Mercedes making domination exciting

Seems it's all over bar the shouting. Pending an unexpected mid-season rules change to hinder it, a tremendous dose of bad luck or a baffling bit of self-destruction, Mercedes is well on its way to the 2014 Formula 1 world championship.

The team's rivals can dream of finding the gains needed to overhaul it, and the German car manufacturer's top brass can talk of being cautious because nothing is won yet, but let's get realistic here.

For the extent of its current advantage - both in terms of on-track pace and off-track points - means that Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are going to enjoy an exclusive battle for title glory this year.

The Brackley express train is rolling and it will not be stopped until those F1 crowns have been scooped up. Any hopes its pursuers had of making the necessary steps to close the fight in Spain last weekend were spectacularly dashed. For, if anything, the extent of Mercedes' advantage prompted talk of it winning every single race this year.

Having faced suggestions earlier in the campaign that its advantage was all about the engine, the stunning performance of the newly renamed F1 W05 Hybrid around the swoops of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya showed that its aero is on top form, too.

If Red Bull was closer, Mercedes would have less freedom to entertain © LAT

Such a state of affairs may lead many to view F1 as boring from now on, but the extent of Mercedes' supremacy is not actually such a bad thing. It can create positives, in terms of better racing at the front.

Had F1 left Barcelona with evidence of a closer fight at the front - thanks to a Red Bull resurgence or a Ferrari fight back - then that would have been a gamechanger for Mercedes.

Then, rather than just having to focus just on itself, it would likely have had to fast-track a more protective attitude to help its title ambitions and ensure it kept those one-twos rolling in.

It would likely have become eager to call off the fight between Hamilton and Rosberg to ensure that they did not take points off each other and leave the way open for a rival to sneak through the middle.

In a worst-case scenario, Mercedes could have decided that the only way to guarantee its crown now the opposition was close was to impose a number-one/number-two policy to ensure that its top man maximised the points-scoring opportunities.

That need to protect its title ambitions with what is still the best car would have left the way open for some pretty dull formation displays.

Hamilton keeps finding Rosberg looming in his mirrors © LAT

But right now, by being so far ahead, Mercedes does not have to worry so much about protecting itself. Instead, it can afford to let Hamilton and Rosberg go at it hammer and tongs, in an all-out fight for the victory.

Plus the extent of its current advantage, allied to its drivers' green light to race, means that there is strategy freedom as well - which is further adding to the spectacle.

It was this element that helped produce the kind of thrilling climaxes we saw in Bahrain and Spain as Rosberg ended up with quicker tyres at the end of the race in a bid to push for victory.

Were Mercedes' rivals closer, then such strategy gambles would be impossible; there would be too much danger of a pursuer making a leap if something went badly wrong.

So before we rue that F1 2014 is going to be a one-team show in title terms - even if other squads may get some wins in before the end of the season - we should be happy that it will still be pretty spectacular.

Mercedes knows it owes it to the fans to keep its men racing and it knows it owes it to the sport to not think only of its own interests, ie minimising the danger by calling off the fight.

Those risks bring with them reward. For sometimes, total domination can be an entertaining thing, too.