The 2014 Formula 1 Season in Review
A mind-numbingly boring experience
Formula 1 will be officially back in 9 weeks time, so I am going to attempt to watch every race from every season up to 2023, and review the seasons on a whole. Then I plan on doing weekly race reviews in 2025.
First one is 2014. The new regulation changes, which saw the silky and juicy V8 engines replaced by a Turbocharged V6 engine. Boring. We saw the debut of the Russian GP and the return of the Red Bull Ring.
Sebastian Vettel had just come off back to back to back to back world championships, but would a new team dominate? The answer is very simple.
What did the grid look like?
Ferrari- Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen (T)
Red Bull- Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo (T)
Mercedes- Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg
Lotus- Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado (T)
McLaren- Kevin Magnussen (R) and Jenson Button
Force India- Sergio Perez (T) and Nico Hulkenberg (T)
Sauber- Esteban Guttierez and Adrian Sutil (T)
Toro Rosso- Jean-Eric Vergne and Danil Kvyat (R)
Williams- Felipe Massa (T) and Valtteri Bottas (R)
Marussia- Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton
Caterham- Kamui Kobayashi (T) and Marcus Ericcson (R)
(R) is a rookie and (T) is a tranfer.
Australia
The start of formula 1 was here, and qualifying produced an all mighty shock, with World Champion Sebastian Vettel getting knocked out in Q2, whilst Raikkonen shunted into the barriers.
Hamilton pipped Ricciardo by 3 tenths to take pole, with Rosberg in p3.
At the start of the race, Rosberg jumped up to p1, with Hamilton dropping all the way down to P3.
Kobayashi and Felipe Massa had a massive shunt into turn 1 bringing out the safety car. With Hamilton and Vettel both retiring with mechanical failures.
Nico Rosberg opened 2014 with a dominant race win, with Ricciardo provisionally 2nd as that was stripped away, and Kevin Magnussen got a fantastic debut podium.
Meh race 6/10
Malaysia
Hamilton once again taking pole position, by only half a tenth to Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, whilst Rosberg once again lines up third.
During the race there was an intra-team battle between the two Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Vettel.
Whilst going for the undercut, Ricciardo’s pit crew didn’t correctly attach the wheel, meaning he was wheeled back into the pit box.
Ultimately, he was forced to retire later on with a puncture.
Hamilton wins, Rosberg second and Vettel 3rd.
Boring race again, 4/10
Bahrain
The first time Bahrain was held at night, providing a different challenge on one of the hottest tracks.
Due to penalties, Vettel would like up 10th and Ricciardo 13th. Mercedes lined up 1 and 2 with Rosberg taking the pole.
This would lead to a fantastic duel throughout the whole race, going side by side through the esses and scrapping for the win.
This race also gave us an infamous Maldonado shunt, as he flipped over Gutierrez.
Lewis ends up winning by only a second to Rosberg, whilst Sergio Perez managed P3!
Enthralling battles, 8/10
China
A very Maldonadoesque crash on the pitlane entry halted qualifying for a moment.
Hamilton took the pole position with Ricciardo second and Vettel third.
Rosberg started 4th, but took third very easily off Vettel.
Another battle between the bulls where Vettel was told to let Daniel pass, where Vettel replied “Tough luck”
He overtook Vettel anyway.
A very strange moment where the chequered flag was shown too early, or too late, I am not sure. Hamilton won with Rosberg second, and Alonso putting his Ferrari tractor in third.
Spain
During qualifying Sebastian Vettel lost gears in Q3. He had to then start 15th with a penalty. Grosjean managed an impressive 5th, with Hamilton leading the Mercedes front row.
Bottas qualified 4th and managed to be third for a while, with impressive defence, however Ricciardo dispatched of him.
Raikkonen and Alonso would battle, with one following the other through many overtakes in this race.
Vettel managed to get up to 4th by the end of the race, as Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag. 5 wins in a row.
Monaco
Rosberg locked up at Mirabeau which prevented Lewis to have his second flying lap, leaving Rosberg on pole. There was a track discussion on whether that was intentional, like Schumacher at Rascasse.
Maldonado couldn’t pull away at the formation lap. During the first lap, Button shunted into Perez causing a little pile up down at the hairpin.
Whilst Vettel lost power during sector 1 and had to retire.
There was a massive crash for Adrian Sutil and Guttierez. 8 DNFs in this race
Lewis Hamilton had something in his eye for 60 laps, meaning he had to go one-eyed for most of the race. Anywhere but Monaco.
Rosberg pulled away whilst Ricciardo tried to catch him.
Kimi Raikkonen went for a move late on, on K-Mag, but ultimately failed at ruined his race at Casino.
Rosberg won, Hamilton maintained second place, Ricciardo in third.
Jules Bianchi got a fantastic P9.
Canada
Once again another Mercedes one-two, with Nico ahead of Lewis, securing another pole for him. Whilst Vettel finally outqualifies Ricciardo again.
During this weekend Williams were very quick, with Massa and Bottas at one point fighting for a podium.
Rosberg had a power scare, he was starting to lose power, however was able to get the car back up to speed. Unlike his teammate who had more bad luck, retiring from the race.
Bianchi after the fantastic weekend in Monaco, however, he shunted into the wall ending his race early.
Whilst Vettel was able to make easy work of Perez in the final lap, it didn’t really go to plan for Massa.
Here’s the clip:
The race ended under the Safety Car with Daniel Ricciardo taking another win of the season.
Rosberg now led the championship by 22 points.
Austria
The Red Bull Ring returned for the first time since 2003, an incredible shock pole took place as Lewis Hamilton span on his final flying lap in Q3.
Felipe Massa took pole position ahead of Nico Rosberg with Bottas is third.
Hamilton starting ninth was able to gain 5 positions, up to 4th by the end of the first lap.
Vettel lost power but was able to bring the car back….. until he retired.
Unfortunately, Massa wasn’t able to convert his pole to a win, so Rosberg won the race, and Hamilton came 2nd. Bottas beat Massa for third.
Britain
Lewis once again with a poor qualifying, only managing P6 in a mixed conditioned qualifying. Button made a fantastic qualifying to third.
Raikkonen who started 18th, was fighting through the opening few corners. However, running wide at Aintree, he struggled to control his Ferrari which sent him into the barrier, running back into the track and taking Felipe Massa with him. Poor season overall from the Finn.
Hamilton was able to overtake Nico Rosberg.
Overtaking did the trick for Lewis, but for an extra bonus, Rosberg gets the bad luck this time, retiring from the race.
A fantastic battle between Alonso and Vettel, going side by side through most of sector 2, until copse.
Hamilton finally got back to winning ways, gaining 25 points on Rosberg, with Bottas even getting back to back podiums, with Ricciardo getting a podium.
Germany
Goddddd bring back Hockenheim. Such a good track.
anyway
There was some drama going on before this race, where the FRIC suspension systems were banned, it was a clever, completely mechanical suspension innovation that is banned on aerodynamic grounds in an attempt to shake up the pecking order. But did it?
Rosberg pole, Hamilton crashed in qualifying. How on earth did he actually win this title?
Magnussen and Massa had a very scary crash,
The lotus once again blown up whilst in a points paying position, speaking about Kvyat, he kind of did blow up as a fire erupted.
Rosberg dominated the race. Keeping every lap, dominance at his home race.
Lewis Hamilton took third, with Bottas yet another podium to finish runners up.
Rosberg led the championship by 14 points.
Hungary
Hamilton had no luck again, blowing up in qualifying, starting 19th. Rosberg got pole in a rain soaked qualifying.
After starting last, Lewis made up positions, however, he span out, which lost all of his progress.
Sergio Perez shunted on the main straight, leaving a safety car to come out.
Hamilton had a mega restart, where eventually he was ahead of Nico Rosberg on older tyres. He told the team that he will not let Nico through, and he was unable to pass him.
Ricciardo took the lead on the outside of turn 2 to win the race in fantastic fashion. Another race win for Danny Ric.
Belgium
Current 4-time world champion Max Verstappen was announced to be driving for Toro Rosso for 2015, replacing Jean Eric-Vergne.
Rosberg on pole once again, could he convert it this time? He had Hamilton right on his tail in p2.
The lights went out and Hamilton overtook Rosberg into turn 1, who dropped down to 3rd, behind Vettel.
Vettel trying to overtake Lewis, however he cut the corner.
Rosberg and Hamilton came together, with Hamilton trundling down to the pits.
Hamilton ended up retiring. Whilst Rosberg had a bit of debris stuck on his antenna, and he struggled to keep up with Daniel Ricciardo.
Daniel Ricciardo ended up winning back to back races, whilst Rosberg came second.
Another 18 point swing, leaving it 29 points between the two.
Monza
The top 3 rows were covered by Mercedes-Powered cars. With Hamilton taking pole position, Rosberg second.
However, Lewis had the wrong engine mode at the start, where he went from pole to 4th.
Rosberg led, whist Bottas moved up to 3rd by the end of lap 24.
Rosberg was feeling the pressure, locking up at turn 1, which allowed Hamilton to drive past him and overtake him.
Hamilton took a much needed win in this race, where he topped a Mercedes one-two, with Felipe Massa taking the third spot.
Rosberg led by 22 points.
Singapore
This was a mental qualifying. Hamilton edged, and I mean edged Rosberg by 0.007 to take pole position.
We didn’t get going swiftly on Sunday, as Rosberg was unable to pull away from his grid spot for the formation lap. Unfortunately, Rosberg wouldn’t be able to race.
He tried to race, they attempted to change steering wheel to fix the problem. Turns out that wasn’t the problem.
Hamilton took a dominant win, even with a very late stop, he took the win beating a double Red Bull podium.
After all the bad luck, he led the championship.
Russia*
Bottas looked mighty fast, arguably the favourite for pole, but he bottled it.
Hamilton took pole position, with Rosberg getting p2, whilst rookie Kvyat took a fantastic p5.
Rosberg and Hamilton fought in the opening lap, with Rosberg locking up which ruined his race.
This was also the weekend that Vettel announced he was leaving Red Bull for Ferrari for 2015. He only managed p8.
Hamilton took another win, which cemented their constructors championship, with only 3 races to go.
Texas
Vettel would start from the pitlane this weekend, with Rosberg taking the pole position ahead of Hamilton.
Lap 1 was meant for a Daniel Ricciardo divebomb, and he did it, whilst Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag by only 4 seconds to Rosberg.
Ricciardo got p3 with Vettel going up from 7th.
Not much to say about that race (forget to make notes, how unprofessional!)
Brazil
Rosberg once again took pole position, and also the pole position award for the scoring the most pole positions with 11 pole positions. Is that too wordy?
Bottas was getting loose in his racecar, as his seatbelt came undone. Hamilton tried to stay out on his tyres, however, constant locking up and a spin at Descida do lago.
He didn’t have a bad race though, as he only finished 1 second behind Rosberg, as they were 40 seconds ahead of Felipe Massa, who finished third.
Only 17 points separated the two for Abu Dhabi.
But who would take the title?
Abu Dhabi
17 points separated the two drivers.
So F1 decide to make it a gimmick race. Double points on offer, with 50 points being rewarded for the winner. With that being said, Rosberg takes his 11th pole position of the season, but Lewis Hamilton took p2, which would not be enough to win the title.
However, Lewis Hamilton quickly took the lead of the race with Rosberg suffering with mechanical problems.
He decided to stay out and bow out of the season in the right way.
Rosberg ended up 1 lap down by the end of the race. Hamilton dominated the rest of the affair as Rosberg tumbled all the way down the order.
Hamilton took the 50 points, with a double Williams podium
Hamilton was the first Mercedes champion since Fangio.
*Japan not included out of respect.
Jules Bianchi suffered a serious collision in the wet at the Japanese Grand Prix , after colliding with a crane.
He ended up passing away 9 months later.
Rest in Peace, Jules Bianchi.