After what can be rightfully described as one of the best races in recent memory in Bahrain, the championship moved onto China. We really couldn’t have expected another thriller and as always seems to be the way with the ups and downs of sport we got what can best be described as a bit of a snore fest.
A lights to flag victory for Lewis Hamilton, could we be looking at another season of one team domination? And why are we die hard formula one fans still buzzing after the Chinese Grand Prix when we have done so much moaning during the last four years of Red Bull dominance that gave us so many races like china?
First one must look at the characters involved in this year’s campaign. Hamilton’s Senna-like driving skills: a man who came from Stevenage in the UK, not born into a lap of luxury where money was no issue, but from what could be described as “normal” family home; a man born to succeed, born to win; named after the great athlete Carl Lewis (Lewis Carl Hamilton). He fought his way through lower formula racing until attracting the attention of McLaren whose money then helped him achieve his goal of competing in Formula One and the winning the Drivers’ World Championship.
On the other side of the garage we have Nico Rosberg, born into a racing drivers household. Son of Finnish world champion Keke Rosberg, and a German mother, whose flag he races under. However, he spent most of his life living in the millionaires playground of Monaco. The two drivers’ paths have crossed before even being team mates in their karting days where Hamilton came out on top; his superior driving skill at the time winning the day.
Fast forward to the present day and Hamilton has twenty five wins and a World Championship in his pocket, Rosberg has four race wins all with their current Mercedes team. But times have changed for both men. Rosberg has developed into a Prost-like thinking driver where Hamilton has that Senna-like natural raw speed. But Hamilton has added to his natural talent with the knowledge of years at the sharp end of the grid, his time as Jenson Button’s team mate at McLaren certainly had a positive effect, in that he couldn’t beat Button with speed alone, he had to think more, maybe it was the constant comments that he couldn’t take care of his tyres or race anything but flat out, whatever it was has improved one of the most gifted drivers of his generation into a winning machine.
I think Mercedes’ apparent domination is so different because there are two very strong personalities from backgroundswhich are poles apart: the perceived privileged son of a racing driver versus the man who had to fight his way to the top; the thinker who has developed speed against the naturally fast driver who has learnt to engage brain before right foot, not an easy task, but above all a willingness from Mercedes to let their drivers race, go wheel to wheel with only their judgment holding any kind of leash on their desire to win.
Over the last four years F1 saw Red Bull’s one “special” driver dominate in an admittedly fantastically designed Adrian Newey rocket, his team mate seemingly unable to compete against the younger man and the desire of Red Bull to make sure their prodigy won, leading not just to a team domination but a driver who could not be touched by his team mate, inevitably with no real inter team racing and others on the grid seeming unable to catch them even die hard fans where left disillusioned.
For now whilst both Hamilton and Rosberg can win the title and not upset Mercedes’ chances of a Constructors’ crown we get to see at least two great drivers fight it out for the 2014 title.
We could be in for a classic season, this generation’s Senna vs Prost. Sit back and enjoy the fireworks.
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