Well, unfortunately not a spectacular race as always but being the first race the interesting bits are looking at the relative performances.
Mercedes; obvious talking point here is Bottas. Drivers talk about having one of those days where nothing seems to go right, but for Valteri it was the opposite, just didn't put a foot wrong, Hamilton would have called it a #blessed session if it were him, he was just in another race altogether. Not even sure he understands why he was so fast. Hamilton seems almost cursed in Australia, always the pole taker only to finish runner up. Today though, Valteri just plain had the measure of him.
Ferrari; Seb summed it up; "why are we so slow". Nothing much to say about their performance this weekend, they were just nowhere. I'm not ready to call doom and gloom (I'm a Hamilton fan so I don't even care if they are that slow) but this time last year they were well off the qualifying pace also. I'll withhold judgement on how quick they are relative to Merc and Redbull as I don't believe they are that far off, or even if they are off the pace, but just went the wrong way this weekend. Was expecting Leclerc to hustle Vettel a little more than he did, but then again, I expected the same with Ham and Valteri and look at how that turned out.
Redbull; they are definitely up there in performance. Honda have seemingly upped their game on the reliability front with all 4 cars coming home and all being competitive at the very least. I think Ricciardo leaving put Redbull (and subsequently Torro Rosso) in a bad spot driver wise and I think RB thought Ricciardo staying was more a formality than a question mark. Gasly just doesn't seem ready to be in that Redbull. You get the feeling if it were Max or Ricciardo starting where they did with that car, they'd have really thrown that thing to the front of the pack but Gasly was nowhere and to make matters worse for him, it was because he couldn't overtake the driver RB tossed aside...…..
Haas; strong at Australia again but nearly reliving last years pit dramas. You could tell they were making damn sure they weren't releasing without those wheels been on, but Grosjean effectively lost out again because of that front left and it seemed to just peel away from the rim later in the race. Good speed from them though.
Renault; not a good start really. Expected better qualy pace from them and they have work to do. Doesn't look like they've moved forward at all. Daniel suffering the Australian home race curse, 200m before what would at almost any other track have seen him just shoot up the outside had his front bar ripped off and later retired.
Racing Point; nothing much doing really.
Torro Rosso; had a feeling Kyvat might impress on his return, he has always been able to put on some speed but consistency has been bit of a downfall for him. If he can keep it up I suspect he'll have a good year, even dare I say, make RB consider whether they should swap him and Gasly. Time will tell. Albons first race, was always going to be tough for him, we'll see how he goes. I have a feeling he might just be keeping a seat warm though.
Mclaren; Norris qualified well, Carlos....not so much. Still amazing to see them floundering. Carlos blows an engine (or turbo, who knows right now), lacking pace. Gonna be another bad year for them and without Alonso around to drag that sorry thing up the grid, not looking good.
Sauber; Kind of expected more from them really, thought they would have more pace but like Alonso at Mclaren, it looks like they might have to rely on their senior pace setter to pull them around, certainly not a lot doing with Giovinazzi. Never has been tbh.
Williams; literally nothing good to say outside of it's to see Kubica back. Otherwise, just existing is their only claim to fame. I'm more concerned about whether they'll continue to do so at this rate.
