Updated:
Apr 2, 2023 9:47 am
What an absolutely insane race, Australia yet again hasn’t disappointed us and provided us 58 laps of hard, close racing as well as a 1 lap race shootout at the end due to a late red flag caused by Kevin Magnussen as he collided with the wall, breaking the rear right suspension, causing the tyre to go flying which ended up on the track.
Max Verstappen fans were livid at the time as they were just 2 laps away from winning the race. An 8.8 second gap he had to second, essentially meant the race was already won. Fortunately for him, after the two lap sprint, which ended up being 1 lap after the Red Flag. He was able to cover Lewis Hamilton into Turn 1 before the chaos arrived, meaning he secured P1, further extending his lead in the Championship, while Lewis secured a now luxurious P2 for Mercedes.
Russell’s Heroic Efforts End In Flames
George Russell must be wondering what he did before the race to deserve the unlucky treatment he received on Sunday.
It all started with 5 lights out as he managed to overtake Verstappen into turn 1, helping Lewis also get Max, meaning at the end of sector one, Mercedes had a 1-2 at the end of Lap 1.
This would all change as on Lap 9, Alex Albon had a bad collision with the barrier, putting gravel on to the track. With the initial thoughts of the FIA they launched the Safety Car and with Russell being the lead car, it meant he got priority on the pit-stop. He dived into the pits but a lap or two later they put out the Red Flag meaning George was down in P7 after making his stop, while Lewis and Max were 1-2 and got a free tyre change under the red flag as you are allowed to change tyres.
He fought back to P5 and seemed like he could challenge back towards the front again, but his car decided to give out on him as the rear caught fire causing him to pull over on the start/finish straight and retire the car.
A heartbreaking day for Russell and it couldn’t have gotten worse for him. He will walk away with his head held high as his performance and pace he had in the race today was seriously impressive, something to look forward to for the remainder of the season.
Two Lap Sprint Race Leaves FIA With Headache
On Lap 56 Kevin Magnussen’s collision brought out the Red Flag. Despite many drivers being upset with the dreaded Red Flag being brought out, it was needed as a Pirelli tyre was just laying out on the track.
This was a start to the calamity as 5 red lights went out once again and it started with Max Verstappen covering off Lewis Hamilton and staying in P1 after Turn 1.
The drama was caused from behind as Carlos Sainz seemed to be the centre of it all! First Sainz made a collision with Alonso, spinning him into the barrier. Sergio Perez to avoid all the contact ended up going across the gravel and grass in hope to avoid it all.
Lance Stroll had also lost control and ended up locking up and going straight on into the gravel trap.. this meant Aston Martin went from P3 and P6 to P11 and P12.
Furthermore, the Alpine’s both made contact as Pierre Gasly who was having a superior race in P5, locked up as he had to avoid contact, didn’t see him teammate who was going round the outside which ended up with Ocon hitting Gasly’s right rear, sending them both into the wall as well as sending Alpine home with no points from a weekend where both cars so nearly scored well.
Contact also emerged between Logan Sargeant and De Vries at the back where they made contact after Logan misjudged his breaking point.
The order at the time after the 1 Lap Sprint:
1- Max Verstappen
2- Lewis Hamilton
3- Carlos Sainz
4- Nico Hulkenburg
5- Yuki Tsunoda
6- Lando Norris
7- Oscar Piastri
8- Zhou Guanyu
9- Valtteri Bottas
10- Sergio Perez
However, due to the fact not all cars reached the end of sector 1, it meant the FIA had to result back to the original grid order before the chaos, obviously excluding the cars that had crashed out.
Adding to the confusion, despite the grid being reverted back to what it was, Carlos Sainz received a 5 second time penalty for his collision he had with Alonso. Despite begging the FIA on the radio to revert the penalty and let them talk about it once the race is complete, the FIA didn’t give in to his mercy, meaning he finished P12. Leaving both Ferrari’s out the points with a Lap 1 DNF from Leclerc after being halted in the gravel trap.
McLaren Finally Secure Points
Despite McLaren’s dreadful start in the first 2 races, today they managed to secure points from both their drivers, moving them off of the bottom of the Constructors putting them into P5 in the standings with 12 points.
Lando Norris secured P6 claiming 8 points for them, while Oscar Piastri the home hero got P8 getting 4 points. His first points in Formula 1 and how fitting is it that it was at his home Grand Prix.
His mentor, Mark Webber, secured points on his F1 debut back in 2002 where he got P5, he was also famously welcomed on to the podium to celebrate in front of his Australian fans. I’m sure Mark will be happy for Piastri today and seeing as the next race isn’t for a couple weeks, I suspect a heavy celebration tonight, Daniel Ricciardo might get an invite if he’s lucky, who appeared frequently throughout this week in the pits, on the pit-wall, everywhere he was!
Nevertheless, even before the chaos had arrived, Lando seemed he was going to score points and Oscar was in P11 with the potential of scoring points. Overall a successful weekend for them in their a bid to secure a higher place in the constructors then they did last season.
Sadly F1 doesn’t return for a while but when it does we will be flying to Azerbaijan and will go racing on the streets of Baku, in addition to the already loved circuit and race weekend. It is also a sprint race for this season so even more drama to follow than usual.
What did you think about the chaos that disrupted Australia? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
