Yesterday in Jeddah we witnessed what everyone will have to admit was a thrilling contest. 0.5 seconds was what decided it in the end and I ask you a question. Can you remember the last time a race was settled by that amount? Well can you? I can’t. Bahrain was good but that was only one race, after two events and exciting races I think that we can safely say that the new cars are a lot more exciting and that the close wheel to wheel racing we have all craved is now possible. 2022 if it carries on like this promises to be an awesome year and with both Ferrari and RedBull now taking a win a piece it also like like the battle for the title could be another intense one.
Both teams looked pretty even on pace around the Jeddah Corniche circuit and although they were achieving that pace in different ways come the end of the lap there was really nothing in it. Sergio Perez snatched pole position, the first pole for a Mexican driver, after a stonking lap in Q3 but he was only a couple hundreds ahead of Leclerc and when it came to the race picking a winner was a difficult one. To be honest I felt for Perez after he was caught out by the safety car, after making his first stop. I believe he could well have taken the victory if it hadn’t been for that.
What that means for RedBull is that they have two cars that can challenge for wins and collect big points this year. No disrespect to Sergio but last year the team lost out to Merc in the constructors title race because Sergio wasn’t collecting the points in the races. Having Sergio bang on the pace from the get go will music to Christian Horner’s and Helmut Marko’s ears, especially as Ferrari are collecting double podiums at the moment.
Both RedBull’s looking good then and the story at Ferrari is the same. However Carlos Sainz will need to find some more pace in the races if he is not to end up as a back up the Leclerc. Carlos was actually alright in qualifying and for a moment looked as if he may get his first pole position but come the race he just does not seem to have the pace of his teammate and this is a shame. I hope that he can rectify this as the F1 circus moves onto Melbourne it would be a real shame if he gets lost in LeClerc’s shadow.
The two Alpine’s provided plenty of excitement in their early race battle and Fernando Alonso just had the edge on Ocon before his enforced exit from the race, The Alpine’s though looked good the bodes well for Team Enstone.
Haas also continued to impress and despite Magnussen missing most of Friday practice due to problems with the car he again scored points, their car has good performance and they are making the most of it so far. Hopefully they can carry on scoring well.
Haas also provided the biggest scare of the weekend after Mick Schumacher’s massive shunt in quali and all breathed a sigh of relief when it was announced that he had suffered no injuries.
Alfa Romeo and Aplha Tauri also carried on their form from Bahrain and Mclaren seemed to find some form after their horrible weekend first time round. They were still a long way from their pre-season promise but a seventh place for Norris will have soothed some of the headaches at Woking.
Merc though still have a lot to find. Russel was were you would have expected after Bahrain but Hamilton had a nightmare after set up mistakes in qualifying. Salvaging a point tenth at the end of the race wouldn’t have been mush consolation for the seven time champ. Watching the teams fightback will be one of the points of interest in the first half of the year.
So first two races are in the books, the competitive order is staring to appear and the results of the new rules are again looking really good. I can’t wait for Melbourne!!!!
My F1 talk 