Liam Murphy

With the new F1 season fast approaching, it is set to be another interesting campaign, with a chance for teams who struggled to keep up with the blistering pace of Red Bull.

Back-to-back champion Max Verstappen, is no doubt, the favourite once again to take home his 3^rdconsecutive, with his car continuing to record the fastest lap time in pre-season.

Verstappen strolled to success last season, all other teams had faults throughout the year, with the Dutchman finishing the season with 454 points, with his closest competitor Charles Leclerc finishing on 308 points, and 7-time champion Lewis Hamilton finishing on a measly 240 points, with him having problems with the car all season.

Looking ahead to the new season, Hamilton commented that some constant issues from last season were resolved, but underlying problems are still prevalent. Speaking to ESPN, he said: “The bouncing that we had has pretty much gone. That’s a huge step for us. It’s nice to drive it without the bouncing in the corners. But there are still some underlying things that we are working through.”

Mercedes still look well off the pace of Red Bull, and look to be for another tough season, much to the demise as well of Ferrari, who despite starting the season strong last time out, the management team constantly making rash decisions that would ultimately cost them.

It was basic errors from the team on the day of the races, such as double stacking in the pits, something that is normally easily avoidable, to constant engine issues. It’s not a matter of if Ferrari have the capacity to compete, it is whether they have the composure to close that gap to unstoppable force that is Red Bull.

Red Bull are undoubtedly favourites again this year, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen will look to push yet again for another constructors victory. They recorded the best single lap time in pre-season testing in Bahrain and were the pick of the bunch. Max Verstappen is happy with the state he is going into with his car this season.

Speaking to ESPN, Verstappen said: “The car is working really well. Just going through a lot of things that we wanted to try, and everything is very interesting, what we have been trying. So very positive days for me. And just in general enjoying driving the car.”

The 3 big boys will be a cut above the rest, but if there is one team to look out for, it would be Aston Martin. They have made massive strides forward over the winter, and with the constant issues surrounding Mercedes, there are talks that if Toto Wolf and co don’t work the kinks out, there is serious consideration for Aston Martin to pip them in Bahrain. 

Driver Fernando Alonso said that they have been experimenting so far, and they have so far found great success from it. It remains to be seen whether they will live up to the hype come the first race in Bahrain.