Round 3 of the 2022 season is going to be the Australian Grand Prix, where the F1 goes Down Under for the first time since 2019.
The last time that F1 attempted to race in Australia, the world was still adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic, and eventually, the league committee decided to call it off for safety reasons.
Also, at the time, Mercedes were above everyone in the pecking order. However, they’re no longer the leaders this time around.
Ferrari head to Albert Park at pole positions both in the drivers and constructor standings as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. have 45 and 33 points while Ferrari have 78 – which is at least 40 points over the rest of the pack.
Another exciting race awaits us this weekend, and here are the latest Australian Grand Prix 2022 updates courtesy of SBOTOP.
Ferrari and Red Bull are having fun unlike Mercedes
Here in Melbourne, you’d be bold to not choose either Ferrari or Red Bull as your winners given how they’ve performed in Rounds 1 and 2. Ferrari landed the first punch during the Bahrain Grand Prix, while Red Bull got back on track with a win at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Both teams also performed well during FP1 recently, while Mercedes – the dominant team in these past few years – continue to underwhelm as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished at P7 and P12 respectively.
The Silver Arrows may have been lucky in Bahrain, but the performance of their W13 remains a work in progress – to which they’ve doubled down on lately.
“We need to obviously close that gap, but there’s nothing substantial this weekend that will do that. We need to trust the process and bring the upgrades when we have total faith and confidence they’ll do as we expect. So that’ll be a number of races before we start seeing that,” admitted George Russell.
“We’re not going to rest until we’re back in the mix. It’s no fun at all. It’s an exercise in humility and it’s going to make us stronger in the end, even though it’s not fun right now,” added Toto Wolff.
Key changes were made at Albert Park which should affect the team strategies. The addition of a fourth DRS zone in particular certainly favours both Ferrari and Red Bull since they have the fastest cars.
With that said, all signs point to another enthralling showdown between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen while the others are left to watch them go at it for the championship.
There’s no place like home for Daniel Ricciardo
Since Daniel Ricciardo last raced here, he has notched two podiums for Renault and won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix for McLaren. He may have switched teams in these past few years, but what hasn’t changed is the warm reception that he continues to get in Albert Park.
“It’s always been pretty wild here so there’s no denying that. I don’t ever recall competing at a quiet home race. The reception’s always been there – but it felt like it was turned up a notch or two, or three,” said Ricciardo.
It has been a rough 2022 so far for Ricciardo as he finished P14 in Bahrain before getting a DNF in Saudi Arabia. The 32-year-old will aim to get off the mark especially since McLaren have fallen to eighth in the constructor standings.
History
Lewis Hamilton would hope to regain his mojo this weekend given his history in Melbourne. He holds the record – jointly shared with Michael Schumacher and the late Ayrton Senna – for the most poles here with eight.
From 2015 to 2019, Hamilton has only won once despite getting pole in all of them, while his former teammates Nico Rosberg (2016) and Valtteri Bottas (2019) have won one each. Sebastian Vettel was the other winner with two straight in 2017 and 2018.
Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz Jr., Max Verstappen, and Sergio Perez may be the favourites this weekend, but none of them have ever taken pole position. Verstappen has qualified highest among the bunch at P4 in 2018.
What are the odds?
Given their first two races, the Australian Grand Prix 2022 odds see a close battle between Ferrari and Red Bull once again. Charles Leclerc is the favourite as he’s priced at 1.93, while teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. is right behind him at 2.23. Red Bull teammates Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are expected to battle for the final podium spot, but we’ll give the edge to Verstappen at 2.57 since he’s the better driver overall.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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