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2026 Australian Grand Prix Resnops, Dix Resnops
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To no one's surprise, Mercedes looked pretty strong all weekend, especially with their
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George Russell drove a very composed race and won fairly handedly.
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I would not say it was easy, while Kimmy did a great job of recovering from a bad start
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to slot into second behind his team leader.
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Ferrari looked very strong on pace, but once again their strategy calls or lack thereof were
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Lewis Hamilton called them out for asking if they should pit at least one of their cars
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to cover Mercedes, and he was right to do so.
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Speaking of Lewis, he had a very good race and indicated that he thought the race was
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fun, a sign that we may soon be seeing his return to the podium.
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He for sure was very happy to see the ground effect cars go away.
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Isaac Hadjar certainly looked very comfortable in the second Red Bull seat.
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One has to wonder if his driving style is similar to Max Verstappen, or if Red Bull has
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finally built a car that someone other than Max can drive.
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At this point, Red Bull and McLaren are not on the same level as Mercedes and Ferrari,
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but you have to think that it won't be too long before they are, given the gap is
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I am not sure that I fully understand what happened to Max in qualifying an Oscar on
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Warma Blap, but from what I'm reading it sounds like both drivers were caught out
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by the sudden deployment of electricity right when they did not need it, and that is what
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pitched them off the track.
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If that is true, that is just another reason to not like these regulations.
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Lastly, the regulations themselves.
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Yes, the opening laps were fun to watch as George and Charles swap places, but it was
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The passes happened as a result of one car running out of electrical energy, and the
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evacar are bouncing to take the lead, only to lose it again when the leading car lost
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its electricity in the second car, repast for the lead.
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Watching drivers downshift on the street or slow down for corners early was to me, just
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But the challenge was for all the drivers, so there is not much for appears to do except
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hope, that the rules and energy deployment strategies become more refined, so this sort
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of thing becomes something of the past.
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Sabrina's race notes.
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The new regulations theory meets reality.
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This was only one race, and the first race, and I think everyone was learning as they
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With strict limits on testing and a compressed window between seasons, this is the moment
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when theory collided with reality.
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These are extraordinary STEM minds who spent months modeling and theorizing and Australia
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it was when the experiment went into application mode.
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We saw whose forecasts, gambles, and imaginations were actually validated.
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That said, it's only one race.
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Each team not only ran its own experiment, it also watched everyone else run theirs.
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Now they're going back to analyze all the data, their own, and their competitors.
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In that sense, I see this weekend as the opening act of a grand science experiment on a global
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Dominant, but not yet at full power.
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Mercedes had an impressive weekend out of the gate, and I suspect they still have significant
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potential they haven't fully unlocked.
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My read based on George's comments after the race is that they weren't running at full
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power, and that's the edge that comes with being a works team.
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You can hold something back and still win.
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For their customers, McLaren, Williams, and Alpine, they were closely watching, and I have
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no doubt they're already zeroing in on the areas where they can close the gap.
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That said, I want to be careful not to treat those three teams as equivalent.
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McLaren in my view is the only one position to close the gap rapidly, efficiently, and effectively.
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Williams, despite its ongoing renovation, still carries production and weight concerns
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I think Canada may be the first real opportunity to see where they truly stand.
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Alpine, with its continued internal dysfunction, faces a harder road, unless they address their
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leadership and culture issues.
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I suspect it could be summer break before they make meaningful progress.
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Clear Second, with a familiar caveat.
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Ferrari has genuine potential.
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The question is how much, and whether they can develop it fast enough to chase Mercedes
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as the civil arrows continue to unlock their own potential.
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What concerns me is the part that hasn't changed, strategy.
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These new regulations seem to demand even more precise strategic thinking than before,
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and that's historically not Ferrari's strongest suit.
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And if there are strategy calls continuing to cost them, the underlying pace won't be enough.
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Our customer teams, Hass and Cadillac, give me some confidence that the Ferrari Power
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Unit has real potential.
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I'll come back to Hass in a moment, but Cadillac is also worth noting.
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Sergio Perez completed the race, and that's exactly what a brand new team needs to do in
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their maiden Grand Prix.
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One data point, but an encouraging one.
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Oli Bareiman and Hass, playing the long game.
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They have spent much of the race quietly in the midfield.
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No reliability issues, no strategy drama.
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They were learning in real time, gathering data, managing the new regulations, and calibrating
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what was realistically achievable on this weekend.
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Their leadership clearly set measured expectations, and the team delivered within them.
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That's a team playing the long game and playing it well.
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And then there's Oli, P7 and the highest placed midfield driver.
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But what stands out to me isn't just the results.
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That's what it represents.
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This is only his second year in Formula One, and now he's also navigating a complete
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That's a significant ask for any driver, and yet he handled it.
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He showed pace, composure, and the kind of adaptability you can't manufacture.
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None of this should have come as a surprise, really.
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We saw something in him from his very first F1 appearance that initial call up told us
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that this was a driver who could handle pressure and perform when it counted.
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What I'm watching for this season is his consistency.
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We've established that.
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But as he continues to mature in this new regulatory environment, the question becomes
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whether he and the team can build on this weekend rather than treat it as a ceiling.
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Oli is someone we should all be keeping a close eye on this season.
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Number 5 Red Bull and Ford Intriguing With Real Questions
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Red Bull surprised me in mixed ways.
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Let me start with Isaac, because I think his weekend deserves real recognition.
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Going into this season, there were genuine concerns about him.
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The second-see curse at Red Bull has claimed talented drivers before, and his stunt at
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last year's Australian Grand Prix added another layer of scrutiny.
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The preseason conversation around him was cautious, and frankly, I shared some of that caution.
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He was strong throughout practice, delivered a career best qualifying lap to go third on
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the grid, and in the early laps of the race he was genuinely up there competing.
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My honest belief is that if the car hadn't let him down, he could have had a real result
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That's a driver announcing himself.
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The retirement was gutting, and it told us nothing about his limitations, only about
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And then there's the broader Red Bull picture.
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Max's recovery from 20th was remarkable, methodical, composed, finding a way to race a car
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that has been deeply difficult in qualifying.
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But it was David Coltard's comment during the broadcast that stayed with me.
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He noted that the rear's lock solid in Max's qualifying incident, and that even Max's reflexes
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couldn't do anything about it.
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Think about what that actually means.
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If this is happening to Max for a stop in, one of the most gifted drivers this sport
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The problem isn't the driver.
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The problem is the car, or the regulations, or both.
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That's a serious question for the formula to answer.
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What does this look like for everyone else on the grid?
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What Red Bull and Ford have built together has genuinely peaked my interest.
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The power unit appears to have a foundation worth building on.
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Whether they can refine it into something that competes with Mercedes and McLaren comes
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Laurent Meckys has the engineering background and the insight.
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But if the broader Red Bull corporate structure doesn't give him the time and space to execute,
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it will matter how talented Max is.
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And I still have the brain drain concerns.
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Vision without the team to execute it is a deficit that's very hard to overcome.
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Sister team Racing Bulls had a good showing, which makes me think both teams got enough
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right out of the gate to stay relevant in the development race this season.
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Power Park, Energy Management, and the circuit problem.
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As much as I love Australia and believe it should remain the season opener, I don't think
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it was ideal venue to debut these new regulations.
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From what I understand, Albert Park is considered one of the most energy poor circuits on the
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calendar, and that directly complicated what teams and drivers needed to learn.
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The battery recharge dynamics that are so central to these new power units didn't play
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well with this track's layout.
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That's unfortunate because understanding how recharge actually works in race conditions
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is vital development data.
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I hope the next circuits provide better opportunities for teams and drivers and for us as observers
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to see what this formula is truly capable of.
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I'll also note that discussions are apparently underway to potentially adjust the 2026 rules,
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possibly as soon as the Japanese Grand Prix, falling further evaluation after China.
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I think that shows the right kind of responsiveness.
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No one wants a knee jerk reaction, but the willingness to keep the conversation open
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and act quickly if needed is encouraging.
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Franco Colopinto, Liam Lawson, and a safety concern I can't shake.
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I was relieved that Franco's near shunt into Liam wasn't worse than it was, but I can't
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move past it without saying something because I don't think it should be dismissed.
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To be clear about the context, this happened off the starting grid before the race had
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even begun, not during racing, not in a battle for position on the grid.
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I'm someone who does not want to see crashes in this sport.
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The potential for injury or worse is always present and weighs on me.
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The fact of this came that close in a pre-race moment on the grid is alarming.
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Franco's reflexes saved what could have been a very serious situation.
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And I think it raises a legitimate question about what's happening under these new regulations,
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even before cars are properly racing.
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I'll be transparent about where I'm limited here.
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I don't have the technical depth to tell you exactly what happened mechanically, but
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my instinct, and it's just that, an instinct, is something that, related to the power unit
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on Liam's car, may not have functioned the way it should in the moment on the grid.
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Why else would a car behave that way before the race had even started?
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And in order some self-raised safety concerns as we get about unpredictable behavior under
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these new regulations.
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I'm not in a position to connect those dots effectively, but I am in a position to say
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this needs to be looked at seriously, because, but for Franco's reaction, we might be having
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a very different conversation right now.
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Number eight, Audi, a solid debut, but I expected more.
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A strong debut for Audi, but I'll be honest, I expected more.
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Audi isn't really a new team in the traditional sense.
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They came in with infrastructure and resources.
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I was hoping they'd be able to avoid the technical issues that plagued the weekend.
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That said, I was genuinely glad to see Gabriel Bordeaux score points.
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He's a maturing as a driver and I find myself hopeful about how he can build around
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Nico Hulkenberg's non-start was disappointing, but one data point doesn't tell the full
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Number nine, Arvid Lynn Blad, a debut that announced something special.
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I don't want to overstate it.
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It's just one race, but Arvid handled the weekend with poise.
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You simply don't expect from a first-time starter.
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He was smooth throughout practice, methodical in how he built pace and confidence, and then
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delivered in qualifying and the race.
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Scoring points on debut is a genuine achievement in this field, and the wheel-to-wheel battle he
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had with Hamilton showed he wasn't intimidated by the moment or the company.
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He's someone to watch.
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Number ten, Oscar Piaestry, my heart breaks.
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There isn't much to analyze here, and that's part of what makes it so hard.
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Oscar's spun on the reconnaissance lap before the race even started in front of his home
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He described it as a combination of bad factors.
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He was already on the curb, and when he shifted, he got 100 kilowatt power more than
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he expected, or that he had had a weekend, which pitched the car into the wheel spin.
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The car reacted as it should within the rules.
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This wasn't a mechanical failure in the traditional sense.
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It was the new power delivery catching him out at the worst possible moment.
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He was understandably gutted.
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His acknowledgement that it was even more painful at his home race felt genuine and
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He's mentally strong, but that one stings.
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Number eleven, Pierre Gasly, credit where it's due.
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Pierre is a talent, and this weekend was another reminder of that.
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Alpaine is fortunate to have him, particularly given the ongoing instability within that
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He consistently finds a way to extract results from a situation that would frustrate a lot
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He deserves a credit.
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Number twelve, Lewis Hamilton, bitter sweet, but a sign of the things to come.
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Fourth place is a strong result in the context of where Ferrari came from last season.
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But I imagine it feels bitter sweet for Lewis, given how close he was to look like at the
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The more interesting question is whether these regulations suit him better.
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Ferrari clearly has pace.
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If they can get their strategy right and continue to develop the car, I think Lewis could have
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We'll just have to wait and see.
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And a note on the simultaneous chassis and engine change.
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One thing that kept coming up this weekend was we don't normally change both the chassis
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and the power unit simultaneously inform you of one.
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Over and over we heard that this combination creates compounding unknowns.
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I think it's worth sitting with that.
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It's likely contributed to some of the reliability issues and the uneven performance picture
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It also means the data from this race is harder to interpret clearly.
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Teams are working out two major variables at once, not one.