So… the Japanese Grand Prix has come and gone and with it, I suspect, any hope that there is going to be a genuine challenge for the championship this year following the complete dominance with which the Red Bull took out the race following a somewhat closer than expected qualifying.
Granted Sergio Perez was a little closer to Verstappen than he was in the previous races where RB had there 1-2 finishes, but I can’t imagine Max was doing much more than cruising around the track and ensuring that nothing else caught fire after the debacle that was the Australian Grand Prix.
Beyond the two front runners, there was some interesting racing going on, with Sainz finishing in front of his more favoured team mate (again), Alonso keeping Piastri at by, and by extension Russell, with some clever driving and Hamilton arguably underperforming following some pretty positive comments after qualifying, but no real evidence of improvement on race day.
It’s going to be interesting to see how badly Albon damaged the Williams following his collision with Riccairdo, who I imagine is feeling a little bit of pressure to hold onto his seat after a pretty crap start to the new season, especially with Lawson being on hand to witness the Aussies short race in person… such a waste to see a talent like Lawson on the sideline when there are other drivers out there who only seem to have the benefit of a major sponsor behind them getting them a seat versus actual talent.
Bit of a pity Lawson’s dad isn’t a billionaire, otherwise I’m sure he’d have had a permanent race seat this year, for better or worse… I’m looking at you Lance Stroll (granted Alonso is a special driver, but doesn’t anyone else think Stroll is badly underperforming in that car in comparison?).
At the end of the day, none of the “issues” this season are likely to get me to stop keeping up to date with the results and hoping that a couple of teams make big steps forward and we finally get some proper wheel to wheel racing with the Red Bulls, but as I’ve said before, whether that extends to checking out anything other than the (combined) 30-40mins of highlights on YouTube, I’m not really sure.
Doesn’t help that I’m in a timezone that is not F1 friendly from the outset, but there is certainly no motivation to get up or stay up and watch “the race for second place” unless it’s on at a reasonable hour. No doubt the pundits and F1 supremos will try to drum up interest and make any gains by the other teams seem like a real threat to Red Bull, but I personally think that ship has sailed.
If I’m wrong, then that’ll be great… at least it might mean that even if RB take out the championships again this year, 2025 and might offer up some excitement prior to the 2026 regulation changes and if by some miracle the race for the title is actually competitive this year, then I welcome that with open arms.
While the outcome of the 2021 season will always be shrouded in controversy, you can’t say that it wasn’t exciting… the wheel to wheel racing between two of the best in the game was incredible to watch. There was always a sense of “what’s going to happen next” and it didn’t disappoint in that regard and it’s going to take some time before we see that level of competitiveness again I reckon (although maybe 2025 will be similar being the last year of the current regs, who knows).
So, onto China in a couple of weeks time… let’s hope something changes between now and then, but I won’t be holding my breath… how about you?
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