Austrian GP | How the drivers approach a race after a long break
The drivers are ready to go in their car and the feelings can be very different. Here it is their view on the comeback.
The tension is already beginning to buzz in the paddock, drawing a line that unites all the drivers in an unique sensation, as they are gathered all in this weird situation. The most common impression is very alike to the first day of school of the new year, everyone is thrilled but each one reacts in a different way.
The Ferrari drivers began the new season with negative thoughts. Charles Leclerc recently revealed that the Prancing Horse team feels that the 2020 Championship will be worse than the last one, while Vettel stated that even though the whole team have been working really hard during the shutdown, he knows that he will have to wait until the third Grand Prix of the season to use the new upgrades.
Track walk done ✅
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) July 2, 2020
Looking sharp in those @Ray_Ban shades 😎#essereFerrari 🔴 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/f8b1uIJ2mr
Mercedes, on the other hand, predictably looks extremely confident. Lewis Hamilton says that he feels quite confident to reach Michael Schumacher on the top of the all-time Formula 1 champions winning his seventh World title. Bottas looks more cautious instead, reminding that this season every mistake will count more.
Red Bull has two different situations with its drivers. One one hand there is Max Verstappen, who said he has the chance to try and win every race of the 2020 season. On the other hand, they have Albon, who, according to Helmut Marko, has to prove his worth to keep his seat in 2021 as well.
Let’s go in Woking. Lando Norris looks very committed to the “Black Lives Matter” cause, saying that it would be right to kneel on the grid in respect but they will have to decide what’s best for the sport. Carlos Sainz is very focused on the present and he will do his best to gain points for McLaren. Haas’ drivers Grosjean and Magnussen stated that they have trust in their team and it has what it takes to race a great season.
Let’s go to Racing Point. Sergio “Checo” Perez thought about the problems of coming back to a Formula 1 race after a very long pause, foreseeing a stressful race for both nerves and – above all- muscles.
Stroll, on the other hand, focuses on the goal, catching points with Racing Point, saying that he is confident that his team will be able to fight against the top three teams in 2020.
We can find a similar approach in Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman, infact, states that he wants to earn some points immediately during his maiden season with Renault, while Ricciardo tells everyone he tried his best to keep the focus by not allowing himself to fall into the “holiday mode” .
At Williams there are two young drivers who are hungry for success, especially after a disappointing 2019 season. George Russell states that he trusts the Grove team and Latifi noticed that the team made a number of steps ahead in the right direction.
In Alpha Tauri we have Pierre Gasly, who reveals candidly how he used his “free time”: he spent his lockdown studying Italian. Kvyat is, like he has always been, very concrete and he looks at the 2020 season as a super unpredictable one, in racing as well.
https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/15903/drivers-039-market-all-the-moves-expected-in-2021
We only miss Alfa Romeo’s drivers, right? Antonio Giovinazzi previously said that he knows how to start again as he stayed far from the Circus for two years and he is ready to use this experience as an advantage. Raikkonen, on the other hand, is chilled like we thought he would have been and talks about his son’s career. He admits that Robin is faster than him on rental karts.
The time to talk is over, let’s go back to racing now.
