Two weeks might seem like just 14 days and a very short time, but to the average F1 fan, that's way too much time spent without the revving sounds of engines and the beautiful sparks flying off the rear of F1 cars. F1 returned last Friday, and while the first practice session was marred with GPS failure, the race on Sunday more than made up for it.
As I pick up my pen to write this, members of the Haas F1 team are in a room with stewards protesting the outcome of what can only be described as an exhilarating race in Australia. Whether or not the American team will be successful with his appeal remains to be seen, however, not even that can't put a dampener on what turned out to be an exciting race for F1 fans in the park or watching across the globe. The same cannot be said for the engineers -who have to fix the cars- back at the factories of some of the teams, with eight cars suffering some sort of vehicle damage and failing to win the race.
While the number of stoppages - due to racing incidents and crashes - might have left a few fans yearning for more action, Sunday's race turned out to be one of the most exciting ones we've seen in Australia in a while and if that's a teaser for what's to come in Baku at the end of April and subsequent races, please sign me in for more racing action. But before we start to daydream about the future, let's take a look at some of the major talking points from the race at the Albert Park Circuit.
The Redesign of the Albert Park works...
The Australian Grand Prix used to be the maiden race of the F1 calendar for as long as I could remember until the Covid-stricken 2020 season that saw the absence of a race in the country for two years and that title of season opener moved to Bahrain. F1 returned to Melbourne in 2022 to a redesigned Albert Park Circuit, which included more straight-line speed and fewer turns, which has garnered a lot of praise from drivers and fans alike. While some purists might not like and insists the old design offers more stops and strategies, the new design has so far offered two exciting races, and the dreadful turn 1 & turn 3 continue to serve up some exciting drama come race weekend -sometimes even during practice and qualifying- as we saw all weekend as some experienced drivers found themselves in the gravel more times than they would have hoped for.
Whether or not Albert Park regains its place as the maiden race of the F1 calendar remains to be seen, but as long as it continues to serve up high-octane racing and drama-filled weekends, it's hard to see it losing its position on the F1 calendar.
Only Red Bull can defeat Red Bull...
"DRS activated, Rear wing up", and "Hamilton can't fight this", were some of the words of Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft, as Red Bull's Max Verstappen sailed past Lewis Hamilton & his Mercedes W14 to regain the lead of the race on the 12th lap after previously losing it to Hamilton's teammate George Russell at the start of the race. Despite Sergio Perez's massive struggles with his car all weekend long -practice and qualifying- the Mexican finished in fifth place at the end of the race to demonstrate the power of the RB19. Perez might have benefitted from the stop-start nature of the race but the race winner from Jeddah had already worked his way up to 10th position after the first safety car incident, despite starting the race from the pit lane.
Red Bull's dominance wasn't just on show during Sunday's race, Verstappen dominated two practice sessions and secured pole position in qualifying, although it wasn't as easy as they would have liked. Red Bull team principal Christain Horner might continue to be the politician by insisting he expects Ferrari and Mercedes to catch up with his team, however, Horner's comment to both Verstappen and Perez to take their foot slightly off the gas during the race at Jeddah shows the RB19 might be packing more power than it has revealed so far.
Ferrari can't get any form of luck...
Ferrari was the biggest challenger to Red Bull during the 2022 season and some would say were unlucky not to have Charles Leclerc pushing for the title alongside Max Verstappen after the Mordenganst won two of the first three races of the season. However, mistakes and reliability issues were the order of the rest of the 2022 season for the team, as they fell by the wayside while Red Bull coasted to both the constructor's and driver's championships. Ferrari was again expected to compete for both titles this season, with a new, improved car and a new team principal on the pit wall. But the expected challenge has failed to manifest so far and doesn't like it's going to anytime soon.
The Italian team underperformed during practice with the exception of the second practice session where Charles Leclerc was behind Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso. The struggles continued qualifying as they could only secure 5th and 7th position and things went from bad to worse when Leclerc's - who finished 7th in qualifying- race came to an abrupt end as he found himself in the gravel at turn 3 in the first lap of the race. Teammate Carlos Sainz maintained his push for a podium finish until the penultimate restart of the race on lap 57 when he came in contact with fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso. A series of car crashes followed and confusion surrounding the rules of F1 meant Sainz could only finish in 12th place, taking him out of the top 10 and leaving Ferrari without any point this weekend.
Ferrari will be hoping for a change in fortunes and a race to finally ignite their failing season and whether that happens in Baku remains to be seen.
Finally!!! some action on-and-off the track at Mercedes...
Despite Mercedes' fourth-place finish at Jeddah two weeks ago, it's been an underwhelming season for the Silver Arrows. However, Toto Wolff's troops looked to have taken a step forward, with good performances during qualifying and the race itself in an eventful weekend in Melbourne. The 2020 constructors' champion secured at least a top-four place in all three practice sessions and followed that up with an impressive outing in qualifying with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton securing 2nd and 3rd position respectively to set up an interesting race.
Russell improved on his good outing on Saturday with a better start on Sunday, as he stole a march on Verstappen to gain first position on the first lap of the race. An ill-advised pit-stop as the safety car came out due to Alexander Albon's crash on Lap 7 - only for the race to be red-flagged - saw Russell drop from first place to seventh, however, the Brit's day went from bad to worse, as he suffered engine failure 11 laps later to cut short what would have been an interesting race. Teammate Lewis Hamilton maintained the team's charge by finishing second to help Mercedes secure their first podium finish of the season.
Speaking of action off the track, it came as a shock to pundits and fans alike when Russell responded to Lewis Hamilton's claims that his fourth-place finish at the Jeddah Street Circuit was down to luck. Russell had the look and soft-outspokenness of someone grateful to be Hamilton's teammate as well as a driver for Mercedes last season. However, with his performances, this season and newfound bullishness this season. It's safe to say the former Williams driver is more than capable of being a rival to the seven-time champion.
Alonso and Aston Martin are no flash in the pan...
Many are still waiting for the Aston Martin bubble to burst after their impressive start to the season which includes three consecutive podium finishes - 3rd place - for Fernando Alonso. Aston Martin looked impressive during preseason testing and has taken that form into the season. Alonso finished fastest during the second practice session and while teammate Lance Stroll couldn't match his feat during practice, both drivers impressed during qualifying and finished 4th and 6th respectively.
The weekend went from good to great from Aston Martin, as both Alonso and Stroll finished the race 3rd and 4th respectively, to once again outline the progress made by the team so far this season. Whether the expected progress of Mercedes and Ferrari end up pushing Aston Martin down the standings remains to be seen, however, the Silverstone-based F1 outfit has an amazing start to the new campaign.
Well, there you have it for the third race of the 2023 F1 season. Please let me know what you think of the new season so far and your favorite moment from the Australian GP in the comments. And you can also engage the On About Nothing crew on all things sports, entertainment, and lifestyle on our social media platforms.
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