The excitement of the season opener in Bahrain definitely lived up to the billing and sets up a mouthwatering prospect of Mercedes vs Red Bull for the rest of the 2021 season. But in a year where 10 of the 20 drivers on the grid are Grand Prix winners, this season’s rookies will have certainly wanted to make a statement of intent. Dan Turner turns his attention to F1’s newest stars and considers their all important first impressions.
Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri
The young Japanese driver from Tokyo made his F1 debut in Bahrain as the only driver on the grid to be born in the 21st century. At 20 years old, is the youngest driver on the grid. Turn 1 proved fruitful for Yuki as he avoided trouble and gained places as a result. He then overtook the Alpine of the rather more experienced Fernando Alonso on lap 27 and if that wasn’t enough, he made a bold move down the inside on Lance Stroll on the final lap to snatch 9th place and secure Alpha Tauri’s only points of the race. A terrific drive from a somewhat disappointing 13th on the grid, given that he ended Q1 as the second fastest car.
Finishing third in last year’s F2 championship, he has been described by some as having an ‘acrobatic’ driving style and by others as ‘F1’s best rookie for years’. He is definitely one to watch and promises to be an exciting prospect for the rest of the season. Teammate Pierre Gasly may have been one of two new Grand Prix winners in 2020, but the Frenchman would be foolish to think he is going to have it all his own way this year.
Mick Schumacher – Haas F1
The Haas team have fielded an all new, all rookie, line up for 2021. Those like me who have already binged Season 3 of Drive to Survive will likely know why, but let’s focus on the driving.
Two wins, 3 fastest laps and 10 podiums made him the F2 champion in 2020 and so there is little doubt that he deserves his drive in F1. It is great to see the Schumacher name return to F1 and no doubt Haas will be using this to its fullest potential.
Qualifying 19th but starting 18th thanks to Vettel’s penalty, it was a pretty uneventful race for the German (forgetting a spin on lap 4 following the safety car restart), finishing last of the 16 cars that made it to the chequered flag. The Haas car is looking like the slowest on the grid this year, with the team’s primary focus on developing their rookie drivers and on 2022’s car with the regulation changes. And so whilst we are unlikely to see Mick regularly in the points, his focus will surely be on outperforming his team mate consistently. You never know what can happen in Formula 1 and no doubt he will be pushing every time he is in the car. After all, if you’re in 19th place and 9 cars DNF, you’re in the points!
Job done then for Round 1 in Bahrain.
Nikita Mazepin – Haas F1
Safe to say, it’s a first Grand Prix weekend to forget for the Russian.
His CV boasts 2 race wins and 6 podiums in F2 last season, which took him to 5th in the championship. There is no doubt that he is a skilled racing driver, but all signs of this talent were unfortunately lacking in Sakir. In all fairness, the Haas car looks tricky to drive, with both of the team’s drivers spinning at various times over the weekend. But it is perhaps the timing of these in Nikita’s case, that is most telling. A spin in the latter stages of Q1 brought out the yellow flags, meaning many were unable to finish their laps, least of all Sebastian Vettel, who ultimately ended up at the back of the grid following his penalty for ignoring them. Come race day, his first F1 race lasted only 3 corners before spinning off the track and into the barriers, bringing out the Aston Martin Vantage safety car for the first time this year. Perhaps the only thing he took away from Sakhir was a new nickname.
He will surely be focused now on an incident free Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola in three weeks time, making the chequered flag and hopefully going some way to banishing the Mazespin nickname before it becomes too familiar.
First impressions given. Let’s see how they get on in Round 2.
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