F1
Part one of our 2014 Formula One team guide covers Red Bull Racing to McLaren Mercedes.
Red Bull Racing
Constructors' Championships: 4 Race Wins: 47 2014 Drivers: Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull Racing has won the Constructors’ Championship four years in a row, smashing records and dismantling reputations with all the casual insouciance of a puppy in a pillow factory. The team has won 47 of the 165 grands prix it entered in its first nine years – and as such wants new technical regulations about as much as a root canal. The other change is also significant: Red Bull has a new driver for the first time since 2009 with salty old dog Sebastian Vettel joined by fellow Red Bull Junior programme graduate and genial happy person Daniel Ricciardo.
Mercedes
Constructors' Championships: 0 Race Wins: 4 2014 Drivers: Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg
Printers and graphic designers in the Brackley area have been kept in business over the last 15 years by the town’s F1 team, which seems to change its name on an annual basis, going through various incarnations first as a big tobacco flop, then confused Honda works entry, an all-conquering privateer and finally the reincarnation of Mercedes’ F1 works entry. It hit the highest of highs in 2009 with double-championship success but stability and a decent budget over the last couple of years look like providing a better shot at long-term success. In Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes have a world champion well capable of delivering the victories – though he’ll have to clamber over Nico Rosberg to get them.
Ferrari
Constructors' Championships: 16 Race Wins: 221 2014 Drivers: Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen
While other teams are making do with an engine and two hybrid recovery systems in 2014, Ferrari is propelled by V6, ERS-H, ERS-K and Fernando Alonso’s ferocious sense of destiny. Alonso has finished runner-up to Sebastian Vettel in three of the past four years – even with a somewhat mediocre scarlet warhorse. The return of ace technical director James Allison to Maranello may change that but it’s another returning figure that has grabbed the headlines: one of 2014’s most intriguing sub-plots is how nicely Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen play together – or rather how well they ignore one another.
Lotus
Constructors' Championships: 2 Race Wins: 37 2014 Drivers: Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado
The atomic cockroach of Formula One. In the face of all the adversity, they continue to thrive. The last few years have seen the former Renault works team haemorrhaging senior staff while enduring cinstant speculation about failed buyouts and cash-flow problems – and yet somehow it has still consistently produced a car capable of finishing on the podium. The latest to leave are Kimi Räikkönen and team boss Eric Boullier. So the team goes into the season relying on the narrow shoulders of Romain Grosjean and deep pockets of Pastor Maldonado. The question is: can they pull another rabbit out of the hat?
McLaren
Constructors' Championships: 8 Race Wins: 182 2014 Drivers: Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen
McLaren have spent most of the 21st Century as the second-best team in Formula One – unfortunately during that time the best team in Formula One has been Ferrari, Renault, Brawn and Red Bull Racing. 2013 was a disaster with the team failing to record a podium finish for the first time since 1980. Keen to stop the rot, McLaren figurehead Ron Dennis will be more hands-on in 2014 – which could come as something of a culture shock to newcomers to the team. Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen is a low-risk gamble, while Jenson Button is F1’s most experienced driver and, if this really is a year for the smart driver, is in with a decent shot at another world title.
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