Red Bull, easily the best/easiest car to drive. Max, is clear no.1 driver, so will win the drivers championship. RBR probably champs too, if Perez keeps his end up.
Ferrari, looks quick again. Drivers will take points off each other. Won’t win drivers championship, likely 2nd in constructors, unless they have strong reliability and strategy this time around which could see them sneak it.
Merc, definitely still lagging behind. Interesting that the shut lines suggest the bodywork is modular, pointing the way to the expectation that aero changes are likely. Perhaps stronger come European races!
Aston quick. Alonso, brilliant. They will take points off the top three no doubt.
Ferrari has supposedly been sandbagging. Rumour is 30-40kg more fuel than necessary on every run. Haven’t been on track with less than 20 at end of their run. If true it would explain their reported tire degradation issues.
Mercedes supposedly has a big update on hand. Hopefully not as extreme as last year between testing and first race. Curious how much performance that will bring. They do have a history of sandbagging, although last year…
Was it really predicted for the whole field to be this close? We have even had a Haas in Q3. Fastest and slowest across all sessions is less than 2.5 seconds.
Possibly, but reliability was pretty good in testing.
More likely that some bits will fall of Leclerc’s Ferrari again, while Sainz bins it into a wall somewhere.
Alonso up for a podium if AM get their tactics right and Lewis or George finishing in tandem, the order depending who gets what turns out to be the best of the pit stop arrangements based on hindsight.
Saw the qualifying this afternoon and saw an interview with Fred Vasseur on C4 this evening. What a lovely guy and a great sense of humour. He’s been around for years and have mentored Le Clerc and Sainz. Looking forward to seeing how this past relationship translates into performance and results during his tenure as chief in charge of one of the most volatile teams in f1. Should be interesting.
I hope Ferrari put their fragilities behind them, however they’ve been like that for decades now, bar the Ross Brawn years.
I also suspect that the Merc. will indeed now look a bit different in a few races time. They’ve made it a better car, ironing out the bouncing from last year, but it’s fundamentally flawed, Aston Martin have proved that. Frankly, I can’t remember any time when the far and away ugliest car on the grid was also the fastest. It’s just a wrongun’.
It is nice to have Alonso’s talent in the mix though.
Rarely do I give up on a GP race- but todays completely lacked any entertainment for me.
Hopefully future races will be more competitive at the front.
On another note- missing the GOAT - Nick Latiffi- always good for a safety car to make the races interesting
