The 2015' Season so far

F1Today.net has been conducting a small review of the 2015 season so far. We would like to invite you as our beloved visitors to chime in and discuss this matter with us. If you do not have a F1Today.net account please create one to be able to post your own opinion.

The start to the 2015 season is not playing out as expected. Here is a Team-by-Team rundown of the progress so far in the Constructors Championship.

The Front Runners

Mercedes are still leading the pack but 2014s total domination has been reduced to a much slimmer margin. Lewis Hamilton however seems to have found another gear and has conquered his weakness of poor qualifying that he showed in 2014. He also seems to be stronger and reinvigorated without the insecurities that plagued last season. From the other side of the garage, Nico Rosberg has been out performed by his teammate, who has qualified first and beaten him in every race. Psychologically he must be facing a real challenge trying to beat the reigning World Champion and maintaining his dream of the World Championship Title.

Who would have imagined that Ferrari would have been on the podium let alone win a dry race after their horrendous 2014 season. Sebastian Vettel struggled with last years Red Bull RB10 and Kimi Raikkonen was no competition for his teammate Fernando Alonso in the previous years badly flawed car. For Kimi, having his friend Sebastian move into the other side of the garage may also have helped. It is still a surprise how much of a transformation we have seen from Vettel after his disappointing 2014 season. Much has been made of the fact that the new Ferrari Team Principle Maurizio Arrivabene has a better understanding of how to motivate his drivers and engineers, which has clearly paid off.

The Grove based Williams team are currently running in 3rd place where they finished last year. Sadly for Williams their significant advantage over Ferrari has swung in the opposite direction. The excellent pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa is working for the team. In current form it seems unlikely they will be fighting for race victories but they are clearly capable of fighting for podium finishes.

The Mid Field

4th placed Red Bull are clearly suffering from the unreliable and underpowered Renault engine and must be smarting that they are so far behind the 3rd place of Williams with less than half the number of Constructors Points. That both of the Torro Rossos drivers are ahead of Red Bulls new signing, Daniil Kvyat must be difficult for the 4 times World Champion Constructors but few can doubt the young Russians capabilities. Daniel Ricciardo has not really shone in the first 4 races of this season. However the smiling Australian has only been beaten once so far by his teammate who has had 1 non-start and 1 retirement. The recent exchange of words between Red Bull and Renault, their engine supplier may have brought the teams problems into the public eye and it seems that Red Bulls problems are not as simple as their power unit alone

Sauber have had a superb start to the season. Having failed to score points during the 2014 season they have managed 4 points scoring finishes in the last 4 Grand Prix including both cars in the top 10 during the first race in Australia. The new Ferrari power unit has proven itself to be worthwhile. This must be an encouraging sign for the Haas team developing their 2016 car. Felipe Nasr has beaten Ericsson in each race and has shown some fantastic race craft leaving his teammate with something to prove.

Lotus are having a tough time. although they now have Mercedes power the Enstone based team are struggling with reliability. Maybe the problems are carried over from last year’s financial concerns, as Romain Grosjean is certainly capable of a decent turn of speed and producing respectable results. Pastor Maldonado has also shown brilliance – we should not forget his surprise 2012 Spanish GP victory but with the help of his mechanics, he has to keep the car on the track. Lotus have also been attracting attention over their reserve and development drivers, the highly praised Jolyon Palmer and Carmen Jorda.

Torro Rosso, the junior Red Bull team have 2 talented youngsters desperate to impress. The youngest ever Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr have both shown maturity and natural talent which has taken many in the paddock by surprise. If Renault can improve its reliability then these 2 are on course to give a few of the bigger names a fright this season.

Force India have had a poor start to their season. After missing most of pre season testing the team has been developing the car at free practice leaving them lagging behind in development terms. The teams financial problems have left them fighting with one arm behind their back. As a customer team of Mercedes they should be at the front of the mid pack battling with Williams but neither Nico Hulkenberg nor Sergio Perez have had any moments of brilliance so far this season. Sergio leads Nico 3 races to 1 in the inter team rivalry but Nicos 7th place finish in Australia has left him ahead in the championship.

The Back Of The Pack

Where do we start with McLaren? Their new power unit supplier Honda is simply not yet able to compete with the mid field let alone the front runners. With 3 World Championships between the 2 drivers they are yet to score a top 10 finish. The season has started horrendously for McLaren with Fernando Alonsos unusual and unsatisfactorily explained crash in pre season testing and their very poor overall performance. We are now starting to hear rumours of Alonsos retirement just 4 races into the season yet the team have improved considerably since pre season testing. Jenson Button has crossed the finish line twice this season. He was 3 seconds behind 1st placed Hamilton in qualifying in Australia and finished the race 2 laps behind. McLaren are remaining positive and insists that improvements are coming. The team say that they are bringing upgrades to both car and engine for Spain but when a team fails to get a car on the grid as happened to Jenson in Bahrain then questions over their competitiveness will surely follow. Alonso who is often touted as the most talented driver in F1 was 2.4 seconds behind Hamilton in qualifying in Bahrain. How long will his patience last?

It has been suggested that Manor knew they would not be able to field a car in Australia but turned up to ensure they were able to fulfil the contract in relation to payment for the 2014 season. They were only able to put 1 car on the grid in Malaysia and finished 3 laps down. The car also qualified outside of the 107% figure and was granted permission to start based on times achieved in practice. Some insiders question whether a struggling team such as Manor deserve a place on the F1 grid but this season at least there remains a chance that they could beat a World Champion driver should McLarens woes continue.