Souped-up Mercedes take fizz out of Formula One season

DANIEL Ricciardo admits it will be almost impossible to seriously challenge Mercedes Benz this F1 season.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo lifts the trophy for third place after the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix.

THE farcical nature of this year’s Formula One championship was rammed home when Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo admitted it was virtually impossible for anyone without a souped-up Mercedes Benz to win a grand prix before the boss of the fastest automobiles in an abjectly predictable business, the three-time world champion Niki Lauda, conceded Lewis Hamilton had become unbeatable in a year-long race ­already over.

The beauty of elite sport: you couldn’t script this stuff. F1 at the moment: running precisely to the script. Hamilton was going to beat Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg to win the Spanish Grand Prix. So he did.

Write the epilogue in hot lead: Hamilton will be world cham­pion ahead of Rosberg. Ricciardo’s joy at jagging a spot on the podium magnified the indisputable shame of the F1: third was the best that Red Bull had been hoping for.

“The race was not overly exciting,” Ricciardo said. “We knew we could not catch the Mercedes but we believed we had better pace than the guys behind. Before the race, we said that third was going to be a good day.”

Vince Lombardi never said nothin’ about third being the only thing. Roger Bannister never said nothin’ about the man who could push himself beyond the pain barrier being the man who’d receive the ultimate reward: third.

Since when did third become the aim? Ricciardo stood on the dias for the first time since officialdom wiped him out of the Australian Grand Prix. “I actually still feel a bit awkward up there,” he said. “It seems at the moment it’s Mercedes who are battling between themselves. Maybe it will be a battle for that last place on the podium with me and Seb in Monaco.”

Lauda, the Mercedes’ non-executive chairman, boasted: “Lewis Hamilton is unbeatable. It’s very simple to say. You cannot beat the guy.”

Rosberg vented before the race at Catalunya. “I’m very disappointed,” he said. “I don’t particularly enjoy coming second to Lewis.”

Sitting next to him, Hamilton shot back: “We knew that already.” Rosberg replied: “Yeah, well, there we go. I’m just answering the question.”

Vettel agreed the Mercs were out of reach.

“Fourth was the best we could do,” he said. “Third and fourth is what we could get. Mercedes is very strong. They have a phenomenal engine, two very good drivers, a very good car and a very good team.

“They worked better than everyone else in the winter and deserve to be in that position.

“Hopefully sooner rather than later we’ll give them a hard time. That’s our motivation … give them a run for their money. It would be wrong to moan and complain about how dominant they are.”

Would it?