After an action-packed opening round in Bahrain, Formula 1 has returned at its high-speed, high-intensity best.
Here's five things to take away from Monday's season-opener with all eyes now turning to the Saudi Arabia GP later this month.
Ferrari [and others] are back
Forget the prancing horse, Ferrari have galloped straight out of the paddock and out of the blocks in Bahrain.
That Charles Leclerc made a race win look so effortless is one thing, but for Carlos Sainz to be on hand to claim a 1-2 is beyond best-case scenario.
Not only should it come as a huge sigh of relief for Tifosi, but all Formula One fans should welcome the re-shuffling of the pecking order in just the first race.
On said pecking order, there can’t be enough plaudits for Kevin Magnussen’s return to Haas.
A few early lock-ups aside, the Dane barely putting a wheel out of place on his way to a P5 finish.
Early season [un]reliability
For large parts of the race, it appeared as though we were set to re-write a long-standing record of no retirements in the season-opening race.
At least it looked that way until Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri brought out the safety car on lap 46; engine failure and a ball of flames ending his season opener.
But it’s his former Red Bull teammate and current World Champion Max Verstappen’s late race failure that will cause more concern.
Even accounting for steering issues caused during a pit stop, the Dutchman looked to be splitting the Ferraris on the podium, before losing power and barely making it back to the pits.
A bad day made worse for Red Bull, as Sergio Perez’ engine failed on the first corner of the final lap; a stranded porpoise as the field sped past.
McLaren’s misery
For most of the off-season, and even pre-season McLaren were tipped by many to be leading the midfield, if not challenging the top teams in 2022.
So to have Daniel Ricciardo finish 15th, with teammate Lando Norris behind in 16th is scarcely believable.
Even accounting for Ricciardo’s disrupted build-up with Covid-19, it’s a worrying position for McLaren to find themselves in, so far adrift of their would-be rivals.
But arguably the more worrying thing is who was around them at the back of the pack.
McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams making up the last six finishers, all with one thing in common – they’re all running a Mercedes engine.
Whether those teams can find the upgrades and the time on track will be crucial if they want to join the midfield battle before it’s too late.
The perils of Pirelli
With no crazy blowouts, or unexplained disasters with Pirelli’s new 18” tyres [up from 13” last year] you can easily call this weekend a success on the tyre front.
But the interesting takeaway from the season-opener, it’s unclear whether any team knew what strategy to play, which should make for some interesting races if it continues.
The soft tyre compound appeared to degrade much quicker than most teams expected, while different drivers saw vastly different performances on the medium compounds.
Mercedes even rolled the dice by putting both drivers onto the hard tyres early in the race, a gamble that backfired, but luckily for them wasn’t costly.
If it weren’t for the safety car’s late race intervention, there might have been plenty of washup over team tactics in the post-race paddock.
Also interestingly, with the regulations reducing the use of tyre-warming blankets, some cars – Lewis Hamilton most notably, almost lost control of their cars entirely with the tyres not up to temperature.
Monza 2021 anybody?
Early favourites…again?
And while it’s still very early to make bold sweeping predictions, here goes…
While the field looks significantly more competitive, the race for constructors’ and drivers’ championships already look to be a three-horse race in both.
Unsurprisingly, Ferrari are right in the mix after the most impressive showing this weekend, and even accounting for the final lap dramas, Red Bull certainly have the pace out on track.
The fact that both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were able to finish P3 & P4 in a car that lacked pace shows they’re in the hunt.
Mercedes’ technical crew are likely to be putting in 25-hour shifts between now and Saudi Arabia to bring that car up to speed.
And with no disrespect to Sainz, Perez or Russell, there appears to be a significant enough difference within the teams to make the drivers’ championship a three-horse race too.
Barring technical issues, I’d expect to see a thrilling three-way battle between Leclerc, Verstappen and Hamilton in 2022.
But I’ll gladly eat my words, along with plenty of humble pie to see Kevin Magnussen reign supreme.
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