(F1 on Twitter)
After another exciting race of the 2022 Formula One World Championship as Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc battling as the laps winded down in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the former eventually taking his first win of the season as Red Bull Racing rebounded from a horrible start at Bahrain.
Ferrari is strong early.
Ferrari powers six cars in Formula One. Outside the res arrows of Scuderia Ferrari. Teams such as Alfa Romeo and Haas F1 are both powered by Ferrari powerplants. With the worst finish of 15th by Bottas due to a DNF at Jeddah aside, the only driver in the stable to finish outside the points is Haas F1 driver Mick Schumacher. With him scoring an 11th place finish at Bahrain and pulled from Jeddah after a horrific crash in qualifying.
2. Mercedes has some work to do.
After scoring a podium finish off the Red Bull misfortunes at Bahrain being the only highlight so far for the silver arrows. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have some work to do over the weekend off to prepare for Australia. In Jeddah, Hamilton wasn't able to make it out of round one of qualifying. He made a nice rebound on Sunday by finishing 10th to at least score points going into the off-week. For Russell, he has been the saving grace for the team to keep them in championship contention early with an average finish so far of 4.5. It isn't panic mode yet, but Mercedes has to figure the new car out soon to avoid a mid-pack fight for third in the championship standings by seasons end.
3. McLaren is miles behind.
Coming into this year there were very high expectations on the McLaren racing team as young Lando Norris had a career year in 2021 putting the team third in the championship standings. His counterpart Daniel Riccardo brought the "shoey" to F1 by scoring an impressive win at the Italian Grand Prix. This year after two races they have struggled to score points this year. With drivers retiring from Jeddah, Norris moved into to score points for the first time this season. McLaren is really behind the eight ball as the have moved to the back of the mid-field and seems to be competing with Williams to start the year.
4. New car keeps getting high marks.
For what seemed like forever, it has seemed like he have not seen this style of racing with the whole pack being closer than ever. It seems like what we are seeing in NASCAR that cars are able to race closer than ever. Passing is trending at it's highest in ten years and on pace to see the most action. With more power circuits being on the schedule than ever before, it would be safe to say we could have another championship battle that is as close as last year.
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