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Melbourne (AFP) – On a renewed circuit, the competition between Dutch champion Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, the leader in Monaco, is renewed, with the Australian Grand Prix, the third round of the Formula One World Championship this season, returning to the calendar following a two-year hiatus due to the Corona virus pandemic.
Verstappen, the Red Bull driver, won the second race in Jeddah following an exciting competition in the last laps with Ferrari’s Leclerc, who won the first round of the season in Bahrain.
And it seems that the competition will be fierce between the two young drivers this year, with seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton struggling with his Mercedes this season, knowing that he has started from first place in Melbourne eight times, including in the last six seasons.
But this time the experience will be new for all drivers, as Albert Park has undergone the largest number of modifications since it hosted its first race in 1996.
Seven corners have been modified and two removed, reducing the number of corners to 14, providing more overtaking opportunities and a lap time up to five seconds faster than in the past.
“It will be interesting to see the tweaks on the track, I think it would make a big difference, especially in Turn 6 where the biggest change happened,” said Verstappen, who trails Leclerc by 20 points in the drivers’ standings following finishing runner-up in Jeddah.
“I think there will be more overtaking now which is always positive. It will be interesting to see the car’s performance in Australia, the track can be dusty at times. Hopefully we can have another smooth weekend as a team.”
The Dutchman raced his first Formula One World Championship in Melbourne in 2015 with Toro Rosso, a Red Bull side.
As for Hamilton, who has the most victories in Formula One in history, he won two wins in Melbourne, but the last of them was in 2015.
There is no magic solution for Mercedes
But his chances of achieving this for the third time, also following 2008, seem very slim in light of what happened in the first two races of the season, where the Mercedes car suffered from a lack of speed and control of the Salafist power (which stabilizes the car in the ground), which prompted the Briton to complain in Saudi Arabia. that his car was “undriveable”.
After he was fortunate to come third in Bahrain following Verstappen and his Mexican teammate Sergio Perez were knocked out in the last laps due to a technical failure, he was content with tenth place in Jeddah and one point, following starting from sixteenth place following his shocking exit from the first round of official practice, for the first time. The first since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Despite a ten-day break following two consecutive opening races, Austrian Mercedes principal Toto Wolff admitted that there would be “no magic bullet” for the upcoming race in Australia for his car’s problems.
The world championships have opened every season with the Australian prize since its inclusion in 1996, but it will be the third round on the calendar this year to make time as Covid-related restrictions are eased in Victoria.
Melbourne was missing from the 2021 calendar due to strict entry restrictions and quarantine, while the 2020 race was canceled in a dramatic and chaotic manner just before Friday’s free practice, as fears escalated following a positive Covid-19 test for a McLaren staff member.
Finn Valtteri Bottas, the current Alfa Romeo driver, won his last victory three years ago at Mercedes, 20.886 seconds ahead of his former team mate Hamilton, the biggest difference in his ten world championship victories.
Australia will be the scene of the first race of German Sebastian Vettel, the four-time world champion, following he missed the suspense in the first two rounds due to his infection with the Corona virus.
“For me, following regarding a month away from the car, it will be important to learn during the testing,” said the Aston Martin driver.
“I hope we can take some steps forward in a race that is always exciting and unexpected,” added the three-time Albert Park winner (2011, 2017 and 2018).
Along with Vettel, Hamilton and Bottas, Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Alpine Team) is the fourth of the current drivers to taste victory in Australia, but that happened 16 years ago when he was also with Renault, the team that became Alpine since last season.
© 2022 AFP
