ChinaTurn

The Australian Grand Prix gave Formula One a much needed injection of uncertainty. After 3 years of almost utter dominance, Mercedes were beaten in an absolutely straight fight with Ferrari, and whether some of that was down to errors on the pit wall or not, the simple fact is that Vettel won the season opener and now leads the championship for the first time in 60 races. No matter where your loyalties lie, a battle for the championship between drivers in different teams is the essence of a good Formula One season, and with Red Bull potentially improving as the year unfolds, we could be on for a cracking campaign.


Mind you, coming to China sees Mercedes at one of their best tracks. Nico Rosberg took the team’s first pole position and first win since returning to the sport when he became one of the eight different winners in the early part of 2012. Hamilton was on pole for the team in 2013 but that was before the current power units gave Mercedes such a helping hand, and in the race he was passed by the Ferraris early on and struggled to achieve the same stint length on tyres as some of his rivals. Perhaps we are beginning to see a similar story in 2017, as there’s no doubt that Vettel was able to keep his tyres in good shape in Australia, despite running Hamilton close in the early laps. 


The statistics certainly favour a Mercedes pole position; they’ve taken the last five here, and Ferrari have only held pole once in China, at the very first event when Rubens Barrichello took the spot as Michael Schumacher spun his chance away at the infamous Turn 1. This corner, which Fernando Alonso says is his favourite corner on the calendar, is an ever-tightening spiral to the right until the last minute when it releases to the left before the track crosses over on itself. It has a massively fast entry but then requires the driver to balance the car on the brakes, using the grip of the car in cornering to wash away the speed, until it is perfectly poised to accelerate out of Turn 2. As Romain Grosjean says ‘It’s a pretty cool corner. It’s such a long corner you can actually make some difference’. 


It can also define an entire race as we saw at the start of last year’s encounter. Dany Kvyat took the opportunity to dive inside Vettel, who in response clattered into team mate Raikkonen and the ensuing chaos also accounted for damage to Hamilton’s car as he was trying to make up for engine problems in qualifying. I do wonder if the first corner of all the tracks is going to be a little more critical this year. The jury is still out on the level of overtaking we’re going to see, but fundamentally it is likely to be tougher, and track position will be key. The first corner is one of those opportunities to gain or lose but it has to be balanced against the embarrassment of walking away from the car before the end of the first lap. Team bosses don’t approve of that sort of drama. 


So, there’s plenty to look out for at the top end of the grid, and indeed throughout; will McLaren be knocked out in Q1? (sad to ask, but likely to happen);  how will Lance Stroll get on after the disappointments of Melbourne? And is Antonio Giovinazzi going to be so impressive in the Sauber as super-sub that Wehrlein will struggle to get back in? This early stage of the championship is always fascinating; let’s hope that the element of uncertainty persists deep into the season ahead.