After yet another round of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship was completed in Barcelona this weekend, Joe Murphy from W2W Reports considers what we can take from the events in Spain regarding how the season is unfolding.
Lewis on fire in Hungary ‘de ja vu’ for Max.
Lewis Hamilton made it three wins from four at a track he has dominated over recent years. After securing his 100th pole on Saturday, the Brit saw himself behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen after turn 1, and there he remained for most of the race. Despite the early setback, a quality drive and bold team tactics by Mercedes caught the Dutchman and his team out and he passed him to reclaim the lead, with only a few laps remaining (lap 60). Max’s pace was near identical to Lewis’, but the change of tyres gave car #44 a new lease of life and from the moment he overtook Max, the race victory was never in doubt. You could almost call it comfortable. Regarding his rival, Max was clearly unhappy on the team radio and will be regretting the fact events from Hungary 2019, repeated themselves. Max is still in the title hunt, that’s for sure. On the other hand, you can’t be giving a seven time world champion too much of a lead without risk of Hamilton running away with an eighth title.
Super Charles
The tagline could, in all honesty, read super Ferrari as Carlos Sainz impressed yet again for the Italian team. However, most plaudits go to Charles Leclerc after a stellar race gave him a second P4 finish of the season. The young driver showed control and was majestic around the track. Not many drivers could match his pace in the same car, that’s for certain. If performance levels such as this continue throughout the season, there is no reason why Charles cannot get a podium or two. His and Carlos’ form so far this season also tells that Ferrari are is a great position to rival McLaren in the fight for P3 in the constructors championship.
Tasty A-team midfield battle foreshadows exciting races ahead
With a few laps remaining, five cars were heading into the same corner within a second of each other. All beginning with the letter ‘A’, the midfield teams; Alpha Tauri, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin and Alpine are very evenly matched. As we go forward into the season, some tracks are bound to suit certain teams more than others. With a seemingly slight gap to Ferrari and McLaren, with Red Bull and Mercedes almost being Q3 and top 10 finish guarantees, there potentially remains only a couple of spots for points. So with these four teams and their respective eight drivers battling for prized positions, and with three of the four teams lining up on the grid with former world champions, you can expect the midfield scrap to continue through the rest of the year.
“****, *******, ****” – Yuki Tsunoda (2021)
After such a promising debut race in Bahrain, the wheels seem to have come off on his season. The Japanese driver is struggling in his Alpha Tauri, as he confessed himself over the weekend. With frustrations evidently running high, the situation isn’t helped by the fact his teammate, Pierre Gasly, has been performing well across the garage. Despite a penalty, the Frenchman did an amazing recovery drive to score well in Barcelona and take away a point. Nobody said it was going to be easy for the rookie, but here’s hoping he can turn it around and have some strong races, as we head into the summer months.
Haas still haven’t finished the race…
Giving Nikita Mazepin a three place penalty is the Formula 1 version of kicking a dead horse. With margins at the top end of the grid so tight, it will be a worry for the American team that the gap to the Russian Driver, in F1 terms at least, was huge. Despite a strong start and gaining a few places, teammate Mick Schumacher also eventually fell backwards and finished over 2 laps behind the lead cars. This is already turning out to be a developmental year for the constructor, with team principal Guenther Steiner already claiming this season is with next year at the forefront of the thinking. It is genuinely likely that Haas will go the entire season without any points at all, it will take a miraculous effort, or 10 non-Haas DNF’s, for it to happen.
Check back later this week for our interview with Mario Isola, Head of F1 at Pirelli.
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 
Half uniform?
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