F1 Australian GP 2022 Pre-Race Prediction
McLaren down and undercut.
Race weekend is upon us, and that means picking out our favourites for this GP!
Even though we've only seen two races, we already have the usual favourites. Ferrari and Red Bull are the safe bet, while Alfa and HAAS still have a lot of momentum from the last two races.
Vettel is ranked high on the list; however, I think it will take some time for him to fully recover from COVID and reset himself in the Aston Martin. There will also be a lot of pressure on him as Hulkenberg did a pretty good job as his sub.
The wildcard that I am banking on this round is the McLaren drivers. Much of the press has been quite negative on their cars this year, and I also don't foresee it improving greatly. BUT, it did sound like the Australian GP made some changes to the track that may suit their car better. I still don't see them being on the podium, but maybe both their cars can finish in the top 10 this weekend? Here's hoping Ricciardo doesn't crack under pressure in his home GP and for Norris to get back into his groove!
My next big question is this, Russell or Perez? By mere driver score (Column Q), Russell seems to have a tiny bit of advantage, but Perez seems to edge out when we include the social media score (Column R). It's not by much, but it is enough to flip the ranking. We also see the same thing between Micky and Yuki. When we consider what news and social media are saying, it seems Schumacher has a slight edge over Yuki.
Lastly, I expect Zhou Guanyu to continue to rise in the ranking. He seems like a driver who learns and grows consistently, and the Alfa is just the right vehicle to do so in.
So who are your picks this round? Who do you think will surprise us?
Meme of the Grid:
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