Can Ferrari disrupt Red Bull’s homecoming by ending their unbeaten F1 streak?
Can Ferrari disrupt Red Bull’s homecoming?
Despite failing 🍌to make the most of their impr൲oved turn of pace at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari left Canada with renewed hope for the rest of the season.
While they were beaten by 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Verstappen,168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Lewis Hamilton and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Fernando Alonso o♔n the d๊ay, the two Ferraris enjoyed strong recoveries from 10th and 11th on the grid.
Not only did Ferrari show impressive race pace, easily keeping Sergio Perez at bay, even on worn tyres when they stayed out under the168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Safety Car, they remained in touch with the leading trio.
Ferr﷽ari’s pace was so strong that Red Bull’s Helmut Marko reckoned the Italian team had the fastest car in Montreal.
After the race, he proclaimed: “I have to say, thank God Ferrari had to 💮start so far back, because they were actually the fastest on both compounds.”
Maybe it was a false dawn…
It was very difficult to get tyres up to temperature ൲in Montreal given the long straights and lack of hಌigh-load corners.
One strength of the Ferrari thi🍒s year, evidenced by their qualifying pace relative to race pace, is how quick they can get their tyres up to temperature.
This was a key element to their turnaround in Montreal and perhaps was a missed o🍌pportunity given their underperformance in 𒅌qualifying.
Two factors that could play into their hands this weekend is that it’s the venue Ferrari last won at, with 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Charles Leclerc taking his most recent win.
Austria also sees the return of 🌳ꦰthe sprint format.
Ferrari enjoyed their best weekend of the year when the sprint format was last used in Azerbaijan as Leclerc took pole for both races before securing the team’s only p🌟odium of the year so far.
Who knows, maybe Ferrari will finally piece the whole weekend together and take the 🅺fight to Red Bull?
Perez among drivers under the most pressure
The⛎ second Red Bull of Perez has endured a torrid run of the races, failing to reach 🍌Q3 in the last three consecutive qualifying sessions.
He’s not finished on the podium since the Miami Grand Prix at the beginning of March - it’s nearly Ju🍷ly.
His sho🍸cking run of form, in an incredibly dominant car, has seen him slip to 69 points behind teammate Verstappen.
More worryingly, Perez is just nine points ahe😼ad o💯f Alonso in the battle for second.
The problem for Perez was that during his first two years with Red Bul♕l, his form suffered during the European leg of the season in both campaigns b꧋efore picking up again.
F1 has a run of six E🍸uropean races, and during his time with Red Bull, Perez has finished on the podium just once (2022 Belgium) at any of the six upcoming venues.
Combined with the prospect of wet weather this weekend, it could be another difficult one for🉐 the Mexican😼.
There is mounting pressure on 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Nyck de Vries amid speculation that 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Daniel Ricciardo would be keen to make a return with AlphaTauri.
Logan Sargeant’s for💛m has been on a downward curve since showing glimpses of pace early on in Ba꧃hrain and Azerbaijan.
One of Hamilton’s worst tracks?
It’s hard to criticise someone who has enjoyed the plethora of success Hamilton has had over the🔯 years.
Even at the Red Bull Ring, he’s won twice before, and took o꧟ne of the best pole positions of his F1 career in treacherous conditions by 1.2s in 2020.
But it’s probably fair to say that Aust꧟ria is one of Hamilton’s weaker tracks.
In qualifying (against Nico Rosberg, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Valtteri Bottas and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:George Russell), Hamilton is 7-4 down in the head-to-𝄹head in Austria.
Two of his qualifying wins, over Rosberg in 2016 and Bottas in 2020, came in either changeable condit💖ions or the wet.
In the races, he’s 6-4 down in t꧟he head-to-head compared to his respective teammates.
As previously mentioned, he won in 2016 and the🐎n the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, while he finished third - ahead of Russell, who had an incident with Perez - at last year’s event.
Given we have Silverstone and Budpaest coming up - two of Hamilt🍬on’s favourites, on ✤balance, it’s fair to say Austria isn’t one of his best.
Sprints are back
F1’s sprint format makes its🍬 second appearance of 2023 in Aust🦩ria this weekend.
The revised format will appear six times this year as or🤪ganisers attempt to spice up the show.
As pe🌼r the original sprint schedule which was introduced in 2021, qualifying will take place directly after Friday practice.
However, a major change for this year was the addition of a second qualifying session which would decide the grid for the sprint race on Satuꦯrday🐬.
On paper this was a good move as it means drivers wouldn’t have to worry about affecting their Sunday chances by taking unnecessary risk and potentially ruining their grid pos⛦ition.
🔥But, the new format means there’s a real disconnect during the weekend with Saturday’s action simply being less relevant or important, reducing the crescendo of a conventional grand prix weekend.
Qualifyin𒀰g on a Friday is a big positive, but if F1 want to continue with this🐻 format, there surely needs to be further tweaks.
Let’s see how it goes this weekend.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies ♊and storylines, Connor is tಌhe heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
