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F1 TITLE FIGHT 2015
29
SEASON
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Can Red Bull
return to regular
winning ways?
and Rosberg can once again go wheel to wheel
for the world title and cement their personal
rivalry into the collective consciousness of
F1 fans. If the chasing pack gets too close,
Mercedes may be minded to interfere more
often in this fight and sacrifice the hopes of
one of its drivers to ensure it retains its place
at the head of the constructors’ table. While
this would undoubtedly be a good thing for
Mercedes’ sponsors, if it came at the expense of
a full-blooded fight for the drivers’ championship
it would be a huge turn-off for fans.
“I think last year was an exceptional year, if you
look at the history of the sport,” argues Hamilton.
“To be able to match that is going to be very
tough. We’re going into the second year of this
kind of car and engine. For the others it will be
easier to make steps forward, because our car
was pretty amazing last year. For us to make
steps is harder. It’s almost like going up a
mountain: the beginning is easy, then it gets
steeper and steeper and steeper. We’re almost
at the end, and the others are not. The guys
did a great job to improve the car even though
we were ahead – it’s easy to make it worse,
harder to make it better.
“I don’t mind [what happens], as long as
there’s a fight. I always want to be able to
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enjoy the battle; the battles we had last year were
really good fun. That’s what I live for ultimately.
Testing is all good, but when the lights go out
on a Sunday, when all the work you’ve done
comes down to split-second decisions, that’s
what I really love.”
And that’s what fans of the sport really enjoy
too. Against a backdrop of monetary squabbling,
smaller teams feeling the financial pinch, and
internal handwringing over the future technical
direction of the sport, there is still much to get
excited about in F1 this year. Can Red BullRenault get back to winning ways regularly?
Will Sebastian Vettel give Ferrari the new lease
of life it desperately needs? Will Williams
continue the revival it began last year? And,
of course, can a Fernando Alonso-inspired
McLaren-Honda eventually topple Mercedes
from the top of the tree, once its early growing
pains are out of the way?
But the question that trumps them all is
that of who will become champion of the world
in 2015. Most likely it will be Lewis Hamilton
versus Nico Rosberg ‘the sequel’ Rosberg will
.
have to raise his game to make it happen, but
only by the “one or two per cent” he mentions.
If he can conquer the world and deny Hamilton
a third crown, it would earn him a place among
the true elite of the sport, while imbuing their
rivalry with the potential to become one of the
greatest in F1 history, and one of the most
captivating in modern professional sport.
Seconds out! Round two! Sit back and enjoy.
MARCH 5 2015 AUTOSPORT.COM 29
PREVIEW
Williams’ test form
indicates it’s kept
2014 momentum