Ahead of the start to the 2015 Formula One season on Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix, Gary Meenaghan details the storylines he expects to dominate the year.
Can Rosberg stop Hamilton’s quest to emulate his hero?
When it comes to this season's drivers' championship, pre-season testing dictates it is hard to see past Mercedes-GP. When it comes to Mercedes it is hard to see past reigning champion Lewis Hamilton (whose drive is pictured right).
The 30-year-old Briton has two world titles and is about to embark on a quest to emulate his hero, Ayrton Senna, by claiming a third. Back-to-back championships are no mean feat, though, and Hamilton has a teammate, in Nico Rosberg, with the ability and, crucially now, the experience to beat him over the course of a season.
Rosberg qualified ahead of Hamilton 12 times in 19 races en route to winning the sport’s inaugural qualifying trophy with 11 pole positions.
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– Gary Meenaghan on Lewis Hamilton’s challenge to repeat as F1 world champion
His conversion rate was poor, though, as he won only five races to Hamilton’s 11. The German finished second 10 times and it was his consistency that ensured he was still in the title hunt in Abu Dhabi (and only a Hamilton puncture away from a first title).
This year, Rosberg must be more clinical and less prone to wild errors under pressure. If he can do that, he can prevent Hamilton’s hat-trick. He is arguably the only man who can.
How bad are the pair of Honda-powered McLarens?
This was not where Ron Dennis had hoped his McLaren team would be when he unveiled the marque's new MP4-30. Powered by the returning Honda, the Woking-based outfit knew they would be playing catch-up, but nobody – least of all the ever-competitive Dennis – will have expected such problems.
McLaren endured an issue-ridden pre-season, but even when the car was moving it was clearly off the pace, and by some distance.
Add to that those inside the team stating the development is 50 per cent from where it was supposed to be and Fernando Alonso being ruled out of the opening race by medics following his testing accident, and things do not look rosy for their rosy-cheeked racing director, Eric Boullier.
How quickly McLaren can turn it around will be key, but with the first four races of the year – 20 per cent of the season – already publicly written off, it could be a long season for Dennis and Honda in their first year back in F1.
Is Daniel Ricciardo a No 1 driver?
Replacing Mark Webber last season, Red Bull Racing's younger (and more upbeat) Australian surprised the paddock when he comprehensively out-raced teammate and four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel 14-5.
Such was the level of performance by Ricciardo, 25, that Red Bull have entrusted him to fill Vettel’s vacant seat as No 1 driver with 20-year-old Russian Daniil Kvyat as No 2.
Ricciardo will need to prove himself all over again as he will be expected to guide the team’s in-season development and will be racing with heightened expectations and a hungrier, more motivated teammate.
Can Vettel bring race wins back to Ferrari?
It still seems odd to see Sebastian Vettel, the famously fore-fingered German, wearing the illustrious red of Ferrari rather than the Red Bull navy in which he won his four drivers’ titles.
Yet it was his dream to race for the Scuderia and that is why he took a massive risk to switch to the Italian marque.
That risk has shown early signs of paying off with Ferrari displaying a competitiveness in testing that was missing throughout 2014, when the car was designed to favour Fernando Alonso and left new recruit Kimi Raikkonen looking like an afterthought, which was epitomised by the Spaniard out-qualifying the 2007 champion 16-3.
This year’s SF15-T has a strong front end, which favours Raikkonen, and while Vettel is close friends with the Finn, the development of that relationship will prove fascinating – especially if things do not go Vettel’s way.
The 27-year-old German did not always react well to adversity and misfortune in 2014 and will expect preferential treatment given his titles and the risk he has taken in making the move.
Will Manor F1 last the season?
Rising from the ashes of financially hit Marussia, John Booth’s Manor F1 will contest the 2015 season courtesy of an 11th hour investment from energy magnate Stephen Fitzpatrick. Drivers Will Stevens, an Englishman who raced one grand prix for Caterham last year, and rookie Roberto Merhi of Spain will initially race behind the wheel of Marussia’s two 2014 cars.
The MR03 has been adapted to meet 2015 regulations, but a new car is in the process of being created and will be launched during the year. Given the car and the team’s unlikely fight even to make it to Melbourne, anything other than the last two places on the grid in each race would be an achievement this season. Whether they last the entire year will be a constant question.
Can Lotus recover from last year’s nightmare?
Engine regulations have remained largely unchanged from last year’s much-debated switch to 1.6-litre turbocharged hybrids, but one element that will certainly be key to the competitiveness of the new season is the loophole that allows the likes of Ferrari and Renault to develop their powertrains throughout the season.
Mercedes, unsurprisingly, are unimpressed but it should in theory allow for a slightly more congested fight for the world championship.
Lotus, after a season to forget last year, are powered by Mercedes this year and are seeking a rebirth courtesy of their new engine supplier.
The sleek-looking E23 is eye-catching and also appeared to be quick in pre-season with Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado already showing happier countenances than they did for the entire 2014 season.
How quick the Lotus is and how high up the field it will fight should prove one of the most fascinating aspects of a team that scored just 10 points last year but claimed 12 podiums the season before.
Can F1 solve its financial problems?
F1’s increasingly high costs are hurting teams, talent and the sport’s traditions.
Nobody is under any illusion that the fastest drivers in the feeder series are guaranteed race seats at the elite level because, unless they bring lucrative sponsor deals, such drivers are not feasible recruits for many F1 teams, who rely on pay drivers to fund their development – and survival.
Giedo van der Garde has even taken the unlikely step of pursuing his race seat to the Australian Supreme Court this week, insisting he was given a written guarantee from Sauber that he would race for the Swiss marque in 2015. Peter Sauber’s team have so far insisted Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson (backed by “many millions of euros”) will drive this weekend.
Whether they or any of the other 10 teams will be in Germany on July 19 remains to be seen.
Dwindling attendances, brought on by high ticket prices, could result in one of the sport’s most illustrious races slipping off the calendar for the first time since 1960, with organisers conceding they are struggling to pay the hosting fee.
Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s chief executive, is confident a decision will be made by the end of the weekend on whether the race will happen and if it will be at the originally scheduled location of the Nurburgring or at Hockenheim.
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