W2W Predictions: Round 3 – The Portuguese Grand Prix

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With Portugal the destination for round three of the 2021 Formula 1 season, Wheel2Wheel Reports, as always, gives five key and often outlandish, predictions ahead of the race from Portimao. Last week, despite not foreseeing Valtteri Bottas’ or George Russel’s misfortune, W2W correctly predicted Sergio Perez having a strong Saturday and a surprise points finish, which was unfortunately taken from the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen after a post-race penalty. What could round 3 have to offer?

Hamilton 2 v 1 Verstappen?

The first and arguably most important prediction is that Lewis Hamilton will push ahead in the drivers’ championship in this latest installment of F1 “Cat and Mouse.” A track that Lewis knows well having set a new World Record with his win last time out, the Brit cannot afford to leave any kind of literal or metaphorical gap for Max Verstappen. With still a long way to go in this Formula 1 season, it is still anyone’s game, so Lewis, more than anyone, will know how important it is to remain ahead in the standings and will hope to extend that lead. The gap may only be one point after two races, but you can expect that to increase by Sunday evening.

Danny Ricc Redemption Part 2?

This writer was on the hills of Monte Carlo for Daniel Ricciardo’s redemption story back at the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. By no means is this a prediction for a podium finish for the Australian, I still think the McLaren is too far away from Red Bull and Mercedes for that to happen consistently. However, after now having adequate time to settle in his new orange livery, I do expect Danny Ricc to best his teammate Lando Norris. After an excellent start to the season, Lando finds himself at P3 in the drivers standings, already with a podium to his name thanks to last time out at Imola. His fantastic start has shown just what his McLaren is capable of, very nearly challenging for Pole Position before a lap deletion in Round 2. You’d expect a double points finish for McLaren in Portugal, but it will be the Australian who comes out on top and truly illustrates why he changed constructors in the first place.

Mazepin to beat Schumacher

Arguably the most outlandish prediction this week, with myself not entirely sure how this will happen, but you should expect a stronger race from Nikita Mazepin which could see him out qualify his German Counterpart. The prediction here, is for the Russian to see the chequered flag before his teammate. Mazepin has had a very poor start to the season, of that there is no debate. He has struggled with the transition to Formula 1, off the backlash over his off the track antics, his father’s role in his seat attainment and has spun more times than a washing machine. However, finishing the race last time out would have done wonders for his confidence. With Mick Schumacher also struggling in by far the worst car on the grid, this could be the start of Nikita starting to silence the doubters.

A surprise driver to be out in Q1?

In F1 anything can happen at anytime. Crashes, engineering issues or just plain mistakes, all of which were on display a couple of weeks ago. As Crofty alluded to in our interview, usually the drivers are scarily reliable but there is a chance that a surprise, front running driver, could not make it into Q3. In Bahrain, it was the Red Bull of Sergio Perez and for the second qualifying, it was Yuki Tsunoda’s turn to make a mistake, with Carlos Sainz also failing to get his Ferrari into Q3 at Imola. Could it be a struggling Valtteri Bottas who fails to make the top 10? Unlikely. Could it be Lando himself making an error? Potentially. I’m going to go for Charles Leclerc to be out-qualified and falter over the weekend.

Luck to change for Gasly and Vettel?

The two most unlucky drivers so far this season are these two. Pierre Gasly would have had a sniff at a podium in race two if it weren’t for Alpha Tauri’s wrong tyre choice starting with ‘wets’ rather than ‘intermediates’. A decision that saw him drop back continuously at the start of the race. The Frenchman in the end did incredibly well to finish comfortably in the points. At a track where he was the standout performing driver last year, a better showing should be in order. Regarding Sebastian Vettel, he has to turn it around sooner rather than later. The transition to a new team has seen many new drivers struggle this season, none more than the German. Confidence is low but the time where Seb shows his quality will surely come. He needs to have a good outing in week three, or Lance Stroll, one of the top performers so far this season it has to be said, will yet again show him how it’s done. The track in Portugal gives Vettel the chance to really show audiences what that Aston Martin is really capable of, rather than leaving that duty to his Canadian counterpart.

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