Is It Fair To Compare Different Formula One Eras? (Part 6 of 7: the 2010s)
- cgonzalezmi6
- 28 ene 2021
- 7 Min. de lectura
by Carlos Gonzalez
Over the last five weeks, we have analyzed the evolution of each one of the previous 50 years of Formula One, each decade with its challenges, innovations, constraints, racing stars, tragedies, etc.
In this blog, I will review the decade that led us to what Formula One is today as numerous changes in the regulations shaped, for better or worst, the sport that we enjoy and defines our passion.
We finished the last blog with the most improbable success story in history, a team on the brick of collapse, winning, convincingly, the Constructor's and Driver's World Championship. Something multi-billion-dollar corporations like Toyota have not achieved as a Constructor or an engine supplier, they didn't even win a race in seven years.
The beginning of the decade brought back one of the legendary teams in Formula One, Mercedes-Benz returned to the sport they quit in 1955 as a full-time constructor, they supplied powerplants to McLaren from the late 1990s. Another story captured headlines that off-season. Michael Schumacher, who after three years as technical advisor for Ferrari and a year competing in a Motorcycle championship, announced his return to the sport as a full-time driver for the newly formed Mercedes-Benz F1 team, with a young Nico Rosberg hired as his teammate.
Some people may forget or don't know that Michael, after his Formula 3000 years, enrolled in the Mercedes Driver's Academy and became a Mercedes-Benz factory driver. His big break, driving for Peter Sauber's Mercedes-Benz team in the early 1990s on the World Endurance Championship or WEC, Schumacher won it in 1991.
Michael Schumacher had a discreet return to Formula One, but his know-how developing the car proved invaluable. Toto Wolff later declared that Michael helped to lay the foundation for the future success of the team. On the track, Schumacher was outperformed most of the time by his younger teammate, Nico Rosberg, but there were still flashes of brilliance, like his pole position in Monaco in 2012. Schumacher only scored a podium during his second venture in Formula One, at the European Grand Prix in 2012, where he finished third. He retired at the end of the 2012 season, leaving the door open for Lewis Hamilton to join the Silver Arrows.
Several changes announced by the FIA will change the sport forever:
A Base 10 system replaced the Base 8 system implemented in 2003, re-fueling was forbidden, automated jacks to lift any part of the vehicle during a pitstop were banned. Bridgestone announced it would be retiring from Formula One, and for 2011 Pirelli will be the sole tire supplier.
As a result of the economic crisis, several car manufacturers quit the sport: BMW sold its team to Peter Sauber and continued as a title sponsor even when they were using Ferrari engines, Scuderia Toro Rosso became an independent team after years of relying on Red Bull to procure their chassis, Renault sold 75% percent of their stock to Genii Capital to secure their viability, the team never changed names, and the engine development continued under the Renault umbrella, once the economic situation stabilized, the French automaker took back control from their partner.
Defending World Champion, Jenson Button, failed to negotiate a contract with Mercedes-Benz and was then hired by McLaren. The team from Woking had the last two World Champions on their payroll. It was the first double champion line-up since the Prost-Senna years. Jenson secured this place because Kimi Raikkonen failed to negotiate a contract with McLaren and took a two-year sabbatical from F1.
Fernando Alonso left Renault and joined the Scuderia, pursuing that elusive third World Championship. A young Nico Hulkenberg joined Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello at Williams, and Sebastian Vettel paired with Mark Webber at Red Bull.
The young German driver debuted with Williams in 2006 as a test driver. Due to an accident suffered by Robert Kubica's at the Canadian GP, he took Kubica's place at the US Grand Prix, where he qualified an impressive seventh place and finished eight, becoming the youngest driver to score points in the World Championship.
Several drivers made their debut during this period: Sergio Pérez, Daniel Ricciardo, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Roman Grosjean, Valteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, and others, a new generation to challenge the establishment.
Red Bull hired Adrian Newey in 2006. After four years working with the Milton Keyes team and with the very talented Sebastian Vettel as part of the number one team, it seemed that all the pieces were together for the team to succeed.
With only four manufacturers left after the financial storm, the F1 governing body proposed a budget cost-cap to attract new manufacturers. Four new teams were interested and eventually accepted to be part of the F1 grid: Team Lotus, Hispania Racing, Virgin Racing, and the US F1 team to compensate for the loss of manufacturers. The US F1 team planned as the only non-European manufacturer never got the financial support required, so it never made it to the grid.
The proposed budget cap, rejected by the established teams, and as a consequence, the three new entries never had the budget to compete with the mid-field teams, much less the top manufacturers. They always ran at the back of the field until they eventually disappeared, Hispania Racing team in 2012, Catherman (formerly Team Lotus) in 2014, and Manor (formerly Virgin and Marussia in 2016)
The stage set and the decade began with a very close fight for the Driver's Championship where four drivers had a chance to win it at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, the Red Bull teammates (Vettel and Webber), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren). After a masterful drive by Vettel combined with an ill-timed pit stop strategy for Alonso, he only needed to finish 4th to claim the Championship but got stuck behind Vitaly Petrov. Not able to pass the Russian driver Alonso finished a disappointing 7th place; allowed the German driver to win; not only the race but the Championship.
Red Bull had secured the Constructor's Championship in Japan, making it the first for the former Jaguar team. It was also the third time in Formula One history that the Driver's World Champion only led the Championship after the last race of the season; the other two: 1964 and 1976.
Red Bull went ahead and dominated the beginning of the decade, winning four back-to-back Driver's and Constructor's Championships (2010 -2013); the Austrian team reign was coming to an end, a result of a new regulation under development by the FIA.
In 2014 new engine regulations will shake the establishment. The 2.4L V8's that dominated the sport since 2006 were going to be replaced by a 1.6L turbo-hybrid engine; the first time turbos were back since the ban in 1989. These engines, now known as power units, will have six key elements: The Internal Combustion Engine or ICE, the turbocharger, the Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic, that collects power while the car is braking, the Motor Generator Heat Unit, which gathers energy as is expelled thru the exhaust, the Energy Storage which functioned as batteries and the Control Electronics that included the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and the software to manage the entire power unit. As you can see, the new formula created additional complexities to the manufacturers; it will remove the reliability factor the teams enjoyed with the simpler and more robust naturally aspirated engines.
The new engine regulations were under development for a couple of years, and one team focus on its development like no other: Mercedes-Benz. For the German manufacturer, the focus was to develop the most powerful and reliable power unit based on the new specifications. Mercedes-Benz headquarters established in Brackley, UK, but they did something unique; at the time unheard for a factory team, they maintained a separate factory for its power unit in Brixworth. This facility was the one used from their time as an engine supplier for McLaren in the 90s. The unusual move allowed the team to focus resources on the chassis at Brackley and the power unit at Brixworth, collaborating in the areas required like fit and finish but preventing the cannibalization of resources that impact teams to meet critical or urgent milestones.
When Lewis Hamilton signed for Mercedes in 2012, every expert, pundit, and the average fan thought it was a risky or even career-ending move. Please remember that McLaren, the team he was leaving, was an established powerhouse. The team that helped him achieve the Driver's Championship and maintained their competitiveness thru the years. Mercedes-Benz was not a contender for the Championship when Hamilton signed for them, but after discussing the offer with Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff, he saw the potential.
McLaren maintained their Mercedes partnership until 2014, but the chassis was not competitive, failing to score a podium in 2013 and only one in 2014 at the Australian GP. For the 2015 season, an attempt to emulate their success from the late 80s and early 90s, McLaren re-establish its partnership with Honda. The relationship didn't prosper as expected and, by 2017, McLaren was a customer team for Renault power units. Honda began a relationship with Toro Rosso (now Alpha Tauri) and eventually with Red Bull.
During his first two years at Mercedes, Hamilton and Rosberg were able to show the potential of the car winning a couple of races. The German team had several podium finishes; they were continuously finishing in the top ten positions but, in 2012 and 2013, the battle was between Red Bull and Ferrari. The Austrian squad won both times, Vettel ahead of Alonso, even Kimi Raikonnen, who returned after his two-year sabbatical, finished third ahead of the Silver Arrows drivers in 2012, and Mark Webber did it in 2013.
With the new specification, the team from Brackley began a dynasty that continues to this day. Challenged initially by Ferrari and then by Red Bull, Mercedes-Benz is so dominant they've won the Driver's and Constructor's Championships a record seven times in a row. Lewis won six out of the seven Driver's World Championships, except for 2016, where Nico Rosberg won the Championship on the last race of the year. Lewis tied in 2020 the record of Michael Schumacher as a 7-Time World Champion, a record I never thought was going to be equaled, as Michael said in an interview when asked about Lewis and his legacy: "Records are there to be broken" Lewis Hamilton is now in sole possession of several of the records that once belonged to the German Driver: Most wins (94 vs. 91), most Pole positions (97 vs. 68), more podiums (163 vs. 155), and several others for a total of 36. But is he the best of all time? Or is it Schumacher? Vettel? Senna? Stewart? Prost? Clark? Fangio?
This era will come to an end in 2021, postponed due to the Global Pandemic, new car specifications expected in 2022, additional design restrictions for engine and chassis, all in pursuit of a more competitive series, but that is the subject of a different blog.
Next week, I will analyze each era and share my opinion about this fascinating and controversial topic as a conclusion for the series. If you enjoyed the blog: hit the "like" button, and please share it with other enthusiasts.
Once again a very entertaining and well documented trip back memory lane!