After an exciting season opening qualifying session, a few things have been made clearer.
Red Bull is in fact very very fast. Many thought the Red Bull looked the fastest and most sorted car in last weeks testing, and at least in qualifying it has proven to be fastest... when in the hands of Max Verstappen, who claimed the first pole of 2021. As for Perez, has he already caught the stink eye from Helmut Marko?
Mercedes still have some work to do. But if this is their performance in what may be their worst position of the season, it still looks very promising for Mercedes. It is believed the rule changes that cut downforce to the floor of the car has hurt Mercedes the most. It is inevitable that the smart minds at the factory will find a way to claw the downforce back in a hurry. It may take a few races, but rest assured Mercedes will be a force in 2021.
I think we can confirm Ferrari took a big step forward. Though the 4th place starting position is mostly down to another magic lap by Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz has been solid to say the least.
AlphaTauri are legitimately fast. How long that lasts is yet to be seen, but the car is very good. Perhaps this is evidence that Honda made a huge step forward. Yuki Tsunoda also appears to have some impressive pace, but his style could be hard on tires and induce mistakes. But so far, he has been fun to watch.
McLaren, a bit of a let down. With Mercedes power and very strong driver line up, I expected to see them closer to the front. A full second off the pace is just not good enough.
Alpine is better than I thought. One thing is for sure, Alonso still appears to be a platinum level driver.
Aston Martin may be the biggest disappointment. A lot of resources have gone into the team and it's evident they once again "copied" a lot of Mercedes' design. I think clever development can't just come from a big check from Lawrence Stroll, and thus they don't have a handle on their car yet. Who knows if they ever do.
Alfa Romeo is close to where most expected. Unsurprisingly Giovinazzi outperformed Raikkonen, but Kimi is a wise old cat who certainly can make moves in the race.
Williams is not the worst! George Russell is still Mr Saturday. Points still unlikely.
Haas. Well...... they have said they wanted to focus on their 2022 program, but it seems they started that mid season 2020 as the car is absolute rubbish, with no chassis improvements over last season. Mind you they have two rookies trying to come to grips with the F1 world and there is no good way to compare their performance to a proper experienced teammate. It might be a miracle if they score a single point this season. So far Nikita has earned the nickname Mazespin.
Bookmarks