By Mark Gero
Even before the first race of the season last week in Australia, many predicted that there would be many surprises on who would be ahead of the rest of the grid. Mercedes did this by finishing 1-2 in Melbourne with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli victorious.
But Ferrari, who had such a miserable season last year, has for some reason bounced back and demonstrating Charles Leclerc’s quick start, might, along with Lewis Hamilton, could be a threat to the silver arrows.
As we are now going to the second round of the championship, at the Shanghai International Circuit in China, it even makes it more interesting that it is the first of many sprint weekends that will have less time practicing and getting used to the new cars. But outside of the top two teams, many others have a lot of reasons to complain.
We can begin with last season’s main challengers, McLaren and Red Bull, who finished fifth and sixth, respectively at the last race and both Lando Norris, the defending world champion and four-time winner Max Verstappen, both have heavily criticized the car as being somewhat like a Formula E car, which is powered by full electricity. Even so, the cars for formula one is only half of this, but what is making most of the drivers upset is the ability of the cars to charge the battery on the backstraights as the others would pass them, since they stayed behind and did the same earlier and had a better chance to overtake.
This could be a problem in Shanghai, especially with the sprint race being shorter than normal and the course a little shorter as well than the previous one in Melbourne. But where the problems will occur is that Shanghai produces one long straightaway on the back of the circuit, and this is where the cruising will occur, since this is the best place to pass, if this system was not in place. Will the drivers hold back to pass later the circuit remains to be seen, and since this is only the second race of the season, everything cannot be predicted, since the drivers still must get used to what the new cars can offer.
So, who has the best chance of winning this weekend? It is obvious the Mercedes duo can once again dominate the event, but keep in mind that it is a sprint weekend, and Hamilton, despite his terrible season last year, did take the sprint event here, so watch for him again this weekend to perhaps give Ferrari a victory that could now challenge the Mercedes for the rest of the season.
If there are any others, it would have to remain for the rest of the year, if anyone can challenge the top two. But the season has 24 races, and it could be anything with the new cars that someone will get used to them and make this more than just a two-team battle.
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