Just one week on from George Russell winning in Australia we are off the Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix. I have to admit to having quite enjoyed the first race, or at least the first quarter of it. It did petter out a bit in the second half, but that has always been the way of things in F1 when there are no safety car events.
Mercedes look to have best package to start the season. I believe the gap will close during the year, but perhaps George have already got far enough ahead by that point to not have to worry? Of course, we have the uncertainty around Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, whilst Mr Trump makes up his mind as to whether he has "won enough". Realistically, even if there were a cessation in hostilities tomorrow, these two Middle Eastern races can't take place.
Behind George, Kimi Antonelli (and the Mercedes mechanics) had a good race. I presume Toto popped down to the Red Bull garage after qualifying to thank Max for getting the Q1 session red flagged (or maybe not). Ferrari look to have some pace, albeit about half a second a lap behind the Mercs. Although, we have to see how the different cars and engine configurations perform on all types of circuits. It was good to see Lewis getting something close to finding the mojo that went AWOL in 2025. Don't forget he won the Sprint race in China last year, and it's a sprint race weekend this time around. Whether he has the ability to challenge Charles le Clerc over the course of a season remains to be seen.
Behind the top two, Red Bull will be close. It will be interesting to see how Max performs if he manages a full qualifying session. It also appears that Isack Hadjar might give him some competition in the second Red Bull. McLaren were disappointing in Australia, although Oscar's incident didn't allow us to see what he was capable of. Lando certainly looked out of sorts, although still took fifth.
Did you notice there were five British divers in the top 10 in Oz? Have we time warped back to the 1960's? Ollie Bearman in the Haas took a positive seventh, and Arvin Linblad an impressive eighth on debut. And Audi took points in their first ever F1 race, although they do have the advantage of having bought all the knowledge and experience of Sauber. That said, they have built a brand new power train, which has performed impressively well.
The Alpine Mercedes partnership seemed to work better than the Alpine Renault of last year. Williams struggled, which is a shame given the way they developed last season. I have read that they put so much into ensuring last year's car remained competitive through the season that they took their eye of their 2026 challenger. Cadillac gave it a go, and Aston Martin were woeful. I have to admit to a big dose of schadenfreude at the problems at Aston, given all the hype associated with Adrian Newey joining the team, the hype around Lawrence Stroll bagging an exclusive engine deal with Honda, and the hype around Fernando Alonso, which never seems to abate. Sorry Aston fans.
This weekend will be a huge test for the drivers as they will only have one practice session before being thrown in to Sprint Qualifying. I'm almost excited!
Mercedes look to have best package to start the season. I believe the gap will close during the year, but perhaps George have already got far enough ahead by that point to not have to worry? Of course, we have the uncertainty around Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, whilst Mr Trump makes up his mind as to whether he has "won enough". Realistically, even if there were a cessation in hostilities tomorrow, these two Middle Eastern races can't take place.
Behind George, Kimi Antonelli (and the Mercedes mechanics) had a good race. I presume Toto popped down to the Red Bull garage after qualifying to thank Max for getting the Q1 session red flagged (or maybe not). Ferrari look to have some pace, albeit about half a second a lap behind the Mercs. Although, we have to see how the different cars and engine configurations perform on all types of circuits. It was good to see Lewis getting something close to finding the mojo that went AWOL in 2025. Don't forget he won the Sprint race in China last year, and it's a sprint race weekend this time around. Whether he has the ability to challenge Charles le Clerc over the course of a season remains to be seen.
Behind the top two, Red Bull will be close. It will be interesting to see how Max performs if he manages a full qualifying session. It also appears that Isack Hadjar might give him some competition in the second Red Bull. McLaren were disappointing in Australia, although Oscar's incident didn't allow us to see what he was capable of. Lando certainly looked out of sorts, although still took fifth.
Did you notice there were five British divers in the top 10 in Oz? Have we time warped back to the 1960's? Ollie Bearman in the Haas took a positive seventh, and Arvin Linblad an impressive eighth on debut. And Audi took points in their first ever F1 race, although they do have the advantage of having bought all the knowledge and experience of Sauber. That said, they have built a brand new power train, which has performed impressively well.
The Alpine Mercedes partnership seemed to work better than the Alpine Renault of last year. Williams struggled, which is a shame given the way they developed last season. I have read that they put so much into ensuring last year's car remained competitive through the season that they took their eye of their 2026 challenger. Cadillac gave it a go, and Aston Martin were woeful. I have to admit to a big dose of schadenfreude at the problems at Aston, given all the hype associated with Adrian Newey joining the team, the hype around Lawrence Stroll bagging an exclusive engine deal with Honda, and the hype around Fernando Alonso, which never seems to abate. Sorry Aston fans.
This weekend will be a huge test for the drivers as they will only have one practice session before being thrown in to Sprint Qualifying. I'm almost excited!
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