With a total of 20 races in the year, Formula 1 seems to almost begin one season before it has finished another. Such is how I feel this year as I find myself still looking back, at what was one of the closest competitions between two dominant drivers for a long time, only to find myself staring down the barrel of the 2015 season without much recollection of there being any sort of break in between.
As is such the only thing left to do is to take note of the testing session just been at both the Circuito Permanente de Jerez and Circuit de Catalunya which shows a clear difference from last years testing. A clear example of a formula that has had a season to mature and develop its new technologies with the only team to suffer from inconsistent performance was Mclaren-Honda as the team works hard to pair what they learnt from last years disastrous season to a new engine form a manufacturer who has not been in the sport for some time.
Mercedes may have dominated the season last year but the big question as we ramp up to Melbourne is, who has caught up and have they been able to improve, yet again, on their winning formula to stay that crucial one step ahead of their rivals? Only time will truly tell but with closest rivals Williams and Ferrari’s performance over the testing sessions, they will certainly be spending more time looking in their mirrors than they ever did in 2014.
Drivers
Though the driver line up in the top tier has largely remained the same, other than the big move of Sebastian Vettel to Ferrari and Fernando Alonso returning to McLaren, leaving a sort after seat in Red Bull to the young Russian star Daniil Kvyat. The lower half of the grid has had quite the sake up. Gone are a few fan favourites like Jean-Eric Vergne, Jules Bianchi and Kamui Kobayashi leaving least to a new batch of up an coming young drivers full of promise. This wasn’t helped by the demise of Caterham at the end of last year that resulted in their not even completing the full calendar.
The only real disappointment to the new drivers grid for me is the lack of Susie Wolff, though she continues her roll as lead test driver for Williams F1. I would really like to see her get a drive under full race conditions.
| Driver | Team | Points |
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team |
0 |
| Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team |
0 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing |
0 |
| Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull Racing |
0 |
| Sebastian Vettel | Scuderia Ferrari |
0 |
| Kimi Räikkönen | Scuderia Ferrari |
0 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Williams F1 Team |
0 |
| Felipe Massa | Williams F1 Team |
0 |
| Fernando Alonso | Vodafone McLaren Honda |
0 |
| Jenson Button | Vodafone McLaren Honda |
0 |
| Nico Hülkenberg | Sahara Force India F1 Team |
0 |
| Sergio Pérez | Sahara Force India F1 Team |
0 |
| Carlos Sainz Jr. | Scuderia Toro Rosso |
0 |
| Max Verstappen | Scuderia Toro Rosso |
0 |
| Pastor Maldonado | Lotus F1 Team |
0 |
| Romain Grosjean | Lotus F1 Team |
0 |
| Will Stevens | Manor Marussia F1 Team |
0 |
| Roberto Merhi | Manor Marussia F1 Team |
0 |
| Marcus Ericsson | Sauber F1 Team |
0 |
| Felipe Nasr | Sauber F1 Team |
0 |
Calendar
This year remains much like last, with the only notable addition being the return of Mexico to the calendar after a 23 year absence. This year I found my usual calendars to be out of date so have turned to f1fanatic‘s superbly moderated calendar. As it is hosted by Google Calendars you can be assured it will work on whatever your preferred device is for keeping up to date with Formula 1 but they also have links to the usual formats if you prefer to add the information to your calendar directly. You can find both the calendar and links here.
In conclusion the 2015 Formula 1 season is shaping up to be an even more exciting fight than last years battle. I would usually sign off with a cry of “I can’t wait,” but this year we truly don’t have to. It’s now. Drivers start your engines.
