[JasonB]

This year's Formula 1 season is almost upon us, with the Australian GP just a few days away. 

Could this be the year that Lewis Hamilton beats Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five driver's titles? Or will Sebastian Vettel become the third driver on five? Fingers crossed that McLaren can continue their strong testing form, but Williams look like they're struggling.

Here's a quick reminder of all the dates, venues, teams and drivers.

Date	Venue	Country
March 17	Melbourne	Australia
March 31	Sakhir	Bahrain
April 14	Shanghai	China
April 28	Baku	Azerbaijan
May 12	Barcelona	Spain
May 26	Monaco	Monaco
June 9	Montreal	Canada
June 23	Le Castellet	France
June 30	Spielberg	Austria
July 14	Silverstone	Great Britain
July 28	Hockenheim	Germany
August 4	Budapest	Hungary
September 1	Spa-Francorchamps	Belgium
September 8	Monza	Italy
September 22	Singapore	Singapore
September 29	Sochi	Russia
October 13	Suzuka	Japan
October 27	Mexico City	Mexico
November 3	Austin	USA
November 17	Sao Paulo	Brazil
December 1	Yas Marina	Abu Dhabi

Cars	Teams	Drivers
	MERCEDES	Lewis Hamilton	Valtteri Bottas
	FERRARI	Sebastian Vettel	Charles Leclerc
	RED BULL	Max Verstappen	Pierre Gasly
	RENAULT	Daniel Ricciardo	Nico Hulkenberg
	HAAS	Romain Grosjean	Kevin Magnussen
	MCLAREN	Carlos Sainz	Lando Norris
	RACING POINT	Sergio Perez	Lance Stroll
	ALFA ROMEO	Kimi Raikkonen	Antonio Giovinazzi
	TORO ROSSO	Daniil Kvyat	Alex Albon
	WILLIAMS	George Russell	Robert Kubica

Australian GP Bahrain GP Chinese GP Azerbaijan GP

[Robert Chapman]

Bottas was absolutely phenominal collecting the win and fastest lap for the extra point.
It is early in the season , but Ferrari do npt seem to be up to speed yet and Verstappen is getting off to a good start too.
Hope Hammer can put it down and take another WC for Mercedes.
Bob

[JasonB]

Yes, Bottas was superb.

Hamilton may have a fight on his hands. So might Vettel with Leclerc looking strong.

It will be interesting to see if the race was indicative of Ferrari's true pace, or if they just had on off day.

[Anthony B]

I dont know what it is as I used to LOVE F1 - but these days - I have not watched an F1 race from start to finish in the last 20 years.
Watching SPA live last year, I realised just how much F1 is a procession. The most exiting aspect (if you are English :) ) is the commentary, which obviously is missing when you watch live. I know I am one of the few .....

[JasonB]

I think quite a few people share your feelings Anthony.

But I love it. The engineering, the science, the intrigue, the politics, and the money. It's all fascinating to me.

I think there is obviously a concern that the aerodynamics have made it too difficult to overtake, but they're working on that.

[JasonB]

Terrible luck for Charles Leclerc in Bahrain. Vettel is under pressure and losing his cool.

Mercedes were handed the victory, but Leclerc obviously has a lot of talent, and Ferrari seem to have a fast car.

It was a good race, and it lloks like it might be a very interesting season in F!.

[JasonB]

The 1,000th F1 GP is coming up this weekend.

[Scuderia_Turini]

LeClerc winning would have provided a spark to re-ignite F1, but typical of F1 it was an anti-climax "what might have been". I decided at the end of last season to not bother watching any live coverage this year due to the over-hype of every little sign of hope. I used to watch the qualifying and the race sessions religiously. I'm still interested but not enough to spend hours watching the screens.

The celebration of the 1000th race is classic "fake news". This BBC interview with Bernie Ecclestone may be of interest - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0767l84  (may not be available outwith the UK).

Leo

[JasonB]

Ohhh LeClerc will win soon. He was apparently told to stay behind Vettel for a few laps and overtook him on the next lap.

He's a driver alright. 

[Scuderia_Turini]

Agreed, but his first win won't be as sensational now, no one will be surprised. 

Leo