Whilst the fight at the sharp end of the grid goes on unabated, the race for tenth place continues at the tail end with no less passion or drive.
In the red and black garage fighting out of Russia via Banbury in the UK the Marussia team formally known as Virgin racing. In the green and yellow garage fighting out of UK Via Malaysia Caterham racing formally known as Lotus.
Marussia and Caterham are two teams who have yet to score a single point in Formula 1 and in this one single fact we have all that these teams are striving for, a single point will change there dynamics and move them forward from the ranks of also ran teams who never archived all that there investment talent and drive deserved.
A single point, just one, how hard can it be? Well on the past few years very hard indeed. In the previous seasons we have had a much higher attrition rate, which left the back marker teams with a better opportunities to get points onto the scoreboard. In today’s competitive Formula 1 even with the new sweeping changes in regulations it seems this is no longer a guaranteed option, leaving them with the uphill battle to find pace and push harder to not just compete but to leapfrog long established teams with far more technical knowledge and financial muscle built up over many years competing at the highest level of Motorsport.
Before the first race of the 2014 season I was sure that points where on the cards for both teams, with the new regulations and cost cutting measures supposedly equaling out the field, plus the fact that both teams now had competitive power plants; Marussia with the impressive Ferrari engine and Caterham running the multi-world championship winning Renault engine, all be it the new spec.
After watching the Malaysian Grand Prix I’m still fairly confident of a point somewhere in the season ahead but maybe not as a result of pace and strategy alone, instead they may have to rely on other teams unreliability and drivers failures after all and maybe one of them will be in the right place at the right time.
In today’s race in Malaysia Kamui Kobayashi ran as high up as eleventh , finishing in a very respectable thirteenth place. Marcus Ericsson finished in fourteenth behind in the sister car.
Max Chilton finished in fifteenth and still never failing to bring his car home in his Formula 1 career. His team mate Jules Bianchi only completed eight laps, this result sees Marussia leap frog Caterham in the constructors championship. Its very early days in the season, and that single point could mean millions of dollars in prize money and the ability to invest that cash into the team, and then maybe at last, a positive step into Formula 1 big time and the riches that come with it can be achieved.
Game on.
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