Motorsport Week concludes its team-by-team mid-season Formula 1 review series with Mercedes, can the reigning champions keep their crown, or will the tougher competition they face from Ferrari and Red Bull prove too much?
Mercedes set the benchmark in Formula 1 in dominant fashion for the first three years of the hybrid era and remained ahead last year amid renewed pressure from Ferrari. But through little fault of its own it now faces the prospect of trying to win the title with a potentially inferior car – a testament to its initial prowess, Ferrari’s gains, and the gradual convergence of chassis and engine between the title contenders. Mercedes remains a force to be reckoned with on aerodynamically-dependent circuits such as Barcelona and Paul Ricard, though now has to extract the maximum from every inch of its machinery and drivers to combat the threat posed by Ferrari. It has largely done so, but strategic blunders in Australia and China proved costly, and would have done so in Austria but for the mechanical failures that halted its charge. Another reliability setback could have been more keenly felt in Germany had a Hollywood-script-esque race not unfolded to save Mercedes’ and Lewis Hamilton’s bacon. Mercedes remains the stand out team. But it perhaps no longer possesses the stand out car.
Lewis Hamilton is still the man to beat, his position atop the standings a combination of supreme talent, fortune and the chinks in the armour of his title rival. Hamilton has not had the perfect season by his own lofty standards, with a few off-colour displays such as China, Azerbaijan and Canada, but when he is on top of his game he is unbeatable. His pole position lap in Australia was spellbinding, Grands Prix such as Spain and France effortlessly controlled, his recovery to second on home turf impressive, and his back-to-back wins in Germany and Hungary as unexpected as they were spectacular. As for weaknesses? He can occasionally become trapped in a negative spiral when he feels unsportsmanlike behaviour has benefited others, though few of his rivals – unlike Nico Rosberg – have attempted to tap into this. That he has so few chinks in his armour, and has had the rub of the green at crucial stages this year, makes him an incredibly difficult opponent to dethrone.
Valtteri Bottas had a 2017 campaign that could be described as encouraging but disjointed. This year, Australia crash and Hungary calamity aside, he has been much improved and vastly more consistent. But he holds only fourth in the standings, his title hopes surely over, with no wins and just one pole. How has that happened? There are a multitude of reasons. In Bahrain he was criticised for his passive last-lap stance but such an approach was understandable after a miserable Australian weekend, and he could easily have taken successive wins in China and Azerbaijan but for the hand of fate. Bottas’ in-and-out laps in China were mesmerising as he jumped Vettel – the subsequent Safety Car wrecked his chance, leaving him helpless to defend versus Daniel Ricciardo. And as for Azerbaijan, it was Bottas’ misfortune to strike a minor piece of debris while travelling at 200mph, and for that to perfectly cut the tyre. Just after he’d gone past the pits. Just three laps from home. The image of Bottas slumped prostrate against his W09 was heart-breaking. In Germany he could have been victorious but for Mercedes’ confused strategy calls under the Safety Car and Hamilton’s subsequent super defensive work and the team orders. There have, of course, been faults – Bottas can not realistically reach the highs that Hamilton can attain, but his team work is well-received by Mercedes, and a deficit of 81 points is not reflective of his season. That he has finished runner-up five times is evidence.
