We have already seen an awesome season so far in Formula One, with dramatic controversy, excellent wheel-to-wheel racing, thrilling battles amongst team mates, new heroes emerging, and some re-emerging to the front. So what sort of things should we all expect in the final eight races of this year’s Formula One season? Here is what to expect in the second half of F1 2014.
Vettel and Raikkonen to bounce back
It is pretty safe to say that this season has been pretty much disastrous for both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Both world champions, they find themselves being beaten by their respective team mates on a large number of occasions on both Saturdays and Sundays. Neither of them will have suddenly forgotten how to drive, but both need to start swinging the pendulum in their favour and soon, and Spa would be the best place to do that, where both drivers are multiple winners.
Williams to Fight Red Bull for Second
Williams certainly do not have a bad car this season compared to recent years. They already have delivered a pole position and three podiums so far this year, which is a major improvement. They have definitely shown good pace in the development race too, having been quicker than both Red Bull and Ferrari at times in recent races. They will be looking to improve further, and would like to challenge Red Bull as ‘best of the rest’.
Silly Season to Deliver big Headlines
With big names including Romain Grosjean and Jenson Button both out of contract for 2015, there are all sorts of names being linked between various drivers and teams. It looks as if once those two drivers have confirmed where they will be next year; a large proportion of the other seats will gradually fall into place. There are also some links including Jules Bianchi to Ferrari, Fernando Alonso to McLaren and Stoffel Vandoorne to McLaren.
Controversy Everywhere!
We have already seen plenty of controversial topics so far this year in Formula One, be it Bernie Ecclestone’s court case, double points, standing restarts, the ethics regarding the Russian Grand Prix, track limits, accusations of Nico Rosberg cheating or claims that Mercedes are sabotaging Lewis Hamilton’s car as well as the banning of the FRIC system. Generally the second half of the season is where the controversial topics tend to reach boiling point, as we have seen in past seasons.
A Titanic Title Duel
Arguably the biggest talking point of the season has been the excellent title fight between the two Mercedes drivers. Thankfully the Brackley-based team has allowed their drivers to race at every event bar one, where they wrongly applied team orders in my view. Hopefully we will see a clean fight between the two drivers where reliability issues won’t get in the way. With fifty points on offer at the final race in Abu Dhabi, we could well see this duel go down to the wire.
Sauber to Finally Score Points
At the wrong end of the grid, Sauber are currently enduring their worst run ever in Formula One. Having not scored a single point so far they find themselves behind Lotus and even Marussia in the Constructors’ Championship. Following the FRIC system being banned, they have shown much better pace, and points are looking far more likely.
Engines to be a Major Talking Point
The biggest regulation introduced for 2014 was the brand new V6 turbo hybrid powertrain to be used by all cars. While only five of these are permitted for the season, all of the teams have used at least half of their allocated five powertrains so far, with some using all five. Using a sixth powertrain will mean that the driver incurs a ten place grid penalty, with a seventh being a 20 place and so on, so seeing how this plays out will be interesting to see, especially between the two Mercedes.
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