Mercedes must shake mechanical missteps to give Formula One season its due finale

Continuing mechanical issues will deprive Formula One of the grandstand finish this season demands, writes Graham Caygill

Mercedes-GP driver Nico Rosberg of Germany watches the race from the pitwall during the Singapore F1 Grand Prix on September 21, 2014. Tim Chong / Reuters

It is odd to criticise Mercedes-GP given how dominant they have been in Formula One this ­season.

Eleven wins from 14 races, 13 pole positions and, barring unforeseen disasters, the near certainty that they will leave the final round of the year, the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 23, with both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships in their hands – is a record that has not much wrong with it.

But the inability to get their cars through a grand prix weekend trouble free is threatening to be the decisive factor in this year’s title fight between their drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

There had been a hint in qualifying in Singapore that the chasing pack of Red Bull Racing, Williams and Ferrari had closed the gap and could push the German team hard in Sunday’s race, but if there had been no safety car period mid-race, Hamilton would have been a comfortable victor.

The only man who could have given Hamilton a real fight was his teammate Rosberg and he was not there.

Broken wiring in his electronic steering column wrecked the German’s race as he was unable to select gears properly, forcing him to start in the pit lane and then retire, after a futile few laps in which the fastest car in F1 struggled to make his way past the Marussias and Caterhams, the slowest machines on the grid.

Rosberg had gone into the race leading the championship and his teammate by 22 points, but his non-score and Hamilton's 25 points for first have the Briton in front with five races to go.

It seems unfair that Rosberg has lost his advantage through no fault of his own, but he has had days when he has gained from his teammate’s misfortune with car reliability, so things look to be evening themselves out.

This was Rosberg’s second non-finish of the season because of car issues, having stopped at the British Grand Prix in July with gearbox problems.

Hamilton has failed to finish three times, two of them – in Australia (engine) and Canada (brakes) – through car failures. So, between them, it is 2-all and the Briton’s narrow points lead is a fair reflection of their respective performances, which is supported by Hamilton’s seven victories to Rosberg’s four.

They have also had problems outside of races. In Italy this month, both spent long periods of practice stuck in their garage because of mechanical problems and lost valuable track time.

Hamilton has also had his qualifying dramas. In Germany, a brake disc problem saw him crash out and start at the back of the grid, while in Hungary an oil leak caused his car to catch fire and he was forced to start from the pit lane.

The minor consolation of those two setbacks was that they happened on a Saturday and, on both occasions, Hamilton was able to charge through the field in the race to finish third, picking up 30 points he would not have earned had those car failures happened on a Sunday.

The issue is that these errors from Mercedes keep happening. Not since Austria in June, six races ago, have they had a weekend where neither of their drivers had a car problem.

The title fight is beautifully set up and now is effectively a shoot-out over five races between Hamilton and Rosberg.

Daniel Ricciardo, the Red Bull Racing driver, 60 points off Hamilton, still has an outside chance thanks to the double-points scoring system for Abu Dhabi, where 50 points goes to the winner, but the Australian would need a lot more bad luck to hit the Mercedes drivers.

Realistically, it is Hamilton versus Rosberg and they, and the public, deserve to know at the end of the action at Yas Marina Circuit who has been the better driver.

With so few races remaining, another retirement in a race for either man could be fatal to their title hopes and would turn a good fight between two evenly matched teammates into an anticlimax.

The fact Mercedes have allowed Hamilton and Rosberg to duel so ferociously over the season should be applauded, but having given us such a great fight, they must ensure it finishes with both men having reliable machinery to push their title credentials.

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