Predicting which Mercedes driver might win the next race has become all too routine, but Sebastian Vettel’s occasional cameo appearance on the top step of the podium has at least prevented this from being one of the dullest Formula One seasons in recent memory.
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November 2, 2014; Austin, TX, US; Teammates Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg (6) of Germany and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (44) of Great Britain celebrate finishing in first and second place during the 2014 U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.
Hamilton was widely criticised when he chose to leave McLaren and join Mercedes in 2013. That puts them 169 points ahead of Ferrari with a silver vehicle having won 11 of the 14 races so far this year. You walk into that building and you don’t want to touch anything.
“When I came to Mercedes, it was more like my old Formula Three team”. It feels like more of a racing team.
He said: “Since it nearly certainly won’t rain for the rest of the weekend, we chose not to do a lot of practice in the wet with the risk it gives to the cars”. It must be better because of the success we’re having.
“Fingers crossed we can add to those great memories again this weekend – I’ll be pushing as hard as I can to make that happen”. That’s why our vehicle is so good’.
McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, who signed Hamilton as a 13-year-old, has been a pivotal figure within the British team since 1980.
However, his natural confidence ever to the fore, he was also displaying the calmness allied to determination that has been one of his strengths over the past three years with Mercedes and insisted he would not be sitting back waiting for the title to come to him. They have scored a paltry 17 points this term and are ahead of only minnows Manor in the constructors’ championship. Actually, I have to say that, today, we probably learned more than last time [in Japan].
“Once I got back from Japan, I was able to focus on the positive elements from my weekend in Suzuka”, Rosberg explained.
‘We (McLaren) had exceptional years but it was never quite right. “We had the cars set up wrong for the conditions there”.
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“I don’t want to belittle what I did with that team”. “Obviously it is a completely different track and other than the tyre compounds I don’t think there are many similarities”. I flew home with Niki Lauda and couldn’t sleep on the flight and was just smiling the whole way. His 41st and most recent victory in Japan equalled the career tally of his boyhood idol and late triple champion Ayrton Senna. “I’ve really seen that and that’s why our vehicle is so bloody good because he is among that group to have that freedom”.
