Should Ricciardo not take a big step forward by the end of the season, McLaren’s patience will run thin.įernando Alonso still has it. The difference this time, however, is that the clock is ticking, thanks to Norris. He has a track record of coming good after a while, having taken some time before being competitive at Renault. Nonetheless, to have Norris doing so well only builds pressure on Ricciardo. To outqualify Norris even three times is a good result considering. In truth, when you hear Ricciardo speak about just how uncomfortable he is in the car - he likened it to like kicking with his wrong foot - his speed has actually been remarkable. He had respectable Grands Prix in Spain, France and Silverstone where he was inside the top six, but has too regularly missed Q3 and has finished outside of the points three times. Ricciardo has rarely found that sweet spot so far. Having made the bold move to jump from Renault to McLaren, Ricciardo has been blindsided by a quirky car that needs to be driven on a knife’s edge to be quick. Well, it wasn’t supposed to go like this. There’s plenty of work to do for Daniel Ricciardo. Should he do that, then Norris is well set up in F1 for many years to come. His goal for the remainder of the season should be to maintain his advantage over Ricciardo, who will surely improve the longer it runs. Norris sits inside the top three in the title race, edging out Bottas and Perez, which is mightily impressive.
He’s also outqualified Ricciardo eight times. He’s built on an impressive 2020 with three more podiums this year, while he’s been remarkably consistent with nine top-five finishes in 11 races. Norris is driving like someone who’s confident and completely aligned with his garage - and the McLaren hierarchy. Instead, it’s the Australian who’s feeling the heat, because he’s been thoroughly dominated by his junior teammate. It was thought pressure would come his way in 2021 with the arrival of big-name signing Daniel Ricciardo. What a season from the McLaren young gun. Lando Norris pushes Verstappen for driver of the season honours so far. He’s already locked in on a long-term contract and so there’s little pressure on the 23-year-old heading into the back-end of the season. He’s only twice missed out on the points and has two podiums this year - an impressive result when driving for only the third or fourth best team. Nonetheless, there’s no denying that he’s rapid when the stars align for Ferrari, while he’s consistent even when they don’t. Sadly for the Monegasque, the first pole was followed by a crash in qualifying which ultimately ruled him out of the race. Back-to-back pole position laps in Monaco and Baku was an absolute dream. But now that Ferrari has made a massive leap forward, Leclerc’s quality is once again starting to show. It rendered one of the field’s brightest talents utterly toothless. In many ways it was a shame that Ferrari was so far off the pace last year. He also had a costly spin at Imola where he finished outside of the points having been in fourth.Ĭharles Leclerc is back to showing the field what he can do. All-in-all, it’s been a respectable first half of the season, although there’s no doubt he loses marks for a horrorshow in Austria where he copped two five-second penalties for racing incidents. He backed it up with a podium in France while those two results were sandwiched by fourth-place finishes, which feels about a par result for him. A race win in Azerbaijan, albeit at the misfortune of Verstappen, would have been a massive boost to the confidence of Perez, who’s never been at an F1 powerhouse. The Mexican hasn’t exactly taken to Red Bull like a duck to water, but he’s certainly had his moments.
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Yet another British Grand Prix win, and a recovery drive to second in Hungary saw him reclaim the championship lead and set up a tantalising battle with Verstappen for the series remainder. He loses marks, however, for scrappy races in Monaco and Azerbaijan where he qualified in seventh and made a sloppy error at a restart respectively. Any suggestion that Hamilton is simply the driver of the fastest car and wouldn’t look as impressive elsewhere simply isn’t true, and this year proves it - if it needed to be proven in the first place.
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They were races where Max Verstappen was arguably stronger, particularly in Spain, but failed to take full advantage. That he still walked away with three wins in the first four races was massive for his campaign. This time, however, Red Bull is the real deal and Hamilton has a genuine fight on his hands for the first time in years. We’re used to Hamilton talking down Mercedes before the start of the season while talking up Red Bull as a much-improved team. Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the championship lead late.
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