Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle has stated that “all bets are off” ahead of this weekend’s Formula 1 season-opener in Melbourne.
The new season is finally upon us, after a winter full of talk about new regulations, compression ratios, energy harvesting and upside down rear wings.
And now, mercifully, the speculation is days away from ending, with lights out in Melbourne commencing on Sunday at 4am UK time.
Mercedes, has been the long-term favourites due to the supposed advantage derived from its controversial power unit.
But pre-season testing in Bahrain saw Ferrari and Red Bull impress, acting as the whisker-flittering cats that have been placed amongst the Mercedes pigeon.
Therefore, it appears that there is a semblance of predictability amid the chaotic new era of the sport, and whilst Brundle corroborated this, the former driver-turned-commentator reckons much could change.
“The top four teams are incredibly close, thankfully, and we’re not quite sure, and it depends which circuit we’re going to and weather conditions and all the usual provisos,” he said.
“I might just put Ferrari second and McLaren third in that one.
“What we’re going to see a lot of this year – the biggest in the history of Formula 1 these changes, the power unit, the battery, and you have to change the aerodynamics to go with that as well, you can’t do a bit and then a bit the following year, it works as a package – and we’re going to see some flip-flopping as they bring new parts to each race.
“I think every race, more or less, there is going to be a team where we’re like, ‘Oh, hang on. They’re the favourites this weekend.’”
Are teams heading to Melbourne with drastically different cars?
Many speculated that the cars seen in Bahrain would not be quite the cars seen on the grid in Melbourne, with some final tweaks, facelifts and finishing touches still left to assemble.
And Brundle teased that at least one team has very much taken this approach, reading he had been “speaking to a team principal yesterday, and he said, ‘We’ve got a completely different floor and rear wing going to Melbourne.’”
“We’ve been to Barcelona that was freezing cold, a different kind of race track to Bahrain that was very hot,” said Brundle.
“Now, we’re going to go to Melbourne, totally different circuit layout, so all bets are off, frankly.”
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