Emilia Romagna Grand Prix preview: Leclerc can take advantage of Red Bull issues

The F1 season is only three races old, but already Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has emerged as the leading player in the Drivers Championship. Can he make it three wins out of four in this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix?

We preview the race below.

Leclerc looking to maintain early dominance

One of the most exciting prospects ahead of this season, was the change in regulations the FIA introduced, the aim being to encourage closer driving and competition, however it remains unclear if this will really take place. Before Max Verstappen crashed out in the opener in Bahrain, he and Leclerc swapped places a total of six times, all in the space of four laps. It was the aerodynamic overhaul that allowed this to occur, the changes preventing the cars behind from losing significant downforce as they previously would have.

Jeddah was similarly close with Verstappen demonstrating great patience to pip Leclerc to P1 with just three laps remaining, finishing the race just five tenths quicker than his Ferrari counterpart. This all changed in Australia where yet another reliability issue led to Verstappen’s early retirement, and Leclerc recorded a dominant win with a 20 second gap behind to second place. This, combined with Leclerc’s commanding 34-point lead in the championship, leads us to wonder if we really can expect a close contest this year or will we see the young Ferrari driver run away with it.

The odds reflect what we’ve seen so far and the Championship could already be described as a two-horse race, with Leclerc 4/7 to claim a first Drivers Championship, while Verstappen is 5/2 to retain his title.

Leclerc is the marginal favourite to win the first of Ferrari’s two home Grand Prix’s at 11/10, with Verstappen priced at 15/8 to make it two wins in a row at the Imola-based circuit.

Looking elsewhere, Carlos Sainz may find himself in danger of falling into a ‘support role’ for Leclerc should he fail to impress once again. Keen to avoid this, Sainz will be giving it his all this weekend, and odds of 7/1 could be very generous, especially considering how strong Ferrari have looked so far. In the other Red Bull, Sergio Perez will be looking to go one better than his P2 finish in Melbourne, but is an outsider at 12/1 to do so.

In changing times, does this represent the end of a generation and the emergence of younger drivers?

As shown by the odds, Leclerc and Verstappen, both 24, are clear favourites not just in this Grand Prix but so too for the WDC. Having lost out on winning his eighth last season, Hamilton (8/1 for the DC and 11/1 to win at Imola) sits fifth in the driver standings, three places and nine points behind bright Mercedes prospect, Russell (33/1 and 28/1), who impressed in Melbourne, earning his team a podium in a car nowhere near as competitive as once before. Trust from the big constructors in young drivers is being greatly repaid, and with Raikkonen gone and Alonso’s future uncertain, this season may well be the end of a generation.

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Can Mercedes solve their problems?

Ferrari edged McLaren in the best of the rest battle last year, but the Scuderia are aiming a lot higher this season and after their fast start are just 8/13 to claim a first Constructors Championship since 2008.

Red Bull currently lie in third spot on 55 points, but will need to sort out their reliability issues if they are to land fifth Constructors Championship win, something they are priced at 2/1 to achieve.

The Midfield battle appears to be one involving McLaren, Alpine and maybe even Haas.

Unfortunately for them, there seems to be a new entry into the midfield battle in Mercedes. The Silver Arrows have been struggling with severe porpoising, a phenomenon whereby the car violently bounces up and down when at high speeds. Toto’s men seem to believe that this is the source of nearly all their problems, which may be reassuring seeing as though Red Bull have managed to all but eliminate the issue. Despite their slow start to the season, they are currently second in the Constructors Championship, ten points clear of Red Bull. We have them at 11/2 to return to their form of late and win their nineth championship in a row.

Alpine (250/1) will be under pressure to build on last season’s respectable fifth-place finish, with the experienced duo of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon once again in the driver’s seat. Last year they finished 120 points behind McLaren (250/1) with a lot of ground to make up, however they’ve made a promising start to the new year. For a moment, viewers were led to believe Fernando Alonso would be on pole position in Melbourne as he drove an incredible Q1 and Q2 before experiencing a hydraulic failure in Q3 and crashing out, instead starting at P10. Following this, odds of 12/1 on the Spaniard to record a podium finish at Imola could prove tempting.

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