Ten races down, nine to go. At this stage in 2014, Nico Rosberg led Lewis Hamilton by eleven points and Daniel Ricciardo was 71 behind just after adding a second win to his name.
One year on, Lewis leads Nico by 21 points with Sebastian Vettel only another 21 behind Rosberg again with two wins to his name.
Will the 2015 F1 Title Showdown go Two or Three Ways?
The 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix surprised everyone with a unique set of circumstances with both Ferrari’s jumping both Mercedes at the start, the more bizarre part was that the Ferrari’s managed to streak away from Nico Rosberg in the superior Mercedes.
Was Hungary a unique event in which Ferrari utilised the Hungaroring’s tight layout to keep ahead of the Mercedes? Or are we about to witness a Ferrari fightback?
Lewis Hamilton despite his critics is in the form of his life, winning five of the ten races so far, a sixth race win should have been in Monaco but as we know a team error cost him, he has beaten Nico 9-1 in Qualifying, one more pole position will gift him the newly formed Pole Position Trophy. It’s hard to see past Lewis for a third world title, but Lewis is often unpredictable with his busy social life and musical adventures, but often this rarely affects his on track form.
It’s painfully clear that Nico Rosberg is a different man from this time last year. In 2014 he looked very hungry for the title, chasing Lewis every step of the way and not letting him go. Looking at his 2015 form, he hasn’t quite performed on the same level and the points standings reflect this. Nico has won three races to Lewis’ five with the Monaco result a blip in the form-book. Nico is a top driver, this can’t be disputed, but his form is very erratic and looks to be costing him a true shot at the world championship once more.
In 2012, Sebastian Vettel was once more 42 points behind the championship leader heading into the summer break, then it was Fernando Alonso in a slower paced Ferrari while Sebastian had the superior pace Red Bull RB8 to utilise to it’s full potential. As we know Sebastian hunted down Fernando in the latter stages of the 2012 season with four straight wins and a consistant form while Fernando suffered more bad luck in Spa and Suzuka that cost him two DNFs and with that Sebastian snatched his third world title from the clutches of Fernando Alonso at the final race in Brazil.
Once again three years on, Sebastian faces the same challenge, 42 points behind in the championship but now this time the roles are reversed, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have the superior Mercedes W06 versus the slightly slower Ferrari SFT-15. Both Ferrari and Mercedes won’t be resting over the summer trying to pursue their dreams of more success.
With nine races still to go. Is it entirely possible Sebastian Vettel can hunt down the Mercedes in the coming races and sneak the title right from under their nose?
As Murray Walker once said “Anything can happen in Formula One and it usually does”.
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