Formula 1 is back this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix – and race day returns to a Sunday. Max Verstappen hasactually made a strong start to the season, winning both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix. As groups prepare to travel to Albert Park in Melbourne, BBC Sport’s F1 reporter Andrew Benson responses your concerns. Is there a motorist from before your profession began who you would love to have talkedto? Andrew: Thanks for the concerns as ever. Two, infact. The end of Ayrton Senna’s profession corresponded with the really starts of mine – I was simply starting to participatein the odd grand prix as a reporter in1993 I had a short close encounter with the famous Brazilian at Imola that year, which I’ve touched on in here. In that piece, you can likewise checkout the factors why it would haveactually been so interesting to do a long-form interview with him. The other is Gilles Villeneuve – who was the chauffeur who veryfirst triggered my interest in Formula 1. Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Gilles Villeneuve (left) endedupbeing a Formula 1 legend for his makesuseof with Ferrari, for whom he drove from the late part of the 1977 season His mix of speed, bravery, and straightforwardness was and stays engaging, not simply for me, however for numerous around the world. I feel there was a reasonable bit more to him than is frequently permitted for, and I would haveactually delightedin attempting to get into that. Of course, there are numerous more fantastic names through history who would haveactually been remarkable to talk to, however those are the 2 who stand out on a individual level. How close do you believe Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari andsoon will get to Red Bull as we get towards the lateron phases, on the existing guidelines? Andrew: Any response to this can just be a guess, and there are 2 possible ones. The dominating theory is that as long as guidelines are kept in location, the more the field closes up. The believing behind that is a group with an benefit discovers it moredifficult to unearth more gains as they are pressing up versus the ceiling of what’s possible, while the others catch up. But… I’m not that persuaded that will takeplace here. This is year 3 of a set of guidelines that were created to make the racing more competitive and close the field up. They haveactually done some of that – however Red Bull began with an benefit and it has, if anything, grown over time rather than decreased. I worry no-one will catch up before the brand-new guidelines in2026 What was behind the remarkable modification in Honda engines from method off the speed to winners with Red Bull? Andrew: This is a truly fascinating story. Honda revealed in late 2020 that it would pull out of F1 at the end of2021 Before that choice was made, Honda’s F1 department hadactually been preparation to present an brandnew power system for2022 But when the board chose to stop, the engineers asked for authorization to bring it forward to 2021 which was, at the time, prepared to be the Japanese business’s last year in F1. The engineers pulled out all the stops and essentially modified the whole engine, making it smallersized, lower, lighter, more effective and more effective. It was a rather exceptional effort, comprehensive on Honda’s own site, external and BBC
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