Little more than a month and a half to start the excitement of the new season of the Formula 1. A World Cup with many incentives -among them, the return of Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz at Ferrari or the fight for the eighth world title of a Hamilton that remains unrenewed- and in which the biggest fight will be in third place in the World Championship. Builders: everyone wants to be third, but there can only be one.
In a context where the cars promise to be mere evolutions from last seasonWith few exceptions, everything seems to indicate that Mercedes will once again take first place in the World Cup, adding its eighth consecutive title. In principle, Mercedes would remain intractable with Hamilton -if it ends up renewing- and Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull, for their part, would continue one step ahead of Ferrari, McLaren or Aston Martin, among others.
The Austrian team took over a hundred points from McLaren in 2020, and that one of its pilots –Alex Albon– was seventh in the World Cup. The signing of Checo Pérez will give Red Bull a leap in quality, which has a Max Verstappen that promises to be very close to Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes. In this way, the dominance of Mercedes and Red Bull in the first two places of the Constructors’ World Cup is almost indisputable before the arrival of 2022 and the new regulations.
From there, a large number of teams will not only fight to be third in the World Cup, but also being it is his big goal for the new season. This is the case of McLaren, Aston Martin, Alpine, Ferrari and even AlphaTauri, although the latter with less possibilities than the other teams.
McLaren
Next February 15, Lando Norris Y Daniel Ricciardo will introduce the new MCL35M. After seven separate years, McLaren will once again have a Mercedes power unit integrated into its chassis: «On paper, we seem to be stronger, but we won’t know until the testsAndreas Seidl said. The British team will seek to continue with its projection of recent years and sneak into the podiums more frequently. The signing of Ricciardo is very exciting at the Woking factory, a place where they have a great goal: to repeat third place in the Constructors’ World Championship.
Ferrari
“Being third is not impossible at all and I think it should be at least our minimum goal for next year. However, it will be difficult“Said Mattia Binotto a few weeks ago. After a World Cup to forget – sixth in the World Cup, with Vettel more outside than inside and suffering endless misfortunes – Ferrari is confident in a World Cup in which they are all unknowns for the team, which presents new pilot and new engine.
Alpine
Maximum enthusiasm among the Spanish public for the return of Fernando Alonso, one of the greatest talents ever seen in the premier class of motorsport. Last year they were fifth, surprising with up to three podiums, two from Ricciardo and one from Esteban Ocon. Alpine faces a transitional season, but without ruling out the fight for third place in the Constructors’ World Cup.
Aston Martin
Last World Championship, Racing Point fell seven points behind a third position that McLaren snatched from him. The new Aston Martin team, which will feature four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, has the great objective of making the leap to that third position. Lance Stroll will continue on the team, owned by his father Lawrence.
Likewise, AlphaTauri may be another candidate to fight for the third position, although they have it somewhat more complicated. The Red Bull satellite team will continue to have Pierre Gasly Y Yuki Tsunoda will replace the Russian Daniil Kvyat. The fight for third place in the Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship, hotter than ever.
