It is no secret that the Mercedes works team has been successful in dominating the first half of the 2014 Formula One season; with both drivers claiming the top two positions of the championship standings and the Mercedes team with a massive lead in the constructors’ championship standings. However, in the final few races prior to the Formula One summer break, there was a noticeable decline in the team’s performance. After seeing Lewis Hamilton barely hang onto the bottom step of the podium, fans are wondering: Will the Mercedes team take over the second half of the season?
First, let’s take a look at the numbers from the first eleven races of the 2014 season, to give you an idea of just how well the team did in the first half of the season. Out of eleven races, Mercedes received six 1-2 finishes, five of which were consecutive. The team won nine of the eleven races: Nico Rosberg winning four and Lewis Hamilton winning five. The team has only had a total of three race retirements throughout the duration of the season.
Despite this fantastic record, the Canadian Grand Prix seems to have been the turning point for the team. In Canada, we saw a mechanical issue affecting both of the Mercedes cars; putting Hamilton out of the race. Following a spectacular 1-2 finish in Austria, the team seemed to struggle with similar mechanical failures in the British Grand Prix. It was here that we saw Rosberg suffer his first retirement thus far in the season. Later in the German Grand Prix, we saw Hamitlon start from twentieth on the gird, after a qualifying accident and a penalty for changing the car’s gearbox during the session. We then saw another unfortunate qualifying session in the following race at Hungary, when Hamilton’s car burst into flames. It was here in Hungary that Mercedes would fail to obtain the top step of the podium.
Of course, there is an open discussion that wet conditions were the deciding factor of the race and the reason that Mercedes suffered from performance. Nevertheless, it is a neck and neck battle between the Mercedes duo for the top spot in the championship; the pair breezing ahead of the competition by a baffling sixty points. But is the team’s decline in past five races a sign of things to come for the Mercedes team in the closing half of the season?
With the Red Bull racing team slowly, but surely improving with every round, Mercedes will really need to watch their back and ensure that their points lead doesn’t dwindle down to nothing, especially going into the double points race at Abu Dhabi – the final race of the season. Going into the final race, if they do not have a fifty points lead, Mercedes has the possibility to be passed by another driver for the World Championship. As for the World Constructors’ Championship: Mercedes clearly has that in the bag. With a one hundred and seventy-four point lead, Red Bull would have to experience a miracle to pass them.
It is difficult to say whether the decline of the Mercedes was caused by exhaustion. If this is the case, the team should be refreshed after a one month summer break. It is quite feasible, however, that the setback is not the team, but rather the competition. Perhaps the other constructors have finally mastered the 2014 regulation changes and are now able to be on the same pace. Possibly the engine suppliers, such as, Ferrari or Renault have finally developed the ideal V6 turbocharged engines.
Whatever is causing the Mercedes decline, fans should see a difference in the podium in the upcoming races. We certainly won’t see the same level of dominance by the team, as we saw in the opening part of the season, but I am fairly confident to say that we will see a triumphant Mercedes team and that at least one Mercedes driver will discover themselves at the top of the championship at the conclusion of the year.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
