Hi, everyone and I congratulate you with the start of a new season of F1!
Formula 1 has had an incredible start with Australian Gran-Prix that gives us a lot of topics for discussions.
On the one hand, the race in Melburn has shown us that you should never ever follow the results of pre-season tests in Barcelona because Mercedes always has an ace in the hole. This paradox happened 4 years in a row! Nevertheless, I always believed that the Red Cars may come back in the championship fight. And I still hope that it’s going to happen in this season. And, honestly, do we have any choices, except keeping faith in that?
However, I decided to have a discussion about a much more positive issue. After a couple of days of the reflection about the results in the tests in Barcelona and the results of the Gran-Prix in Australia, I entirely consider that we are going to see one of the most interesting season of the Formula 1 for long years.
I have a 3 significant reason why it is true:
The fight of the silver arrows
Since the end of last season, when it became obvious that Esteban Ocon will lose the status of a Formula 1 pilot for this season, a huge pressure began on Valtteri Bottas, from the media as well as directly from Mercedes boss Toto Wolf. It's unsurprisingly for everyone that most people didn't believe in Finn from the beginning. To be honest, I'm too.
Notwithstanding anything, Valtteri Bottas astonished each fan who doubters on Bottas’s skills. Finn has won the race and performed the fastest lap of the race.
But it's not that he was fast and ahead of Lewis in the first turn(the reigning champion had problems with the bottom, which radically affected his pace).
I consider that the most important thing is what mood and mentality Valtteri has for fighting in this season.
Bottas is motivated and sporty angry as never he was. I am convinced that he will fight for the title until the end.
The fight for the 4th place of the constructor's championship
The battle for the position “The best in the Formula 1.5” promises to be extremely exciting. Haas, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Toro Rosso and McLaren (6 teams!) have approximately the same racing pace.
Australian Grand Prix proved it all over.
Qualification. From the 15th place of Kvyat to the 5th place of Grosjean in the 2nd segment of qualification the interval is only 0.9 seconds. For comparison, there were more than 1.5 seconds between these positions last year.
Race. The fight of Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Stroll, and Kvyat, and the containment of Dany by Pierre Gusley’s car made the race really exciting.
In the end, I will say that for me, Haas and Renault look like favorites, but I would not hurry to write off the rest of the teams.
Alfa Romeo has a wonderful pace and very suitable atmosphere for the debutant inside the team. Antonio Giovinazzi will not be pressured from the partner and he should not prove his worth in comparison with him. After all, his partner Kimi Raikkonen. Therefore, I think the Italian is able to quickly roll in and also bring points for the team.
Toro Rosso also has no problems with the tempo, as Dany Kvyat proved by holding back the more powerful Red Bull. You say that it is almost impossible to overtake in Albert Park and you will be quite right, but the fact that Toro Rosso is competitive will not cancel.
Maclaren. Norris's terrific qualifications, but a rather dull race and really disappointing weekend for Carlos Sainz. I think McLaren has a pace, but there are also problems with stability, which, in my opinion, is quite fixable. I believe that McLaren will be in the fight.
The fight of debutants
The fight of debutants Alex Albon, Antonio Giovinazzi, Lando Norris and George Russell promises to add even more intrigue to the season. Who will be higher at the end of the season? Cars Toro Rosso, Alfa Romeo, and McLaren are comparably fast and we will wait for which of the riders will surprise us more. Albon and Norris have already managed to retrain his teammates in Melbourne but quieted down during the race. As for George Russell, I personally feel sorry for him. The current champion of Formula 2, extremely talented guy is in a completely uncompetitive team, and the only opponent for him will be his partner Robert Kubica.
Instead of conclusion
I clearly understand that Albert Park is a very specific track for setting up the bolid, so the current situation is not final and I very much believe that the Red Empire will strike back. Well, we'll see it in Bahrain. In the meantime, you can subscribe(if you want), I will continue to talk here about Formula 1 and what surrounds it.
See you later!
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