The introduction of a new generation of turbocharged hybrid power-units represented an opportunity for Mercedes, one that they had spotted long before anybody else. Under the stewardship of Ross Brawn, preparations for F1's new era were being made even before the new rules were announced, the team's technical department bolstered by the arrival of Bob Bell (who has since jumped ship to Ferrari), Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis in 2011.
Niki Lauda was brought on board the following year to lend the squad some political clout, helping to secure the team a better deal in Concorde Agreement negotiations and playing an instrumental role in convincing Lewis Hamilton to desert McLaren in favour of the three-pointed star. Paddy Lowe was the final piece of the puzzle, slotting alongside Toto Wolff as one of two 'executive directors' and effectively replacing Brawn, who was unable to continue in a role he found acceptable.
Combined with the vast resources at Mercedes' disposal - which dwarf those of the sport's other top teams when the headcount and budget of the High Performance Powertrains facility at Brixworth is taken into account - the inevitable result was a power-unit that was easily the class of the field, complemented by an equally capable chassis that was able to fully utilise its potency. What was more surprising than Mercedes' dominance was the way that its rivals dropped the ball.
From the outset, it was clear that the Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull RB10 was unlikely to carry Sebastian Vettel to a fifth consecutive title, but what wasn't so apparent was the extent to which Daniel Ricciardo would blossom in the environs of Milton Keynes following his two-year apprenticeship at Toro Rosso. Indeed, so accomplished were the Australian's performances - culminating in three victories, the only ones of the year that slipped through Mercedes' fingers - that he was acclaimed by many, including this writer, as the driver of the year.
Vettel's struggles to adapt to the new generation of car were seized upon by his critics as evidence that he isn't the driver his superlative record suggests. Being beaten by Ricciardo two years on the trot was simply not an option for the German, which was what led to him jumping ship to Ferrari to replace the McLaren-bound Fernando Alonso, safe in the knowledge that failure will likely be blamed upon the team rather than the driver. In any case, his new team-mate Kimi Raikkonen is unlikely to pose a great threat on the evidence of this year.
Like his compatriot Michael Schumacher before him, Vettel has the opportunity to mould the Scuderia around him, his arrival at Maranello co-inciding with a major upheaval within the team. Forming a close relationship with James Allison, whose grip over the technical department has been solidified by the departure of Pat Fry and Nicholas Tombazis, and Maurizio Arrivabene, the team's third team principal in nine months, will be key to future success for the four-time champion.
For a team that used to pride itself upon its engine-building prowess, 2014 was an embarrassment for Ferrari, the result being that long-time president Luca di Montezemelo finally fell on his sword. With Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne now at the helm, the team must be patient and allow its new personnel to gel. It took Jean Todt four years to turn Ferrari into a championship-contending team in the 1990s, and a similar waiting period could well lie ahead under the new regime.
McLaren meanwhile may have had the choice power-unit, but for the second year in succession, the chassis produced by Woking wasn't up to the job. Alonso's gamble therefore is two-fold - not only will the Spaniard be praying for Honda's power-units to be of similar quality to their late 1980s offerings, but also that McLaren will rediscover how to construct a world-beating chassis. It's certainly not for want of resources or brainpower that the team has fallen short in that department.
Ron Dennis' return at the start of the year, with Eric Boullier drafted as his main lieutenant, promised to rectify the situation, with the return of Peter Prodromou from Red Bull aimed at bolstering a technical department that had leaked several big names to rival teams in recent years. But, if the way McLaren dithered over its choice to partner Jenson Button with Alonso is reflective of the speed that other key decisions are reached, it's doesn't bode well for a swift return to competitiveness.
Indeed, it appears that the two 'grandee' teams have been eclipsed by the leaner, more efficient operations of Red Bull and Brawn/Mercedes since the sport's previous major regulation change in 2009. Further evidence of this is the way that both McLaren and Ferrari were outflanked this year by Williams, who bounced back in spectacular style from their dismal 2013 with the help of Mercedes engines, Martini sponsorship, and the arrival of Felipe Massa alongside rising star Valtteri Bottas.
Third place in the constructors' standings is a remarkable achievement any way you cut it, but it says a lot about how quickly the team have progressed that Williams can feel aggrieved at not being closer to runner-up Red Bull. The FW36, the first to bear Pat Symonds' influence, was often the second-quickest car, but numerous points were squandered through simple operational and strategic errors of the sort the team's better-heeled rivals tend not to make.
While Williams' revival was one of the feel-good stories of the year, the battle between Mercedes team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will be how the season is primarily remembered. An additional layer of intrigue to proceedings was provided by the duo's pre-existing friendship, which was stretched to the limit at Monaco after two fierce but ultimately good-natured wheel-to-wheel battles at Bahrain and Spain, both of which were won by Hamilton.
Rosberg's treachery or luck, depending on your viewpoint, at Monaco effectively brought down the curtain on the first 'act' of the season, in which Hamilton had the upper hand. The Brit could seemingly do nothing right for the next few races, only taking one (somewhat fortuitous) win at Silverstone during a mid-season purple patch for Rosberg. That came to an end in Belgium as the Mercedes pair made contact at Les Combes, which, in retrospect, was where Rosberg lost the title.
While he left Spa with an extra 18 points in his pocket over Hamilton, the ensuing recriminations within the team appeared to severely dent Rosberg's confidence, leading to his critical errors at Monza and Sochi as well as his lapse in the heat of battle at Austin. This handed the impetus back to Lewis, who is at his brilliant best in the role of the hunter rather than the hunted, Nico's fate sealed even without those costly car failures at Singapore and at the double-points Abu Dhabi finale.
The paddock must have sighed a collective breath of relief after the latter event, as the sport avoided the massive PR own-goal that would have been Rosberg taking the title on double points. The German himself surely would not have wanted that particular asterisk to taint his success in any case - far better to come back stronger next year now that the rule has thankfully been consigned to the scrapheap, along with the frankly ludicrous proposal to introduce standing restarts at the end of every safety car period.
That was just one talking point in one of the most politically eventful seasons in recent memory. At the centre of much of the controversy was, as ever, Bernie Ecclestone - from his criticism of the sound of the new power-units at the start of the year to the questionable way his Bavarian court case was resolved; from cosying up to Vladimir Putin at Sochi to claiming that the sport doesn't need to worry about attracting young fans, the 84-year-old was rarely out of the headlines all year.
All of that made it a rather surprising revelation when Ecclestone accepted blame for F1's financial problems - a perfect storm of ever-rising costs and an extremely inequitable distribution of the sport's income. This admission came after the two smallest outfits, Caterham and Marussia, both went into administration, finally buckling under the immense strain of competing at the highest level with so few resources. The latter had even managed to score two points at Monaco thanks to the exploits of Jules Bianchi, whose tragic accident at Suzuka left a black mark against the entire season.
The result was that only 18 cars took to the starting grid at Austin, the lowest number since early 2005. While the diminished field did little to undermine the spectacle, it meant that Sauber, who along with fellow cash-strapped outfits Force India and Lotus threatened to boycott the race, found itself at the very rear of the grid. While losing two relatively new and unsuccessful teams could be described as a shame rather than a disaster, shedding a team with a race-winning pedigree would be inexcusable for a sport that generates almost $2bn annually.
A cost cap was mooted by FIA President Jean Todt at the start of the year, but lacked the crucial support of Ecclestone and the top teams, and when Caterham and Marussia disappeared (the former successfully crowd-funding what is likely to prove a one-off return at Abu Dhabi), the spectre of the biggest teams fielding third cars loomed - the answer to a question that virtually nobody was asking, least of all the teams who would be hard-pressed to score any points at all if they were introduced.
When this suggestion was put to bed by Todt, the debate shifted to the wisdom of introducing such complex and costly new engines at a time when many teams were already struggling financially, and it's now thought that Bernie is pushing for a return to a simpler, cheaper and louder formula for 2016. This would inevitably put him on a collision course with Mercedes, who will argue that the true intention of such a change of direction is to prevent the Silver Arrows dominating for years to come.
The fact of the matter is however that, for all of the complaining and behind-the-scenes politicking, the new regulations have proved a hit, providing excellent racing at all but a small handful of Grands Prix, even if one team has done a much better job than anybody else. The question F1 must ask itself is whether such excellence should be penalised in the name of 'the show' - and if the answer is yes, there are surely more transparent ways of doing so than messing with what has so far proven a successful formula and risk driving out one of the sport's most prestigious names.
Even if the regulations could be amended in a way that Mercedes found acceptable in the name of cost reduction, it wouldn't address the fundamental problem that the top teams receive such exorbitant sums from the commercial rights holder. With the bigger operations understandably unwilling to shell out on shoring up the minnows, and the governing body powerless to overrule the will of the majority, the onus is on the CRH to sacrifice a small portion of its immediate profits in the interest of the sport - or risk that its precious cash cow stops producing milk altogether.
While F1 threatened to tear itself apart, other forms of motorsport quietly made steady progress in 2014. The World Endurance Championship went from strength to strength, with returnee Porsche winning the final race of a season that largely belonged to Toyota. Securing both the drivers' and manufacturers' crowns courtesy of Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi, the only prize the Japanese auto giant missed out on was the big one: victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Instead, Audi scooped a 13th triumph at the French endurance classic, on virtue of reliability rather than outright pace, but enjoyed little success elsewhere - and the competition is only going to get tougher in 2015 as Nissan makes it a four-way fight in the top division. Rumours of the Ingolstadt marque throwing its hat into the F1 ring were rife in the autumn; the tougher the going gets in the WEC, the more attractive a proposal that could seem, particularly if Porsche takes over as the VW-Audi Group's standard-bearer at Le Mans.
Interest in the WEC was boosted by Porsche's return, its driver line-up spearheaded by F1 convert Mark Webber. Next year, Nico Hulkenberg will race for the team at Le Mans alongside his Force India commitments, and it will be fascinating to see how many other Grand Prix regulars attempt a similar balancing act in years to come. Alonso, who conspicuously visited the WEC paddock at Bahrain, has made little attempt to disguise his desire to race at Le Mans in the not-too-distant future, a move that would surely send interest in endurance racing through the roof.
Across the pond, IndyCar was bolstered by the return of Juan Pablo Montoya after a largely fruitless seven-year spell in NASCAR, but it was the Colombian's Penske team-mates Will Power and Helio Castroneves who were the main stars of the show - the former taking an overdue maiden title and the latter narrowly missing out on a fourth Indy 500 victory to Ryan Hunter-Reay in a thrilling climax. The introduction of aero kits next year to differentiate the spec Dallara cars that make up the field is the series' next step on its long and arduous road to recovery.
NASCAR meanwhile courted controversy with the introduction of an all-new Chase for the Cup format, which sought to place a greater emphasis on winning races. How ironic it was, then, that Ryan Newman, who failed to win all year, came perilously close to making a mockery of the entire season at the Homestead finale - luckily, the rightful champion by any metric, Kevin Harvick, was not to be denied that day. While not universally popular, the revamped Chase certainly injected some vigour into a series that has been struggling to captivate a new audience in recent years.
Speaking of new audiences, Formula E enjoyed an auspicious start at Beijing, where a last-lap, last-corner clash between Nico Prost and Nick Heidfeld ensured that the all-electric championship's first race made the headlines the next day. The two subsequent rounds may not have been as dramatic, but it seems the championship has done as well as could be hoped in capturing the imagination of the public. Whether it can become a genuine rival to F1 in the future is another question altogether, though.
Indeed, for all of its ongoing political strife, F1 remains the focal point of motorsport, boasting as it does the world's best known drivers and teams - which is precisely the point of those contentious bonus payments to the biggest outfits. What Ecclestone and his paymasters seemingly fail to grasp is that the mid-size and smaller concerns are equally crucial to the sport's health, a lesson they may end up learning the hard way if 2015 doesn't herald a radical change of direction.
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