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As F1 2014 approaches the end with only one round left to go at this week's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, I have decided to outline some of the things we can get excited about for next year.
1. Alonso moving to McLaren Honda
Even in September of this year, this partnership was thought of as impossible, let alone for 2015. Especially with Alonso in contract to Ferrari, Ron Dennis taking over at the helm of McLaren and considering how bad the McLaren MP4-29 was, even compared to the Ferrari. But, as F1 has proved time and time again, the impossible has not only become possible, but a reality. It would be interesting to see how competitive the McLaren MP4-30 will be with a Honda V6 turbo fitted to it next year, and with one of the greatest drivers of the current generation at the wheel. Alonso desperately wants that elusive third title, which would put him equal with his childhood hero Ayrton Senna, and what better team to do it with than McLaren Honda, the very team Senna won his three titles, and spent most of his career, at.
2. Honda's Return to F1
While we're at the topic of McLaren Honda, let's talk about Honda's return to F1 after a six year absence. But unlike their last involvement in F1, they are now just a engine supplier to McLaren. Well, power unit supplier. There are many pros and cons of being one year behind the other engine developers. The pros being that they will be able to compare their engines to the Mercedes, the engine McLaren run now, aim for a minimum standard (Mercedes) and learn from the mistakes of the developers. The cons, however, are that it is not an easy and quick process to get your power unit to a good stage of reliability and performance. And they will also be a year behind on the gathering of data. So it will indeed be very interesting to see whether or not they can re-ignite the same kind of dominance we have been used to seeing from McLaren Hondas of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
3. Vettel Moving to Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari have had an abysmal year. By their usual standards, it has been absolutely awful. So in the space of one year, Ferrari have changed 180 degrees. The team of Montezemelo, Dominicalli, Smedley, Massa and most importantly, Alonso, has been changed completely for next year. So when Alonso is gone, who do Ferrari replace him with? Easy. Quadruple World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, with whom Ferrari have been flirting for the better part of five years. Ferrari's new management was happy to let Alonso go as long as they could secure Vettel's services. And they have. Vettel joined Ferrari, knowing full well that it was probably impeccable timing. One more year of getting beat consistently by Ricciardo, and he wouldn't be as attractive as he still is now. Ferrari themselves have admitted that it may be 2016 or 2017 before they could challenge for the championship again. But time is on Vettel's side, whereas fellow drivers Button, Alonso and Vettel's teammate next year, Raikkonen have only a handful, if any, years left, Vettel is only 27, and has that time. And if he fails? Well, he already has four world titles doesn't he. So will Vettel succeed where Alonso failed? Only time will tell.
4. Hamilton vs. Rosberg
Mercedes will still be the team to beat in 2015. By a country mile probably. And they will probably walk away with both titles again unless Honda can show that they have the engine to match and possibly beat the Silver Arrows. But unless that happens, we can look forward to another year of the Rosberg and Hamilton duel our eyes have been treated to this year. But will next year be as close as this year? Hamilton has been the more dominant and quicker driver in all bar a handful of races. If not for reliability issues, he probably would have won in Australia, Canada and Belgium. And would've beaten Rosberg in Silverstone and Singapore regardless. So going into 2015, Hamilton will be brimming with confidence. And if he wraps up the title in Abu Dhabi this weekend, it will be difficult to see anybody but him walking away with the driver's title in 2015. But if Rosberg has the race pace to beat Hamilton over a season, he still is yet to show it.
5. Daniil Kvyat Moving to the Red Bull Senior Team
When Alonso left Ferrari, it created a domino effect which toppled down even until Toro Rosso. So Red Bull decided to stick to their policy of promoting their young driver, like Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, and promoted rookie Daniil Kvyat to replace the departing Sebastian Vettel. Kvyat, who was preferred to teammate Jean-Eric Vergne, no doubt has the speed, but already being in a front-running team just in his second year in F1 might be quite risky. But don't forget that going through leaps and bounds is nothing new to the 21 year old Russian. He was racing in Formula 3, before making the huge jump to F1 this year. And he has also made less mistakes than fellow rookies Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson, and even several experienced drivers.
6. Daniel Ricciardo's Hunt for his First World Championship
In my eyes, and many others for that matter, Daniel Ricciardo is not only the biggest surprise of the year, but also the best driver of the year. Few expected the young Australian to be this quick, and almost no one expected him to best Vettel comprehensively. When Red Bull confirmed that he would be joining them last year just after the Belgian Grand Prix, many other, myself included, were disappointed at Red Bull for not opting for Raikkonen. So Raikkonen went to Ferrari instead. And for Red Bull, it was the best decision they could make. Although I suspect that Vettel wouldn't agree with that statement. While Ricciardo made a massive name for himself, outqualifying Vettel 11-7 and out-racing him more times than not, Raikkonen struggled in his Ferrari. And one can only assume that Ricciardo will be better next year, as will Red Bull, hopefully. If so, then Mercedes' smile might just falter at the sight of a grinning Australian.
7. Raikkonen's resurgence in form
Just like Ferrari, Raikkonen has had a disappointing year. With all the hype around the Raikkonen-Alonso battle going into the 2014 season, it has been possibly even more one-sided than when Alonso partnered Massa. Ferrari and Raikkonen have promised time and time again that Raikkonen's setup woes will be over soon. But coming to the end of the season, it hasn't looked that way at all until Brazil, where Raikkonen was closer to Alonso than at most races. But still, the stats say it all. In the races where both drivers have finished, Alonso has beaten Raikkonen 15-1. And it doesn't really get much better in Qualifying, with Alonso leading Raikkonen 16-2, one of them being in Bahrain where Alonso had ERS issues in Qualifying. And Raikkonen hasn't outqualified Alonso since Spain, the fifth round of the season. And all this isn't good news if Raikkonen wants to have a competitive 2015. Well, perhaps Alonso's departure from Ferrari might help him look better. But truth be told, Ferrari might very well give Vettel number 1 status at Ferrari. Let's see how this rivalry between these two friends shape up, especially if Raikkonen finds his feet again.
8. Max Verstappen Becoming the Youngest Ever F1 driver
From next year's field, Alonso, Raikkonen, Massa and Button will have all raced alongside not one, but two Verstappens. And the weirdest bit is, they're not even brothers. No, all four of these driver have raced alongside Jos Verstappen, as well as his son Max. At the tender age of 17, Verstappen's promotion to Toro Rosso comes as a huge surprise to everyone. After all, will he be able to succeed in close-quarter racing after just one year out of karts? This is a question which will no doubt be one of the major questions of the season.
9. Three car teams?
At this current point in time, there has been no confirmation as to whether or not F1 will feature three car teams next year. If Marussia and Caterham, and possibly Lotus, Sauber and Force India drop out in the near future, then three car teams are inevitable despite Haas' break into the F1 scene in 2016, along with possibly Forza Rossa. It now even seems probable that we might see three car teams as soon as 2015. But even though I, just like everyone else, would still like to have the backmarker teams in F1, the possibility of three Red Bulls, Mercedes, and Ferraris, still hold a pretty big attraction for me.
10. Bernie Ecclestone's Time is Up
I respect Bernie Ecclestone. Or, at least, I did. I personally believe that it is time for Bernie to move aside. His unwavering stance on social media has probably cost F1 millions of new fans. Just look at MotoGP. They have a YouTube channel, they embrace social media, and now they overtaking F1 in terms of popularity, especially in the Asian countries. Turn the clocks a few years, and it looked unlikely that F1 would be upturned anytime soon as the most viewed motosport. But Bernie Ecclestone has now put that under threat.
As F1 2014 approaches the end with only one round left to go at this week's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, I have decided to outline some of the things we can get excited about for next year.
1. Alonso moving to McLaren Honda
Even in September of this year, this partnership was thought of as impossible, let alone for 2015. Especially with Alonso in contract to Ferrari, Ron Dennis taking over at the helm of McLaren and considering how bad the McLaren MP4-29 was, even compared to the Ferrari. But, as F1 has proved time and time again, the impossible has not only become possible, but a reality. It would be interesting to see how competitive the McLaren MP4-30 will be with a Honda V6 turbo fitted to it next year, and with one of the greatest drivers of the current generation at the wheel. Alonso desperately wants that elusive third title, which would put him equal with his childhood hero Ayrton Senna, and what better team to do it with than McLaren Honda, the very team Senna won his three titles, and spent most of his career, at.
2. Honda's Return to F1
While we're at the topic of McLaren Honda, let's talk about Honda's return to F1 after a six year absence. But unlike their last involvement in F1, they are now just a engine supplier to McLaren. Well, power unit supplier. There are many pros and cons of being one year behind the other engine developers. The pros being that they will be able to compare their engines to the Mercedes, the engine McLaren run now, aim for a minimum standard (Mercedes) and learn from the mistakes of the developers. The cons, however, are that it is not an easy and quick process to get your power unit to a good stage of reliability and performance. And they will also be a year behind on the gathering of data. So it will indeed be very interesting to see whether or not they can re-ignite the same kind of dominance we have been used to seeing from McLaren Hondas of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
3. Vettel Moving to Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari have had an abysmal year. By their usual standards, it has been absolutely awful. So in the space of one year, Ferrari have changed 180 degrees. The team of Montezemelo, Dominicalli, Smedley, Massa and most importantly, Alonso, has been changed completely for next year. So when Alonso is gone, who do Ferrari replace him with? Easy. Quadruple World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, with whom Ferrari have been flirting for the better part of five years. Ferrari's new management was happy to let Alonso go as long as they could secure Vettel's services. And they have. Vettel joined Ferrari, knowing full well that it was probably impeccable timing. One more year of getting beat consistently by Ricciardo, and he wouldn't be as attractive as he still is now. Ferrari themselves have admitted that it may be 2016 or 2017 before they could challenge for the championship again. But time is on Vettel's side, whereas fellow drivers Button, Alonso and Vettel's teammate next year, Raikkonen have only a handful, if any, years left, Vettel is only 27, and has that time. And if he fails? Well, he already has four world titles doesn't he. So will Vettel succeed where Alonso failed? Only time will tell.
4. Hamilton vs. Rosberg
Mercedes will still be the team to beat in 2015. By a country mile probably. And they will probably walk away with both titles again unless Honda can show that they have the engine to match and possibly beat the Silver Arrows. But unless that happens, we can look forward to another year of the Rosberg and Hamilton duel our eyes have been treated to this year. But will next year be as close as this year? Hamilton has been the more dominant and quicker driver in all bar a handful of races. If not for reliability issues, he probably would have won in Australia, Canada and Belgium. And would've beaten Rosberg in Silverstone and Singapore regardless. So going into 2015, Hamilton will be brimming with confidence. And if he wraps up the title in Abu Dhabi this weekend, it will be difficult to see anybody but him walking away with the driver's title in 2015. But if Rosberg has the race pace to beat Hamilton over a season, he still is yet to show it.
5. Daniil Kvyat Moving to the Red Bull Senior Team
When Alonso left Ferrari, it created a domino effect which toppled down even until Toro Rosso. So Red Bull decided to stick to their policy of promoting their young driver, like Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, and promoted rookie Daniil Kvyat to replace the departing Sebastian Vettel. Kvyat, who was preferred to teammate Jean-Eric Vergne, no doubt has the speed, but already being in a front-running team just in his second year in F1 might be quite risky. But don't forget that going through leaps and bounds is nothing new to the 21 year old Russian. He was racing in Formula 3, before making the huge jump to F1 this year. And he has also made less mistakes than fellow rookies Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson, and even several experienced drivers.
6. Daniel Ricciardo's Hunt for his First World Championship
In my eyes, and many others for that matter, Daniel Ricciardo is not only the biggest surprise of the year, but also the best driver of the year. Few expected the young Australian to be this quick, and almost no one expected him to best Vettel comprehensively. When Red Bull confirmed that he would be joining them last year just after the Belgian Grand Prix, many other, myself included, were disappointed at Red Bull for not opting for Raikkonen. So Raikkonen went to Ferrari instead. And for Red Bull, it was the best decision they could make. Although I suspect that Vettel wouldn't agree with that statement. While Ricciardo made a massive name for himself, outqualifying Vettel 11-7 and out-racing him more times than not, Raikkonen struggled in his Ferrari. And one can only assume that Ricciardo will be better next year, as will Red Bull, hopefully. If so, then Mercedes' smile might just falter at the sight of a grinning Australian.
7. Raikkonen's resurgence in form
Just like Ferrari, Raikkonen has had a disappointing year. With all the hype around the Raikkonen-Alonso battle going into the 2014 season, it has been possibly even more one-sided than when Alonso partnered Massa. Ferrari and Raikkonen have promised time and time again that Raikkonen's setup woes will be over soon. But coming to the end of the season, it hasn't looked that way at all until Brazil, where Raikkonen was closer to Alonso than at most races. But still, the stats say it all. In the races where both drivers have finished, Alonso has beaten Raikkonen 15-1. And it doesn't really get much better in Qualifying, with Alonso leading Raikkonen 16-2, one of them being in Bahrain where Alonso had ERS issues in Qualifying. And Raikkonen hasn't outqualified Alonso since Spain, the fifth round of the season. And all this isn't good news if Raikkonen wants to have a competitive 2015. Well, perhaps Alonso's departure from Ferrari might help him look better. But truth be told, Ferrari might very well give Vettel number 1 status at Ferrari. Let's see how this rivalry between these two friends shape up, especially if Raikkonen finds his feet again.
8. Max Verstappen Becoming the Youngest Ever F1 driver
From next year's field, Alonso, Raikkonen, Massa and Button will have all raced alongside not one, but two Verstappens. And the weirdest bit is, they're not even brothers. No, all four of these driver have raced alongside Jos Verstappen, as well as his son Max. At the tender age of 17, Verstappen's promotion to Toro Rosso comes as a huge surprise to everyone. After all, will he be able to succeed in close-quarter racing after just one year out of karts? This is a question which will no doubt be one of the major questions of the season.
9. Three car teams?
At this current point in time, there has been no confirmation as to whether or not F1 will feature three car teams next year. If Marussia and Caterham, and possibly Lotus, Sauber and Force India drop out in the near future, then three car teams are inevitable despite Haas' break into the F1 scene in 2016, along with possibly Forza Rossa. It now even seems probable that we might see three car teams as soon as 2015. But even though I, just like everyone else, would still like to have the backmarker teams in F1, the possibility of three Red Bulls, Mercedes, and Ferraris, still hold a pretty big attraction for me.
10. Bernie Ecclestone's Time is Up
I respect Bernie Ecclestone. Or, at least, I did. I personally believe that it is time for Bernie to move aside. His unwavering stance on social media has probably cost F1 millions of new fans. Just look at MotoGP. They have a YouTube channel, they embrace social media, and now they overtaking F1 in terms of popularity, especially in the Asian countries. Turn the clocks a few years, and it looked unlikely that F1 would be upturned anytime soon as the most viewed motosport. But Bernie Ecclestone has now put that under threat.
If any of you have any other suggestions or constructive critisim for me, then please write so in the comments! Cheers for my first ever Blog post on F1 Craze.
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