Solid marks for F1 at the mid-year mark

THE 2015 Formula 1 season has now reached its halfway mark, and, just like in 2014, it is still the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team lording it over the championship standings.

Defending champ Lewis Hamilton still leads the drivers championship with 202 points, with teammate Nico Rosberg coming in at a close second with 181. Ferrari transferee Sebastian Vettel, who left the Red Bull team that gave him four Drivers championships, is currently in third place with 160 points. Winning Malaysia and Hungary this year certainly placed a smile on the four-time champ’s face. Vettel not only equalled Ayrton Senna in the all-time win list, he also put a dent in the dominance record held by Mercedes. The Ferrari power unit and aero kit are a vast improvement from the Red Bull kit.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams Martini Racing holds on to fourth with 77 points. Closely behind Bottas is the ever stoic Kimi Räikkönen of Ferrari with 76 points.

The Constructors Championship is nearly a foregone conclusion, with Mercedes leading Ferrari by 147 points, 383-236, and if Mercedes keeps to form and doesnn’t commit silly mistakes, like what happened at Hungaroring, their hold on the leaderboard will not be threatened any time soon. Add to that Räikkönen’s propensity of failing to score much-needed points for his team, and Mercedes will further tighten its grip of the Constructors trophy.

Williams Martini Racing is in third, 232 points adrift. Behind the team from Grove, and rounding up the top 5 are Force India with 39 points and Lotus with 35 points.

Team McLaren, once a perennial title contender, has now fallen off the radar, and is languishing just above the team in last place, Manor Marussia. Honda, the proud Japanese marque that is has been engine supplier to multiple constructors champions, has to provide the team from Woking with a power unit capable of mixing it up with the big boys. During the pre-season tests, there were high expectations for the Honda-McLaren partnership. Excluding their results in Hungaroring, McLaren has to get its act together and work to provide a decent challenger to both Alonso and Button.

DHL, the international courier and proud logistics sponsor for Formula 1, has been awarding the drivers who have set the fastest lap times in the grand prix.

This year, Lewis Hamilton has claimed four fastest-lap titles, namely in Australia, China, Spain and Silverstone. Other notable winners are Rosberg, who did the deed in Malaysia and Austria, and Räikkönen who took the title in Bahrain and Canada. Aussie Daniel Ricciardo won the honor for his drive in Monaco, and recently in Hungary.

There is still a lot to play for, with nine races to go and a maximum of 225 points on offer.

Vettel, Rosberg and even Hamilton can’t rest easy. Any one of them can secure the 2015 championship. All they have to do is win all the remaining races.

It won’t matter where the others end up—the points haul will be insurmountable. On the flip side, failing to score in any of the races could seriously hamper their title aspirations and open the door for their rivals.

Formula 1 is now on its annual summer break, and if the teams can tweak their cars for the late season run, then we expect fantastic racing from Belgium onwards.