We are finally done and dusted with the Australian Grand Prix, which had everything. There was a Virtual Safety Car, 2 Safety Cars, 3 Red Flags, last-lap drama, crazy restarts, and much more.
🏁 RACE CLASSIFICATION 🏁
That. was. pure. madness. 😅#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/3wFSxAQvOw
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 2, 2023
Max Verstappen took home the victory for the first time at Melbourne. Hamilton and Alonso finished P2 and P3 respectively. The rest of the grid looked like this;
Lights Out!
The Australian Grand Prix showed us excitement right from the start. It was lights out and away went the 2 Mercedes as they jumped ahead of Max Verstappen to place themselves in P1 and P2, with Russell leading the Australian Grand Prix for the first time in his career.
LAP 1/58
LECLERC IS OUT OF THE RACE!!!
The Ferrari driver spins off into the gravel and it’s all over at Turn 3 😫#AusGP pic.twitter.com/iKwyshR5nR
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 2, 2023
The opening lap saw Charles Leclerc into the gravel trap at turn 3 after a contact with Stroll which was ruled as a racing incident.
Albon loses it at turn 7
Mercedes was able to hold the lead for a while until a crash from Alexander Albon during lap 7 brought out the safety car and eventually led to the 1st Red Flag of the session. Russell, unfortunately, boxed for new tires under the safety car, not expecting the red flag.
LAP 7/58
ALEX ALBON IS OUT OF THE RACE! ❌
It’s all over for the Williams Racing driver at Turn 7 #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/3oGMyiovrX
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 2, 2023
Soon after the restart, we saw Verstappen overtake Hamilton and build a good lead ahead. Perez drove an impressive race from the back of the grid with a couple of impressive overtakes. The restart also caught Pierre Gasly in a potentially good position for the rest of the race. He was on target for a top 5 finish.
Mercedes with a “Big Bang”
Just as Russell was fighting his back to podium positions, we saw his car catch on fire due to an engine failure, causing him to retire from the Australian Grand Prix. This brought out a Virtual Safety Car and closed down the pit lane as the car was stopped at the pit lane exit. Toto Wolff called the power unit failure a “Big Bang” after the race during post-race interviews.
(Credits: Formula 1)
Russell was certainly disappointed but, he seemed to have accepted it for what it was. He was also hopeful after seeing the pace his teammate had during the race.
Max Locks up
Max Verstappen locks up going into the final two corners on lap 48. He lost 4 seconds to Hamilton, but luckily he had an 11-second lead before the lock-up. With 10 laps to go, we also saw Sergio Perez with some exceptional overtakes, which brought him to P7 behind Lance Stroll.
At the end of Lap 52, the top 10 was as follows – Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Sainz, Gasly, Stroll, Perez, Norris, Hulkenberg, and Ocon.
Huge Crash for Kevin Magnussen
With 3 laps to go in the Grand Prix, Kevin Magnussen made contact with the wall going into turn 2. His right rear had come out of the car and onto the circuit causing a Red Flag. Many drivers thought the red flag was not necessary, and the incident could have been cleared with a Virtual Safety Car or a Safety car.
The Red Flag meant that all the drivers would start with fresh soft tires. With 2 laps to go, after the cars align on the grid, nothing was off the table. As the lights went out, the top 2 had a clean start, but behind them was complete chaos.
Carnage at the restart
Going into turn 1, Alonso and Sainz had made contact causing Alonso to spin. Behind them, multiple cars had major contact causing both Alpines to retire. Going into turn 3, Stroll had a major lock-up, causing him to go straight into the gravel trap, thankfully, he was able to keep the car moving. Before the leader could reach turn 4, the Red Flag was out again.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
MULTIPLE CARS ARE OUT!!! #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/zycwEEjlWs
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 2, 2023
Logan Sargeant, Nyck De Vries, and both the Alpines were forced into retirement after the restart on lap 57 during the Australian Grand Prix.
There was a lot of confusion after the 3rd Red Flag of the race. It was clear that there won’t be any more racing as there was only 1 lap remaining which would be under the safety car. But since the cars did not complete the first sector after the restart, the grid order would be the same as the one prior to the restart.
In between all the chaos, we saw Oscar Piastri score his first points in Formula One. Surely, the Aussie was elated after doing so in his home race.
Carlos Sainz received a penalty for the contact he had with Fernando Alonso during the restart. This appeared to be very unfair according to Sainz. He was heard complaining and asking the team to talk to the stewards. Surely the team will formally appeal this decision. During his post-race interview, Sainz was quoted saying “the most unfair penalty I have seen in my life”. After which he said he had to go and talk to the team about the appeal to the stewards.
Lando Norris said that he and his team weren’t lucky, but were just “not unlucky”. McLaren was 1 of 3 teams that saw both cars in the points. This is a very positive result for McLaren considering their performances in the past 2 races.
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