Carshowroom.com.au has heard the murmurs from our F1 mates for some months, it was confirmed in winter testing and now the Grand Prix luminaries are saying it: the Petronas Mercedes-Benz team is the firm favourite for both this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix and the 2014 title.
Given his position in the sport, Grand Prix boss Benie Ecclestone is allowed to change his mind. And so he has – the charismatic British billionaire, initially tipped German ‘Benz driver Nico Rosberg to be the 2014 F1 World Champion, but now he’s switched to fellow Brit and Mercedes’ driver Lewis Hamilton to take the title.
“(Lewis) Hamilton will win the first race and he will also be World Champion this year,” Ecclestone told Germany’s Sport Bild.
Even Christian Horner - boss of the four-time world champion Red Bull team - agrees. When asked his prediction for the 2014 World Champion, Horner said: “Lewis (Hamilton) and Nico (Rosberg) – who else is there?”
Clearly the Red Bull team has its work cut out this year with its 2014 car and drivers Sebastian Vettel and Australian Daniel Riccardo (Mark Webber’s replacement) outpaced in testing so far.
“It seems the Mercedes-powered teams are in good shape and we are, er, not,” Horner said.
After four years of dominating the sport, Red Bull admits in hindsight it should have concentrated on the all-new 2014 car, engine and technical regulations earlier.
“Looking back, it would have been smarter to concentrate full power on the new car earlier on,” Horner said. “(But) in August, no one could have guessed that we would be so far ahead by the end of the (2013) season.”
Incredible as it seems, just months after Red Bull wrapped-up the 2013 F1 championship, Horner reckons Mercedes-Benz holds a massive advantage going into this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
“They invested more, they invested earlier. They have got themselves into a good position,” Horner revealed. “If they were to finish two laps ahead of the opposition in Melbourne, that wouldn’t be a surprise, based on what we’ve seen in pre-season testing.”
But, as usual, the unknown heading into the new F1 season is the Italian colossus Ferrari. Fernando Alonso and new 2014 signing Kimi Raikkonen haven’t matched the pace of Mercedes-Benz in testing – but have they shown their hand completely?
Maybe not, according to former F1 driver Mika Salo, who was recently in Australia to race a Ferrari at the Bathurst 12-Hour.
Salo told Nova radio in his native Finland the Ferrari team may have been disguising its true pace in testing.
“Ferrari has been pretty much hidden,” Salo claimed. “When you look at their sector times for the tests, some are very good but some are ridiculously bad. They are covering up their pace and no one really knows where they are.”
But perhaps the bigger picture for this weekend’s first race for the all-new turbocharged engines is the possibility of electrical problems sidelining the entire field before the chequered flag is waved.
Previously every F1 car used a control engine management electronics system which was sourced from McLaren, but in the new 2014 turbocharged engines, Italian giant Magneti Marelli is the supplier – but not a total package as the teams are using their own turbochargers and energy recovery systems.
Magneti Marelli boss Roberto Dalla reckons the massive increase in the complexity of the 2014 F1 engines and recovery systems has not been matched by an appropriate increase in the amount of pre-season testing and every team has experienced problems.
“To find the right solutions will take another two to three months,” Dalla said. “Doing it during three winter sessions with only 12 days in total was a real mission impossible.”
“In Melbourne, it could happen that all the cars do not see the finish line, because every team experienced serious problems in testing,” he added.
Ah, what would the start of a new F1 season be without a serious dose of intrigue and unknowns.
Oh, and by the way, the weather forecast for Melbourne on Sunday is for rain…brilliant!
