F1 News
"Not only do I have a ticket for the hypetrain, I'm the damn conductor!"
- GPblog.com
Just like last season, the midfield will be particularly interesting in 2021. Fortunately, the battle between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes also commands a lot of attention this time around, but once that's settled, we can still focus on the fight for third place.
Last year it was McLaren who came out on top in a battle with Racing Point and Renault. However, the latter two teams seem to have fallen back a little since their name change. Their position is now taken by Ferrari and AlphaTauri, with Red Bull's sister team already being labelled favourite in this battle by some.
Bahrain GP result not a good picture
During the Bahrain race some bad luck and a cautious Yuki Tsunoda didn't help the situation, but Will Buxton is convinced that AlphaTauri have built a very fast car. He bases that not only on the clever way the team has used its tokens, but also on the times it has clocked up in recent weeks.
"When looking at the long runs they put in both during testing and in the race, and comparing them to those same times set by Ferrari and McLaren, some – and right now I put myself in that number – would have them narrowly ahead of the scarlet and papaya-liveried teams", Buxton said on Formula1.com.
The moment of conviction for Buxton came immediately after the winter test, when Gasly couldn't actually give him an answer to the question of whether there is still room for improvement. "AlphaTauri look good. Properly good. P3 good. Seriously. I don’t just have a ticket for the hype train. I’m the damn conductor", Buxton says.