Can Sergio Perez build from Jeddah?
Sergio Perez picked up a brilliant win in Jeddah last time out after keeping Max Verstappen at bay. It was super impressive from Checo, but it was also at a street track which is his specialty. If Checo is to fight Max for the World Championship this year, he’s going to need to be competitive everywhere and that starts with getting his second victory of the season in Melbourne.
Australia have a new home favourite to cheer on
Even though there’s no Daniel Ricciardo on the 2023 Formula 1 grid, there is still Australian representation as rookie Oscar Piastri takes part in his first-ever home race. The 21-year-old McLaren driver is yet to score a point in F1 and he currently finds himself 19th in the Drivers’ Standings. It’s fair to say that Oscar will be looking for his first points this weekend.
Can Alpha Tauri score their first points of the season?
Along with McLaren, Alpha Tauri are the only other team that failed to score points in the opening two rounds of the season. You can’t say they haven’t tried though as Yuki Tsunoda has finished 11th in both races this season which is very unfortunate. He’ll be hoping to finish one place (or more) higher this weekend whilst Nyck de Vries will be looking to have his best weekend with Alpha Tauri after a difficult start to the season.
Have Ferrari sorted out their race pace?
In the opening round of the season in Bahrain, Charles Leclerc was forced to retire with a Control Electronics problem whilst he was in third place whilst Carlos Sainz “stumbled” his way home in P4. In Saudi Arabia, Ferrari’s race pace was awful as Sainz finished 6th whilst Leclerc only finished 7th. After two rounds, Ferrari are 4th in the Constructors’ with just 26 points so it’s fair to say that it hasn’t been a great start to the season for the Prancing Horses. Ferrari will really hope that the car is more competitive around the Albert Park Circuit.
What’s going on with Lewis Hamilton?
Lewis Hamilton has finished both races this season in 5th position. It’s not terrible, but it definitely looks like something isn’t right with both him and Mercedes. Lewis made a comment before Jeddah saying the team didn’t listen to him in regards to the design of the car and it was announced before Practice 1 in Jeddah that his long-time physiotherapist Angela Cullen was leaving. The Jeddah weekend then happened and Lewis was nowhere in performance compared to his teammate George Russell. It’s important for Hamilton that he comes out and beats Russell in Australia.
My Predictions for Australia Qualifying:
Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez
Charles Leclerc
Fernando Alonso
Lance Stroll
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