A 2015 F1 Season Preview (of sorts)

Anyone who watched last night's F1 Show on Sky Sports may have noticed an oddly familiar face lurking in the studio audience behind Simon Lazenby, Natalie Pinkham and co. That's because I was fortunate enough to attend the first recording of the new series at the Sky Studios in Brentford alongside my good friend Dougie Wilson, as evidenced by the below picture (I'm to the left of the fellow in the Lotus top, for the avoidance of doubt):

I should confess at this stage that I am in fact not a regular F1 Show viewer - I would describe it as perfectly decent, but hardly essential viewing for the motor racing fan, particularly later in the year when there are fewer obvious topics for discussion and when there is a tendency to rely more heavily on special guests and rather esoteric feature pieces.

But, being the first show of the year, there was happily much to discuss on this occasion, ranging from which teams shone in winter testing to the mystery surrounding Fernando Alonso's enforced lay-off from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in a week's time and the recent resurrection of the Manor (née Marussia) squad. More on all that later, though.

For a regular viewer of Sky's F1 coverage, watching on as the presenters did their thing was something of a surreal experience, similar to that of watching Grand Prix cars in the flesh for the first time. It's a reminder that, for all the glitz and glamour of the F1 paddock, those fronting the coverage are really just ordinary human beings like you or I.

Not only that, but they are genuinely pleasant people, perhaps unsurprisingly given the nature of their work. Lazenby and Pinkham, along with the affable Johnny Herbert, made a real effort to interact with the audience both before and after the show, as well as during the ad breaks and VTs, making the whole business of standing up for an hour in a television studio a strangely enjoyable experience.

Indeed, after the show, I got to have a brief chat with Pinkham - I asked who her favourite drivers to interview were; Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Jenson Button were the three names I got in return. When I asked whether there were any she was less keen on speaking to, she said there weren't, and that extracting a response from the famously laconic Kimi Raikkonen was a fun challenge!

Regrettably, the picture I had taken with her has to rank among the worst there's ever been of me - eyes shut, mouth agog and double chin in full view. A similar fate befell me when I bumped into Martin Brundle in the Monza pitlane last September, so perhaps I have some sort of allergy to Sky Sports presenters.

Moving swiftly on, Alonso's testing crash and its aftermath have understandably dominated the motor racing headlines in recent days. Though next weekend's curtain-raiser will be all the poorer without the Spaniard making his hotly anticipated McLaren-Honda bow, missing the race is unquestionably the right course of action, given the well documented risks associated with sustaining a second concussion so soon after the first.

That said, I still can't help but get the feeling that there's something amiss about the whole saga. Question marks remain over whether Alonso was indeed conscious at the time of his impact with the barriers at the Circuit de Catalunya, and it's not hard to see why McLaren would be keen to ensure Honda is spared the mortifying embarrassment of having to admit fault for the accident that has benched the team's multi-million dollar star signing.

Either way, McLaren's handling of the situation has been poor, much like its protracted dithering over finalising its 2015 drivers over the winter, with the Woking outfit seemingly contradicting their own press statements regarding Alonso's condition. Here's hoping that the FIA's investigation into the incident is able to shed some light where McLaren is seemingly unwilling to.

There's a certain irony in the fact that the team will be running the same line-up in Melbourne as last year, as Kevin Magnussen fills the breach alongside Button. For the Dane, it's an invaluable chance to show McLaren what they will be missing this season, assuming Alonso returns for Malaysia as expected, and perhaps to showcase himself to other potential suitors for 2016, given that Alonso and Button are both under contract for next season.

The other big story of the past couple of weeks has been the revival of the Manor team, a rare piece of good news that ensures that there will be 20, rather than just 18, cars on the grid in Australia. The man F1 fans have to thank for this is energy mogul and self-confessed petrolhead Stephen Fitzpatrick, who has reportedly invested £30m into the team known last year as Marussia to get the operation back on its feet.

The team's chief executive Graeme Lowdon - a true racer if ever there was one - and its only confirmed driver as of the time of writing, Will Stevens, were both present at the F1 Show recording, and I managed to share a word with the latter after the show. At least the picture I had with him wasn't quite as repulsive as my snap with Pinkham.

Stevens has spent the last three seasons in Formula Renault 3.5, in which his record would be best described as solid rather than spectacular, but proved on his one-off appearance for Caterham last year at Abu Dhabi that he's a perfectly competent operator behind the wheel of an F1 car. Asked how he found the transition from FR3.5, he remarked that the step up in power was the main difference, and that the cornering speeds were similar given the Caterham's woeful aerodynamic package.

The 23-year-old wouldn't be drawn on the identity of his Manor team-mate, although one name I mooted to him was former GP2 champion Fabio Leimer, who had been due to race in the Japanese-based Super Formula this season before splitting with his team yesterday. Stevens, who admitted that 2015 is likely to be largely a learning year, struck me as quite an intense and single-minded character, traits that will serve him well in the F1 paddock.

While Manor is likely to languish at the bottom of this year's constructors' table, running a modified version of last year's Marussia to begin with, winter testing suggests that Mercedes will almost certainly be the runaway victor once more this season. Nico Rosberg's best time at Catalunya was three tenths quicker than the nearest non-Mercedes, Bottas, despite being set on soft compound tyres and not the faster super-soft compound like the Williams driver.

That means fans are most probably in for another head-to-head battle between defending champion Lewis Hamilton and Rosberg as far as the drivers' crown is concerned. At 4/6, the Brit begins the season as heavy favourite to take a third title, but Sky Deutschland's Tanja Bauer advised the F1 Show audience not to write off the hopes of Rosberg, who, as she pointed out, should be stronger now with the experience of a title battle under his belt.

Testing suggests that the teams most likely to begin the year as best of the rest are Williams and Ferrari, whose James Allison-penned contender already looks to be a major step forward. Sebastian Vettel seems at home with his new employers, having regained his trademark boyish charm that he lacked during a subdued 2014, while Raikkonen, who struggled badly last year with a car lacking in front-end grip, also appears happier with his mount and will no doubt be eager to silence his critics.

Red Bull meanwhile still seem to be lagging somewhat, in no small part because of the travails of engine supplier Renault, but it should be remembered that Red Bull still bagged a (later disallowed) second-place finish following a dismal winter this time a year ago. What's more, Adrian Newey may no longer be involved with the Milton Keynes-based team on a day-to-day basis, but the RB11 still bears his hallmarks, and the design guru will doubtless have a bearing on its development.

Some pundits reckon there's plenty of potential locked away inside the aggressive Peter Prodromou-influenced McLaren, but it will be up to Honda to catch up with its rivals if the chassis' latent speed is to be realised. Winter testing will have come as a major wake-up call for a team that was talking up its chances of challenging Mercedes for Grand Prix wins off the bat, as well as a sober reminder that this is a long-term project and that both constructor and engine supplier will need to be patient.

As for the rest, the new Mercedes-powered Lotus looks solid, and should be a regular points contender, while the respective offerings from Toro Rosso and Sauber also both appear stronger than their predecessors. The team that could struggle most initially is Force India, which, owing to financial problems, only managed to complete two-and-a-half days of running with its 2015 car over the winter, but its Mercedes powerplant should help to mitigate their competitive slide to a degree.

Bearing in mind all of the above, here are my predictions for the top 10 in Melbourne, as well as for this year's championship:

Melbourne predictions: 1. Hamilton, 2. Rosberg, 3. Bottas, 4. Vettel, 5. Ricciardo, 6. Massa, 7. Raikkonen, 8. Grosjean, 9. Kvyat, 10. Verstappen

Season predictions: 1. Hamilton, 2. Rosberg, 3. Ricciardo, 4. Vettel, 5. Bottas, 6. Raikkonen, 7. Alonso, 8. Massa, 9. Kvyat, 10. Grosjean

As much as I would like to think that this season will prove at least as competitive as last year's titanic tussle between the Mercedes duo, I suspect Hamilton may just be too strong for Rosberg this year, especially if he is able to improve the qualifying form that appeared to desert him at times last season.

Ricciardo's undoubted class allied to an improving Red Bull will be enough for the Aussie to overhaul Vettel for third place, while Williams will lose ground towards the end of the year, limiting Bottas to fifth ahead of compatriot Raikkonen, who will be closer to his team-mate's pace than he was last year.

After a slow start to the year, Alonso will gradually work his way up to seventh in the final standings, with a couple of podium finishes to his credit, pipping Massa and Kvyat. Grosjean will round out the top 10 just ahead of Button, the Brit finding the task of matching his fellow McLaren driver tougher than expected.

A Guide to the Le Mans Entry List

The day that the Automobile Club de l'Ouest take the wraps off the entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the one that really marks the start of the European sportscar racing season.

Despite the rise in prestige of the World Endurance Championship of which Le Mans is part, the French endurance classic remains the dominant feature of the sportscar racing landscape, and securing one of the 56 starting slots can be make-or-break for many of the sport's smaller concerns.

It's also traditionally the time that the driver line-ups, particularly at the sharp end of the grid, take further shape, and this year was no exception, with Porsche and newcomer Nissan both making driver announcements (more on those later) to coincide with the entry list reveal.

The latter's launch of its radical, front-engined, front-wheel drive GT-R LM Nismo is a perfect illustration of the rude health sportscar racing finds itself in currently. The rulebook allows each manufacturer to take its own approach that matches its own needs - ensuring that racing programmes remain an asset, rather than a liability, to their parent companies even if results aren't as hoped.

The variety that's seen in the LMP1 category of sportscar racing is a far cry from that seen in Formula One, where the need to prevent costs from spiralling out of control has led to an extremely prescriptive set of regulations that has made Grand Prix racing a much less attractive destination for auto-makers than was the case some 15 years ago.

The current strength of the prototype category is reflected by the fact that there will be 14 entries in the top division at Le Mans, including three privateers, the most there have been since 2011. They are supplemented by no fewer than 20 LMP2 cars - more cars are set to race in that class alone than in F1 this season - and 22 GTE cars split across the 'Pro' and 'Am' divisions.

Of these 56 starters, 35 are set to contest the full WEC season - 11 in LMP1, 10 in LMP2 and 14 across the two GTE categories, representing a 25 percent increase from last season, the ACO deciding to break its self-imposed limit of 32 entries in the face of such heightened demand to be part of one of motorsport's fastest growing championships.

LMP1

There were few surprises when it came to the unveiling of the Le Mans entry list in the highest division, with Audi, Porsche and Nissan all entering three cars, Toyota and Rebellion Racing two apiece and ByKolles (née Lotus) fielding a single car. What remains to be seen is whether Toyota will regret not entering a third car, as all three of its rivals have done, in the WEC's showpiece event.

Furthermore, on the driver front, Toyota appears to be putting its eggs largely in one basket as Kazuki Nakajima moves across to join defending WEC champions Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi in the #1 car in place of the departed Nicolas Lapierre, meaning that the team's strongest three drivers from 2014 will all be concentrated in one line-up.

Meanwhile, Mike Conway, who contested three WEC races last year when Nakajima had clashing commitments in Japan, steps up to join Alex Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin in the #2 car - a strong trio, no doubt, but on the evidence of last year not as formidable as that of the sister machine. A recent tweak to the rulebook regarding weight penalties for heavier drivers could help close the gap, though.

As a result of Toyota's WEC success last year, Audi will be using the less familiar numbers of #7, #8 and #9 at this year's Le Mans. Last year's winners André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler remain a unit, and must be considered the German outfit's best chance of victory, particularly now that nine-time race winner Tom Kristensen has called time on his long and illustrious career.

Stepping up to replace the Dane is Oliver Jarvis, who joins Lucas di Grassi and Loïc Duval in the second full-season entry, standout Audi GT driver René Rast taking the Briton's place in the third car alongside Filipe Albuquerque and Marco Bonanomi. There's no doubting Jarvis' quality, but it will take time for him to gel with his new team-mates and for the #8 trio to be as strong as the #7.

Porsche are running the same full-season drivers as last year, Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and F1 convert Mark Webber in the #17, and Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb in the #18. The latter was conclusively the stronger line-up last year, Jani in particular establishing himself as a member of the WEC's elite crop - expect the Swiss to spearhead Porsche's challenge this time around.

As for the team's third car, the question of who would join Force India F1 star Nico Hulkenberg has finally been answered. Nick Tandy's promotion from Porsche's GT stable to the prototype ranks was no less than expected, but Earl Bamber's surprise leap from the Porsche Supercup ranks will no doubt prompt some jealous glances from some of the Stuttgart firm's long-time GTE class drivers.

Then there's Nissan, who had confirmed Audi defector Marc Gené as one of its drivers at the launch of its car before announcing Olivier Pla and Harry Tincknell as full-season drivers. For both, their involvement comes as a well-deserved reward for their efforts in Nissan-powered LMP2 machinery, the latter helping the Jota team take a class victory last year in his maiden season in sportscars.

In addition, Super GT champion Tsugio Matsuda was named as one of the drivers for Nissan's third entry. Also expected to be confirmed as Nissan drivers in due course are GT Academy graduate Jann Mardenborough, another man to have excelled in the LMP2 class last year, Japanese veteran Satoshi Motoyama and Lapierre, who was "rested" by Toyota mid-way through last season.

The scrapping of the LMP-L sub-category means Rebellion Racing and ByKolles will have to play with the big boys in 2015. Rebellion have confirmed Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche as drivers for its pair of R-Ones, which will be powered by AER rather than Toyota this year, while ByKolles will have GP2 driver Simon Trummer behind the wheel of its revised AER-engined CLM P1/01.

LMP2

Though there was plenty of strength in depth in the secondary class at Le Mans last year, perhaps the most there has ever been, there were only four LMP2 cars signed up for the entire WEC - leading to the bizarre anomaly of Sergey Zlobin being crowned LMP2 champion last year purely on the basis of being behind the wheel of the only WEC-registered car to make it home at Le Mans.

That's been rectified this year, with 10 of the 20 LMP2 cars set to be present at Le Mans committed to the WEC in 2015. What has made the class so successful in the last few years is the imposition of a cost-cap, as well as the stipulation of having to have one 'silver'-rated amateur driver in each car, which has helped to make constructing cars for the class lucrative business indeed.

The Ligier JS P2 coupé, unveiled last year and immediately on the pace, was the first example of a new generation of closed-top baby prototypes of which there will be many more on the grid at Le Mans this year. The fact that BR Engineering, HPD, Dome and Oreca are all bringing new P2s to La Sarthe this year to join the Ligier shows just what rude health the class is in right now.

Not only that, LMP2 has become something of a 'go-to' destination for drivers unable climb the single-seater ladder any further and wishing to attract the attention of the P1 works teams - as the likes of Conway, Hartley and more recently Tincknell can attest. There will be plenty of others looking to do likewise this year in a class packed with recent open-wheel converts.

Among them, perhaps the one to keep the closest eye on is Sam Bird, who replaces the Nissan-bound Pla in the leading G-Drive Ligier. Of the other Onroak-built cars, the two entered by OAK Racing, which was in the thick of the LMP2 fight in 2014, are also sure to be there or thereabouts, particularly if Alex Brundle, who impressed with his speed and composure last year, returns to the fray.

Of the other new-generation cars, the only other to have raced is HPD's ARX-04b, which debuted last month at the Daytona 24 Hours, showing a decent turn of pace. The team entrusted with the Japanese cars, Extreme Speed Motorsports, may never have raced at Le Mans before, but the experience of former class winner Ryan Dalziel and David Heinemeier-Hansson should smooth the learning curve.

Also likely to be at the forefront is Strakka Racing's new Dome S103, which was due to debut last season but suffered a series of delays, particularly if Danny Watts and Jonny Kane return to partner team boss Nick Leventis as in 2013. Oreca's new 05 is also unproven at this stage, but the Thiriet by TDS and KCMG teams have both proven capable of running at the sharp end of the field.

That's not to say that the older, open-top prototypes should be discounted, however; defending class winners Jota Sport will be back in the Gibson (née Zytek) 015S, although their hopes could rest on the quality of the drivers they can attract to join team owner Simon Dolan. 2011 class winners Greaves Motorsport will also be fielding a Gibson with veteran Brit Johnny Mowlem at the helm.

Signatech's Alpine A450b, whose line-up is headed by single-seater convert Nelson Panciatici, is another entry to watch out for, while the newly-merged Team SARD-Morand, which will be running a pair of Morgan LMP2 Evos, is an outside victory shot, boasting ex-F1 driver Christian Klien and former F3 and World Series by Renault driver Oliver Webb on its driving strength.

Rounding out the 20 entries are SMP Racing's two all-new BR01 prototypes, which have suffered delays due to economic sanctions against Russia, Pegasus Racing's Morgan, Krohn Racing's Ligier, and the older Oreca 03 cars run by Ibañez Racing and Murphy Prototypes. Perhaps as many as eight or 10 of the 20 cars in the hotly-contested P2 class could be considered bona fide victory contenders.

GTE

The entry list for 'Pro' division of the GTE class has a rather familiar feel to it, featuring nine works entries from Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche and Aston Martin, who have expanded to a three-car assault for this year. It's virtually impossible to pick a potential winner from their number, for all four manufacturers over the past two or three years have displayed winning credentials at various stages.

Perhaps the de facto favourite is the lead Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, who are likely to be joined once again by former Grand Prix star Giancarlo Fisichella, largely because of Bruni and Vilander's status as reigning GTE-class WEC champions. Davide Rigon and James Calado can't be discarded in the second works 458 Italia, but both lack the experience of their team-mates.

Corvette Racing have tweaked their driver line-ups from last year slightly, with IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe joining Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia in one entry and Jordan Taylor moving across to replace Richard Westbrook alongside Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. With the striking C7.R now in its second year of competition, neither line-up can be discounted from the victory chase.

The promotion of Nick Tandy to Porsche's prototype ranks has prompted a reshuffle of its GT roster. Richard Lietz is joined by Jörg Bergmeister and rookie Michael Christensen, who steps up from the marque's USC programme, while Patrick Pilet lines up alongside Frédéric Makowiecki and Wolf Henzler in what can be regarded as (marginally) the stronger car, Marco Holzer having been dropped.

Finally, Aston Martin have recruited Marco Sørensen to join the all-Danish line-up, which won the 'Am' division last year but has now been upgraded to a 'Pro' entry, along with Nicki Thiim and Christopher Nygaard. In the other two cars, only Darren Turner and Fernando Rees have been confirmed, although Stefan Mucke is virtually certain to return in the lead Vantage with Turner.

While at least five or six of those nine entries contain the required quality to mount a challenge for the class victory, Aston Martin have to be considered clear favourites in the 'Am' class, which requires each line-up to feature at least one 'bronze' rated driver and another rated no higher than 'silver', in order to prevent the class being filled with factory pilots.

Another former F1 driver, in the form of Pedro Lamy, spearheads the British manufacturer's 'Am' class assault, joined by Mathias Lauda (the son of Grand Prix legend Niki) and amateur racer Paul Dalla Lana. That line-up will be a tough one to beat, although the AF Corse Ferrari trio of Emmanuel Collard, Rui Águas and François Perrodo isn't too far behind in terms of quality.

They are the only two fully confirmed line-ups in the class so far, with Aston Martin fielding a second Vantage, AF Corse a further two Ferraris and JMW Motorsport, SMP Racing and American outfit Scuderia Corsa running an additional 458 Italia each, Proton Racing fielding a pair of 991-shape Porsche 911s and the mysterious Taiwanese Team AAI entering two older 997-shape Porsches.

The most intriguing entry in the class undoubtedly is Larbre Compétition's Corvette C7.R, to be driven by Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti, plus one yet-to-be announced driver. The French concern dabbled unsuccessfully in LMP2 last year, but is back, albeit with a relatively unproven car, in a class it has won on multiple occasions, so expect the team to be towards the business end of the class.

There's a strong chance it may not be the only American machine in the class either - at the head of the seven-strong reserve list is a Riley Motorsports-run Dodge Viper, with Jeroen Bleekemolen earmarked for driving duties, meaning if any entry (in any class) pulls out between now and June, fans will get to enjoy the return of a car last seen in works 'SRT' guise at La Sarthe back in 2013.

Predictions

Predicting the winner for each class is, it's probably fair to say, something of a fool's errand at this stage, and certainly a clearer picture of the competitive order will only begin to emerge once the WEC gets underway at Silverstone in April. Nonetheless, here are my tentative predicted winners for each class, based on little other than personal hunches:

LMP1 - Toyota Racing #1 (Toyota TS040 Hybrid) - Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima
LMP2 - G-Drive Racing #26 (Ligier JS P2-Nissan) - Rusinov/Canal/Bird
GTE-Pro - Corvette Racing #64 (Corvette C7.R) - Gavin/Milner/Taylor
GTE-Am - Aston Martin Racing #98 (Aston Martin Vantage GTE) - Dalla Lana/Lamy/Lauda

While it's practically impossible to predict with any real confidence what will happen when the 56-strong field gets underway in June, what is more certain is that this year's race, with 11 factory prototypes poised to do battle up front, not to mention extremely strong fields in the LMP2 and GTE classes behind, is set to be a classic.

To see the official 2015 Le Mans entry list in full, click here.

Concluding thoughts on the 2014 season

They say that hindsight is a wonderful thing, but, looking back, it seems obvious that 2014 was always going to be the year of the Silver Arrows. It may only have been last winter when the rumours materialised that Mercedes had stolen a march on fellow engine manufacturers Ferrari and Renault, but in reality the German marque's advantage was sealed a long time before that.

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.

Alonso and the Silly Season That Keeps On Giving

In all the 15 years I've been following Formula One, I cannot remember the driver market being as unsettled as it is currently at such a late stage of the season.

By this time last year, we knew that Kimi Raikkonen was on his way to Ferrari; the previous year, the world was aware by late September of the news that Lewis Hamilton had turned his back on McLaren in favour of Mercedes.

There seems to be a growing feeling in the paddock that there may yet be a silly season bombshell of comparable magnitude this year too, despite noises being made by the 'big four' teams to the contrary in recent weeks.

The key man is Fernando Alonso, whose future has been subject to all kinds of speculation for quite some time now despite the Spaniard having a contract to remain at Ferrari until the end of 2016.

Such lengthy deals always tend to have get-out clauses, and it appears that the Scuderia's lacklustre showing this year has triggered a performance clause that has led Alonso to start playing hardball with the newly-installed Ferrari management.

It has been said that Alonso wants a bonus payment for every point earned, not dissimilar to the ertswhile arrangement between Raikkonen and Lotus that almost bankrupted the Enstone outfit.

While Ferrari could undoubtedly afford such a deal, the Italian team is renowned for its dislike of drivers who see themselves as bigger than the collective - and the scent given by Alonso's negotiating tactics is hardly one of being a team player dedicated to the Maranello cause.

Still considered the sport's finest operator by many, Alonso has other options should Ferrari refuse to bow to their star driver's demands. McLaren have been making behind-the-scenes moves to try and lure the 33-year-old for getting on for a year now - so if Alonso's brinksmanship fails, he can be safe in the knowledge that Woking would welcome him back with open arms.

But, moving to McLaren in the first year of its new partnership with Honda - whose engines, it is easily forgotten, were far from the class of the field during the Japanese marque's most recent foray into F1 - would be a big risk, especially when 2015 will be the first full season for Ferrari's promising new regime headed by Sergio Marchionne, Marco Mattiacci and James Allison.

A switch to McLaren may not be Alonso's only option however. The big rumour doing the rounds in Singapore was that Alonso could be on the cusp of switching seats with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, an accusation denied by both.

But, that was before the full story of Alonso's negotiations with his team had come to light, and Vettel has long been believed to be at the top of Ferrari's shopping list in the event of Maranello needing a new lead driver.

The way he's been outperformed by new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo must have made the thought of dissolving what is currently the longest-standing team/driver partnership on the grid cross Vettel's mind, especially since his favoured race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin, who has steered the German to four world titles, will no longer be by his side next year. And that's before you consider Adrian Newey taking more of a hands-off role once he's laid the foundations for next year's Red Bull.

But, the prospect of joining a McLaren team seemingly incapable of manufacturing a winning chassis will have hardly tempted Vettel to fly the Red Bull nest. A seat at Ferrari may be a different matter, though - if nothing else, the German would conclude he would easily have the measure of Kimi Raikkonen as a team-mate, whereas being beaten by Danny Ric two years on the trot simply isn't an option.

Even if Vettel were to conclude that his interests are best served by staying put, there's always a chance that Ferrari could orchestrate a swap between Alonso and Ricciardo.

Deserting the team that gave him his big break might seem inadvisable for the Australian, but you can hardly underestimate the potential lure of being drafted in by Ferrari to lead a new era in the team's history. Such a move didn't work out too badly for a certain M. Schumacher, after all.

Then there's Mercedes, which would probably be the team Alonso (along with just about every other driver on the grid) would opt to join if he had free choice.

But, with Nico Rosberg having signed a two-year extension to his contract earlier this year, the only route to Brackley for Alonso would be, as has been suggested in some quarters, if the Spaniard were to exchange seats with Lewis Hamilton, who still has a year to run on his contract.

Such a scenario taking place means Hamilton would have to lose the title to Rosberg in particularly acrimonious style - far from impossible to imagine, but an unlikely prospect now that the Brit has taken the lead of the championship following a seventh victory of the season at Singapore last weekend.

An unlikelier prospect still, however, is the latest story to emerge from the rumour mill turning into reality - that Alonso is bound for the cash-strapped Lotus team.

The disgraced former boss of the Enstone outfit, Flavio Briatore, is said to be trying to broker a deal for Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll (who has also been linked to purchasing Sauber and Marussia in recent weeks) to buy the team and pay for the services of Alonso, as well as the Mercedes engines that the team are ostensibly unable to afford under the current ownership.

Of all the options Alonso may or may not have, surely this one can be written off immediately. Finding a buyer would not miraculously transform Lotus's fortunes overnight; it would be a long-term project nurturing the team back to full competitiveness, probably at least three years - by which point, Alonso would be 36 years old and perhaps a little beyond his prime.

If joining McLaren would be a gamble, plumping for Lotus would be tantamount to re-mortgaging your house, flying out to Vegas and sticking the entire sum on zero at the roulette table.

So, where does all of that leave Alonso? Much depends on the outcome of the negotiations with Ferrari. A move to Mercedes (at least in 2015) looks to be a non-starter; perhaps it's not a surprise that those particular rumblings emerged from the Spanish press, who would no doubt love to see their darling cruise to a long overdue third world championship with a dominant car beneath him.

Of the remaining three options, Red Bull would be the only one worth deserting Ferrari in favour of at this stage. That would require one of the two incumbents at Milton Keynes to move in the opposite direction - a possibility, but only if a swap was arranged by the Scuderia.

Mattiacci's slightly cryptic response to the latest questions about Alonso's future at Singapore is telling. What it indicates is that Ferrari are no longer willing to bend over backwards to accommodate Alonso's every whim - after all, for a team that so famously values loyalty, what is a contract that allows the Spaniard to leave at the first sign of a vacancy emerging at a rival team really worth?

Of course, it's quite possible that Alonso and Ferrari will settle their differences and agree to continue for at least one more year, giving Maranello one final chance to finally rise to the challenge of producing the world-beating car its resources are capable of delivering after five seasons of falling short.

But, such a deal would almost certainly have to be written to allow Alonso to jump ship for 2016 if certain performance-related conditions are not met.

And, if Ferrari fails to come up with the goods again next year, we'll be left with more or less exactly the same scenario - except that Alonso will be one year closer to retirement, perhaps a little more desperate to find a way out of his long-term deal, and that a move to Mercedes or Red Bull may be a more viable prospect than it is currently.

Wherever Alonso moves next - if he does choose to depart Ferrari - is likely to be the place he sees out his F1 career; his decision consequently could well come to define his legacy.

Three titles have already slipped through his fingers, and no doubt several more will too if his choice, whatever it may be, turns out to be the wrong one.

The 2014 Silly Season Gets Underway

Speculation over which drivers are heading where for the following season seems to begin earlier and earlier each year in Formula One, and this year's silly season now appears to have kicked off in earnest following comments from McLaren boss Ron Dennis in the run-up to last weekend's British Grand Prix that Jenson Button needs to "try harder".

The Briton responded to this jibe in the best possible way at Silverstone, taking his best result since the season opener at Melbourne and coming within a second of breaking his podium duck at his home circuit, but it appears to be accepted wisdom that McLaren have been knocking on the door of potential replacements for Button in the form of both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

While it would take a peculiar set of circumstances indeed to compel the latter to re-join the very team he spurned at the end of 2014 to join the now-dominant Mercedes outfit, a return to McLaren for Alonso is a somewhat more viable prospect, albeit not the near-certainty it seemed six months ago prior to Dennis' return to prominence at Woking.

Prior to his dismissal as McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh is understood to have been angling for Alonso to return, travelling to Madrid late last year in a bid to arrange a pre-agreement of sorts with the Spaniard - who himself told the media last year that any lingering resentments towards the team over his tempestuous 2007 season were because of "one man", in whose absence he would have no problem returning.

The man to which Alonso was referring is of course Dennis, but if the two-time champion was to arrive at the conclusion that McLaren and Honda are more likely to provide him with a title-winning car than Ferrari, any personal disagreements would surely be cast aside; equally, it's difficult to see Dennis taking issue to welcoming back to his team the man that many still rate as the very best on the grid.

With Alonso staring down the barrel of his first win-free season since he joined Ferrari, the possibility of jumping ship at the end of the year must surely have crossed his mind on more than one occasion - but with Mercedes and Red Bull all but certain to retain their existing driver line-ups, returning to McLaren is the only other viable option besides staying put at the Scuderia.

But, it's a risky choice: Honda's past success is by no means a guarantee that the Japanese firm's 2015 engine will be of similar quality to their offerings of the late 1980s, while McLaren, despite the vast resources at their disposal, as of late seem to have forgotten how to produce a chassis worthy of contending for the title.

It may thus be a case of better the devil you know for Alonso, who would be well-advised to give Ferrari, now under the stewardship of Marco Mattiacci, one final chance to deliver the goods next season whilst simultaneously keeping a close eye on the progress of the renewed McLaren-Honda alliance as well investigating the possibilities of any vacancies arising at either Mercedes or Red Bull.

Such a scenario gives Button one final chance to end his career on a high note after two seasons saddled with substandard machinery. Coming into this season, it seemed conceivable that this season may have proven the last in the sport for the 34-year-old, but the way he has responded to the challenge of fending off young Kevin Magnussen in the other side of the garage has been admirable.

But, if the second most senior driver on the grid looks to have done enough to prolong his career, things look a great deal less certain for the elder statesman. Kimi Raikkonen has endured an utterly torrid season, having been out-qualified 7-2 by teammate Alonso so far this year and having finished no higher than seventh place. The Finn languishes down in 12th in the drivers' standings on 19 points, versus 87 for the Spaniard.

On only two occasions this year has Raikkonen appeared even vaguely like the driver who won Ferrari's last drivers' title back in 2007 - at Spain, where he out-qualified Alonso and kept the home favourite at bay until the dying stages of the race, and at Monaco, where a likely podium finish went begging after Max Chilton contrived to give him a puncture during a Safety Car period.

Clearly, this isn't what Ferrari had in mind when they selected Raikkonen to replace Felipe Massa, much less when they agreed to remunerate the Iceman to the tune of a reputed $14m per year. Raikkonen's return to Ferrari was supposed to serve as a reminder to Alonso that no one man is bigger than the team; if he can't regularly challenge the Spaniard, what purpose does his presence at the team serve?

Then there's the question of motivation. Only Kimi himself knows exactly how motivated he is at this late stage in his career, though the fact he has recently gone on record to say that he will probably retire from the sport at the end of his existing contract with Ferrari, which expires at the end of 2015, is hardly the sign of somebody desperate to add a second world title to his resumé.

So, is history destined to repeat itself? Will Raikkonen and Ferrari once again agree to part ways with a year still to run on their contract? The reason the Finn was forced out of the picture last time around in 2010 was because of Ferrari's eagerness to begin their partnership with Alonso, but there appears to be no equivalent on the scene this time around as long as Mercedes and Red Bull maintain their current line-ups.

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The likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean would be available; both are ready to step up to a top team and would probably push Alonso harder than an out-of-sorts Raikkonen. But the real question is whether Ferrari are sufficiently desperate to get a younger, hungrier driver in their second car to atone for the embarrassment of effectively announcing that they were wrong to re-sign Kimi in the first place.

Assuming Raikkonen wishes to continue for one more year, therefore, there is likely to be a place for him at Ferrari, all the more so because the team have a ready-made replacement in the form of Ferrari Academy member Jules Bianchi ready to fill the breach in 2016 - who could be stationed at a midfield outfit next year to serve the final year of his apprenticeship after two assured seasons at Marussia.

In the event Raikkonen does decide to hang up his helmet come November, Ferrari could decide to fast-track Bianchi to the seat alongside Alonso next year, which would have the benefit of providing continuity heading into 2016 should Fernando indeed opt to depart Maranello at that stage. Alternatively, the Scuderia could sign either Hulkenberg or Grosjean on a one-year deal before re-assessing their options for 2016.

Elsewhere, Williams and Force India are likely to retain their existing line-ups, although Bianchi, the team's third driver in 2012, would be the obvious option to fill the void at the latter team left by Hulkenberg were the German to be given the call-up by Ferrari. Bianchi could also end up at Lotus in place of compatriot Grosjean if the Franco-Swiss was selected to replace Raikkonen.

Grosjean has expressed his desire to step up to a regular race-winning outfit next year, but Ferrari isn't the only potential destination in that regard. Eric Boullier's appointment by McLaren at the start of the year sparked rumours that Grosjean could be destined for a drive at Woking in 2015, and such a move remains a possibility. But, of the team's existing drivers, it would probably be Magnussen who would have to make way.

That may seem harsh given that the young Dane has done a solid job in a less-than-competitive car this year, but having such an inexperienced driver on board has clearly hindered development of the recalcitrant MP4-29. Loaning Magnussen out to a rival outfit before bringing him back to the fold a couple of years down the line, when the team has returned to winning ways, is an option, much as Williams did with Button in spite of a strong debut season back in 2000.

Either way, it looks as if Grosjean's time at Lotus is coming to an end now that the Enstone outfit have announced a switch to Mercedes power for 2015, which is almost certain to herald the departure of fuel company Total, Grosjean's main backer. Should no vacancies emerge at either Ferrari or McLaren, Force India may be able to offer refuge to the 28-year-old.

Pastor Maldonado, meanwhile, seems certain to remain on board at Lotus as long as his PDVSA cash doesn't dry up - although the Venezuelan state oil concern, in this writer's opinion, should look carefully at the possibility of switching their backing to promising GP2 racer Johnny Cecotto Jr. in the wake of what has been an unacceptably scrappy first half of the season for Maldonado.

One driver set to make his F1 debut next season is Carlos Sainz Jr., championship leader in Formula Renault 3.5, who would replace Jean-Eric Vergne alongside Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso. The Russian now has to be regarded as odds-on favourite to ultimately step up to Red Bull ahead of Vergne, which leaves no place for the Frenchman at a team whose raison d'être is to prepare young talents for the senior squad; a third driver role at Red Bull for Vergne could beckon.

Things are looking more fluid over at the cash-strapped Sauber team. The Swiss outfit will be reluctant to drop Adrian Sutil after a single season, but key to the German's fate - along with the somewhat underwhelming Esteban Gutierrez - will be money. Ex-Caterham driver Giedo van der Garde, the team's third driver, could well make his race return next year at Hinwil on that basis, while Sergey Sirotkin and Simona de Silvestro are also options for the team, albeit much riskier ones.

It's a similar story at Marussia, where there is set to be at least one seat up for grabs as Bianchi moves up the pecking order. Chilton could yet remain for a third season depending on the state of his finances, with last year's GP2 champion Fabio Leimer a prime contender to join the Banbury outfit. Jolyon Palmer, who currently leads the points in the official feeder series, could also be in contention if the requisite money can be found.

It's unclear whether Caterham will be on the grid next year, let alone who will be driving for the team recently sold by a disillusioned Tony Fernandes. Colin Kolles' involvement in the beleaguered squad's sale to a group of Arab investors has also raised questions of whether the squad will be merged with the Romanian-backed Forza Rossa outfit, which has been granted an entry by the FIA for 2015.

Assuming there is an 11th team, Marcus Ericsson is likely to stick around, although he could take his cash to Marussia if the Leafield-based team don't resurface next year. On the other hand, Kamui Kobayashi surely doesn't have the money to remain on board for a second year and would probably be replaced by a well-funded GP2 racer; Julian Leal and Rio Haryanto have driven for the team in testing, while Nathanael Berthon has recently been announced as a junior driver for the squad.

Musings on Le Mans 2014

Today’s Austrian Grand Prix may not have been quite as explosive an affair as the one we witnessed at Montreal, but the result was another crucial one for the title challenge of Nico Rosberg. The German’s third win of the season ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton puts him 29 points clear in the drivers’ standings, with the pressure now well and truly on for Hamilton to respond on home turf at Silverstone in two weeks’ time.

But, despite the title of this blog, this post focuses on the events of the preceding weekend, during which the 82^nd running of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans took place. It was a race that Toyota should have won, Porsche could have won and Audi – for the 13^th time in 16 attempts – did win.

It was a classic race of attrition, and the victorious trio of André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer would be the first ones to admit that their third triumph around the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe owed much to the superior reliability of their #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro as well a fair dose of good fortune.

Not for the first time in recent history, Audi did not have the fastest car in the field at Le Mans – as evidenced by the German marque’s trio of turbodiesel machines lining up in fifth, sixth and seventh places on the starting grid behind all four of their petrol-powered adversaries in the LMP1-H class.

That plaudit belonged to Toyota, who, on the back of two WEC race victories from two at Silverstone and Spa, were understandably being billed as pre-race favourites. But, having the quickest car is no guarantee of success at Le Mans, much as Toyota themselves found out in the late 1990s with their ultra-fast but somewhat fragile GT-One contender.

And so it proved again around 14 hours into this year’s event, when the #7 TS040 Hybrid of Alexander Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima – which had started from pole position and led virtually the entire distance up to that point – ground to a halt along the Mulsanne Straight after a wiring loom melted having established a cushion of over two minutes out front.

With the sister car of Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastien Buemi already out of the running for victory following a shunt along the Mulsanne in the torrential conditions that arrived in the second hour of the race (which also eliminated Marco Bonanomi’s #3 Audi on the spot), that was it as far as Toyota’s victory hopes were concerned.

The fact the #8 car, which ultimately finished in third place and five laps down on the #2 Audi, ran pretty much trouble-free  thereafter and thus could have won race without its early incident will come as scant consolation to Toyota, whose search for their elusive first Le Mans victory goes on for at least one more year.

If Toyota are to finally break their Le Mans duck, they would be well-advised to enter three cars in 2015, thus maximising the chances of at least one car getting through the whole race unscathed. Audi lost a car at the same time of the #8 Toyota’s accident, but the Ingolstadt marque still had two chances left to win, while Toyota had just one – which was ultimately squandered.

The #2 Audi assumed control of proceedings after the demise of the #7 Toyota, but a 23-minute stint in the pits to replace a turbocharger around two hours later saw Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer relinquish the lead to the sister #1 car of Tom Kristensen, Marc Gené and Lucas Di Grassi.

It seemed at this stage that the trio were on course for a fairytale victory; the ultimate comeback after the #1 car was decimated in a terrifying accident at the Porsche Curves during first qualifying on Wednesday which saw Loïc Duval hospitalised. Indeed, Gené, originally scheduled to drive for the Jota team in LMP2, was a last minute call-up to Audi to replace the Frenchman.

Not only that, it would have been the 10^th Le Mans victory for Kristensen, as well as the first ever win for a Brazilian driver – but it was not to be, as the #1 machine suffered a more or less identical problem to that of the #2 with less than four hours to go, demoting it to an eventual second place at the finish, three laps down.

It was at this stage when the #20 Porsche took the lead, but the car shared by Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and F1 convert Mark Webber was suffering from a handling imbalance that was allowing Lotterer in the #2 Audi to close the one minute advantage that Porsche held with three hours to go by around five seconds a lap.

Still, without that issue, it’s not inconceivable that Porsche could have taken their first outright Le Mans win since they last fought for overall honours back in 1998. Second place, which would have been a remarkable comeback result, was certainly assured before an engine problem that eventually forced Webber to retire the #20 car with less than three hours to run manifested itself.

The #14 car of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani was never in contention, losing time in the first hour of the race in the pits solving a fuel pressure problem and suffering from brake problems en route to an eventual 11^th place finish overall, 31 laps down on the #2 Audi.

Nonetheless, Porsche’s return has to be regarded as a qualified success in spite of the lofty expectations with which some observers saddled the team, with the 919 Hybrid showing some handy pace in qualifying trim (lining up second and fourth on the grid) even if reliability clearly proved an issue. 

Indeed, many are already regarding Porsche as hot favourites to triumph in 2015, though the pressure that comes with such a tag will only make chasing a 17^th outright Le Mans victory that much tougher.

The all-new Rebellion R-One finished a commendable fourth place in only its second race outing, but was massively off the pace of the hybrid-powered factory machines, the #12 car of Nick Heidfeld, Nico Prost and Mathias Beche ending up 19 laps adrift of the winners in spite of enjoying a relatively trouble-free run.

Such a result has to throw into question the point of the LMP1-L class (L stands for light), ostensibly designed to allow private teams such as Rebellion Racing, who cannot afford to develop complex hybrid systems, to at least be in a position to pick up the pieces when the works-entered cars run into trouble – as they all did to varying extents.

What’s more, seeing Heidfeld, Prost and Beche stood alone on during the LMP1-L podium ceremony was an odd sight to behold. The only other entry in the class, the #13 Rebellion, was an early casualty after engine trouble, although a third entry in the form of the Lotus-backed Kodewa team was due to compete before withdrawing due to delays in completing their new chassis.

The LMP2 class was a rather more keenly contested affair, class honours ultimately going to the #38 Jota-run Zytek of Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and Oliver Turvey (a late replacement for the Audi-bound Gené) after the pace-setting #35 OAK Racing Ligier developed a spark plug problem late in the race which cost it straight line speed.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the exceptional trio comprised of GT Academy graduates Jann Mardenborough and Mark Shulzhitskiy as well as Alex Brundle, who would have been fitting class winners; instead, the trio had to be content with finishing fifth in class, but all three can take solace in the fact that they established themselves as endurance racing stars in the making.

In fact, the LMP2 class right now is full of bright young talents who have found their paths on the single-seater racing ladder blocked: Tincknell, who showed some impressive pace on his first visit to Le Mans; Jon Lancaster, another debutant to catch the eye behind the wheel of the #34 Race Performance Oreca; and Oliver Webb, who co-piloted the #36 Signatech Alpine to third in class, to name a few.

It’s good to see that the secondary prototype class is enjoying such strength in depth at the moment, with plenty of ELMS entries bolstering the meagre contingent of WEC cars. And, with Zytek, Dome and HPD in the processing of developing new cars to join the new-for-2014 Ligier, the class looks to set to continue providing a gripping sub-plot to the main event at Le Mans for years to come.

The GTE classes had their fair share of drama too, with the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella taking a comfortable victory in the Pro division after the challenge of its closest rival, the #97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Bruno Senna, faltered late in the race with a power steering failure.

The British marque could however celebrate victory in the Am class with victory for the all-Danish #95 crew of Nicki Thiim, David Heinemeier Hansson and Kristian Poulsen – a fitting tribute to the late Allan Simonsen, who was tragically killed at the start of last year’s event in a crash at Tertre Rouge driving for the team.

The future at the moment is looking very bright for Le Mans, as well as sports car racing more generally. Porsche’s return meant that the 2014 race saw three manufacturers in true contention for the overall win for the first time since 1999 (the petrol-powered Aston Martins of 2009-11 couldn't touch their diesel-propelled rivals for pace), and that number looks set to swell in the coming years.

Nissan have already confirmed their comeback to the LMP1 class next year, following on from their ‘Garage 56’ entry this year – which, while failing to complete more than five laps during the race, succeeded in its primary aim of completing a lap of La Sarthe under pure electric power – and are bullish about their prospects with their GT-R LM NISMO contender, which begins testing this autumn.

Then there’s Ferrari. Fernando Alonso, present at Le Mans to wave the tricolore to officially start the race, gave the strongest hint yet that the Scuderia have set their sights upon an LMP1 assault. Rumour has it BMW are also weighing up whether to have another crack at the endurance classic and attempting to give marketplace rivals Audi and Porsche a run for their money.

The beauty of the LMP1 regulations as they currently stand is that they allow each and every manufacturer to approach the category in any way they see fit. Audi, Toyota and Porsche all use completely different engine configurations and methods for deploying their hybrid power, and Nissan claim that they are going to employ a new approach on at least one of those counts next year.

That makes it a far more attractive prospect for prospective new entrants than, say, F1, where the regulations are much more restrictive. Even if a manufacturer isn’t winning, they can at least enjoy the R&D benefits of a trying out a particular technology on the race track that has direct relevance to how they wish to evolve their road cars, making it a far easier task to keep the board happy.

The increasing popularity of the race among the manufacturers was reflected by the number of spectators present. The ACO claimed 263,300 made the trip to Le Mans this year, up by 18,000 from the previous year’s figure, no doubt boosted by the presence of Porsche and Webber – which will have made some that were hitherto on the fence choose to finally make the pilgrimage.

Were Ferrari and Alonso to join the party, it’s more than possible that figure could begin to nudge towards the 300,000 mark, which would give Bernie Ecclestone and the F1 fraternity some real food for thought. It seems endurance racing is on the brink of another golden age to rival any other seen throughout its history so far.

From Melbourne to Montreal: The Story of 2014 So Far

First of all, allow me to apologise for my lack of activity since my last post on this blog some two-and-a-half months ago. In that time, I have finished my degree and the other site for which I have been busy writing, Sportontap.com, has become non-operational for the time being – so I should have more time to devote to updating this blog for at least the next few months. Now we’re (roughly) a third of the way through the 2014 season, a review of the year so far seems as appropriate a way as any to resume my blogging career.

The defining feature of the season so far has of course been the emergence of Mercedes as a hegemonic force to rival any other seen throughout F1 history. Winning the first six races of the year in a row has given the Brackley-based team a record surpassed only by McLaren in their all-conquering 1988 season, and such was their degree of dominance at supposedly non-Mercedes friendly tracks such as Catalunya and Monaco that many had begun to predict a Silver Arrows clean sweep of wins this year. 

Alas, more or less simultaneous MGU-K failures for both cars at Montreal put paid to any such aspirations, although beating the record of 15 wins in a season remains a distinct possibility for Mercedes.

But, while Mercedes has the constructors’ championship in the bag already, calling the outcome of the drivers’ championship is a far more difficult task. Following his fourth successive triumph in Spain, it seemed as if Hamilton had gathered unstoppable momentum – but then came Monaco. 

In many ways, it was a race Rosberg really could not afford to lose, and regardless of whether you believe his incident in qualifying was a nefarious ploy to prevent Hamilton from taking the all-important pole position (for the record, I do not), the German drove an immaculate race under immense pressure to re-ignite a title challenge that had hitherto seemed in danger of wilting.

Rosberg followed this up with a dogged run to second place behind the victorious Ricciardo at Montreal two weeks later despite being hobbled by a loss of some 160 horsepower, which arguably was an even more impressive display than victory at his 'home' race.

Much like at China, where Rosberg suffered from a loss of telemetry, damage limitation became the name of the game once the energy recovery problems struck – one which he played to perfection, keeping Sergio Perez’s Force India (which, admittedly, had issues of its own) at bay lap after lap in spite of his Mercedes’ considerable power loss. 

Though Rosberg was unlikely to ever hang on to the victory once Ricciardo found a way past Perez, the 18 points the German picked up on Sunday could prove crucial when the title fight reaches its climax in November.

Just as was the case following Melbourne, Hamilton now has to win the next four races on the trot, assuming Rosberg were to come second each time, in order to wrest back the championship lead. But, this will be a considerably taller order now that Rosberg has proven he can just about match Hamilton’s pace in qualifying and that, by the time we reach the summer break, Red Bull may well have just about hauled themselves into contention for wins on merit.

It may be through no fault of his own that Hamilton finds himself in arrears of Rosberg, but, then again, were the Englishman to eventually triumph regardless, his achievement would arguably be all the greater for it.

Speaking of luck, Ricciardo’s maiden Grand Prix victory on Sunday may have been more than a little fortuitous, but it was nonetheless a just reward for what has been an utterly stellar season for the Australian so far. 

Few pundits were giving Ricciardo any hope of matching his more illustrious teammate Sebastian Vettel coming into the season, but on the four occasions this year that both Red Bull RB10s have made it as far as the chequered flag, car #3 has beaten #1 every time. In fact, if not for his disqualification at Melbourne and his mechanical maladies at Malaysia, Ricciardo would now be just 31 points of shy of Rosberg in the drivers’ standings. 

It’s always refreshing to see a driver whose talent had been masked by a lack of adequate machinery finally show the world what he’s made of, but the sense of satisfaction at seeing Ricciardo standing atop the podium in Canada was made all the larger by the 24-year-old’s warm demeanour, easy-going charm and winning smile which make him an ideal ambassador of the sport. 

Not only that, but Ricciardo has succeeded in shaking off the reputation he acquired during his time at Toro Rosso – that of being a good qualifier but an average racer – as well as confounding those who were sceptical of Red Bull’s decision to select him to replace outgoing countryman Mark Webber last autumn.

In fact, based on the evidence of this year, Ricciardo looks the more likely man to spearhead a potential Red Bull title challenge in 2015 of the Anglo-Austrian team’s two drivers. That’s bad news for Vettel, who clearly is yet to fully get to grips with the loss of the exhaust-blown diffuser that was so crucial to his dominance last season. 

With this year’s title clearly out of reach already, the four-time champion would be well advised to focus on using the remaining 12 race weekends of this year to refine his driving style to suit the nuances of the new regulations in the way that others, not least of all Ricciardo, have clearly been able to. Should he fail to do so, it may be that history comes to look upon his four world titles a little less favourably than would otherwise have been the case.

At least Vettel can take comfort in the fact that Red Bull’s star designer Adrian Newey is going nowhere fast, even if, as was recently confirmed, he plans to take something of a back seat once he has laid the foundations for the team’s 2015 challenger. 

There has even been suggestion that Newey could switch his attentions to designing a bespoke Red Bull engine to replace the Renault unit, which, while much improved compared to the start of the year, continues to lag behind its Mercedes counterpart in terms of power and the efficiency of its energy recovery systems. 

Rumours were abound that Red Bull might try to lure a new engine manufacturer such as VW into the sport, but the fact that the Hanover marque has recently re-iterated its commitment to rallying until 2019 makes an alliance with the German auto giant an unlikely prospect.

Ferrari reputedly offered Newey a salary of $30m to depart Red Bull and join the ranks of Maranello, which would have put him behind only Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton among the drivers in terms of remuneration, but even that wasn’t enough to convince the 55-year-old to leave a team whose success in which he has played a central role.

Then again, you have to question the extent to which Newey’s presence would actually help a team whose technical department can already boast such renowned names as James Allison, Pat Fry, Nicholas Tombazis and Loic Bigois. 

As Allison recently alluded to, Ferrari’s biggest problem is that their engineers are not given the breathing space they need by the management to deliver the best results. Whether this will occur under the stewardship of Marco Mattiacci, the successor to the now-departed Stefano Domenicali as Ferrari team principal, remains to be seen.

It has certainly been a testing year so far for the Scuderia, whose best result so far in 2014 has been a distant third place behind the two Mercedes drivers at China courtesy of Alonso. 

Indeed, unless the team are able to make some serious performance gains with the troublesome F14 T, Ferrari could well end the year winless for the first time in 20 years – a state of affairs that will no doubt be leaving Alonso wondering whether he can afford to wait much longer for the team to get its house in order if he is to finally take that third world title he so badly craves. 

Overtures to Mercedes were reportedly made, but there’s no room in the Brackley inn for the Spaniard in the short term; ditto at Red Bull, who are said to have taken up their option to retain Ricciardo for 2015 after his Canadian victory. 

A return to McLaren can’t be ruled out for Alonso, but their performances this season, combined with the return of Ron Dennis, make such a move a considerably less attractive prospect than it was six months ago.

Since the first race of the season, after which McLaren led the constructors’ standings thanks to Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button finishing second and third respectively, it’s been mostly downhill for the Woking équipe, who have somehow managed to translate the vast resources at their disposal into a fundamentally flawed car for the second year in succession. 

McLaren certainly cannot afford to drop the ball for a third year running if they are to please their new engine partners Honda, although the potential early arrival of former Red Bull chief aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou (in exchange for Red Bull's Dan Fallows staying put despite supposedly having signed to join McLaren) should help to ensure that this isn’t the case. 

Securing the services of Alonso would be another huge coup for a team which would appear to lack the driving strength for a full-blown assault on the championship, with Button surely now past his prime and Magnussen ostensibly struggling to re-capture the dazzling form he displayed during his F1 debut at Melbourne. 

On race pace, McLaren have been by far the least impressive of the Mercedes-powered teams so far this year. Williams have been consistently quick, even if errors by both team and driver have served to cost them a considerable number of points – not least of all at Canada where, a slow pit-stop for Felipe Massa deprived the team of a possible win. 

Instead, the Brazilian ended his race in the barrier after a coming together with Sergio Perez’s Force India, who himself may have triumphed if not for brake failure late in the race.

It’s been an up-and-down season so far for the Mexican, who has outshone teammate Nico Hulkenberg more often than was perhaps expected but has predictably lacked the metronomic consistency of the German, who has scored points at every single race (only Rosberg and Alonso have managed likewise). Indeed, Force India have a very solid chance of gaining their best ever constructors’ placing if McLaren can’t get their act together in fairly short order.

Elsewhere, Lotus has made significant progress, going from being barely able to string 10 laps together in testing to qualifying fifth on merit at Spain courtesy of Romain Grosjean in the space of just over two months. 

Although the Frenchman has not had the machinery at his disposal needed to continue where he left off at the end of his remarkable 2013 campaign, he can take solace in the fact that the contrast between he and his older, more experienced and (on paper, at least) more illustrious teammate Pastor Maldonado could scarcely be greater. 

Such has been the frequency of the 29-year-old’s mistakes this year that you would have a hard time convincing someone new to the sport that this is Maldonado’s fourth year at this level. Should the Venezuelan state oil cash dry up, there’s no way he would retain his seat at Lotus on merit as things stand, especially when there have been so many youngsters showing great promise this year.

Chief among these is 20-year-old Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat, who has been seriously impressive during the first seven races of what is already shaping up to be a long and successful career at the highest level – further evidence, were it required, that Red Bull know what they’re doing when it comes to driver choices. 

Also worthy of mention is Valtteri Bottas, who, despite not having had any more opportunities to ascend the podium since his brush with the barriers at Melbourne, has been in the points every race so far bar one. 

That race was Monaco, where another precocious talent by the name of Jules Bianchi turned in one of the performances of the year so far to record his and his Marussia team’s first ever points with a sublime ninth place finish.

Should a vacancy emerge at Ferrari next year, they could do far worse than take a chance on the young Frenchman, who is, after all, the most senior member of the Ferrari Driver Academy scheme.

Bianchi’s result puts Marussia up in a dizzying ninth place in the constructors’ standings, ahead of not only perennial rivals Caterham, who could now well end up being sold to the new Forza Rossa outfit, (thus keeping the 2015 entry at 22 cars now that Gene Haas has wisely deferred his entry into the sport to 2016), but also Sauber. 

The Swiss team have struggled with an overweight Ferrari customer power-train, which required a major overhaul of the Sauber chassis for the start of the European season to bring it closer to the minimum weight limit, and a driver line-up frankly incapable of producing the heroics seen during the last two seasons courtesy of Messrs Hulkenberg and Perez. 

Indeed, both Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez threw away the chance to finally get some points on the board at Monaco, both having appeared to have fallen into the trap of over-driving what has to be one of the worst cars (if not the worst) to have come out of Hinwil in the team’s history. And, with the team already in a desperate financial situation, Sauber’s potential lowest ever constructors’ position could hardly come at a worse time.

This weekend sees the circus return to the Red Bull Ring (née A1 Ring) for the first time in 11 years, where, barring a repeat of the problems seen last time out at Canada, the thrilling battle for supremacy between Mercedes teammates Hamilton and Rosberg looks set to recommence.

There’ll be no F1 posts for a little while as I’m off to France for a holiday next week, but look out later in the week for my thoughts on last weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance classic, which I was fortunate enough to attend for a fifth time this year.