After a season in which the champion was defined on the last lap of the final race, F1 returns this weekend surrounded by expectations. It is hoped that the new chapter in the rivalry that has divided fans of the category into cheering for seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and current winner Max Verstappen can be as electrifying as the dispute that gave the Dutchman his first title.
The two took turns leading the championship and dominating the tracks, driven by the continuous evolution of the Red Bull and Mercedes cars. And they built a climate of antagonism, with the heads of the teams acting as supporting actors, exchanging a series of barbs behind the scenes.
The animosity between them reached its peak precisely in the last race, in Abu Dhabi, where Hamilton believes he was wronged by a series of decisions by the race management that helped Verstappen to win not only the stage but the championship.
Until the beginning of the pre-season, the presence of the Briton at the Bahrain GP this Sunday (20), at the opening of the 2022 World Cup – was uncertain – the stage will start at 12:00 (BrasÃlia time). The Band broadcasts.
The thirst for a rematch against the Dutchman, however, spoke louder than the possibility of leaving F1. “If you think that what you saw at the end of last year was my best, wait and see this year”, declared the seven-time champion.
Verstappen has put Hamilton in a position he hasn’t experienced since 2017, when he last started a season as a challenger.
The year before, the then three-time champion had lost an internal dispute with his teammate, German Nico Rosberg, who took the World Cup trophy.
It was also a fierce fight. In the final classification, the difference between them was only five points. Just like last year, the Englishman also had a run in the last few races on that occasion, winning the last four races, with the German second in all of them.
The regularity throughout the season weighed in favor of Hamilton’s former teammate, however. Even so, the frustration of the Englishman was not as it is now. Rosberg himself, by the way, declared that he found the way the Briton lost the 2021 dispute “horrible”.
He hopes that the former teammate will be able to react as he did in 2017. That year, Lewis Hamilton won nine of the 20 stages, in which he scored a total of 13 podiums. Thus, he surpassed the also German Sebastian Vettel, from Ferrari, and took the title.
After that, with four consecutive victories, he reached seven trophies and reached the top of the world champions ranking, alongside Michael Schumacher.
After awakening the spirit of rematch in Hamilton, Rosberg caused a huge surprise in F1 by announcing his retirement from the category five days after winning the championship. For him, having reached the title was already his apex. This is not the case with Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver wants to consolidate himself as one of the greats in the history of the category and conquer a hegemony equal to that of the Briton.
He recently had his contract with the team renewed until 2028 and, according to Sky Sports, he will receive a salary of 40 million pounds (R$ 262 million) per season, which makes him the highest paid driver on the grid at the time. right side of Hamilton.
“I love this team, and last year was just amazing. Our goal since we joined in 2016 was to win the title and we did that. Now it’s to keep the number 1 in the car for the long term,” said the Dutchman, citing the numbering he adopted after becoming champion.
Red Bull stands out in pre-season and Mercedes tries to surprise
Before starting the first championship following a series of changes to F1’s general regulations, drivers and teams had two test sessions, with three days in Barcelona from 23 to 25 February, and another three in Bahrain from 10 to 12 February. March.
If on the first round what drew attention was the completely redesigned design of the cars, in the sessions held in the Asian country the performance of the cars stood out, especially the performance of Red Bull and the difficulty of Mercedes with a curious aerodynamic solution designed by the German team.
More than recording the best times of the day, which do not always reflect the reliability of the cars, the cars of Verstappen and Sergio Pérez proved to be consistent and with a performance superior to the other competitors, with the exception of Ferrari, which walked very close to Red. Bull.
Lewis Hamilton and his new teammate George Russell, on the other hand, did not show the same optimism as the Dutchman. On the contrary, for the seven-time champion, Mercedes shouldn’t even fight for victories at the beginning of the championship.
The speech is similar to what the team always uses before each season and often falls apart in the first race. This time, however, the team doesn’t seem to have found the ideal setup for the car yet, especially for the bold bet it made for the aerodynamic design of the model.
There are those who believe that Mercedes is hiding the game to present, later, a great evolution in the vehicle. Only after the first free practice session this Friday (18) will F1 fans get a sense of who will really fight for victories at the start of the season.
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