Way before that year, most of us knew that 2014 would indeed represent a season of big changes, with some of them being switching to V6 engines, the introduction of the ERA and a lot of new regulations regarding the nose and the exhaust areas.
At the first winter test, the cars not only proved to be aesthetically unsatisfactory, but also the engines were not able to produce either the same speed nor the sound that the older engines used to produce but that was just the beginning. The worst was yet to come as the new engines also suffered serious reliability problems, with some teams not being able to complete more than 20 laps in the three days of testing.
Although almost every team suffered these problems at least once during all of the preseason testing period, the most damaged ones were the ones using Renault engines, among which 2013 front runners Red Bull and Lotus were found, along with midfielders Toro Rosso and back markers Caterham, the latter ones being ironically the ones who were able to complete more laps during all the tests.
Towards the end of winter testing, some teams impressed with their pace while others kept trying to solve their reliability problems.
Doubt and uncertainty filled fans' and media's thoughts, who even thought about what would happen if nobody made it to finish line on the last lap and with the FIA and race direction having to plan a protocol of procedure for such situation, which in the end never happened.
Round one, Australia.
While there was many retirements, among which Sebastian Vettel's and Lewis Hamilton's were, three fourth parts of the field finished the race.
Nico Rosberg took an easy win with McLaren's rookie Kevin Magnussen finishing second and Daniel Ricciardo wrapping up the podium. Eventually, Ricciardo would lose the podium due to his car having more fuel than permitted, thus leaving the podium to Jenson Button of McLaren, who claimed a double podium on the first race.
Williams' Valtteri Bottas impressed with his pace as he recovered from both his bad starting slot and from a puncture, to finish fifth.
Daniil Kvyät also impressed by breaking Sebastian Vettel's record as the you at driver to score points.
Round two, Malaysia.
With no more engine issues, Lewis Hamilton completed a brilliant drive to take victory ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.
Round three, Bahrain.
Bahrain not only brought an exciting race but also the first of many clashes between the Mercedes drivers, with Hamilton coming out on top after fending off Nico Rosberg's attacks to take the win, Force India's Sergio Perez wrapped up the podium, taking his first podium since Monza 2012 and Force India's first podium since Spa 2009.
Round four, China.
Lewis Hamilton claimed another win, his third consecutive, while teammate Rosberg made a brilliant performance driving his way to second place without access to his car's data. Ferrari claimed their first podium of the year as Fernando Alonso finished third.
Round five, Spain.
Hamilton came on top again after late pressure from Rosberg, to claim his fourth straight win. After losing his Melbourne podium, Daniel Ricciardo got his first F1 podium in Catalunya.
Round six, Monaco.
Lewis' run of four straight wins came to an end in Monaco as Rosberg repeated his 2013 success in the street circuit.
Controversy started right after Saturday's qualifying as Hamilton claimed that Rosberg had stopped his car to force a yellow flag that wouldn't allow Lewis to set a faster lap. Despite these accusations, Nico received no penalties and kept his pole position.
Rosberg was constantly pushed by Lewis during the race but managed to stay on top while Hamilton suffered from big pressure from Ricciardo after the Briton claimed to be suffering from bad sight in one of his eyes.
Kimi Räikkönen came close to get Ferrari's second podium as he was in a solid third place before a puncture ruined his race.
But the highlight of the race was Marussia's Jules Bianchi's ninth place finish, which gave him and his team their first F1 points.
Round seven, Canada.
The domination of the Mercedes came to an end in Montreal, as they both struggled with brake issues, with Hamilton eventually retiring. Late in the race, Daniel Ricciardo took advantage of Nico Rosberg's issue and overtook him, the race ended in a safety car caused by a crash between Perez and Massa in the last lap, thus nobody could overtake Ricciardo and the Aussie claimed his first F1 win, with Rosberg finishing second and Sebastian Vettel third.
Before their crash, both Perez and Massa were doing very good races as they both had the led the race at some point, Massa was trying to get into podium position in the last lap while Perez was trying not to lose any more positions as he was struggling with his brakes.
Only thirteen cars finished the race.
Round eight, Austria.
After ten years of absence in the championship, Austria came back into the calendar in 2014, with it being a very exciting race in which we saw Lewis Hamilton forced to recover positions to finish second as he started eighth, while Rosberg took an easy win after outpacing pole sitter Felipe Massa, who had taken Williams' first pole since Spain 2012 and his first pole since Brazil 2008.
Valtteri Bottas wrapped up the podium and took Williams' first podium since Spain 2012 and his first F1 podium.
Round nine, Great Britain.
Bad luck finally went on Rosberg's side as an alternator issue forced him to retire from the lead, leaving the win for Hamilton. Bottas claimed his second podium by finishing second and Ricciardo wrapped the podium in third.
The highlight of the race was a late battle between Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, from which the German came on top.
Round ten, Germany.
Nico Rosberg claimed his first win in his hometown at the Hockenheim while his teammate Hamilton could only manage third after starting from the pit lane due to his change of brakes and after fighting through the field with aggressive maneuvers that were just in the limit of what's legal.
It was Valtteri Bottas who got in between the Mercedes and finished second.
Round eleven, Hungary.
Light showers at the beginning of the race gave us an unpredictable race, while Hamilton was again forced to make a comeback after running wide in the first lap, Rosberg's tyre choices midways through the race took the race lead away from him, the lead eventually went to Fernando Alonso but a charging Daniel Ricciardo passed him only a few laps before the end of the race.
The podium was completed by Lewis Hamilton after he ignored team orders that said that he should let his teammate pass as they were on different strategies. This thing prove to be start of a bigger clash between the two drivers.
Round twelve, Belgium.
After a month of summer break, F1 came back and we witnessed the biggest clash between the Silver Arrows in all year. After Rosberg claimed pole, he lost the lead to Hamilton in the first lap, he tried to get the position back but as Nico tried to overtake and Lewis tried to protect, catastrophe happened. Nico hit the back of Lewis' car, causing him a puncture, Lewis did not only lost time for the puncture but also suffered damage on the car's floor while Rosberg only suffered light issues on his front wing.
The German would be beaten in the end by Daniel Ricciardo, who claimed his third win in the year.
The podium was completed with Valtteri Bottas, who overtook his fellow countryman Kimi Räikkönen late in the race. Räikkönen closed the race on a solid fourth place, which would be his best finish in all year:
Round thirteen, Italy.
In a race with constant battles on the midfield, the true battle we were expecting between Nico and Lewis turned out worse than we thought as Lewis went on to take the lead and the win only after Rosberg made two mistakes in the same corner.
Felipe Massa took his first podium since Spain 2013 after finishing third.
Round fourteen, Singapore.
Nico Rosberg's championship chances took a big blow after he retired early in the race with electronic problems while his teammate and championship rival Hamilton took the win, with Vettel taking his best finish of the year with second place and with Ricciardo closing up the podium.
The highlights of the race were probably Jean-Eric Vergne and Sergio Perez's late attack that saw each of them recover two positions to finish sixth and seventh, respectively.
Round fifteen, Japan.
The first bitter day in F1 in a long time, the race should have been rescheduled for a few hours later due to the treacherous conditions but in the end the race went ahead, starting behind the safety car.
Only a few laps in, a red flag stopped the race for quite a few time until conditions improved.
Following the restart, it was only a matter of time for Lewis Hamilton to catch pole sitter Nico Rosberg and to eventually pass him.
The race ended on a red flag after the conditions worsened.
It was another 1-2 for Mercedes with Sebastian Vettel taking third place, but the race was overshadowed by a moment of confusion and preoccupation right after the race was ended prematurely, there had been an incident but nobody quite knew exactly what had happened.
Minutes later, the terrible news were revealed. Marussia's Jules Bianchi had lost control of his car and had hit the crane that was removing Adrian Sutil's car. Jules was rushed to the nearest hospital after the hard crash.
Podium ceremony went ahead, in one of the most sorrow filled podiums seen in recent history and a scene that will hopefully won't be seen again.
Round sixteen, Russia.
The racetrack laid around the Olympic Park in Sochi was the venue for the first ever F1 race in Russia.
The circuit gave a really boring race as tyre degradation was almost inexistent and as there were very low overtaking points.
The race was determined by a mistake made by Nico Rosberg early in the race, when he blocked his tyres after getting past Lewis Hamilton, forcing him to stop in the very first lap. However, the German made an awesome first stint that allowed him to finish the race on a one stop strategy and to recover all the lost positions to finish second.
With that 1-2 finish, Mercedes clinched the Constructors Championship.
Valtteri Bottas closed the podium.
Round seventeen, Unites States.
Nico Rosberg claimed pole and had a great chance of cutting Lewis Hamilton's lead in Austin.
He led a big part of the first half of the race until after the first pit stops, when Lewis overtook him after putting a lot of pressure on him in earlier laps. Rosberg wasn't able to get the position back and Hamilton took the win, his fifth consecutive.
Daniel Ricciardo took another podium and finished third behind the Silver Arrows.
Lewis' win meant that he only needed second place finishes in the last two races to win the championship.
Round eighteen, Brazil.
Rosberg dominated every session in Brazil but FP1, he took pole position and dominated the race, coping with the pressure of having Hamilton only a few seconds behind him for most of the race while Hamilton made a mistake running wide in his in-lap, that caused him to lose time and he also blocked the tyres later and those things eventually cost him a shot at the win.
Felipe Massa overcame a mistake in the pit stops where he stopped at the McLaren garage for a moment before stopping at the correct garage to finish in a solid third in front of his home crowd, that chanted: "Ole, ole, ole, ole, ole, Massa! Massa!" as the Brazilian stepped into the podium.
Nico's win and the double points rule for the final round meant that Nico had to win the race and Lewis had to finish third for Rosberg to win the championship.
Lewis only needed a second place.
Neither Marussia nor Caterham raced in Brazil nor in United States due to economical issues.
Round nineteen, Abu Dhabi.
Nico did all he needed to win the championship on Saturday, securing pole position from Hamilton.
However the history took an unexpected turn against Rosberg in Sunday, Nico was easily passed by Hamilton in the start and he quickly lost 2 seconds to him.
After the first pit stops it would seem as if Rosberg could come back but he was hit with ERS and electronic problems, a few laps later it was no problem for Massa to overtake him, as well as Bottas a few laps later. His second pit stop sent him even further down the field, eventually he finished 14th, the championship hopes all over.
Meanwhile, Hamilton took the win after fending off Felipe Massa's attacks late in the race.
With 11 wins in the season, Lewis took his career's second world championships in what he described as 'the most important day in his life'. A fair reward to his, and Mercedes' great effort in the season.
Massa took his best result in the season with a second place and Valtteri Bottas completed the podium, wrapping up Williams' best result in a lot of time.
Under many people's point of view, it was an unfair ending to the championship for Rosberg, and it was, he did deserve much more than losing the championship due to a mechanical problem, much of us knew he could've put a good battle for it until the last lap.
Two things to recognize were his attitude shown as he did not retire as the team suggested and continued racing until the last lap and his sportsmanship as he was one of the first persons to congratulate Lewis for his championship.
The 2014 season marked the end of the Red Bull era, that had started in 2010, the end of the V8 engines era and was a season that, through hard work and effort, Mercedes painted with silver.
2014 also marked the rebirth of Williams, a winning team, that until 2013 had been getting mediocre results. Hopefully they will come back stronger and give Mercedes a hard time in 2015.
The opening part of the 2015 season is just around the corner with the first winter tests less than a month away.
It will certainly not be a season of radical changes as 2014 was but it will mark the beginning of things such as Sebastian Vettel's alliance with Ferrari, the McLaren-Honda era, the return of the Mexican Grand Prix and the beginning of the careers of young talented drivers such as Carlos Sainz Jr's, Felipe Nasr's and Max Verstappen's and also sadly, 2015 will probably bring the end of careers of Marussia and Caterham in Formula One.
We will keep you update on the releases of the 2015 cars and on the outcome of the winter tests so, stay tuned!
Sorry for the delay on this post.
Thanks for the support and for sticking with us (me:P) during another F1 season!
