Done with the Styrian version, Wheel2Wheel Reports looks forward to this third and last installment from the triple header. The last two weeks have been dominated by Red Bull and Max Verstappen. Will that trend continue?
Source: F1.com
Valtteri to stop the rot!
Yes, the first prediction is thinking slightly outside the box, but let me explain my madness. VB is very useful around this track. Without a spin in the pits last week, he may have given Max a closer battle for the lead. He turned 5th into a podium and whilst you can expect Max to be quicker in practise and probably even qualifying, the Finn has a great chance to take the win and narrow the huge gap between himself and the top two. Bottas will need some luck and tactics against the frankly quicker car at the moment, but around this racetrack, anything can happen. Also, with not much action last week, we, as fans, are owed some.
Gio in line for points?
Antonio Giovinazzi hasn’t quite had the run he would have hoped over the last couple of races. In what is surely the third slowest car on the grid, the Italian could perform some miracles this weekend and get his car into the points. Much like Valtteri, he’ll need the right circumstances and all the stars to align, but it’s not as unrealistic as you might expect. The Alfa Romeo is frequently very close to the points, sometimes even scoring a few. This week, you can back Tony to improve on last week’s performance.
Danny Ricc redemption, part 2…
Last week was a miserable one for the Australian. The week leading up to his birthday was, quite simply, very slow. He never got close to his teammate, qualified poorly and, aside from a mini carving through the field, didn’t race particularly well either. You just know though, he wouldn’t have settled for this. You can expect a resurgent Ricciardo this weekend, perhaps even challenging for some serious points positions. To do this he’ll need a good qualifying and to make last week’s race a distant memory. This is something his team, McLaren, will want him to do, as that is preventing them from pulling away from Ferrari in third in the constructors championship.
Ocon to struggle again...
Frenchman Esteban Ocon has had a bit of a dip in form recently, and the signs are that this won’t change this weekend. With Daniel Ricciardo, he had the car to score well. Although Fernando Alonso showed the Alpine does have some pace around this track, Ocon will find it more difficult to finish ahead of both Alpha Tauri’s and Aston Martin’s, let alone his teammate. Since signing the 3-year contract extension, pressure has seemed to tell on Esteban. However, with Mercedes a potential future destination he will want to prove he has what it takes to turn his fortunes around. Just don’t bet on it being this weekend.
RUSSELL TO SCORE POINTS*…
* just for Mercedes, at another racetrack, next year. Yes unfortunately after last week’s shout, Wheel2Wheel in all good conscience back George to finish with any points. He did amazingly well to be in contention last week, but with other teams likely to improve, making out of Q3 will be a challenge enough. “Mr Saturday” will finish around 14th for Qualifying, and will do well to even improve on this come raceday. There are simply going to be too many quicker cars ahead of him this week, even accounting for crashes and mechanical failures.
Podium – 1. BOT, 2. VER 3. HAM
Pole Position – VER
Rest of the top 10? – PER, NOR, RIC, GAS, LEC, SAI, GIO
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 