Formula One: 7 Reasons This Is Best F1 Season EVER

4. Development Race

McLaren finished first and third in the first race in Australia. Since then they have fallen way behind in the championship, although recent upgrades brought to Hockenheim seemed to have propelled them back to the front of the grid (in the dry at least). At various points of the season McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, even Mercedes, Williams and Sauber, have all had the fastest car on the grid, and each week someone brings updates that move them up the order. Both championships are still close, once you remember it is 25 points for a win nowadays, and even though Alonso and Red Bull lead the Drivers€™ and Constructors€™ Championships respectively, it would surprise no one if the names leading the championships change when we enter the autumn.

3. Tight Grid, Plenty of Winners, Fantastic Races

We€™ve covered how closely matched the teams are but it is worth repeating. The big teams are no longer sure of walking into Q3, although starting in the late teens or twenties on the grid has not stopped the likes of Rosberg, Webber and Raikkonen from storming to a good points haul at the end of the race. They have turned around bad qualifying performances thanks to having more fresh tyres. The Pirellis are proving as temperamental as ever, as demonstrated when Alonso€™s rubber expired on his Ferrari in Canada with six laps to go and he fell from first to fifth, and in China Kimi Raikkonen fell from second to fourteenth. Added to this has been inclement weather, with rain effecting over half the races in one way or another. Wet qualifying has been followed by a dry race, while the rain in Malaysia nearly saw Sergio Perez, in the Sauber, take the win. Unfortunately he had to settle for second.