Team Ratings: 2014

I thought as we are well into the off season It’d be time to give some ratings for team’s performances of 2014.

1st, Mercedes AMG F1 – 704pts, 10/10Well, what can more be said about the W05, between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg they took 16/19 wins for the season and it could of been all 19 had it not been for reliability/weather issues, this a new record beating McLaren’s 15 wins in 1988 with the all conquering MP4/4. Mercedes came into this new hybrid era with a innovative designed turbo system separating the turbine and compressor via a shaft through the bottom of the block of the engine, this in turn created so many benefits which led to the dominance of the team, with little regulation change heading into 2015, Mercedes must surely favourites again.

2nd. Red Bull Racing, 405pts, 9/10
Coming into the first race in Australia, it appeared Red Bull were in crisis mode, the car could barely turn 3 or 4 laps in succession without overheating in pre season testing, also with the Renault power unit there was a considerable horsepower shortage, nearly 80hp if some reports are to be believed, there were fears the car wouldn’t make the race distance, but Ricciardo proved they could, going from strength to strength the team took 3 victories from Mercedes failures with Daniel, taking 2nd is a huge achievement after pre-seasons tribulations, with Adrian Newey taking new projects, next season’s RB11 will be Newey’s swansong, we wait to see how it works out.

3rd, Williams F1 Racing – 320pts, 9/10
Given Williams performances in 2013 which was there worst season with only 4pts, we were thinking it could only get better for the team from Grove, they surely delivered and then some, with the Mercedes power unit, it was a genius stroke to switch suppliers, the chassis wasn’t the most complete in terms of balance but both drivers eventually made the most of it, their highlight of the season was a front row lock out in Austria, the layout supporting their slippery car in a straight line, albeit the team didn’t win in 2014, they proved to take a gigantic step forward and took their best season since 2004 and having beaten Ferrari in the constructors since 1997. Being the 2nd best team on pace at the end of the season I’m sure they’re hoping to try and take the fight to Mercedes in 2015.

4th. Scuderia Ferrari – 216pts, 6/10
This season really opened up Ferrari’s insecurities and fragilities, in pre-season testing Ferrari didn’t look in bad shape, but as the season unraveled it proved too much for the Scuderia to be so far down the field again, Stefano Domenicalli paid the price with his job early on in the year, Marco Mattiaci came into the helm, but this did not change on track performances, he instead upset Fernando Alonso and eventually forced him out to McLaren, Montezemelo also left his post as President of the Ferrari brand, 2014 is a season of huge change for the Maranello outift, 2015 must be an improvement, no questions asked.

5th. McLaren – 181pts, 6/10After suffering a poor season in 2013 not making the podium at all, 2014 should have been a better season for the woking team. It was, but only marginally, scoring the podium is Australia, it really didn’t get any better than that for the team, with the switch to the Honda power unit in 2015, it appeared Mercedes slowly shut out McLaren in their 20th and last season together to prevent secrets spilling over. The chassis wasn’t the best either, With Alonso and Button signed for 2015, McLaren-Honda are hoping for a fast, developing year but want to to hit the ground running, with the most experienced line-up on the grid with over 500GPs between them, it could work well for them.

6. Force India, 155pts – 6/10

Resigning Nico Hulkenberg and hiring Sergio Perez seemed like the best line-up possible for the Silverstone squad. But it was a season of two halves for the team who showed a lot of promise at the start by being very close to Williams at the start of the season with taking a podium in Bahrain, but from the British GP onwards it felt like Force India were standing still in the development race and lacked pace to keep up with their rivals. With keeping their driver line-up for 2015, continuity may benefit them.

7th. Scuderia Toro Rosso, 30pts, 5/10

A switch to Renault power units proved not the best of moves for the team and a very prominent looking nosecone didn’t help the looks either, a few flashes of promise came from the car, but it never really materialised, 19yr old Danil Kvyat proved his critics wrong by proving that he wasn’t too young to show his talents and earnt a move straight to the senior squad after one season while Jean-Eric Vergne didn’t get to keep his seat despite a late season charge, with a new all rookie line up including 17yr old Max Verstappen, it’ll a very interesting year for 2015.

8th. Lotus F1 – 10pts, 3/10After a fast and steady 2013 and rumours of a huge incoming investment, 2014 was supposed to be the year Lotus took the fight to the front of the field, but after the financial support never arrived and the teams poor finances were made not for great reading, they signed Pastor Maldonado to partner Romain Grosjean 2014, but with a poorly designed chassis and a very lacklustre Renault power unit behind them, it often seemed impossible to drive, with a switch to Mercedes engines in 2015, their fortunes can only get better from here.

9th. Marrusia F1 – 2pts, 5/10Marrusia came into 2014 looking to finally get on pace with the rest of the pack, they still didn’t get as close as they’d of liked, but a topsy turvy Monaco GP and a very punchy Jules Bianchi finally gave them their first ever points finish, This was such a great boost for the team, but in the Japanese GP good fortune turned into the sadness of Jules’ crash in the rain at Suzuka, the investigations into the accident speak for themselves and it’s a sad time for the team and the Bianchi family, in Sochi we saw them run only Max Chilton’s car as a mark of respect, but since then the team have gone into administration, we really hope this isn’t the last of the team as they’ve done so well in 2014, we await news on their fate.

10th. Sauber F1 – 0pts, 2/10

After a dissapointing 2013 season, it only got worse for 2014, finances putting them close to leaving the sport, an underpowered Ferrari power unit and poor chassis really made life difficult for the swiss outfit, Guttierez and Sutil never made impressions either, no big investments have come into the team despite many rumoured interests, signing Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson for 2015, both with financial backing shows that the team are needing investments, time is ticking for Sauber.

11th. Caterham F1 – 0pts, 2/10

Caterham have never really improved from where they were last year, they brought drastic changes to the front of the car that never proved to have worked, Kobayashi outperformed Ericsson on many occasions, but it was irrelevant after the realisations of the financial status of the team, Tony Fernandes sold the team to a hedge fund, but disputes over who owned what parts of the team raged on, eventually they went into administration, but came back to race in the Abu Dhabi finale, Will Stevens did well on his debut with Kobayashi, but we still await to hear news of their fate for 2015. Rumours of buyers keeping appearing but so far no news.

@SteveF1C