Raceday Recap: Melbourne Grand Prix Mayhem
The F1 calendar is back in full swing, and of course the first race of the season is a good one (unless you are a Ferrari fan.) Held at the Albert Park Circuit, this was the 29th year of the Australian Grand Prix hosted in Melbourne, as the race used to be held in Adelaide. The track is a temporary street circuit that is put together for race day and taken down afterwards, lending itself to a fun and fast-paced race. The race this year took place during the tail end of Melbourne’s summer, and the inconsistent rain throughout the race was the main source of chaos.
Qualifying proved McLaren’s continuing dominance as Lando Norris took pole position with Oscar Piastri on the front row in second. Max Verstappen and George Russell had the 3rd and 4th fastest laps, with an excellent P5 by Yuki Tsunoda behind. Alex Albon also had an incredible qualifying lap to start at P6, and the two Ferraris (Leclerc and Hamilton) had a disappointing P7 and P8 to begin the season. Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz finalized the top ten, but only 18 cars started the race from the grid. Red Bull’s Liam Lawson started the race from the pitlane after the engineers made rear wing changes to his car, along with Haas’ Ollie Bearman who started in the pitlane after suspension changes were made to his car as well.
Every fan was ready for the first race start of the season, but disaster struck early. A driver had already crashed before the race had officially started: rookie Isack Hadjar spun out near Turn 2 and was unable to take his very first grand prix start as an F1 driver - truly tragic. The race carried on, however, and the other 19 drivers took a racing start when the lights went dark. For a few moments it was just like any other race, but then rookie Jack Doohan crashed during the first lap of his home race, leaving debris everywhere surrounding his car in the middle of the track. A safety car was called as the drivers basically received another lap to warm their tires while the marshals cleaned up the crash. However, fate had one more card to play as Carlos Sainz crashed his Williams while under the yellow flag, disappointing Williams fans across the world as their hopes were shattered in just one lap. In the first few minutes of the race, 3 drivers were already eliminated, with more to follow.
Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony consoling Hadjar after his heartbreaking debut crash. Photo courtesy of SkySportsF1.
The safety car went in soon after Sainz’s collision was cleaned up, and racing resumed as usual. However, for the next laps, several drivers were investigated for disobeying safety car rules throughout the race’s 3 safety car periods. According to GPFans, the reason for the investigation was “failing to maintain a 10-car-length distance behind the safety car.” Drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were noted by the stewards for possible misbehavior, but eventually they were all cleared from suspicion and no penalties were awarded.
The return of F1 coincides with the return of Ferrari’s dismal strategy woes, as Leclerc and Hamilton both struggled with their engineers and cars during the race. Both Leclerc and Hamilton dismissed the engineer’s instruction of how to use the car, asking them to leave the drivers alone and allow them to drive without interference. However, not all team radios were so serious, as Leclerc asked “Is there a leakage…I have a seat full of water” and the pitwall responded with “must be the water.” If I were in that situation, I would have been much angrier and ruder than Leclerc’s frustrated response of “let’s add that to the words of wisdom.“
After placing P10 in the race, Hamilton expressed his dismay about the car’s performance. Photo courtesy of The Standard.
Papaya rules made a reappearance as Oscar Piastri was asked to hold 2nd place instead of overtaking race leader Lando Norris. Later, Fernando Alonso spun out on lap 34 at turn 7, with the safety car entering for the 2nd time in reaction to the 4th DNF of the race. After the car went back in, the race continued somewhat smoothly until lap 44, when a heavy rain shower fell over the track. At turn 12, Piastri fell victim to the weather and spun into the grass. Everyone thought his race was over as he stayed stuck in the green, but Piastri reversed to get his car back on track and keep racing, even though he had lost many places and track conditions were worsening. These uncertain conditions led to wet spots and pools on track, causing Liam Lawson to crash on lap 47 at turn 2 and Gabriel Bortoleto on lap 48. Bortoleto’s crash led to the 3rd and final safety car of the race, and it reentered the pits with less than 9 laps to go.
After landing pole position in qualifying, Lando Norris led for the majority of the race, catching up to Max Verstappen, who had taken 1st after Norris pitted and briefly lost the position. Norris happily celebrated his 5th career win in Melbourne (also receiving Driver of the Day and the Fastest Lap Award), with Verstappen and George Russell completing the podium. Rookie Kimi Antonelli finished in 4th with Alex Albon placing a career-record 5th place during the race. However, the stewards ruled post-race that although Antonelli had originally finished three seconds ahead of Albon, he recieved a five-second time penalty for an unsafe pit lane release. After further investigation and playbacks, Antonelli’s P4 was reinstated and the penalty was reversed. As one of two rookies to finish the race in one piece, Antonelli’s debut race was impressive and astounding. Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll finished a shocking 6th place, with Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg finishing 7th and earning more points in one race than Sauber did in the entirety of last season. Leclerc and Hamilton finished P8 and P10, respectively, signaling an extremely disappointing race for Ferrari.
Verstappen, Norris, McLaren, and Russell rounding out an incredible podium of the first race from down under. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
If this first race is any indication of what the remainder of this season will be like, F1 fans have no reason to worry about a boring year. We’re back and better than ever, and with the Chinese GP this weekend we are in for a wild ride. As always, thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed this race as much as I did.
Lights out and away we go,
Lucy xx
