Formula One mid-season report: Lewis Hamilton back in charge but Sebastian Vettel has the speed to mount title challenge

On the up: Lewis Hamilton comes from behind in stunning style to win the last Grand Prix, in Germany
AP

With the Formula One season at halfway, Standard Sport assesses the leading teams and their drivers

Mercedes

It has been unfamiliar territory for Mercedes having been rattled in the early part of the season by a genuine title threat coming Ferrari.

That cool, calm exterior oozing from team boss Toto Wolff down to the team mechanics has, at times, evaporated, as perhaps best highlighted by the strategy error which threw Lewis Hamilton’s Austrian Grand Prix into disarray.

But in a yo-yoing title race, Hamilton’s German Grand Prix victory a week ago has put him back in the ascendancy with a 17-point advantage over Sebastian Vettel.

Title leader: Lewis Hamilton
AP

Looking back on the season so far, Hamilton has had far from a smooth ride waiting until the fourth race of the season in Baku to enjoy his first victory having appeared streets ahead in terms of pace and reliability during the winter.

A team misjudgement denied him the win in Australia, and he played second fiddle at Mercedes in the subsequent races in Bahrain and China.

Since then, he has only been off the podium once in the races he has finished, picking up four victories and being rewarded with a £40million-a-year deal.

It has not been to everyone’s tastes, however, with former world champion Jacques Villeneuve comparing him to Jesus after his last win. “The way he knelt next to his car after his problem in qualifying looked like the suffering of Christ and what he said afterwards was the Sermon on the Mount.”

Bottas, meanwhile, has impressed sufficiently to warrant a one-year contract extension, and has been told by Mercedes he is still clear to race his teammate.

Ferrari

Few teams wear their heart on their sleeve quite like Ferrari and there is a rawness to the team in the wake of Sergio Marcchione’s shock death this week following complications from shoulder surgery.

In a nod to the Fiat Chrysler boss (and effective overseer of Ferrari’s F1 operation), both cars will carry a black sash on their nosecone at the Hungaroring.

On the race track, Vettel knows that he should, in reality, be in a stronger position than he is now let down by a number of errors, his latest in Germany a week ago.

His first mistake came at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – coinciding with an upturn in fortunes for Hamilton – as the German decided to push for the win, spun and dropped down to fourth.

Costly errors: Sebastian Vettel
REUTERS

Vettel was censured for a collision with Bottas at the French Grand Prix, from which he clawed his way back to fifth, while he threw away a certain victory on home soil when he misjudged the track conditions as spots of rain began to fall resulting in him spinning out of the lead and the race last weekend.

But the car is quick to the extent that Mercedes finally conceded it had been eclipsed for straight-line speed.

Merc and other rivals have suggested Ferrari must be doing something untoward or at least clever with their engine recovery system while others believe a trick of its wing has played a key role in the increased pace.

Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, has once more been made to play second fiddle but boasts seven podium finishes this season.

Red Bull

Red Bull has had its moments to shine such as Monaco where the street circuit’s tight twists and turns played to the strengths of the Adrian Newey-designed car as well as diminishing, albeit temporarily, the lack of power of the Renault.

The Hungaroring is another venue that ought to give Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen a track on which to shine with its low and mid-speed.

Aged 20, Max Verstappen is still seen as the future of Formula 1 but had the start of the season he blighted his copybook with crashes at race after race leading to Hamilton branding him “a d***head” after one mishap.

Future of the sport: Max Verstappen
AFP/Getty Images

Barring the British Grand Prix when he spun off – admittedly a brake issue rather than any youthful impetuosity – he has eclipsed teammate Daniel Ricciardo at four of the last five races.

In so doing, he has erased a sizeable gap between the pair to leave him just a point behind thanks in part to his sole victory this season at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The frustration at the lack of oomph under arguably the best chassis on the grid courses through the Red Bull garage, a frustration which has resulted in a parting of ways with Renault after this season and a move to the arguably even more uncertain Honda power until.

How much of a bearing the focus on 2019 and that new partnership has on this season will materialise after the summer break but Red Bull should be in the mix for more race wins this weekend and again at the Singapore Grand Prix at the very least.

The rest of the grid

Away from the top three, Renault have comfortably been the best of the rest in no small part down to Nico Hulkenberg, the German’s run to fifth at his home race described as “remarkable” by team boss Cyril Abiteboul.

Teammate Carlos Sainz Jr, similarly highly rated, has been undone by misfortune with four race retirements already in 2018.

Their closest challengers, Force India, are feeling the pinch as talks continue with new investors to the extent that Sergio Perez effectively gave the ultimatum of investing properly or else he would jump ship to Haas.

It is an annual problem that Force India fall away in the second half of the season with a lack of investment available to upgrade the car, thereby meaning it is unlikely the team will get anywhere near the excellent podium Perez earned in Baku.

Best of the rest: Nico Hulkenberg and Renault
EPA

Kevin Magnussen has improved his reputation no end at Haas with seven top-10 finishes, including a best fourth in Austria, while teammate Roman Grosjean – with just two points finishes – has dented his to the extent that the team are looking to replace him.

As ever, Fernando Alonso continues to exceed expectations in a far from competitive McLaren, which shows the team landing the blame on Honda last year was not exactly warranted. Even with a Renault power unit, they are still relatively uncompetitive.

Talks of Freddo bars as bonuses for staff and a management upheaval, the most recent twist of which is James Key’s imminent arrival from Toro Rosso, have been unsettling.

But Alonso is confident about 2019 with 70% of the time spent at the team’s Woking headquarters on next year’s cars rather than worrying about the 2018 machinery.

Key’s former team have been scrapping it out for the minor placings with Sauber, who have unearthed F1’s latest driver gem in Charles Leclerc for whom the plaudits have come thick and fast, with a possible drive with Ferrari the potential outcome in the wake of his seven podiums.

As for Williams, the present and future looks bleak to the extent that its last world champion described the team as “dead” recently.

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