Paris (AFP)

Faced with Covid-19, Formula 1 has postponed its great upheaval to 2022 and attacks Sunday a season again promised to Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, who may become the most successful driver in history.

Before major changes promising more sporting fairness, Mercedes is approaching 2021 with the label of big favorite, as every year since 2014. Only Red Bull and Max Verstappen seem armed to challenge this hegemony during a marathon season of 23 Grands Prix.

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Hamilton to a record 8th title

Will the Briton Lewis Hamilton become at 36 the most successful driver in history with eight coronations?

Main draw of this season, Hamilton, who equaled Michael Schumacher last year with seven titles, can now overtake the German - whose son Mick also arrives in F1 at 22 years old.

Having signed a new contract of only one year, the recently ennobled Briton would then have the choice: to continue to discover the new single-seaters supposed to revitalize the discipline or to stop, alone at the pinnacle of his sport.

With the same car, his team-mate Valtteri Bottas, two-time vice-defending world champion, is logically the best off to beat him and “absolutely” believes in his star, he said.

Still, the 31-year-old Finn has been systematically beaten by the Briton in four years at Mercedes.

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The flight of Verstappen?

Third in 2019 and 2020, the Dutchman Max Verstappen will still be in ambush.

But can he do better?

Winner of two GPs in 2020, including the last in Abu Dhabi, and best time in pre-season testing, the gifted driver is biding his time and would like it to come before Hamilton leaves the scene.

Youngest participant in a Grand Prix (at 17 years and 5 months, in 2015) and youngest winner of a GP (at 18 years and 7 months, 2016), Verstappen, 23 years old, will not beat the record in any case. of the youngest world champion, held by Sebastian Vettel (23 years and 4 months, 2010).

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Busy transfer window

Still present at 33, Vettel went from Ferrari to Aston Martin (ex-Racing Point).

Quadruple world champion with Red Bull (2010-2013) but stunted since at Ferrari (2015-2020), will he be able to bounce back with Aston Martin, name of return in F1 after 61 years of absence?

This is one of the questions after a hectic transfer window.

Without speaking about Fernando Alonso, returned to F1 at 39 years old at Alpine (new identity of Renault) after two years of absence, many pilots have swapped in the teams able to play the podium.

Arrived at Ferrari when the most successful team in F1 has just completed its worst year in 30 years in 6th place, did Carlos Sainz Jr make the right choice?

The Spaniard and his new teammate Charles Leclerc hope that Ferrari, with a new engine, will have solved some of his worries.

If he does not know what he is winning, Sainz knows what he is losing: McLaren, in full progress, finished 3rd manufacturer in 2020, a first since 2012. The Australian Daniel Ricciardo, transferred from Renault, could benefit from it.

After the first victory of his career at the Sakhir GP at the end of 2020 with Racing Point, the Mexican Sergio Pérez signed him to Red Bull.

At 31, he finally discovers a team that aims for the title, but he will first have to try to measure his teammate Verstappen, which promises to be difficult.

The French Pierre Gasly, winner of his first GP last year in Italy, and Esteban Ocon, who brought his first podium from Bahrain at the end of 2020, continue with AlphaTauri and Alpine, to grow even further.

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Budget ceiling;

future revolution

A spending limit of 120 million euros per year comes into effect.

If it forces the richest teams to reduce the sails, its expected effects (reducing the gaps between teams) will not be immediately felt.

This measure foreshadows a complete overhaul of the single-seaters.

Scheduled for 2021 but postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic, it is intended to redistribute the cards to avoid the current litany of winners.

In the meantime, the cars are essentially the same as in 2020. Only a new regulation relating to the flat bottom obliges the teams to plan the latter, in order to lower downforce by 10% and preserve Pirelli tires that were abused last year. .

A few centimeters less forcing the teams to work on new aerodynamic solutions.

What make the difference, for a few hundredths less?

© 2021 AFP