After the thrilling Bahrain Grand Prix, which saw the Mercedes pair storm off from the rest of the pack, who were busy squabbling over the final podium spot, the rate of pace for each team is becoming a lot clearer. It was so that the only car that was going to beat the Mercedes was another Mercedes.
One of the aspects that makes Formula 1 so fascinating to me isn’t who’s up the top spot, but the personal battles happening up and down the field. Year after year the teams seem to order themselves into tiers of performance, so here’s my analysis of the running order after the Bahrain Grand Prix:
Tier 1:
Mercedes
I doubt there is anyone who will deny that Mercedes is the top gun on the field at the moment. Their showing in Bahrain was one of the strongest displays of team dominance in a long time. Perhaps not since the 1988 season, where the McLaren pairing of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost won all but 15 out of 16 races, have we seen both team mates storm out from the gate with such pace. It may be premature to think Mercedes can go on to grabbing the same achievement, but the possibility is definitely within the reach of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton for a championship win.
Tier 2:
Red Bull
Red Bull have a decent car, with a pace in the corners to match that of Mercedes, but what makes them ineligible to join them in Tier 1 solely because of their engine: it just hasn’t got the grunt at the moment. Their driver pairing is good, and it’s a nice change, from the fans’ perspective, to see Sebastian Vettel getting a course in humility at the hands of Daniel Ricciardo. They’ve been suffering from reliability issues throughout pre-season testing and in the Grands Prix, but I suspect there is something in the works that’s going to turn their season around, for better or for worse.
Williams
The Williams car had the capability to get a better position in the Bahrain Grand Prix than where they ultimately ended up. If not for the Safety Car coming in and disrupting the strategy, I would have placed my money on either Felipe Massa or Valtteri Bottas to pinch the final podium spot. Needless to say, Frank Williams must be delighted by this turn of fortune, especially after the stalwart commitment he’s shown during this rough decade of inconsistent pace for the British team. Here’s hoping for a podium for them this season as they deserve a bit of a reward.
Force India
Force India’s tremendous result in Sunday’s race was something I don’t think any rational person had foreseen before the lights went out. With Sergio Perez high-up on the grid, and the threat of the Williams, McLarens and Ferraris fuming behind him, not least Ricciardo or Vettel making a comeback later in the race, it was an idealistic scenario for Force India that they could get any place higher than finishing just outside the treasured podium, but the pair firmly stamped their authority in the grid. Both Sergio and Nico Hulkenburg displayed maturity and diligence when positioning their cars, and I suspect there will be many more tracks this year that will showcase their abilities and the car’s performance.
Tier 3:
Ferrari
In terms of each of their cars characteristics to shape the race, I don’t believe there is much to pick from between Ferrari and McLaren at this Grand Prix weekend. Both cars filled up the role of ‘best of the rest’ relatively cleanly, with McLaren having to take a dive with both their cars out of the race later on. What was evident in the Ferrari was that it handled like a dog; sliding this way and that under braking and over curbs. If it weren’t for the skills of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, I doubt this car would be even be able to reach the final part of qualifying. The engine suffers from similar problems as the Renault, but not by quite such a large margin, but nevertheless are missing out on some vital top speed down the straights.
McLaren
The McLaren car seems to be suffering from some chronic issues that have been with the team since the start of 2013. Either it’s really missing having Hamilton at the wheel, or the developments just aren’t meshing with the drivers. The car looks stable going round corners, but, for whatever reason, it just drops lap time in places. Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen need to stick with the groundwork and try to maximise the potential of this car, fast, or they’ll likely spend the remainder of 2014 falling further behind.
Tier 4:
Toro Rosso
Toro Rosso can safely lay claim to being the team just on the cusp of winning points or sitting out in the cold. The experience of Jean-Eric Vergne and the rookie determination of the impressive Daniil Kvyat seem to be keeping their tyres clean ahead of the rest of the pack, and have often enough made better use of their Ferrari power than the works team. A few unfortunate mistakes have left them flagging behind, but I believe Toro Rosso could pull a few surprises out of the bag.
Sauber
Sauber just haven’t seemed to collect themselves after letting Sergio Perez go to McLaren last year, but the faults for this weekend can be attributed down to both a fault in the car design and a few mental breakdowns by Adrian Sutil, as he recklessly pushed a much faster Romain Grosjean off the track in the first part of qualifying, and rubbing his car up against Jules Bianchi in the race. Esteban Guiterrez has been conservative in his second season, and the race was going well for the team, until the volatile Maldonado tipped him over. There doesn’t seem to be a moment to saviour for Sauber, and that’s unlikely to change as Lotus get their act together.
Lotus
A tale of two Grands Prix for Lotus, with some good and some very bad points. The good points all lie firmly in Romain Grosjean‘s half of the garage, with a successful qualifying and a steady race, there is improvement in the Lotus camp from their catastrophic pre-season and beginning. However, the bad points simply overshadow any good prospects. It seems Pastor Maldonado is still up to his old tricks after recklessly running through the race like a stampeding Ox, declaring the track to be his but never having the jurisdiction to do so; naturally he blamed the other drivers in whatever he was involved in, whether that was losing positions, clipping Toro Rossos or flipping Mexicans over. It simply wasn’t his fault.
Tier 5:
Marussia
The true backmarkers still lie way off the pace when it comes to qualifying, but Marussia has been making much better progress in that area. Max Chilton is getting the advantage over his much more aggressive team mate, Jules Bianchi, by driving consistently but very unimpressive to the eye. Jules had a bit of tussle with Adrian Sutil in the race, which raised the blood pressure enough to have a dive down the inside into turn one, knocking them both out of the race. There is still hard graft ahead for the team to have any hopes of gaining a point, but let’s not count them out yet.
Caterham
Caterham have just gone from weakness to weakness. The frantic exuberance of Kamui Kobayashi is being thwarted by a very stale car, and the debut season for Marcus Ericsson must be frustrating. There isn’t much to say about their race, other than they managed to get one car across the line without the brakes failing. I’ve had a soft spot for the Caterham team, but their lack of finesse and flippancy over driver retention is starting to grate.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @Tobitronicus. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter –@LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Interested in writing for LWOS? We are looking for enthusiastic, talented writers to join our writing team. Visit our “Write for Us” page for very easy details in how you can get started today!
Main Photo:
