We're three races in.
Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton's dominance continues already. I'm not surprised, personally, I sort of assume that Hamilton is chasing a championship this year to take the all time record for number of championships. I wonder (and kind of suspect) that he will retire after that.
Portugal Grand Prix yesterday was an uneventful race overall, in my opinion.
Things I liked: Checo leading a good portion of the race. Seeing Mick Schumacher make a late overtake of Latifi was great. The HAAS cars are obviously absolute dogs compared to every one, but Schumacher still drove it hard and seeing him fight was great. It's great to see a Schumacher in F1 again and I think in 3-5 years we'll see him on the podium at least a few times.
Things I didn't like: Red Bull's strategy with Checo and Verstappen. Knowing the Honda doesn't quite have the pace of the Mercs, Portugal is a track where Red Bull can win, because there are a lot of slower overtaking zones. I don't understand why they didn't pit Checo around lap 48 when he had about 6-8 seconds on Hamilton, Verstappen, and about 24 on Bottas. Yes, he would have come out in fourth (which he did anyways), but he would have had fresh tires and been only 2-4 seconds behind Bottas giving him plenty of race to run Bottas down and and fight for third.
This was very poor strategy on the part of Red Bull. I continually think Red Bull has been snatching defeat from the jaws of victory the last couple of seasons. It's frustrating to me, because Red Bull continues to favor Verstappen and it was clear to me the strategy was designed to give Verstappen a podium, not help Perez make it. But they could have had 2 and 3 and potentially the fastest lap.
Bottas taking poll and then blowing it perfect example of why I dislike him. He's so hit and miss and his attitude about it. He clearly has a chip on his shoulder from being second fiddle to Hamilton, I get it, but get over it.
RR's F1 Speculation/Dreams: I really hope that when Hamilton retires, Leclerc comes over to Mercedes and Bottas goes to Ferrari. I'd like to see if Bottas has what it takes to compete in a car that isn't so dominant. At Ferrari he could be the absolute top dog, but I suspect will still be a middling tier driver. Charles Leclerc on the other hand...is going to win at least one if not 3 or more titles once Hamilton retires, I suspect they'll all be in Mercedes cars.
What are your thoughts on the season thus far and the future?