Selection box - The next big thing - Turning love to hate, and delving into those statistics
Published by Christine
As December drags towards its festive and inevitable conclusion, the final tributes to the 2014 season are being paid. Whilst many are already looking ahead to what next year will bring, there's still time to squeeze in just a little bit more reviewing of the Formula One action we saw this season. Much of it surrounds Lewis Hamilton, the new champion, particularly as he was also crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year this week. But we'll start with a driver who isn't quite ready to win championships... but is he heading in the right direction?
Esteban Gutiérrez has ditched Sauber this year, or perhaps it was they who did the ditching, and he's taking a step towards a bigger team but a smaller role. The question is, can you get the most out of testing these days?
With Ericsson and Nasr announced as Sauber’s race drivers for 2015, it seems that the Mexican has felt himself ousted from the team, and so has sought a new challenge with the Scuderia. He should take caution though – getting lost in the testing wilderness is all too common for decent drivers. It happened to Pedro de la Rosa, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Allan McNish.
We've featured a few posts by Ernie Black before, but now our resident poet has put his mind to trickier topics, just what is the best way to run this complex and crazy sport. From the budgets to the calendar, he's got a view on what could work to rebuild F1's lost momentum.
Some might agree that I’m not a numbers guy, but you needn’t be a scholar to understand that the Formula 1 calendar needs to change its schedule. I struggle to comprehend why all Formula 1 races in certain time zones are not scheduled together. I would have to believe, for instance, that all rounds in North America should occur on a back-to-back basis. European rounds can easily be scheduled to occur together as can Asian rounds.
A couple of Hamilton related posts, sort of. As mentioned the BBC crowned their personality contest winner this week. SPOTY is not something I've been on board with ever since they conveniently forgot that women existed, although they have taken steps to right those wrongs. This post is interesting at looking for the reasons behind the winning vote, engaging with fans, the timing of your success, and much more.
McIlroy’s majestic success at Hoylake was five months ago. In contrast, Hamilton secured his second title in fine style only three weeks ago in Abu Dhabi, a performance of impressive mental fortitude to stay ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg. Fresh in the public’s memory, the timing of these respective victories may have proved crucial to the voting.
The BBC have also spent some time collating statistics from the season just gone, and although they admit themselves that they're focusing in on the Mercedes duo right from the start, there are still a few surprises in there, including which driver managed to complete the most number of laps over the course of the year.
BBC Sport has compiled all the key numbers for the 2014 season, with a strong focus on Hamilton and Rosberg as well as some interesting numbers on the other drivers on the grid. Find out who was the best starter, which driver accumulated the most penalties and who completed the most laps. As well as looking in detail in 2014, we also put Hamilton's achievements in a historical context by seeing how he compares to previous champions.
Finally, we're still trying to get our head around seeing Vettel in red, but it had never occurred to me that for Ferrari fans, they're having to reconcile an entirely different problem. How do you go from reviling to revering the four times world champion?
Let's be honest, the idea of Sebastian Vettel in red will be will make a good portion of the Tifosi gag. This is, after all, the man synonymous with the worst thing that has happened to Ferrari fans in recent years: those cheating soft drink salesmen who conspired to keep from them what should have rightfully been theirs: every world championship since 2010.
