The fingers have been pointing, the accusations made – and nobody has stepped forward to admit that, yes, they were \u201csandbagging\u201d. That\u2019s the pit lane parlance for dialling back on performance in pre-season testing.<\/p>\n
Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen took aim at Mercedes.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust wait until Melbourne and see how much power they suddenly find … see how fast they suddenly go on all the straights,\u201d said the four-time champion.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Williams boss James Vowles put the spotlight back on Red Bull in Bahrain, suggesting that \u201cgames are being played\u201d when their pace suddenly slowed.<\/p>\n
It is, of course, only normal to try and conceal an advantage, no matter how tiny, for when they line up in Melbourne, but this is just the first of the many rows which are bound to erupt during this first season under new rules.<\/p>\n
Brand new Cadillac<\/p>\n
Watch out: the Americans are coming! First it was Haas joining the grid in 2016 and now it is Cadillac, one of the most famous names in the auto business, who are angling to set the \u201cstandard of the world\u201d.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not quite their first foray into F1, although in 1952 and 1953 they provided engines only and failed to make the start in two editions of the Indy 500 – which counted as part of the world championship.<\/p>\n
As new boys, the General Motors-financed team will be relying on experience in the cockpit, where Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will launch the team, and under the bonnet.<\/p>\n
Cadillac will not be making their own power units until 2029 so will be relying on Ferrari until then.<\/p>\n
\u201cI firmly believe we\u2019ve got a platform that, as a team, we can really start moving forward on,\u201d said team principal Graeme Lowdon in the pre-season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s probably the most that you could ever ask for from a new team, unless there\u2019s some complete miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The right profile<\/p>\n
Another new team to look out for is Audi,who have a rich history in motorsport – winners of Le Mans, the Dakar Rally and the World Rally Championship – but are dipping their toes in the F1 waters for the first time.<\/p>\n
The German team acquired the Sauber slot and have retained the driving skills of veteran Nico Hulkenberg, who finally got his first podium last season at Silverstone after 15 years and 239 races, and 21-year-old Gabriel Bortoleto.<\/p>\n
Audi had a good pre-season workout and may surprise a few people, although team principal Jonathan Wheatley is making no promises.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no illusions about the amount of work remaining or the level of competition we will face in Melbourne,\u201d he said after testing in Sakhir.<\/p>\n
Career opportunities<\/p>\n
At 18 years and 212 days by the time the lights go on in Melbourne, Arvid Lindblad will become the fourth-youngest driver of all-time to make his F1 debut, behind Verstappen, Lance Stroll and Kimi Antonelli.<\/p>\n
The teenager, who will compete as a Briton but also has Swedish and Indian heritage through his parents, will be in the Racing Bulls seat with Liam Lawson.<\/p>\n
He is the sole rookie on the grid this season but comes with pedigree: he won three races in Formula 2 in 2025 – two of them as a 17-year-old – and has been on Red Bull\u2019s radar since he was 12.<\/p>\n
He was disarmingly frank in January about his feelings with regard to his readiness to making the step up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. I mean, I\u2019ve got a lot to learn. If I\u2019m entirely ready, I don\u2019t know,\u201d he told F1 TV.<\/p>\n
King of the road<\/p>\n
At the other end of the age spectrum, Fernando Alonso, 44, and Lewis Hamilton, 41, may be duking it out for the last time in F1.<\/p>\n
Alonso, who won both his world titles before Lindblad was born, is in the last year of his contract with Aston Martin, whose sputtering pre-season does not bode well.<\/p>\n
Hamilton, also in the last year of his contract with Ferrari, had a terrible season last year but is full of fight again as he seeks an eighth world title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what needs to be done. This is going to be one hell of a season!\u201d he posted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fingers have been pointing, the accusations made – and nobody has stepped forward to admit that, yes,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2246,4886,169570,95,169568,1863,18239,169571,4752,116578,29188,6276,6288,16718,88038,27494,169569,19133,169572,123,111,139,88039,69,22309,17891,169567,120416,6926,213,169566,10809,1961,2563,58455,169573,6123,102,377],"class_list":["post-311697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2246","tag-aims","tag-alonso","tag-and","tag-arvid","tag-back","tag-championship","tag-endgames","tag-f1","tag-fernando","tag-formula","tag-gets","tag-hamilton","tag-him","tag-lando","tag-lewis","tag-lindblad","tag-looking","tag-mclarens","tag-melbourne","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-norris","tag-nz","tag-retain","tag-rookie","tag-rows","tag-sandbagging","tag-season","tag-sports","tag-storylines","tag-sunday","tag-this","tag-title","tag-underway","tag-verstappen","tag-while","tag-with","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}