With the official start to the 2021 F1 season just days away there are many story lines to chew through. Let's zero in on a select few, as I believe we’re in for an incredible season.

So, who can beat Lewis Hamilton to the championship?

Entering this new campaign Lewis Hamilton will have his sights set on capturing that record breaking 8th world drivers championship, but just because he's the favourite, doesn’t mean he can win that title.

Valtteri Bottas

His teammate Valtteri Bottas is hungry. While speaking with Sky Sports Bottas said “In this sport if you want to win you need to be selfish. It’s something I’ve definitely learned, I need to think about myself. I need to keep in mind everyone’s career in F1 is not forever. It just comes down to that. I don’t want to regret anything when I eventually retire. I want to know I did it for myself and nobody else!”

Drivers are, by nature, selfish. They have to be, but there are levels that one can go to in that department. This selfish mentality that Bottas refers to may be just what the doctor ordered. Hamilton is such a fierce competitor, I feel if Bottas really wants to take down the 7 time world champion, he’s going to have to get his hands dirty and, even then, he may not be able to do it.

I feel if Bottas is able to get the season off to a great start and pull a gap, then he may just have a chance at beating the greatest F1 driver of all time to the championship. Looking at pre-season testing, it seemed the W12 is more suited to Bottas at the moment, while Hamilton seemed to struggle with rear stability. Although the car we saw in testing may, in fact, look nothing like what we see this weekend, it was a good indicator that this Mercedes may work best with Bottas’s smooth driving style.

Red Bull

The team as a whole looks strong. Their pre-season testing was incredible, reliability was on point, they suffered very little running issues, and logged a load of mileage. I feel that Red Bull could land the first blow in Bahrain, they were quick in the race in 2020, and their pace during long runs in testing was incredible.

It may also help that Max Verstappen looks hungrier than ever to win. When he arrived in the paddock on Thursday he looked as fit as I’ve ever seen him. Verstappen enters his 7th season of racing in F1 and that experience will definitely go a long way. I have a feeling he’ll also be a little more level headed this season and will have matured even more. Armed with all of that experience and knowledge, factor in that he’s one of the quickest drivers on the grid, and we could see the Dutch driver take the lead in the championship at the end of round 1.

It will also help that Verstappen will be pushed by his uber quick teammate Sergio Perez. I have Perez locked in as my dark horse to win this championship. After winning his first ever Grand Prix last season in the Sakhir Grand Prix, he will be very hungry for more. Now he has been handed a weapon of a car that can challenge for race wins, and potentially a championship.

Although it’s a new team for Perez he is one of the most experienced drivers on the grid this season, and is one of the best qualifiers. He had a solid pre-season test with the team, and was a bit cautious in terms of speaking about potential, but if he is able to get comfortable working with a new race car, and team personnel, in a short period of time, then he could very well challenge for a championship. We’ve seen Sergio grow stronger when pushed by a formidable teammate, he definitely has one in Verstappen, and that leads me to believe that he’ll be at the top of his game this season.

Keeping Up With The Canadians

Lance Stroll enters his 5th season in F1 and seems more confident, and why not? He’s coming off his best season to date in Formula One, there's an influx of cash from Aston Martin, as well as other new brands, and you can bet they’ll be just as competitive as they were in 2020. I spoke with Lance on Thursday and here’s what he had to say about his new found confidence:

“I think, in my mind, it was a matter of time to get in a good car that could produce results and show what I can do, and prove to myself what I could do! Last year I think was a great year in that sense. Like you said I had some great results, there was also some bad luck, and some rough patches that cost me. All in all I think last year was a good indication the potential that this team has, and that we have as a group.

We have a very similar package, the rules haven’t changed that much. For sure there will be teams that will have improved such as Ferrari I am sure. There’s no doubt that none of the teams have been standing still during the off season. I’m very confident we’re in another position to be competitive to fight for good results and we just have to take advantage of that.”

Nicholas Latifi enters his 2nd season in F1, a driver that started racing at a late age but has risen through the ranks and always produced good results in his second year in the junior categories.

However, this is Formula 1, a totally different animal. Latifi worked hard in the offseason on perfecting his qualifying, one of his weakness’s in 2020. This is a very talented driver who is racing in some tough equipment. The Williams car is not easy to drive, and that’s not great news to hear when you’re still trying to find your feet in a sport that will quickly chew you up and spit you out. I spoke with Nicholas on Thursday and for him, his expectations are simple, he wants to see that he’s made progress.

“Going into anything with more experience you want to improve upon past experiences obviously from last year to build on those foundations. Saturday performances in qualifying were not to my liking, let’s say more often than not I wasn’t getting the most out of myself and I wasn’t getting the most out of what the car was capable of so that is a big area of focus to try and improve.”

I can’t say enough how excited I am for this upcoming season, I really do feel that we’re in for a great one, and if any of you racing fans out there ever want to chat you can always reach me on twitter or IG @timhauraney

Thanks for reading!