Finally, after years, here is the real Ferrari. Which is fast, leaves everyone stunned at the start, takes the lead with determination and authority, has flashes that exalt. And it matters little that the result, in the end, is a third and fourth place, because what the opening of the world championship in Melbourne showed is a chessboard on which the pieces move quickly and the games can change at any moment.
Mercedes dominated, with a car advantage – which could not have been assumed to be so consistent – and engine, perhaps with the addition of the “plus” of the hot compression ratio. But Ferrari, despite losing, showed that they had good cards to be fielded perhaps already next Sunday in China or in any case during the season.
Which cards? A valid car project in which the issue of tires that don’t heat up or wear out too quickly is relegated to a sad past. Then there is the Power Unit which has the advantage of a small and ready turbo that makes it fly at traffic lights and forces the others to chase immediately.
But, finally, Ferrari now competes with two drivers, because alongside the usual, admirable Leclerc, the real Hamilton really seems to be back, that of Mercedes’ good moments. Should it continue like this, it would be great news because no one has the driving force of Maranello.
A brilliant start is what motoring Italy hoped for. The departure of Leclerc it was an anthology, because from fourth on the grid he went ahead of everyone at the first corner. With Russell there was a duel which, with due caution, took us back to the legendary and emblematic one of Dijon 1979 between Villeneuve and Arnoux: five breathtaking overtaking and counter-overtaking, something you rarely see. After that it took another seven laps before Russell began his breakaway. There is a statement from Russell himself that says a lot about the SF26: “The Ferrari was faster than us in the right places on the track“, which is a truly encouraging technical compliment.
On the other hand, in light of Antonelli’s exceptional race, made up entirely of elastic comebacks, the suspicion remains that Mercedes still had some margin to spendin case. A suspicion fueled by the fact that Russell himself had expressed doubts on the eve of the Mercedes’ reliability at a distance, so it is presumable that, once in the lead, he thought more about position than about increasing his advantage over his rivals.
Should Ferrari have risked stopping with the first Virtual Safety Car? Yeshe could certainly have been there, at least with a car, but the picture would not have changed and the controversy between Leclerc and Hamilton would have been fueled over who should have stopped first. At this stage, it’s better this way.
Judgment on the new rules remains suspended. No one understood whether certain overtakings were due to the skill of the pilots or to the fluctuating energy loads. The drivers certainly drive in an unnatural way and it’s not nice, but in the end this also contributed to livening up the race. We thought worse, frankly.
But there are already those who are in trouble like McLaren, which has the same engine as the Mercedes but is lacking on the rest of the car. Verstappen recovered as champion from 20th to sixth place with a debut engine: exceptional, but what is the true value of Red Bull?
A few days and we will race in Shanghai, a different track, new unknowns to face, Mercedes who will want to maintain the advantage they have over everyone, McLaren and Red Bull already to be observed with a magnifying glass and Ferrari who, deep down, have good reasons to hope for the coup. An aroma of coffee and we will already be in China…
