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Brawn: No midfield podiums this year

16:17, 19 Apr 2018

byAdam Newton

F1 boss Ross Brawn believes that it is highly unlikely to see any driver outside of Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull step onto the podium in 2018.

Formula One is moving on to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which is earlier than the previous two years due to calendar rescheduling.

2017’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, famous for Sebastian Vettel’s deliberate crash with Lewis Hamilton, saw the only podium appearance for a driver outside the top three teams, when Lance Stroll of Williams caused a surprise to finish third and join Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas on the podium.

Most F1 fans enjoy it when an unfancied name and car appears near the top of the results, but Brawn does not believe that it will happen this season: “As was the case in Bahrain and China, the gap between the first three and the rest of the pack was far too big.

“In less than two weeks we’ll be racing at Baku, which last year saw the only podium appearance of a driver from outside the top three teams.

“Could the return to this very different street circuit throw up a result outside of the top three teams? On current form it looks highly unlikely.”