Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Australian Grand Prix is here, and so are the many talking points that need addressing.
Among the most talked-about is Red Bull’s dominance, Aston Martin’s resurgence, and where Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG rank in the pecking order.
Let’s discuss.
1 Another Red Bull domination?
It is easy to assume that Red Bull will again dominate the third race of the 2023 Formula 1 season, as they did in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The team is a whole upper body ahead of the field, and there seems to be no stopping them.
Max Verstappen won from teammate Sergio Perez in Bahrain, and the two swopped positions in Saudi. But it was Verstappen, who came from 15th to finish second at Jeddah, that caught everyone’s eye. And he did it almost effortlessly.
While the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne offers a different challenge to Bahrain and Saudi, the sweeping street track will likely play into Red Bull’s hands again. The RB19 is quick in a straight line and utterly planted through the corners – the very nature of Albert Park.
This could make it difficult for anyone to put up a race-long challenge for the win, and we should brace ourselves for another Red Bull 1-2.
Still, anything can happen.
2 Alonso poised for the podium
Fernando Alonso, 41, has been a breath of fresh air in 2023, driving the wheels off his Aston Martin AMR23 and finishing in third place in each of the two opening races.
He is clearly the next best driver after the Red Bull duo, and the hope is there, even from Verstappen, that he will win at least one race this year.
But Alonso is careful not to get carried away with Aston Martin’s pace, only saying: “The car has performed quite well on two different circuits so far. However, our feet remain on the ground, and we are realistic that in order to keep scoring strong results we need to deliver in all areas of the team.”
If Alonso manages to dial into his car’s sweet spot once more, he could, at worst, start the race behind the two Bulls, and finish there for his third successive podium of the year.
And if bad luck befalls either Verstappen or Perez, he could possibly find himself in second place, or even first, by the time the race ends.
3 Best of the rest
Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG have been struggling to find their feet in 2023. At Mercedes, the team admitted that their new F1 car, the W14, was not good enough after just two races.
And Ferrari, well, the reliability issues that plagued them last year seem to be back, and then some.
It’s a dire situation for both teams because both have given notice that they would be ditching the design ethos of their current cars for something more akin to Red Bull.
For these two powerhouses to admit defeat so early in the season is not good, but they are, for now, ahead of the other teams.
Ferrari, at least, has shown impressive form during the first two qualifying sessions of the season, but they tend to fall off the pace in the race.
Aston Martin is comfortably ahead of these two teams, but F1’s former champion teams will want to change the situation around sooner than later.
Australia is a track with another opportunity to make an impact on the final result, but by how much remains to be seen.
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