Finally, it seems that all of us will have fun and not only the lads at Brackley. Since they had done a superb job all these years and they deserve the triumphs, a little competition won’t hurt anybody. So, have Ferrari tackled their problems and leveled their game with Mercedes? We have reasons to think they did, at least so far. Last year they actually got close to the Silver Arrows at the beginning of the season, but they couldn’t keep that same pace developing the car through the year. The real thing for them is to improve in the development race and, if they actually have a car as fast as it seems right now, the chances of overtaking Mercedes would rise enormously. But that is easier to say…
The current pacesetters have found a real challenge, one that is exposing their weak spots (believe or not, they are human too…) and things will get somehow difficult when the wide margin to the next rival is reduced to the minimum . Going fast is not enough at the moment, everything counts and strategy calls results are measured in milliseconds and milliseconds mean positions gained or lost. One could argue that winning is more fun when the rivals’ level has risen, but you have to win first and then celebrate.
Red Bull are in the game too, and they tend to rise that game as the season goes on ,so the last races are going to be quite an entertainment (hope so). But first they will have to be straight with their drivers, they need to set the limits to their racing wheel to wheel and show equal love to both. Hesitance is costing Horner many valuable points and maybe even a driver for the coming year.
The middle of the pack is closer than ever, and the strongest teams seem to change from race to race. The current regulations needed some time to stabilize, time is the best equalizer in a sport with such a technical component and now we are reaching a point where technology is getting the point of maturity where differences are minimal and reliability is not a problem. And that applies to Honda who has found in Toro Rosso a better partner and working environment where they don’t have to take all the blame. They have proven that they can be reliable, even with some woes in the opening race, which turned into joy in the next one. Now they have to find some regularity and improve a compromised car that didn’t have enough time to be worked on due to the change of power unit manufacturer months ago.
The divorce between Honda and McLaren has revealed to be mutually beneficial to some extent since the team at Woking has got more points than last season, but the chassis has emerged as the worse of the three Renault powered. They have set some expectations on the new parts to be unveiled in Spain but they will have nowhere to hide if they can’t get any closer to Renault and Red bull. At least Fernando is again on the highest step of the podium and, even though the endurance series have shown some lack of competition in the first places, being competitive again should help the two-times World Champion to carry on and find a plus to fight for each position.
Haas has surprised everybody, because of their pace and because of their model. No wonder Toto Wolf is looking carefully at how the partnership between the Americans and Ferrari works to try something similar at Mercedes. Who would be the suitable candidate to work in close collaboration with them?
Meanwhile, Liberty keeps negotiating the changes that would shape the F1 in the future; we’ve got some agreements about simplifying aero regulations, this agreement turned out to be easier than the needed to reach a compromise on the power unit front. Less stakes at game maybe. In terms of management this season has resulted in some kind of transition time from the F1 built by Bernie to the new model that the new owners are proposing. Not everything in this world runs fast as it sounds… but let’s take a seat and watch the battles coming on track, that’s what this is all about in the end, isn’t it?