So much for that fantastic McLaren chassis.
At this point, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they aren't on the podium this year either. McLaren have become Williams.
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So much for that fantastic McLaren chassis.
At this point, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they aren't on the podium this year either. McLaren have become Williams.
Maybe it's my lack of excitement for f1 but for some reason I don't feel either's fifth wdc would be that much of an historical event. They had it easier than others before. They landed from very young ages in very good teams and had the benefit of long spells of driving dominant cars. I'll just roll my eyes when i hear about how Hamilton set some new world record.
As a quick recap from quali, this seems to be the pecking order:
1. Mercedes
2. Ferrari
3. Red Bull
4. Haas
5. Renault
6. McLaren
7. Force India
8. Williams
9. Toro Rosso
10. Sauber
Pretty much what most of us expected, except from the Haas performance, which is a bit better than we predicted; and maybe McLaren being a tad worse than we expected. Let's see how it goes tomorrow in the race.
Alonso may have a point after putting the Mclaren ahead of both Renault. But l think they are behind the Haas. Mclaren and Haas are top of the midfield. I expect to see some great inter team racing between these two teams as they fight for the dominance of the midfield.
Well, at least in Melbourne -which is a fairly odd circuit, anyway-, Haas was clearly ahead of McLaren and Macca was pretty much even with Renault; even if they were ahead, it was only very slightly. Keep in mind, for instance, that Vandoorne couldn't get close to Hülkenberg after he was gifted a position due to the VSC timing. I don't think there's much to choose between them.
That said, I'd insist on that Melbourne is a very particular track and not necessarily representative of a car's average performance during the season. Bahrain and particularly China should be able to give us a much clearer view.
I would not read too much into Stoffel. not being able to pass Hulkenburg. Verstapenn struggled to pass Alonso in the other Mclaren. I take your point though. We would be able to properly judge what the state of affairs is when get to China l think. That is a track where loads of overtaking is possible. Hence the grid should shake down to the actual pecking order at this stage of the season.
That said, l am super impressed with the Haas.