“It isn’t all over yet!” This is the message that has been echoing over the past few years inside the camps of Silver Arrows fans. After a disastrous opening two rounds this season, have things finally turned around for Lewis Hamilton & Co.? From the looks of it, yes! W14’s performance in the qualifying session of the Australian GP showed tremendous promise, as the team showed that Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin aren’t the only miracles happening this season.

Mercedes’ drivers, over the past few weeks, have been severely critical of their team due to the lack of pace underneath them. The fans were concerned, and the boss, Toto Wolff, even came out and said that the team appears to be a year behind the mighty RB19 of Red Bull. Now, everything seems to have turned on its head as George and Lewis qualified second and third, respectively.

This sudden burst of performance was duly noted by Fernando Alonso, who will be starting P4 on Sunday. The Spaniard launched a verbal attack on Lewis Hamilton and his squad after this run. As quoted by Marca from Dazn, the 41-year-old said, “They always want to leave this car and they complain so much… they are already fast. They were hidden and, by the middle of the year, they are sure to win races as they did last year with Russell in Brazil…”

This attack wasn’t the only one from Alonso. In a separate place, he called out the alleged bluff from Mercedes, quoted by Autosport as saying, “If you read their comments, it seems they have a car that is out before Q3. It’s not that car!”

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Mercedes certainly left the entire paddock, wondering what happened overnight. Will this run translate into a durable run on Sunday remains to be seen.

Fernando Alonso feels confident about his chances

Fernando Alonso’s race pace is the one that has caught everyone’s attention over the past two race weekends. This week too, the driver hopes for a good race despite starting beside the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. The action between the two veterans will be a sight to behold, with young guns packing the front row.

Acknowledging and praising Mercedes’ Q3 effort, Fernando, as quoted by Formula 1, said, “The Mercedes did a very good job, a very good job in Q3, so still probably the best qualifying of the three [races] for us. We were 0.6 [seconds off pole] in Bahrain, 0.5 in Jeddah and here 0.4 [seconds] from pole position, so I think we have to be happy and let’s see tomorrow what we can do.”

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The gap at the top appears to be closing down as the predictions of Red Bull’s challenger approaching a maturity point seem to be coming true. Thus, coming back after a three-week gap, things at the front of the grid can witness a shuffle, and we are all for it.