Another dry campaign for Mercedes?

Mercedes go into the first race of the se🅷ason - like they did in 2021 and 2022 on the⛄ backfoot.

While the issues don’t appear as sevꦏere as last year, with porpoising no longer being a hindrance, Mercedes seem no closer to challeng𝐆ing Red Bull and thus for the title this year.

Mercedes struggled throughout the three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain, particularly with rear-end stability and traction - something the RB19 excell𒆙ed in.

It’s fꦆamiliar t🔯erritory for Mercedes, who often perform unspectacularly in pre-season testing.

In 2019, Ferrari appeared the team to beat going int♋o the first halꦯf of the year, however, Mercedes won the first eight races.

Similarly in 2021, Mercedes were way off it following the changes to the floor regulations over the winter, handing the impetus to 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

While it’s clear the issues that face Mercedes currently aren’t as detrimental asꦉ last year, they don’t seem to be in a spot to challenge Red Bull or even Ferrari.

2022 was Mercedes’ worst year in a decade, registering just one win in 22 rounds courtesy of168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: George Russell.

Lewis Hamilton, whose contract with Mercedes runs out at the end of the year, slumped to his worst championship finish, combined with no wins or pole po🍸sitions to his name.

To Hamilton’s credit, he rᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚallied the troops, remained motivated and maintained a positive attitꦰude - but how long can that last?

Several outlets are reporting that Mercedes should be more concerned with൲ Aston Martin, let alone 🌠the top two at the front.

Time will tell to see how m💙uch Mercedes are struggling - let’s hope it’s not as much as it appears.

Can anyone stop Red Bull?

The RB19 looks💛 to be the class of the field, with it being an impressive evolution over its dominant predecessor.

As a result, Verstappen is the clear favourite to win this weekend, and t✤his ye💝ar’s championship.

It would make it three consecutive titles, matching what 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sebastian Vettel achieved between 2010 and 2012.

The worrying thing for their competitors ﷽is that the disaꦰdvantages of the RB18 (2022 car) seem to have been rectified.

They have reduced the weight of the car, improved its performance in the corners, while t♏he RB19 still has incredible top-speed.

On top of that, Red Bull h🍌ave said that the car has been built to suit both driver’s style.

It’s Red Bull’s race to lose.

All eyes on Fernando

Alongside Red Bull, Aston Martin were 🌟one of the biggest success stories of pre-🃏season testing.

In the hands of 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Fernando Alonso, the 🌞AMR23 was hooked up and consistently quick, pa𒅌rticularly in the race simulations.

Alonso reveale༺d after testing that their race stint on day three was “slightly quicker” than Ferrari’s.

Whether Aston Martin 🎐can truly challenge Ferrari or Mercedes for the podium this weekend it's still unclear that the Silverstone-outfit has made incredible progress from the start of last yea♊r.

Let’s not forget Aston Martin were bottom of the constructors’ champions𝓰hip after thre🍸e races last year.

Messy midfield

The midfield looks to be tighter than ever.

It remains to be seen whether Aston Martin or Alpine are able to pull away from that congested ༺pack, but from sixth down, it looks impossible to call.

Alfa Romeo and Haas enjoyed solid pre-🍌seasons, likely benefitting from Ferrari’s power unit improvements over t🐠he winter.

AlphaTauri showed respectable pace towards the end of the test as they look to build on a disappointing P9 finish in the constructors’ championship while Williams enjoyed𓆏 their best pre-season since 201🍃7.

One team that will be fearful going into the opening round wiꩵll be McLaren after CEO Zak Brown admitted that they failed to hit their “development goals” with their 2023 car.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see both McLarens knocked out in Q1 given how much they have struggled, but 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris tends to pull a lap out when it matters.

New drivers

F1 welcomes a number of rookies to the grid for F1 2023.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Oscar Piastri makes ☂his d𒉰ebut for McLaren, and he’s arguably the best prospect to enter F1 since Norris and George Russell in 2019.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Logan Sargeant will become America’s first full-time driver since 2006, when he debuts for Williams, while 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Nyck de Vries (who has one grand prix start to his name) races f♊or AlphaTauri.