Gasley-Torro-Rosso-Pre-Season-Barcelona-2018-Dailycarblog
Who Will Win The Opening Grand Prix of 2018?
Formula One

Lewis Hamilton. And we can end the article right now. But let’s take a look at the pre-season testing evidence to see if we can make a reasonable conclusion. Mercedes completed the most pre-season testing laps of any team, over 1,000, and ran trouble-free. However, Mercedes did not go for headline-grabbing really fast times, they left that duty to Ferrari.

Ferrari is notorious for setting fast pre-season times and failing to deliver when it really matters, but they didn’t in 2017. Ferrari only lost the 2017 championship because Vettel lost his mind during the second half of the season.

And yet again during 2018 pre-season testing Ferrari set the fastest laps throughout the two-week test schedule at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona. Ferrari often does so for purely marketing-driven purposes.

Ferarri, after all, sell cars and the F1 business grabbing the headlines is free advertising to the uninformed but potential sales conversion. To Ferrari, F1 is now just another vertical.

While Ferrari set their fastest time on the ultrafast Hypersoft tyre, Mercedes opted to concentrate on long runs, data analysis suggests Mercedes now have an advantage over what was considered to be the Scuderia’s key strength in 2017.

Sauber-Alfa-Romeo-Testing-Barcelona-2018-Dailycarblog

It is impossible to gauge just how fast the Mercedes is, but if you look back over the 2017 season, Mercedes was fast over one lap but had no such advantage during the course of a 2-hour Grand Prix.

If pre-season testing is correct, and it often isn’t, then it appears that Mercedes have extended their single lap performance and have now improved their race-pace.

Rumors suggest Ferrari haven’t made as significant a step as Mercedes. But that doesn’t mean to say Mercedes will win the opening race.

The Renault engine seems to have made a step forward and therefore Renault could present a slim threat. Renault powered Red Bull are more likely to pose a greater threat to Ferrari than Mercedes.

McLaren-Renualt-Pre-Season-Testing-Barcelona-2018-Dailycarblog

One could well and truly say that Renault powered McLaren, with Alonso at the helm, could win the first race of the season.

However McLaren suffered numerous breakdowns during pre-season testing, more than any other team, and as a result, covered the least mileage.

It’s really difficult to say who will win the first Grand Prix of 2018, who’s to say Mercedes will not suffer a mechanical breakdown? but a good get out clause is to say that the best car with the fastest driver will win.

The rest of the grid, the Saubers, Force Indias, Williams, Haas, etc will resume their usual back-of-the-field/mid-field positions, however, the Honda-powered Torro Rosso have shown solid reliability and good speed.

It will be interesting to see if Torro Rosso has the speed to compete at the front or if they are the fastest team after Mercedes, Ferrari, and Redbull.

Honda, for sure, will be determined to show that the split from McLaren will be a dish best served by out competing McLaren Renault.

So, to sum up… I really can’t be sure.

 Gasley-Torro-Rosso-Pre-Season-Barcelona-2018-Dailycarblog
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