Great race overall for a season opener IMHO.

Max couldn't be touched, but had the chance to get away. Losing some positions at the start kept Checo fighting for 25 laps or so, and made it apparent that the Ferrari can get in the mix and at least make things difficult for the RB. Once clear of Leclerc, I think both Perez and Max just had to worry about tire management for the rest of the race.

As is the norm it seems, Sainz just can't keep pace with Leclerc, and gets into his own head easily. While he was moaning about not being able to defend without another stop, he could have been fighting and had enough left to defend from Hamilton if his head was in it. While Charles was certainly on for a podium until the car failure, Sainz was caught up and passed by Fred, and only a couple seconds ahead of Lewis at race end.

As for the Mercs, much better than many expected. I think George was quicker at first, but stuck behind Lewis he didn't do his tires any favors. He should have pushed the issue and tried to pass on track, or backed off. But in the end not bad for Mercedes overall.


Bottas quietly in the points without much notice. A freaking Williams IN THE POINTS at a season opener with a first race rookie in 12th in the car. Yuki just out of the points. Yeah, the deck has shuffled some for sure. Hopefully it continues though the season.


As for AM, nothing short of amazing for a first race. As expected Fred drove the wheels off the car and seemed to have not lost much of anything in racecraft. His big "twitch" moment on the first pass attempt on Lewis still has me wondering what happened though. It looked like he expected contract and twitched hard to the left. Either way, the sly old guy got it done in style. And for someone that seemed maybe unfit to race Lance did well other than the early contact. I suspect that could have gone bad in a hurry, and the young Stroll will make no favors with either Fred or Dad if he keeps doing those kinds of things. But overall barring that setback, Fred was the second fastest car in race pace.



That kind of jump in performance from AM proves that it can be done, and the "big teams" still have to get it right to stay up front. Between that, the tightening up of the midfield to smaller delta's, and the ability to follow and attack over dozens of laps rather than a couple shows me the new regs are doing exactly what they were trying to do. RB was lucky to get it so right the first year that they maintain pace for now, but the cuts will hurt them with development. Ferrari and others made progress, but I think both Ferrari and Merc are going to be haunted with past mistakes they have stuck with. For the reds it seems to be more reliability and some driver issues with Sainz, for Merc is just seems they got it wrong last year and stuck with it.


Next race could rally change things though. More high speed corners, less forgiving of those loose today, and a new environment to see what cars shine where.