Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne: Mar 31- Apr 2

We arrive here in Australia having been witness to some excellent racing so far this year as well as some less than inspiring results for a handful of teams and their drivers. This weekend didn’t disappoint either with multiple failures, crashes, safety cars, and red flags.

Starting Grid

1. Max Verstappen
2. George Russell
3. Lewis Hamilton
4. Fernando Alonso
5. Carlos Sainz
6. Lance Stroll
7. Charles Leclerc
8. Alex Albon
9. Pierre Gasly
10. Nico Hulkenberg
11. Esteban Ocon
12. Yuki Tsunoda
13. Lando Norris
14. Kevin Magnussen
15. Nyck de Vries
16. Oscar Piastri
17. Zhou Guanyu
18. Logan Sargent
19. Valterri Bottas
20. Sergio Perez

Final Results

1. Max Verstappen 
2. Lewis Hamilton (+1)
3. Fernando Alonso (+1)
4. Lance Stroll (+2)
5. Sergio Perez (+15)
6. Lando Norris (+7)
7. Nico Hulkenberg (+3)
8. Oscar Piastri (+8)
9. Zhou Guanyu (+8)
10. Yuki Tsunoda (+2)
11. Valterri Bottas (+8)
12. Carlos Sainz (-7)
13. Pierre Gasly (DNF)
14. Esteban Ocon (DNF)
15. Nyck de Vries (DNF)
16. Logan Sargent (DNF)
17. Kevin Magnussen (DNF)
18. George Russell (DNF)
19. Alex Albon (DNF)
20. Charles Leclerc (DNF)

Before getting into the race itself, there were some things about the grid that I feel are noteworthy. The 4th place start was Alonso’s best since 2014, it was also Hamilton’s first top 6 start in the year as Mercedes has struggled to keep up with the field behind the Red Bulls. Bottas and Perez both had to start in pit lane at the beginning of the race as well due to not setting a qualifying time earlier in the weekend.

At the green light, there was immediate action. Russell managed to jump out and overtake Max with a better start off the line slowing him down in the process and opening up a lane for Hamilton to also make an aggressive pass on turn 3. Further back in the grid, Leclerc tried to take an aggressive line into turn 2, only to lock up and run his car into the gravel, ending his day and the chance for Ferrari and himself to get any points this race. Piastri also impressed with his start, managing to navigate through the tight crowd and jump 3 places over the first few turns. Leclerc’s run off resulted in a safety car until they were able to bring out the crane and get him out of the gravel, slowing everyone back down after the start.

Mercedes was obviously pleased with their start, having both cars out front allowed Russell to have protection from having to immediately go back to battling with Max. Although you could tell that Russell was a little annoyed at how aggressive Hamilton was on his back so early on in the race, even saying at one point on the radio “do you want me to defend against my own teammate or push?” 

Just as the race seemed to settle in a bit we had more fireworks, with Albon being the culprit. During lap 7, he came into a corner with too much steam and spun out into the gravel run-off, ending up rolling back into the track almost causing more collisions with a large cloud of dust. We initially had a safety car notice, a major decision in Russell and Sainz taking advantage of the initial safety car to come in to the pits and get fresh tires. However, as soon as that happened though they made a decision to throw out a red flag and bring everyone in to clean up the track. Most were frustrated with the decision, but none more than Russell who stood to lose the most. He expressed his frustration over the team radio with Toto’s strategy, but obviously no one was expecting a red flag to be dropped after the initial safety car. 

By the time we made it to a standing restart, we were starting at lap 10. This restart was relatively quiet as everyone settled in. Verstappen made a move on Hamilton on lap 12, taking advantage of his DRS. Although Russell had a setback due to the red flag, he found himself back in 4th by lap 14, very much still in contention to get on the podium. That hope didn’t last long for him though, because on lap 18 he had an engine failure taking him out of the race. It was actually the first mechanical failure resulting in a DNF for him since joining Mercedes. 

Things were calm for a while, but one driver stood out with their risky maneuvers, Sergio Perez. He made multiple difficult passes in the chicane section starting with turn 9. It is a narrow area with back to back turns in quick succession and not a place that is normally known for passing, but he stayed aggressive and made it happen as he continued to move up the field. 

The two Red Bull drivers kept pushing the pace, with Verstappen getting up to a 7 second lead on Hamilton by lap 28. Piastri, who was battling with what is colloquially referred to where I’m from as “The Shits”, kept decent pace and battled hard to try to move up into the top ten to get points, and made multiple difficult passes, including an overtake on Tsunoda on lap 30.

Things settled back in for a while until Max ran himself into the grass on lap 48, nearly taking himself out of the race. He was able to make a quick recovery though, saving his race. Things weren’t quiet for long however though because Magnussen touched the wall on lap 54, blowing his right rear tire on lap 54. Once again, we were given a Red Flag, and everyone had to come in to pit lane to prepare for one more restart on the race, restarting again on lap 56. 

The announcers, as well as most of the drivers and teams were very surprised that we had yet another restart after the first one. They were probably right about this frustration though as the restart became nothing but chaos.

On the restart, it was a total mess, there was contact between drivers all over. Most notably at first was Sainz who shunted Alonso and causing multiple run-offs and collisions behind him as the drivers caught a total bottleneck on turn 1. The other most significant being Gasly, who ran off and then was able to recover, only to close a passing lane and take out his own teammate Ocon, retiring both cars. As they are a team, they presented a united front to the stewards and both “accepted blame” for the crash, mainly because Gasly is facing a suspension for causing trouble on the track which would do nothing to help Alpine. 

The stewards then threw out ANOTHER Red Flag after the mayhem, which at this point, EVERYONE was displeased with. As they figured out what exactly went down the cars came back into pit lane. Sainz was given a 5 second penalty for his shunt on Alonso. Normally, this wouldn’t be so significant of a penalty in the middle of a race, but due to the restart it was disastrous for Ferrari, causing him to fall all the way back to the end of the pack in 12th. 

Finally it was decided to basically end the last lap as a formality, as a new rule in the FIA requires the drivers to actually cross the line to have an official position. They re-lined up the grid as it was at the last restart, allowing Alonso to get all the way back up to 3rd with Stroll in 4th, a break for Aston. There was no passing allowed on the last lap and everyone rolled over the line casually, ending the race. 

One important thing that came to light during the post race interview however was Hamilton’s frustration with the car, which is understandable due to their lackluster performance against the field so far this year. He said that he “still doesn’t feel connected to the car”. Not sure what Mercedes has up their sleeves for improvements to the car, but they definitely need to do something if they wish to be competitive as the rest of the season goes on.

Overall, it was not the most craziest race to happen, but it was certainly entertaining watching the drivers navigate the difficult and narrow track while vying for the best position they could attain. Not to mention the complete chaos of the restart on lap 54. 

On to BAKU!