2023 Australian Grand Prix Recap
Max Verstappen takes checkered flag Credit: AutoSport.com
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton +0.179
Fernando Alonso +0.769
Lance Stroll +3.082
Sergio Perez +3.320
Lando Norris +3.701
Nico Hulkenberg +4.939
Oscar Piastri +5.382
Zhou Guanyu +5.713
Yuki Tsunoda +6.052
Valtteri Bottas +6.513
Carlos Sainz +6.594
Pierre Gasly DNF
Esteban Ocon DNF
Nyck De Vries DNF
Logan Sargeant DNF
Kevin Magnussen DNF
George Russell DNF
Alex Albon DNF
Charles Leclerc DNF
Max Verstappen Credit: Motorsport.com
Chaos, then kind of boring, then chaos is how you can sum up this year’s Australian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen comes out on top but man was this race a disaster or what. Verstappen who was sitting on pole, followed by the pair of Mercedes cars, got a terrible start. George Russell jumped out to the early lead and Lewis Hamilton got around Verstappen as well by turn 3. Charles Leclerc was the first victim of the race as he got spun in turn 3 and went off into the gravel trap. Despite not being damaged, Leclerc was obviously stuck in the gravel and out came the first safety car of the race.
After a few laps behind the safety car, we went back to racing and George Russell continued to lead the way with Hamilton and Verstappen behind. Just about the time that DRS was enabled after the safety car and Verstappen started to battle Hamilton for 2nd, Alex Albon was the race’s next victim. Albon who had a brilliant weekend, up until this point, and I believe was running in 6th or 7th in his Williams, lost control in turn 7 and crashed into the wall. This initially brought out the safety car again, which in my opinion was the right call. George Russell decided to pit and go ahead and make the switch over to the the hard tires, which would’ve been the last time he would have to stop for the day. Hamilton and Verstappen stayed out and then about a lap later they decided to red flag the race. Since teams are able to change tires and make changes to cars under the red flag, this immediately messed up George’s race as he had fell back to about 7th after his pit under the safety car.
Racing was then resumed with Hamilton out front, followed by Verstappen and Alonso with everybody on fresh tires. Verstappen wasted no time getting around Hamilton for the lead once DRS was enabled and Verstappen began to check out on the field. A few laps later on about lap 17, George Russell would become the next victim, though through no fault of his own, as he had an engine failure and had to retire from the race. This brought out a brief virtual safety car and then things finally settled down. Verstappen pulled away from the field and had around a 10 second gap to Hamilton in 2nd for much of the next 30 laps. The race somewhat became boring at this point as there was not much passing or battles going on, other than Sergio Perez coming through the field after he started the race in last place from the pits. There were also multiple times where it looked like Alonso would get in DRS range of Hamilton or Sainz would get in DRS range of Alonso and make the race interesting but it just never happened, no matter how close they got to getting under the 1 second gap.
And just when it looked like the race was over, the chaos returned. Kevin Magnussen hit the wall in turn 2, lost a tire and came to a stop on track. This brought out the safety car for a lap and then like earlier in the race when Albon wrecked, they threw another red flag. Just like earlier, this red flag also didn’t really make sense. There was only 1 wrecked car which could easily be removed from the track and all the debris was in one section which should’ve easily been able to be cleaned up. But it was a red flag and a race that Verstappen had locked up, now looked like a toss up as they would head back to the grid for another standing start. I honestly thought at this point that Hamilton was going to win because Verstappen had been slow off the line in both of the standing starts so far and the Mercedes cars looked great off the line in both, and there would only be two laps of racing so there would be no time for Verstappen to get DRS.
Lap 57 wreck after restart Credit: Formula 1 Twitter @F1
On the final restart on lap 57, Verstappen got his best start of the day and immediately cut across the track to block off Hamilton. Verstappen had the lead, Hamilton followed in second and it was absolute destruction behind. Alonso, who was in 3rd, got taken out from behind. Pierre Gasly who had a brilliant race going and was in 5th, made contact in the first turn and fell back before colliding with his own teammate Esteban Ocon and taking both drivers out. Lance Stroll also went flying through the gravel trap in turn 3. And that’s probably only half of what happened on the final restart. The race was immediately red flagged again and the discussion began of how this race would conclude. There was obviously not enough laps left to restart so would they go by the order after the restart or before. Apparently since they didn’t even complete the first sector, the reverted back to the restart order, but only if your car was still functioning. Because Gasly was listed as a DNF but both Alonso and Stroll were given 3rd and 4th, even though they were also involved in incidents. Honestly the ending was a complete disaster and it never should’ve happened. The Magnussen wreck was a safety car and that’s it. No need to red flag the race and have a standing restart with 2 laps to go because obviously this is what it leads to.
3 Star Drivers
3rd Star - Oscar Piastri
This could’ve gone to either of the McLaren drivers, as Piastri started 16th and finished 8th and Lando Norris started 13th and moved up to 6th. But I decided to go with Piastri as it was his home grand prix in Australia and it was his first points scored in Formula 1. Shout out to the McLaren team who have looked to be the worst team on the grid in the first two races and didn’t look much better in qualifying in Australia but took advantage of a chaotic race. Somehow after a 6th and 8th place finish, which was their first points of the season, they are in 5th place in the constructors standings.
2nd Star - Nico Hulkenberg
Hulkenberg finished 7th place in a Haas and really wasn’t that big of a beneficiary of the chaos. Hulkenberg had good race pace all day and potentially would’ve had a podium if they didn’t revert the order. After that the last restart on lap 57 that took out half the field, Hulkenberg made his way through and was in 4th place when the red flag came out again. Carlos Sainz was in 3rd at that time and with the penalty he had coming, would’ve moved Hulkenberg to 3rd. How sweet it would’ve been to see a Haas on the podium for the first time ever.
1st Star - Sergio Perez
And the driver of the day goes to Sergio Perez once again. Sergio had a disaster of a qualifying session and started the race dead last from the pit lane. Obviously the Red Bull was the fastest car on the grid, but it wasn’t by as much of a margin as we’d seen in the first two races. And with passing not being the easiest in Australia, it was a great drive by Perez to work his way up to a 5th place finish.
Other Notes:
Mercedes pick up their first podium of the year with Lewis Hamilton’s 2nd place finish and very easily could’ve had two on the podium had George Russell not had engine issues. Did Mercedes really take that big of a step forward from the first two races or was this just the track and conditions that suited the Mercedes car well?
If you thought last year was a disaster for Ferrari, then I’m not sure what you’d consider the first 3 races this year. Charles Leclerc has qualified 3rd, 2nd and 7th in the first three races and has a whopping 6 pts. Two DNFs and a 7th place finish. Carlos Sainz looked strong today and had 4th place locked up until he was charged with a 5 second time penalty for the collision on the lap 57 restart. Of course since it was a restart and everybody was bunched up, the 5 second time penalty dropped him from 4th all the way to 12th and out of the points. It couldn’t possibly get worse for Ferrari, could it?
What a terrible day it was for Alpine. Gasly drove a great race and stayed behind Sainz and used the DRS to his benefit to keep up with a much faster Ferrari. Gasly should’ve had a top 5 finish but all that was undone by the red flag. From a top 5 finish to both of the Alpine cars taking each other out. Also I’m not sure what the exact ruling was but I assume that the reason Gasly didn’t get the benefit of the field being reverted back to the lap 57 restart order is because his car was no longer functioning altogether. Which is an incredibly tough break for a guy who was in line for a driver of the day nod.
Standings
Max Verstappen 69 pts
Sergio Perez 54 pts
Fernando Alonso 45 pts
Lewis Hamilton 38 pts
Carlos Sainz 20 pts
Lance Stroll 20 pts
George Russell 18 pts
Lando Norris 8 pts
Nico Hulkenberg 6 pts
Charles Leclerc 6 pts
Lastly, there is no racing for the next three weekends. F1 completely botched the scheduling with the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix and not finding a replacement in time, so F1 will have a spring break this year. Next race in April 30th in Azerbaijan.