(Melbourne) The three pass for Red Bull? The Austrian team, dominating in the first two races of the season, are the big favorites for this weekend’s Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, while Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari are expected to fight for the runners-up spot .
On the popular Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, much appreciated by the drivers and which should attract more than 400,000 spectators in four days, the reigning world champion team, which achieved two doubles in Bahrain then in Saudi Arabia, could still sicken the competition.
Red Bull indeed seems to have a much faster and more competitive single-seater than its opponents, who are once again likely to fight to pick up the crumbs left by the Milton Keynes (UK) based team.
Before a long four-week break, due to the cancellation of the Chinese GP, the opportunity is good for Red Bull to knock out their pursuers, who themselves hope to take advantage of this unscheduled break to improve their car and reduce the gap with the Austrian single-seaters.
Double world champion Max Verstappen approaches this Australian stage in much better conditions than the previous one in Jeddah, where he suffered from stomach aches before and during the weekend, even though he managed to clinch a superb second place after starting in 15th place following a transmission problem during qualifying.
However, he hinted that he was not fully recovered and intended to take advantage of the long break to regain all his strength. Before that, he will try to break the curse that pursues him in Melbourne, where he has never won and only won one podium, in 2019 (2nd). Last year, the Dutchman had to retire after his car’s engine caught fire.
“Even if he hasn’t been very successful for us lately, I can’t wait to get back to this superb circuit where I love to drive,” Verstappen said. I hope we have a good race this weekend. We must go to the essentials and remain constant. The team hasn’t won here since 2011 so we’ll see what we can do. »
Red Bull’s main competitors do not approach this Grand Prix in the same way. The Aston Martin team, surprising runner-up to the untouchable leader, will thus try to confirm the very good impressions left in the Middle East where it won two podiums thanks to Fernando Alonso.
“We approach this Grand Prix with confidence and we hope to continue our momentum. The car reacted well on two very different circuits, but we are keeping our feet on the ground,” said the Spanish veteran.
The interesting weekend in Jeddah has given a smile to Mercedes, who will try to continue their progress
“The progress seen in Saudi Arabia is encouraging, we scored good points and above all we continued to learn and understand our car. The gap with the best is still significant and we aim to reduce it,” said Toto Wolff, the boss of the German team.
Ferrari will try to get its head above water after a disastrous start to the season. If the performance in Jeddah was better than in Bahrain, the road still seems long to find the Italian team at the top.
“We know what we have to work on. It will be a question of doing what we can to get closer to them (Red Bull), we are determined and motivated to find our best level, “assured Charles Leclerc Thursday.
The Scuderia probably remembers this time last year, when Red Bull was in deep trouble, flying over the Constructors’ and Drivers’ World Championship at the end of the Australian GP… before the problems of reliability catches up with it and it collapses. She’s probably dreaming up the same scenario this year for her arch nemesis!