LIGHTS, CAMERAS, ACTION

As Formula 1’s longest-ever season blasts off this month, our Grid Guru STEWART BELL delivers this year’s biggest talking points…

- STEWART BELL

The wait is over. F1 2020 is locked and loaded, with pre-season testing done for yet another year — and the teams and drivers all jetting into Australia for the milestone 25th edition of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. But, in F1’s special 70th anniversary season, the longest ever comprising a record-22 rounds, there’s a lot to look forward to as the pinnacle of motorsport again prepares to blast-off.

The biggest drawcard — the battles on-track, right throughout the field. Mercedes may have secured its record-sixth-straight F1 World Championship double last year, but Ferrari and Red Bull Racing are both boiling with desperation to knock the Silver Arrows off its shiny perch at the pinnacle of the sport. And have one last season to do it in its current guise, before 2021’s sweeping changes (across technical, sporting and financial spheres) take effect.

ALL-OUT WAR AT THE FRONT OF THE GRID

Mercedes’ rivals will absolutely have their work cut out for them with the Silver Arrows a united force — and its lead driver, six-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton in the form of his life, and staring down once-untouchable records. Those high water marks belong to the great Michael Schumacher, his seven F1 World Championships and 91 wins an Everest-like benchmark that has stood for more than a dozen years. Incredibly, this year, Hamilton can equal Schumacher’s crowns and surpass his career wins — finishing 2019 with 84 overall. These are the crucial stats that will finally put his reputation as a great beyond question.