Early signs are that Lewis Hamilton is the man to beat..and he knows it
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Updated 24/03/2017 at 22:23 GMT
Lewis Hamilton's dominance in the first set of practices of the 2017 season show that he is already a level above the rest of the pack.
Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes
Image credit: Reuters
In the build-up to the new F1 season some of the drivers were asked what three things they would change if they were the new owners of F1.
Fernando Alonso, a former world champion but now stuck in a weaker McLaren-Honda, suggested "equal engines for everyone," which caused some laughter.
Quick as a flash Hamilton responded whilst smiling "I don't agree with that one," cue more laughter.
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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain takes a selfie with a fan as he arrives at the track.
Image credit: Reuters
In an era where drivers are judged by their car rather than their skills it's been a shame to see the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes have more or less dominated. Of course there's been exceptions: Sebastian Vettel came close to ruining his streak before an incredible turnaround in 2012, but generally speaking one has been dominant. Mercedes have won the last three Constructors Championships by an average of 289.33 points. The year before Red Bull won it by 236.
It had been hoped that this season there would have been a change. The rules changes were designed to try and reduce Mercedes' incredible dominance and bring Hamilton closer to the chasing pack.
The initial signs are not good. After FP2 in Australia, Hamilton lapped half a second quicker than Vettel in his Ferrari and he was over a second quicker than the Red Bulls.
Speaking to reporters after the session, Hamilton was evidently confident and slightly surprised.
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Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton powers through a corner during the first practice session for the Formula One Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 24, 2017.
Image credit: AFP
"Coming into today we had no idea where we would stand," he said.
"It was kind of a night and day difference to how the car felt on the last day of testing. The car's feeling good so I got through all my running and I got a good understanding of the tyres on low and high fuel, which puts us in good stead for tomorrow.
"There's things we struggled in the test and things weren't quite perfect in the car. [Here] everything's performing at its optimum, which is great.
It feels amazing and that's, to be honest, surprising.
With world champion Nico Rosberg having retired, Vettel was seen as the main rival for Hamilton but he was evidently some way off Hamilton.
However encouragingly for Ferrari fans, or indeed fans of competition, Vettel didn't seem too concerned.
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Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany scratches his head in the team garage during the first practice session.
Image credit: Reuters
"The balance wasn't yet where I want it to be, so I think we can still do a decent step forward," he said, whilst team-mate Kimi Raikkonen added, "it's hard to say from today where we're going to be against Mercedes, but we have to improve in a few areas and then we will see."
The Ferraris have to improve in the next session and ensure that Hamilton doesn't get too far out of sight in the opening couple of races, because for all the talk about the cars Hamilton has the ability to establish a lead and dominate the championship from there onwards.
If you need convincing of Ferrari's title credentials then you only need to listen to Hamilton and the way he speaks about their rivals.
I think the Ferraris are obviously still very, very fast and strong, much stronger than they've ever been, so we have to keep a close eye on them.
"They might not have the power turned up or whatever it may be, so we'll see tomorrow."
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Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany powers around the Melbourne circuit during the second practice session.
Image credit: Reuters
It's evident that Hamilton feels Ferrari could challenge and you can be sure he will be looking to capitalise if they falter in the first few races.
Hamilton was also diplomatic when talking about the Red Bulls, and it sounds as if he feels he has the beating of them.
"Red Bull have taken a great step into this weekend, but it seems that we're currently as strong or a little bit stronger than them."
Both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have been tipped as potential World Champions, which is absurd when you consider how far the latter has come, but already they look as if they may struggle to keep the pace.
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Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo of Australia celebrates with Red Bull's Max Verstappen of the Netherlands on the podium.
Image credit: Reuters
Of course, both drivers have the talent to make up for the car's shortcomings, but then again it's not as if Hamilton is purely riding on the car.
The new changes are obviously impacting the drivers from week one, and as the races come and go we'll get a better idea of their effect, but for now it looks as if it might be a new direction, but the same destination as far the F1 World Championships are concerned.
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