Finally, a two-team race
F1 is a team sport in the sense that the best way to improve the machinery is for the drivers to work together, compare notes and discuss feedback. But, equally, the first person a driver wants to beat is the guy on the other side of the garage.
For the last three years, the title fight was confined to the Mercedes drivers. As intriguing as the sub-plot was, some of the greatest duels in the sport have been between drivers from competing teams.
For the first time in the hybrid era, Mercedes has a fight on its hands, with Ferrari raising its game. The performance seesaws every race, with the Mercs stronger in qualifying and the Ferraris faster on race day.
The tyres misbehave
This year saw the introduction of wider tyres to increase grip and produce faster lap times. But getting the new Pirellis to work consistently is causing teams a bit of a headache.
It is here that Ferrari has found a crucial edge over its rivals. The set-up of its car allows it a greater range, a wider operating window, to work with the different tyre-compounds. Mercedes’ set-up, on the other hand, has a narrower range: it is struggling to build the ideal temperature into its tyres, and this has compromised performance.
Hamilton, especially, has struggled, and was way off the pace in Russia and Monaco. Going forward, the championship battle will be decided as much by tyre issues as the development war.
No. 5 pursues No. 5
Towards the end of last year, there were visible signs of frustration, uncharacteristic mistakes and rants on the radio from Sebastian Vettel, as he and Ferrari endured a winless campaign.
But with Ferrari having stolen a march over the competition this year, the German seems to have flicked a switch and is looking as ominous as he did during his Red Bull days as he searches for a fifth title.
In six races so far, Vettel’s worst result has been three second places, which has left him 25 points clear of Lewis Hamilton. The German has often been criticised for only winning in dominant cars, but the view does injustice to the work he puts in behind the scenes. When Pirelli came to the sport in 2011, Vettel was in the car immediately after winning the 2010 world title, testing the new rubber. He even visited the tyre company’s factory.
In a way history is repeating itself: Vettel did a lot more testing last year (reportedly, 2228km) compared to Hamilton (50km), who was happy to let test driver Pascal Wehrlein shoulder the work.
While Ferrari denies it helped Vettel take his third win of the season in Monaco, where Kimi Raikkonen was sent into traffic after a pit-stop, the German’s 62-point lead over his teammate means the No. 5 scarlet car is the only prancing horse in the title race.
Wheel-to-wheel racing still a dream
The rationale for the new rules was speeding up the cars and making the drivers work harder. While the new cars are quicker than their predecessors, as expected, they are struggling to follow the lead-car closely without losing performance. There have therefore been very few memorable overtaking manoeuvres so far, and it is not something that is going to change. The sport can count its blessings that the resurgence of Ferrari has ensured a close contest, keeping the races engrossing despite the lack of on-track action.
