Schumacher hopes for points
Schumacher has not had a counter in his Formula 1 career so far. Still. Haas, last season’s backbench team, built a competitive car. In the 125th Formula 1 race of the racing team, it should also move Schumacher into the points.
“We’re fast enough to finish in the top ten and we want to keep doing that”, said team manager Günther Steiner. Before his first race in Australia, Schumacher raved about a car “to fight with. It’s great.”
Duel between Verstappen and Leclerc expected
In Melbourne, everyone is expecting the next duel between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. World champion Verstappen recently won in Jeddah in a thrilling fight against Leclerc, who in turn triumphed in the Bahrain desert. Ferrari driver Leclerc (45 points) leads the world championship standings ahead of his Spanish stable rival Carlos Sainz (33) and Verstappen im red bull (25) on. Nobody seems to be able to compete with the two leading teams over a race distance at the moment.
Mercedes will probably continue to follow
Not even Mercedes. Melbourne was never the favorite track of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton anyway – there have only been two wins for the Briton so far. Before launch, little suggests a third will follow.
Mercedes is still too far from the top and not in the form to win. Hamilton was only tenth in Saudi Arabia. In Australia there could be the first technical improvements to the Silver Arrow. It remains to be seen to what extent these will be enough to attack properly again.