02/04/2023
NEWS STORY
Among the usual suspects, one of the more amusing clickbait headlines this weekend was one which proclaimed... "Wolf breaks silence on W14 upgrades".
Breaks silence? The guy hasn't stopped talking about them since the lights went out in Bahrain.
Precisely what the updates involve we don't know, though at a time McLaren is talking of a "kind of B-car" we assume he's talking along similar lines.
Then again, with his drivers lining up second and third on the grid today, both within 0.3s of Max, is the situation really as dire as we've been told, some, including Fernando Alonso, have their doubts.
While the Dutchman cruised to his first pole position in Melbourne, there remain doubts in terms of the Red Bull's reliability, witness his teammate's issues yesterday.
As ever, the start is going o be interesting, for in many ways, assuming the W14 is as bad as Toto Claims, it is the one chance the Mercedes pair have of stopping Max running away into the distance. George and Lewis will be aware that they have to get ahead, even if it means one having to support the other.
Then again, Fernando will be only too keen to throw the proverbial into the works, though he'll be under pressure from his teammate and the Ferraris just behind.
Today's conditions are entirely different to Friday and Saturday, with bright sunshine as opposed to clouds and rain, all of which adds to the conundrum in terms of the lack of high-fuel running and the question mark over tyres.
Talking of Sergio, he and Valtteri will both start from the pitlane as opposed to the back row where they qualified. Set-up changes were made to the Alfa overnight, as was the case with the Red Bull, in addition to a new energy store and control electronics.
After Max's fight back through the field in Jeddah, Sergio has the opportunity to impress today, though his confidence in his car is likely to have taken a battering after yesterday's nightmare.
As ever, the race cannot be won on the first lap, but it can be lost, and Melbourne is one of those tracks with a reputation, consequently the drivers really need to take a softly, softly approach... but will they listen.
Four DRS zones should ensure a decent amount of overtaking, though we suspect track limits are going to be an issue, while hopefully there will not be any penalties for drivers out of position at the start.
We've mentioned Red Bull and Mercedes, and even Aston Martin, just a little, but what of Ferrari. Are things as bad as they look... indeed, amidst all the talk of Frederic Vasseur's back problems could the Frenchman already be on his way out.
As for Aston, while Max doesn't have the support of a teammate today, certainly at the start, like the Mercedes and Ferraris, the Silverstone-based outfit has both its cars in close proximity, and providing there are no coming togethers this could be another decent points haul.
Following his superb performance in qualifying watch out for young Alex, while Nico continues to impress at Haas, and then, of course, there are the Alpines.
A one-stop strategy is quickest on paper. Based on simulation data, the best way would be to start on the medium and change to hard between laps 17 and 23. Slightly slower is starting on soft and then switching to hard between laps 15 and 21.
A two-stopper is also possible, using all three compounds, albeit not as quick as stopping just once. In which case, the fastest tactic would be to start on soft, switch to hard between laps 10 and 15, and then go onto medium between laps 38 and 45 for the final run to the flag.
Unlike last year, the softest tyre available this weekend (the C4, as opposed to the C5 in 2022) plays a potential role in strategy.
As the pitlane opens the air temperature is 17 degrees, while the track temperature is 35 degrees.
Due to the improved conditions the drivers are eager to get out there and gain some vital experience, Russell reporting a vibration on his steering.
Perez feels his car is much better than yesterday, "lovely" responds his engineer.
Traffic is already proving to be an issue, with (back row starters) Perez and Bottas almost tripping up over one another.
"Grip feels pretty poor," reports Hamilton.
Ahead of the formation lap the air temperature has risen to 18 degrees C, while the track temperature is now 25 degrees.
All are starting on mediums bar Gasly, Ocon, Zhou and Bottas who are on softs, while de Vries, Sargeant and Perez are on hards. Alonso is on scrubbed mediums, as is teammate Stroll.
They head off on the formation lap, all getting away cleanly.
"Pre-start was very average," says Piastri.
The grid forms.
They're away! Verstappen and Russell both get away well, but it is the Briton who leads into turn 1. Behind the Dutchman Alonso tries to go around the outside of Hamilton with Sainz and Stroll in hot pursuit.
At Turn 3, Leclerc and Stroll clash, the left-front on the Aston clipping the right-rear of the Ferrari, sending the Monegasque spinning off into the gravel as Hamilton passes Verstappen, forcing the Red Bull driver wide in the process.
"He pushed me off the track," says Verstappen of Hamilton.
A strong start from Sainz sees the Spaniard get ahead of countryman Alonso.
The Safety Car is deployed as Leclerc's car is stuck in the gravel. Ocon pits and switches to the hards. Zhou, Sargeant, Perez and Bottas also pit.
Behind the Safety Car, it's: Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, Alonso, Albon, Stroll, Gasly, Hulkenberg and Tsunoda.
At the end of lap 2, Perez pits again, as does Sargeant.
The Safety Car is withdrawn at the end of lap 3.
Russell soon opens a 0.8s gap, while his teammate is under attack from Verstappen.
Lap 5 sees a new fastest lap from Verstappen (23.104), as Perez is up to 17th.
"We're currently thinking of Plan A," Norris is told.
As DRS is enabled, Hamilton closes on his Mercedes teammate, with Verstappen right behind.
"You're asking me to manage, and I'm being attacked by my own teammate," says Russell.
The Safety Car is deployed again as Albon crashes at Turn 7 after losing the rear of the car. Asked if he is OK, the Thai drivers sighs, "Yes," he replies.
Russell pits, as do Sainz and Magnussen.
"This has put me at a massive disadvantage," complains Hamilton, who feels that he should have been pitted.
As Albon's car is lifted out of the gravel, the race is red-flagged due to the amount of gravel and debris on the track. This is a disaster for Russell and Sainz as their rivals will now get a 'free' pit stop.
Under the red-flag, after 8 laps, it's: Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso, Stroll, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Russell, Tsunoda, Norris and Piastri. Sainz is eleventh, ahead of de Vries, Ocon, Perez, Zhou, Bottas, Sargeant and Magnussen.
"Sorry George, that screwed us," says Toto Wolff, "but let's do the most out of it, we can still get to the podium."
Ahead of the restart, Mercedes changes the front wing on Hamilton's car following the 'touch' with Verstappen at the start.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Melbourne here.
"We decided to pit Esteban early," says Otmar Szafnauer, "get him off the soft tyre, keep Gasly out there. As it turns out Gasly now gets a free pit stop. It's a luck of the draw, we couldn't have predicted this. It is what it is and we will race to the end from here."
At 15:33 (local time) the field heads out of the pits for another formation lap before the standing start. Of course, this time around, the majority of the field is on hards, though de Vries and Sargeant are on mediums.
Is that more than ten car lengths, asks of the gap between the Safety Car and race leader Hamilton. In fact there is no Safety Car.
They're away... again!
Hamilton leads, while Alonso tries to make a move on Verstappen. Russell passes Hulkenberg for sixth then Stroll for fifth, while there is an incident at Turn 3, involving Ocon and de Vries which sees the AlphaTauri go wide.
At the end of lap 10, Hamilton leads Verstappen by 0.8s, while Alonso is already 1.7s down on the Red Bull.
"It doesn't feel really right," reports de Vries following his clash with Ocon.
Woah! Verstappen goes around the outside of Hamilton in Turn 9 to take the lead. In no time at all the Red Bull is 2.1s clear of the Mercedes.
Replay shows the Dutchman left his rival for dead.
Meanwhile, Russell is all over Gasly, the Briton making short work of the Alpine, though his DRS is nowhere near as effective as that on the RB19.
The stewards decide that no further investigation is needed of the de Vries/Ocon incident.
Perez passes Sargeant for 15th, next up for the Mexican is Magnussen.
Sainz makes a cheeky move on Stroll to claim 6th, with Gasly just ahead.
Replay shows Tsunoda and Piastri 'kissing' front wings.
Perez makes short work of Magnussen and then Zhou as he progresses to 13th.
Alonso has closed to within 0.759s of Hamilton, with Russell 2s behind.
Oh dear, on lap 18, Russell has flames coming out of the back of his car. He stops just after the pit exit, his race over. "PU," he reports.
The VSC is deployed.
The VSC is withdrawn and Perez is all over Ocon, the Mexican just outside the points.
"Alonso's pretty quick," says Hamilton, "I don't know whether these tyres are going to make it to the end."
Ocon is in a train of cars that includes Piastri and Tsunoda, if/once Perez clears them he will be up to ninth.
The Mexican picks off Ocon, whilst Piastri and Tsunoda continue their feisty little scrap for ninth.
As Perez passes Piastri, in fourth, Gasly is under pressure from Sainz and Stroll.
Perez passes Tsunoda and sets about closing the 5.2s gap to Norris.
"A long way to go on this tyre," says Hamilton, "I don't think it will go all the way."
A bold, brave dummy move sees Sainz pass Gasly for fourth.
As he pursues Tsunoda, Piastri is under intense pressure from Ocon.
Told Perez is closing, Norris responds: "I guess I'm not going to be fighting him, right?" "Correct," comes the reply.
Ocon passes Piastri for 11th. "Well done, let's push," he is urged. The Frenchman subsequently passes Tsunoda for tenth.
At 'half-time', it's: Verstappen, Hamilton (+ 7s), Alonso (+2.3s), Sainz (+ 1.7s), Gasly (+ 0.6s), Stroll (+ 0.8s), Hulkenberg (+ 1.8s), Norris (+1.9s), Perez (+ 4.3s) and Ocon (+ 5.5s).
Piastri goes around the outside of Tsunoda in Turn 9 to claim 11th.
A new fastest lap from Verstappen (21.772).
Zhou closes on Tsunoda as the Japanese is clearly struggling for grip. Indeed, with a number of drivers appearing to struggle there is talk of a further round of pit stops.
"He's trying to push you to use up your tyres," Hamilton is told of Alonso, "but don't fall for it."
Lap 32 sees Perez go quickest (21.456) as he closes to within 2.384s of Norris.
Despite Bono's call, there are the beginning of a train forming behind Hamilton, with Alonso, Sainz, Gasly and Stroll maintaining a steady pace behind.
Tsunoda and Magnussen are enjoying a great scrap as they hunt down Zhou. In a matter of corners, Tsunoda loses two places.
"We are willing to race him (Perez) for a bit," Norris is told, "but don't lose sight of our objective which is stint two."
A great move on Zhou sees Magnussen claim 12th
Sargeant pits on lap 37 and switch to (used) hards.
Hamilton posts a new fastest lap (21.400), as he seeks to maintain the gap – now down to 1.181s – to Alonso.
Another fastest lap from Hamilton (21.315) as he extends his advantage over Alonso to 1.7s.
Leading by 10.021s, Verstappen posts a new fastest lap (21.078).
"There's no way I'm losing out to him," says Hamilton of his former teammate Alonso.
"It's difficult to get close," admits Alonso.
Perez is unhappy with his front-left, the Mexican unable to make a move on Norris.
Despite that Perez posts a new fastest lap (20.979). He subsequently dives down the inside of Norris in Turn 8 to claim 8th.
Free of Norris, Perez makes short work of Hulkenberg and sets about closing the 4.4s gap to Stroll.
Alonso is given the all-clear to push to the end. The Spaniard responds by going quickest in S1.
As Alonso posts a new fastest lap (20.690), de Vries pits and switches to softs.
Replay shows Verstappen is struggling, running wide in the penultimate corner and losing 4s in the process. "I've keep front-locking, really s***," he reports.
Norris is all over Hulkenberg as they battle for 8th. The Briton is all over the Haas, but the German doesn't make things easy.
"He moved after I moved," claims Norris.
Meanwhile, Hamilton is 1.6s clear of Alonso, while Gasly is 1s down on Sainz.
Finally Norris gets past Hulkenberg, who, in his efforts to hold position, runs wide, kicking up as cloud of dust.
As he drops 3.5s behind Sainz, Gasly is under pressure from Stroll.
Magnussen has lost his right-rear tyre after clouting the barrier at the Turn 2 exit.
The Safety Car is deployed with four laps remaining.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Melbourne here.
In the pitlane the various crews are waiting... just in case. The leaders decline, but Piastri, Zhou and Tsunoda all stop.
"There's so much debris out here," warns Hamilton.
The race is red-flagged, which means we should get two racing lap, almost certainly on softs.
"Will they restart this?" asks Hamilton. "I imagine they will," he is told.
All of which is bad news for Verstappen.
The race will resume at 16:56 (local time).
Ahead of the restart, the order, is: Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Sainz, Gasly, Stroll, Perez, Norris, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Piastri, Zhou, Tsunoda, Bottas, Sargeant and de Vries.
Bottas leads Sargeant and de Vries back out on to the track as the lapped cars take their correct position at the rear of the field.
As the field heads out for the restart, as expected all are on softs.
Concerned at his tyre temps Verstappen urges the Safety Car to speed up.
The grid forms.
They're away! Max leads the Dutchman determined to head off Hamilton and a charging Alonso. As they head into Turn 1, Gasly locks-up heavily, while Sainz clips Alonso causing him to spin.
Perez runs wide in order to avoid Gasly who has gone off, and as the Frenchman rejoins the track he subsequently collects his Alpine. Elsewhere, Sargeant and de Vries are also out after the American appeared to run into the back of the AlphaTauri.
The race is red-flagged for the third time.
"Really, really sad to see," admits Otmar Szafnauer, while the Aston Martin garage is in despair.
The restart procedure is under investigation which means that if the field didn't complete a sector the finishing order would be as it was at the restart. However, if they did complete a sector the order would be that as it is following the various incidents.
Though he is able to continue, Alonso has dropped to eleventh, however he is already urging his team to check the rules, of which is knowledge is second to none.
Urgent faces all around as the stewards investigate.
Race Control confirms that the restart order will be Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Sainz, Stroll, Perez, Norris, Hulkenberg, Piastri, Zhou, Tsunoda and Bottas.
Told the order, Bottas asks: "How come I go back to twelfth?" A view with which many will concur.
To further confuse the situation, Sainz is handed a 5s time penalty for causing the collision with Alonso. "It cannot be, it's unacceptable," argues the Spaniard. "They need to wait until the race is finished. Tell them to wait and discuss with me."
Gasly and Ocon are also under investigation.
The restart will be a rolling start, not a standing start like the previous two. Though there will be no overtaking, a bunched-up field would his Sainz, with his time penalty, hard.
The Safety Car heads out as Verstappen is appraised of the procedure.
A lap later Verstappen takes the flag, followed by Hamilton, Alonso, Stroll, Perez, Norris, Hulkenberg, Piastri, Zhou, Tsunoda, Bottas and Sainz, courtesy of that penalty.
However, late drama sees Hulkenberg stop on track, necessitating yet another red flag.
"Mega job guys, what a result," says Hamilton.
"We had a rollercoaster of emotions today," says Alonso, "many things going on at the beginning, and the last half an hour...
"Mercedes were very fast and Lewis did an incredible job," he adds, "I could not match the pace, but we'll take P3.
"The first red flag helped us get places for three, the second one didn't help. P3, P4 for the team is an amazing Sunday."
"Unlucky for George today," adds Hamilton, "really unfortunate. I didn't expect to be second so I'm super grateful for it.
"I still feel uncomfortable in the car though, I'm driving as best I can and working as hard as I can but still, considering we've been down on performance and in straight pace, for us to be up there fighting with Aston is amazing.
"We can close that gap," he insists, "it's going to be tough but not impossible."
"We had a very poor start," admits race-winner Verstappen. "On lap 1 I was careful as I had a lot to lose. After that, the pace of the car was quick.
"With these red flags, I don't know, I don't really understand. It was a bit of a mess but we had good pace and we won, that's important.
"It's great to win here, my first win here as well."
Well, what can one say. Some great performances, some brilliant overtakes – though we still rely too heavily on DRS – but all in all the 2023 Australian Grand Prix will be remembered for the utter shambles at the end.
Instead of constantly tinkering with the rules in a bid to spice up the show, the sport should be concentrating on the basics.
Ahead of the race, one of the 'celebrities' on the grid said he'd been following F1 "since Drive to Survive", which begs the question what on earth he made of today's nonsense.
It's ironic that Michael Masi was 'in da house' for this was every bit as shambolic as that night, clearly the powers that be have learned nothing.
No doubt F1 Towers will be looking at the positives, wondering how today's events might be replicated in order to produce 'thrill-a-minute' weekends that can be fully monetised.
The good news is that – despite the constant moaning – Mercedes does appear to have a car that can challenge for wins, while Sainz demonstrated that Ferrari is al o competitive. Then there's the Astons.
So let's try to focus on the positives and hope that the powers that be can prevent a repeat of the negatives.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Melbourne here.