21st March 2019
The city of Melbourne is often known for its club life and its Australian soaps. What it is also common in producing is confusing Formula One races.
‘Over half a second they could have potentially have,’ echoed Lewis Hamilton when he was asked about the supposed gap that Ferrari have on the rest of the field coming into this season-opening race.
What instead transpired was another Mercedes masterclass in the form of a one-two on the grid and a one-two in the race.
Valterri Bottas dominated from the moment he jumped Hamilton from pole as he built up a 20 second lead over his team-mate.
Thankfully, Hamilton fans like myself found out he had considerable floor damage post-race which somewhat papered over the cracks of a rather disappointing opener for the champ.
I know that passing is virtually impossible around this track, even with the new regs, so I’m not surprised to hear that he backed off as soon as he fell behind. With the season having three engines per driver still, a repeat of Malaysia 2016 is not something I want happening again further down the line.
Despite this, I still believe that Mercedes have more time in their pocket. Hamilton is normally blisteringly quick around Melbourne, and knowing that he didn’t have a banker lap in qualifying must have meant he was slightly cautious through his pole lap.
Bottas said it was the ‘porridge’ that made him so fast. Photo: pedrik
Even so, it was nice to see the gap to Ferrari so big. As much as I don’t want Bottas to be a challenger by the end of the year, I would much rather have Lewis’ main title rival being from within his own team. As well as Bottas drove on Sunday, he’s no Rosberg.
Slightly further behind, I’m just relieved that Leclerc does indeed look like a guy quick enough to challenge Vettel already, and perhaps even overtake him in terms of raw speed later in the season.
I was surprised by the number of little mistakes he had throughout the weekend, but nonetheless it was certainly refreshing to see a new-team rookie challenge Vettel. He might not have the attitude of Verstappen when it comes to decisiveness and arrogance yet, but for sure he drove a great race overall.
As I said earlier, Melbourne can be a bit of an outlier when it comes to races so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the red cars hit the front by the time Bahrain comes. This track often suits Mercedes, and Red Bull will also have gathered a lot of data by the time round two arrives.
The Mercedes looked quick at Albert Park. Photo: Artes Max
Talking of which, someone who needs to gather a lot of data from the weekend is Pierre Gasly. I have a lot of expectation from him after watching his GP2 performances and seeing him outdrive the Toro Rosso at times too.
Hopefully he’ll adjust to the new car too, the way Leclerc has and the way Lando Norris has also for McLaren. Despite the fact he won F2 last year, George Russell was driving for the best team in ART.
So to see Norris perform so well was good to see, especially making Q3 – Formula One needs McLaren to be fighting at the front, and with Sainz too I think there is a lot of potential in him to become one of the best on the grid.
Someone though whose potential we’ll all never get to see is Robert Kubica, regardless of the miracles he has passed to be driving, albeit for a ridiculously slow Williams.
A driver that I grew up with when I first started following the sport, I know how quick he can be. His qualifying in Monaco in 2010 was simply outstanding, and had he got the pole that day he deserved, I’m almost certain he would have won that race.
Staying with the midfield, I was extremely disappointed to see Renault stay sideways in terms of the pecking order. All the promise and investment seems to be being unfulfilled again, and you can’t blame the drivers anymore when you have Ricciardo and Hulkenberg at your disposal.
It was a disappointing start for Ricciardo at Renault. Photo: Marc Alvarado
Their qualifying was bordering on average, but at least their race in the form of the German was more what we were expecting. Like McLaren, you need Renault to be at the front and as a manufacturer with their budget they really should be making their way up the order.
Whilst it is far too early to judge the likes of Ricciardo and Kubica still, I expected a little more but they will both take time.
Unfortunately for the pair of them, time isn’t something that they have in abundance. If Renault perform as they did here in Bahrain and consistently throughout the year, the Aussie could well be regretting his decision to join the team before we’ve even finished the first flyaways.
Photo: Tim Serong
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