Red Bull dominant, Ferrari same same, but look who is back!

Ok, ok, I know I always say I want my racing right at the front, drivers fighting for victories, but whilst Bahrain didn't have any of that, I rather enjoyed the race as a whole. Hell I even said in my last post that if Alonso was back at the sharp end again that I'd stick with F1 this year.

Age is only a number

If you're fast enough you're good enough. This is the general rule in F1. Fernando Alonso is 41 and the oldest driver on the grid. Irrelevant. He is also one of the best, and still one of the hungriest and most dedicated to his profession.

I couldn't believe it when he stuck his Aston Martin in 5th on Saturday in Bahrain. It confirmed what many people had suspected from testing and indeed from the Bahrain practice sessions (when in the latter Alonso was top 3 in the time sheets consistently) - that of the fact that Aston Martin had made serious improvements and gains from last season. Over one lap it looks like they have the third quickest car, more or less. 

On race pace in Bahrain, they had arguably the second quickest car. Whilst the Ferrari's were quicker on the first stint, Alonso bided his time and was just too strong in the second half of the race, the Aston seemed to be much kinder to its tyres compared to the Ferrari (sidenote, was Alonso on different tyres to Sainz? I don't recall). Either way, the race pace is very much there.

Ok LeClerc retired, which helped bump Alonso up the order a bit, but to finish first in F1, first you have to finish. Alonso didn't finish first, but you get my point.

But Alonso robbed Hamilton and Sainz then disappeared up the road later on, having diced with both Mercedes cars earlier on after falling behind them both at the start. I'd say Mercedes are definitely behind Aston and Ferrari.

It is just so exciting to see Fernando back where he belongs at the sharp end. Andrew Benson agrees :-).

Ferrari - same as usual?

The red cars seemed fairly swift early on, though not anywhere near the Red Bull of Max. Indeed, Perez swiftly dispatched both of them to ease into second. Then LeClerc broke down and the pace of Sainz faded towards the end of the race.

And now LeClerc is taking a ten place grid penalty in Saudi Arabia, the season has started off pretty miserably for a team that no doubt had title aspirations.

Red Bull and Max utterly dominant

Both George Russell and Toto Wolff said after the race that they could see Red Bull winning every race this season. I don't think they are too wide of the mark on that prediction. Max was in a league of his own, with Perez 20 odd seconds off in second.

Lance Stroll - One tough bastard!

12 days after breaking his wrists and his big toe, plus some other hefty bruises and the like, Lance Stroll wrangled his Aston Martin to 6th. Amazing. That is why I love F1 - the drivers are absolute warriors! 

Let's see what Saudi Arabia has in store for us this weekend. Will the Aston Martin still be strong and quick? Will Ferrari and Mercedes improve? What has happened to McLaren?

2022 - No regrets, 2023 - Let's go (presuming Red Bull have challengers this year)

2022 - No regrets on not posting

Well, it cannot have escaped those eagle-eyed readers amongst all five of you (I'm being generous with my reader numbers), that I didn't squeeze out a blog at all in 2022. I think that is the first full year since starting this blog with my esteemed colleague in 2010, that I have gone a full year and not dropped one out. 

I'm not going to do any roundups of 2022 or big analysis here now, what would be the point?

At varying stages of the season, and to varying levels, I lost interest in F1 frankly. There were some fun races and some great battles. But there were a fair few dull races, let downs, too, with Max winning what, 15 or 16 races out of however many, the driver and car package started to remind me of Schumacher and Ferrari in 2001-2004 and Lewis and Mercedes between 2017 and 2020 (once Vettel had fallen away mid-season in 2017 and 2018). 

The race winner was more often than not very predictable. I like my F1 with battles for first, not focused on midfield fights for 9th or 10th. Hey ho.

Ok,ok, it would had to have been a monumental 2022 to better the insane championship fight we had in 2021. Let's face it, 2021 had it all and then some (a real once in a generation fight that got nasty on track, like Senna vs Prost etc)! But once Red Bull pegged back Ferrari it felt like game over by mid-season in 2022 (and Ferrari started throwing things away with strategy errors and driver errors etc - question?)...

My head was more than turned by MotoGP in 2022. I'd been following championships past, on and off over the last 2 or 3 years, but my interest exploded in 2022. As my F1 interest faltered at times, my interest in MotoGP grew and grew. The title race was immense, most races had fights at the front and all the way through the field. What a title race and climax at the end, with Francesco Bagnaia looking out of it around half-way, around 90 odd points behind Fabio Quartararo. How Bagnaia turned it around is almost beyond comprehension.

Optimistic outlook for F1 2023

I am hopefully optimistic for F1 2023, and here is why.

Alonso at Aston Martin (I am a huge Alonso fan)

Fair play to Fernando Alonso for snapping up a position at Aston Martin. Alpine were beyond useless on all fronts for securing a driver alongside Ocon for 2023. Apparently they offered Alonso a 1+1 year deal, which if you read the writing on the wall, it sort of looked like they were keeping Piastri in the wings to take over from Alonso the minute they didn't think he was performing.

Alonso preempted them, by buggering off to Aston Martin on a multi-year deal (read 2 or 3 I think?), in the space created by Vettel retiring. 

You're 41, and your current team have left you feeling a little devalued, then a team with a huge development budget comes in and makes you feel immediately wanted with a big deal for multiple years and no doubt an even bigger salary. Bit of a no-brainer really. He is enjoying F1, driving very well indeed, and he wants to ensure he is here for a few more years yet. Aston Martin guaranteed him more years in F1.

Mercedes and Hamilton licking their wounds

Compared to their title-winning cars, Mercedes built a bit of a shitbox for 2022. Hamilton spent more of the early races with different parts on the car in practice sessions, thus negating any good setup time for qualifying and races. Russell drove consistently well all year pretty much. So, both Mercedes and Hamilton will be looking forward to building a race-winning car and thus something to beat Red Bull with again.

Ferrari have to do better, right?

They had the quickest car over one lap in 2022, but through a combination of cock ups and Red Bull improving, they managed to fritter away any title possibilities fairly early on in the season really. If they can build a fast car again and rid themselves of their strategy mess ups, then I am hoping that, along with Merc, we have a 3-team battle at the front.

Alpine fireworks

Interesting that as soon as Alonso said he was leaving, there were bullets being spat left, right and centre between him and Ocon. It seemed an otherwise ok relationship, aside from one or two very close tussles on track (Ocon blocking Alonso off the grid at Hungary, thus moving them both back around 5 places for one!).

Now we have Gasly alongside Ocon. These two famously fell out a few years ago. It is all nice and cordial at the moment. Of course it is. Two French drivers in a French team, they have to appear to be making an effort. I guarantee it will go to shit on track and the relationship will dissolve very quickly in 2023, which is fantastic for the neutrals! After all, looking back, it does seem to be Ocon a lot of the time who has on track prangs with teammates.

Stupid rules (will be broken!)

The silliest rule yet, that F1 drivers cannot speak about politics or religion without prior permission, is beyond stupid. In this day and age, some drivers like using F1 as a platform to raise awareness of things going on in the world. But F1 has to think about the money of course. What if our star driver offends this country with horrific human rights records that gives us buckets and buckets of money? Pft!

That is all I can think of for now. See you again soon in 2023! Next up, car launches!!!