Expert amazed by the new F1 craze – might affect Valtteri Bottas | Sport

The Baku race weekend of the Formula Ones saw a significant turn on Sunday, when McLaren moved to first place in the manufacturers’ World Series for the first time this season, overtaking Red Bull, who dominated the sport in recent years.

McLaren’s 23-year-old Oscar Piastri celebrated the second victory of his career. Second drove a Ferrari Charles Leclerc and third Mercedes George Russell. He benefited from Red Bull by Sergio Perez and Ferrari Carlos Sainz Crashed in the penultimate lap of the race.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas was the last to finish, 16th. Urheilu’s F1 expert Jukka Mildh root the most heated topics of the series.

How did the race end?

The victory of the race was decided by Piastr even daring to pass Leclerc after the first pit stops. After that, Leclerc tried to force the pass several times, but Piastri held his ground.

In the very last laps of the race, Leclerc could no longer hang on to the Australian driver.

– Piastri was able to take better care of the tires. This was a great show of strength from Piastr, Mildh praises.

What speaks?

McLaren therefore became number one in the Manufacturers’ World Series over Red Bull. The lead of the traditional British team over Red Bull is 20 points.

In the last 15 years, Red Bull has been the perennial success of the series, but recently that position has been eroded. Also, a design guru Adrian Newey disappears from the organization after almost 20 years together.

– McLaren taking the lead is a significant change when you think about how long Red Bull has dominated the sport, says Mildh.

McLaren’s strength in the regular series is the iron racing duo. The young Piastri, who is driving his second F1 season, has developed wildly during this season. In Sunday’s race Lando Norris on the other hand, improved its ranking by more than ten places, being fourth.

– Piastri wants to take advantage of everything he can. Norris played a significant role in this race in that he appropriately slowed down Perez during the pit stops, Mildh points out.

Who surprised?

The driver’s side has seen significant changes recently.

21 year old from Argentina Franco Colapinto replaced the one who flopped with Williams a couple of races ago by Logan Sargeant. 19-year-old British driver Ollie Bearman on the other hand, Haas, who was on the sidelines due to a ban from the race, was lucky in Baku Kevin Magnussen.

Colapinto made it handsomely to the top ten in his second times. In the race itself, he was no less than eighth.

Bearman was qualifying near the final section.

Bearman spoiled the start of the season by comfortably beating Sainz in seventh place in his Ferrari. The driving test in question guaranteed the young Brit an F1 race spot for next season from Haas, although this season’s main task in the F2 series has gone under the bench.

Colapinto has also driven in formula two this season. ‘s F1 expert is amazed at how ready the young F1 drivers are right away.

– However, Bearman won his teammate Nico Hülkenberg’s and Colapinto drove nicely to the points. This shows how quickly the guys adapt to the series. Older drivers can see that there is a threat.

– This is partly due to driving on the simulator and working closely with the team. However, the track time is short. Still, such performances will be made. It’s crazy, Mildh muses.

What about Bottas?

The current trend may also affect Bottas. The 35-year-old Finn is seen as the favorite to be Sauber’s second driver next year as well. Hülkenberg is definitely in the team.

The 19-year-old is considered the biggest threat to Bottas’ F1 future Gabriel Bortoleto. The McLaren Academy graduate is leading the F2 series right from his rookie season. A year ago he won the F3 series, so the displays are convincing.

Although Colapinto and Bearman have driven clearly weaker than Bortoleto this F2 season, they have also come rushing into F1 circles. The examples in question may encourage F1 organizations to prefer a young driver.

Sauber is always more like Audi’s organization. Mildh thinks that the Audi factory and headquarters might have their own vision of what the second race driver of the F1 team should be like.

– They can use false grounds to make choices so that they take this young guy because he does good for our brand. However, in this situation, Audi needs to adapt to formula one and enter 2026 with a better car.

– If the decisions are political, the situation is difficult for Bottas. However, I definitely think that with a more experienced driver, Audi can go much further, Mildh speaks for Bottas.

Who flopped?

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was close to making the surprise list until he crashed on the penultimate lap of the race with Sainz. The 34-year-old Mexican driver remained behind Piastri and Leclerc throughout the race.

Perez tried to overtake Leclerc, but had to fight with Sainz, who was fourth. As a result, the duo hit the wall.

Mildh blamed Perez for the crash.

– Perez had a lack of judgment to keep the driving lane in a crash situation. It was a big blow for Red Bull when the points were coming. He could only have taken a good investment. This was a flop situation.

Updated 06.26: Corrected that Bortoleto is currently leading the F2 series, but has not won it, as was previously erroneously reported.