Interesting feature article by Ben Anderson in this weeks Autosport, showing how the 2015 season would be panning out if the Mercedes team had been given a 1 year ban for being anti-competitive - for example in response to fans claims that 2014 was too boring and falling TV figures etc..
Based on just removing the Mercedes cars from the results and shuffling up the other drivers - result is that Vettel would have already been crowned champion and
Ferrari is just a handful of races away from clinching the constructors' title too, and with it a sure-fire ban for 2016 under the new 'dominance laws'.
his conclusion is
Instead of moans about them (Mercedes), we'd be hearing complaints about Ferrari's supremacy, and how Vettel is again dominating the category in the fashion that earned it criticism during his Red Bull days.
F1 would still be 'three-tier', except those tiers would be Ferrari, then Williams, then the rest. The cries for Mercedes' swift return would surely grow more vociferous by the race.
Be careful what you wish for...
Thinkng about it and taking it further, I would suggest that possibly -
Mercedes, having had a year out, might decide not to return, but will continue as a PU supplier to their contracted teams, but without doing any further development to the 2015 version - however they will also have to charge a 'more realistic price' for future PSU supplies as they cannot share costs with their own team.
Ferrari, faced with the prospect of being 'on the bench' for 2016, decide to freeze PU development, as there seems no need to spend money on developments as they are pretty certain they could probably dominate for the rest of the years of the current formula, unless of course Renault and/or Honda start to make significant gains.
I wonder how other posters feel F1 might subsequently pan out, even if we assume Mercedes and/or Ferrari could be persuaded to supply RB/TR with 2015 units - after all RB could hardly walk away given that they would be getting the same spec units.
