre-season championship pick, by the way. Only one other driver has claimed a victory this season, and he drivers for Red Bull Racing. No, it isn't Sebastian Vettel. It's new RBR driver Daniel Ricciardo, who claimed a solid victory in Canada after the Silver Arrows of Mercedes AMG Petronas both met with serious mechanical issues.
Currently the boys with the fast cars are in Austria, at the Red Bull Ring (formerly the A-1 Ring). The Mercedes domination looked likely to continue through qualifying, until Lewis's car stepped out on his fast lap, costing him a qualifying time and relegating him to a ninth place starting spot. Nico Rosberg set a blistering time, but it was only good enough for third, as the Williams Martini Racing duo of Felipe Massa and Valteri Bottas claimed the front row, the first time Williams has locked out a front row in eleven years. It's the first time that Felipe Massa has claimed pole since the famed Brazilian Grand Prix of 2008.
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| Felipe Massa, Williams Martini Racing Austrian Grand Prix Pole Winner |
The season has been a real joy for me, as I grew so sick of Red Bull dominating a season that, even though Mercedes seems to be the dominant force now, I'm okay with it. Sebastian Vettel is having such a rough season he didn't even make it out of Q2 at the track named after his own team.
First, let me say a few words about the Red Bull Ring. I love it. It's is one of the highest elevation tracks that I've seen. The track is relatively short, only 2.6 miles and only 9 turns. But it is a cracker. The run from turn 9 up the start straight to turns 1-2 rises some 240 feet. Everything after that is essentially downhill and a good bit off-camber. Everyone is running wide at turn 8, to the point that FIA Race Direct Charlie Whiting has told the teams any lap in which all four wheels go off at turn 8, onto the ample run-off space, will be discounted. Basically the FIA is telling the drivers to slow down even more.
And that's been a problem with the FIA lately. The group that oversees much of the global racing scene has taken it upon themselves to do everything humanly, and corporately, possible to strip away any excitement from Formula 1. They then try to inject new excitement into the series by using gimmicks. KERS and DRS are among the more recent gimmicks, but even in Austria the FIA has been playing their game. Nico Rosberg was noted to be running additional skid plates on his W05 Silver Arrow Mercedes, as part of an FIA initiative to generate more sparks and thereby make the racing "look" more exciting.
I wonder sometimes just how long it will be before we actually get Bernie "Fifth Beatle" Ecclestone's desired shortcuts and sprinklers.
Australia, as I'm accustomed to, kicked off the season. This was the trial of reliability, as each team had yet to learn just how the new regulations would hold up under true race conditions. Mercedes learned that their kit wasn't totally up to snuff just yet, as Nico Rosberg won but Lewis Hamilton suffered a mechanical issue and the team called him in, setting up his first DNF of the season. Daniel Ricciardo made headlines by dominating much of the race (as far as any non-Mercedes powered chassis can dominate), but his Red Bull failed scrutineering and he was disqualified.
Malaysia, Bahrain, Shanghai, and Catalunya all told the story of Lewis Hamilton dominating and Nico Rosberg chasing. Rosberg gave Hamilton a great fight at Catalunya, but otherwise Hamilton was superior over this stretch.
Rosberg reclaimed the top spot at Mercedes by winning at Monaco. Lewis fought hard, especially after getting a bit of dirt in his eye and basically driving the final ten laps with one eye closed. If there is a track anywhere that you really need both eyes to navigate, it's Monaco.
Formula 1 then came to North America, for the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villenueve, one of my favorite tracks. Rosberg and Hamilton once again began putting on a show, but technical issues struck and struck hard. Both cars suffered power failures. Hamilton's brakes failed in spectacular fashion, forcing his second DNF of the season and leaving Rosberg to carry the silver banner. Rosberg fought valiantly, but Daniel Ricciardo finally broke through, claiming the first non-Mercedes powered victory of the season and gaining some vindication for Australia.
Now the fast cars have reached Austria. There are three races remaining until the summer break, so the trailing cars will be doing everything in their power to close the gap to Mercedes. Otherwise, the Silver Arrows are going to just walk away with the title.
In other F1 news, Flavio Briatore, the former team boss of Renault Racing, has slammed the new Formula 1, saying it is no longer a sport of gladiators, but is now a sport of accountants. I hate to break it to Flavio, but I've been watching F1 since the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2008 and it has never once, in all that time, been a sport of gladiators. The accountants have always dominated the sport. Plus, to call F1 a sport of gladiators is a misnomer to begin with. F1 a sport of precision and power. Not contact. In fact, contact in F1 typically ends in abject disaster. Just ask Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez after their crash two weeks ago in Montreal.
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