Lewis looks in need of a miracle
Hamilton could even fall behind golden oldie Alonso
LEWIS HAMILTON is again looking to mercedes to conjure one of their old miracles heading into the new season in Bahrain on Sunday.
It is advantage max Verstappen as he seeks a third successive title in a Red Bull car that went like a rocket on the same track as the opener across the three days of pre- season testing that concluded on Saturday.
It may even be the case that Hamilton, 38, will not be the grid’s senior citizen closest to the front. That honour may conceivably fall to his former mclaren sparring partner Fernando alonso, F1’ s brilliant dick dastardly who turns 42 in July.
The Spaniard moved to aston martin over the winter, and, after making a career out of bad decisions, he might have called this one right.
The ambitious Silverstonebased team, seventh last year, have hired extensively from Red Bull and mercedes, the result last week being a significantly revamped aston that was arguably stronger than the mercedes in a pecking order led by Red Bull and Ferrari.
Having alonso, the double world champion and one of the best performers of his generation, in the mix would provide the season with an unmissable twist.
not that Hamilton’s mood would be soothed by such a turn of events if it meant mercedes were out of the running. The evidence of their testing was somewhat mixed. a relatively pleasing first day, a painful second, an improved third.
The porpoising that bedevilled them last year has been remedied, though Hamilton spoke of ‘some of the balance limitations’ remaining and of ‘underlying things we are working through’.
a Hamilton/ George Russell victory in Bahrain is hard to imagine, certainly without a thick slice of luck or a magic wand. The need for improvement was implied at the launch when team principal Toto Wolff used the word ‘eventually’ to describe the point at which they would be right at the front.
But can lewis count on mercedes being quite the same resourceful team they were? They lost, among others, engine guru andy cowell in 2020. another question mark is introduced by the death more than three years ago of their chairman niki lauda, the no-nonsense austrian who cut through the ‘bull****’ like no one else because he saw things more clearly than most. Is that void now taking a toll?
as for Ferrari, there were positive public statements from the new team principal Fred Vasseur and his drivers charles leclerc and carlos Sainz for most of the three days. But behind the garage door, they were scratching their heads as they had not expected Red Bull to be so far ahead.
The party line began to crack a touch as the weekend wore on. ‘We have had a good test doing what we wanted to do,’ said Sainz. ‘Having a good test doesn’t mean having a good car.’ In the end, leclerc finished 0.7sec behind Sergio Perez, who completed Red Bull’s programme.
Vasseur has made changes in the six weeks since he took over from mattia Binotto. Ravin Jain has been shuffled up to be chief strategist, replacing Inaki Rueda, who has been slotted into a factory-based role.
as well as the strategy errors that cost them so dear last season, they failed in the development race and reeled from unreliability. The Vasseur impact will be judged in the red heat of competition. as for mclaren, it was a poor test. They openly admit remedial work is urgently required and the team are pinning their hopes on upgrades due in azerbaijan — race no 4.
Only alphaTauri and Williams may be worse off than mclaren, with alpine, Haas, alfa Romeo above them. meanwhile, aston announced that if lance Stroll is not fit for Bahrain after breaking his wrist in a cycling accident, his place will be filled by the Brazilian Felipe drugovich, the 2022 Formula Two champion.