One-Sided Teams: Conclusions Before Lights Out in Miami
In a Sport with Two-Man Teams, We Are Noticing a Trend of Many Results Achieved Thanks to a Single Driver.
After the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, we saw a couple of things that are getting usual for us in the season already. Despite being quite early in the season with just 4 races of 22 in the books, a tendency is forming and is about the difference between the drivers of almost every team.
Of course, there is always the ‘number one driver’, and ‘wingmen’ like we can say Valtteri Bottas was at Mercedes. But, in this new season, with new cars, everything is different, and every driver understands the car in their own way, this is why it's important to pay attention to these differences between teammates because it can go in one way or another.
And, we can see surprising outcomes like the one happening at the Constructors Champions, Mercedes. Because, not only their car is not in the fight for the title, but surprisingly, Sir Lewis Hamilton is miles away from his teammate, George Russell. Despite the fact that Russell is a talented driver, we all know that Hamilton is a seven-time World Champion and because of this, we could have expected different results so far.
But, at the Emilia Romagna GP, we saw a clear difference between George that finished in fourth place, and Hamilton, who struggled all day long and finished in the thirteenth position… And, this was just a confirmation of what we saw at the previous races, Russell is more comfortable with the car. And, for now, the young British driver is getting ahead of Lewis in the championship with 49 points that are placing him in fourth while Hamilton is in seventh.
But, we all know things can change quickly in Formula 1. And, Christian Horner knows it pretty well, as he was his main rival the past season, he said: “He hasn’t forgotten how to drive in the last four races, so they will sort their issues out and he will become a factor”.
I look at my surroundings, they don't look so different…
As with Mercedes, we are watching this tendency in other teams too. One of the most noticeable is the one between Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari drivers had a close battle the past season, which was won by the Spaniard, who finished 5th in the drivers' standings, while Charles finished in 7th place.
But now, things look different, knowing that Ferrari has one of the fastest cars on the grid, we could have expected that they fight for the championship, but unfortunately, that's not the case, at least for now. Call it discomfort with the car, too much pressure, or bad luck (like in Australia and Imola) but Carlos is falling behind, and the distance between him and his teammate is huge (48 points), even in Emilia Romagna where Leclerc committed a mistake that placed him in 6th position he still managed to have a better result than Sainz… Hopefully, he will return soon to the fight because without a doubt he will add some spice to it.
Since I mentioned Ferrari, it's appropriate to talk about the other two teams with Italian engines in their cars. First, Alfa Romeo surprised everyone with their pace after an awful practice in February, and Valtteri Bottas is the name behind the team’s good performance so far this year. Despite a good first race for the rookie, Zhou Guanyu, who scored a point, he couldn't repeat the feat in the next races, although he was close in Saudi Arabia and Australia finishing in P11.
So, for now, the Finnish is putting the team on his back to maintain them in 5th place in the Constructors Championship, but they will need help from Zhou sooner than later if they want to end the season there, or even higher.
On the other hand, we have Haas, which is experiencing something similar, they are finally out from the bottom of the grid and are competitive. But, with only Kevin Magnussen so far, the Danish has scored all the points for the American team, while Mick Schumacher still remains to score his first point in Formula 1. For now, as with Alfa Romeo, the experience from K-Mag, even though he came back after a one-year absence, is outpacing the second-year driver.
And, last but not least, we have McLaren, that after a first race that left many doubts, were quickly dispelled in the next races. And, mainly by Lando Norris, who is on a positive streak since Saudi Arabia finishing in the points and even getting a podium in Emilia Romagna.
The British driver is responsible for 76% of the points scored by his team. So, the trend is opposite to that of the two previously mentioned teams (veteran driver outperforming his young teammate), but it’s not so unusual since this happened last year too. Daniel Ricciardo never felt comfortable with the car and finished behind his teammate in the Drivers Championship. But, after a frustrating weekend in Italy Danny Ric can start over and hopefully deliver good results for McLaren again.
The best part of falling is getting back up again
Let’s not forget the fact that we are just at the beginning of the season and everything I have written here can change, we saw it at Imola, where many thought that Ferrari would be dominating once again, but instead Red Bull came closer than ever. And, that is what makes it interesting, to see how low some drivers can be and then watch them get back up and change their situation. So, they have an opportunity in front of them this weekend in Miami, lets's see how it goes!
