In Pictures: Australia 2023
Drama on top of drama on top of drama… Chaos down-under!
Formula One headed Down Under for the third Grand Prix of the Season, the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
Formula One has been racing in Australia since 1985, when the first Australian Grand Prix took place in Adelaide, and came to Melbourne’s Albert Park, its Aussie Home since 1996. The circuit is a challenging, fast, and flowing temporary circuit, with initial track conditions often challenging and big improvements coming throughout each session as a result.
The track length is 5.278 kilometers, and the distance from the pole run to Turn 1 braking point is 271 meters. Pit stop time loss was 19.47 seconds, including 2.5 seconds of stationary time. The safety car probability was 67%, while the virtual safety car probability was 33%. The total race distance was 306.124 km, and the pit lane speed limit was 80 km/h.
FRIDAY
A fourth DRS zone that was trialed in 2022 was introduced to the whole weekend in 2023.
FP1
There was some threat of rain earlier on but the at the time of FP1 the Sun was shining, temperature was a bit cool and everything was set for some good action on track.
After the first ten minutes were gone, everyone had set a timed lap, except Albon and Norris. As expected, both Red Bulls were the quickest, with Verstappen ahead of Perez.
After thirty minutes, Perez went off rather dangerously but recovered without any drama. Then Tsunoda went off into the gravel and grass, then Magnussen ran over the curb and went off into the gravel. All of them not finding grip on the soft tires. And after a flurry of incidents, the first Red Flag of the weekend was shown as ALL the team's GPS systems went down.
Green flag was shown with fifteen minutes left on the clock. And after some uneventful moments, Verstappen spun his RB19, destroying that set of tires. Interestingly, most of the people having incidents on track were on the soft compound. Then Sargeant went off the road, reporting his Williams just shut off. Red flag was shown yet again and that was that. Verstappen was the fastest (1:18.790), followed by Hamilton, Perez, Alonso, and Leclerc, the Top-Five.
FP2
Before Free Practice Two, the FIA informed that both Haas and both Alfa Romeos were to get new Internal Combustion Engines or ICEs, as they are called within the sport. No penalties incurred as they are within the season’s allowance of three. Also was informed that both Mercedes cars were getting new gearboxes and related parts. Those also within the allowed number for the year (4).
Weather wise, it was overcast with a few drops of rain here and there, nevertheless, as soon as the green light was on, cars took to the track, except both Williams cars. By the ten minute mark, everyone had set a timed lap with Fernando Alonso the fastest (1:18.887 on Medium tires). Then, the heavens opened up and started raining. Umbrellas up in the stands and cars to the pits.
About half time, both Ferraris came out on Soft tires, but DRS was not enabled as the track was still under Wet Conditions, and after a few laps, they came back to the pits as Esteban Ocon took his Alpine to the track, albeit just for the one lap. Then Verstappen gave it a go on Inters, but came back soon thereafter. Then both Ferraris went out, on inters as well. And although there was no rain forecasted for the rest of the weekend, they were joined by most drivers, to try and get as much data as possible, just in case it did rain later on.
In the end, it was Fernando Alonso’s lap from earlier that stood at the top of the charts. He was followed by Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, George Russell, and Carlos Sainz, the Top-Five.
SATURDAY
It was cold (14°C - 57°F) and cloudy in time for the third and final Free Practice before the all important Qualifying later on.
FP3
The first car to take to the track was Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, followed by teammate Fernando Alonso. then came Sainz, Hulkenberg, Leclerc, and Magnussen. After the first fifteen minutes, 13 of the 20 drivers had set a timed lap, although most were on track, except Perez, whose car was stationary with a stuck antiroll bar in his RB19.
By the half-hour mark, everyone had set a timed lap. Carlos Sainz was on top, followed by Alonso, Gasly, Leclerc, and Ocon the Top-Five. Practically everyone was doing long-runs, these were supposed to have been done during FP2 but the weather shifted the team’s programs a bit.
With 27 minutes left on the clock, a red flag was displayed as there was some debris at turn 9. And after about four minutes, the track was open again and practice resumed.
The final quarter of the session saw drivers take to the track for qualifying practice runs, resulting in lap times dropping and positions swapping with every car that crossed the line. After an hour of intense competition, Max Verstappen emerged as the fastest driver, followed by Alonso, Ocon, Russell, and Gasly in the top five positions.
Everything was set for a thrilling Qualifying.
QUALIFYING
It was getting colder, breezier, and the threat of rain loomed in the air. Could that play some havoc during Qualifying? Well, with less than twenty minutes before Qualifying was to start, it started raining at Albert Park… Well, the rain lasted just ten minutes, but it was enough to guarantee a greasy track, at least during Q1…
Q1
During the qualifying session, the threat of rain prompted half the field to hit the track immediately, with the other ten following shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, Sergio Perez, who had a terrible practice, crashed his RB19 at Turn-3, causing the first Red Flag of the session. He was relegated to starting last in the Grand Prix. With 11:44 minutes left in Q1, everyone except Perez, as well as both Haas drivers, hit the track once the green light was given. In the end, local hero Oscar Piastri, Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez were knocked out of the running.
Q2
Magnificent driving from all fifteen drivers, but only ten went through to Q3. The ones knocked out were Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Lando Norris, Kevin Magnussen, and Nyck de Vries.
Q3
And then there were ten… Nine of them came out to set their fastest lap as rain was threading up above. Only Stroll stayed in the pits as rain clouds loomed overhead.
The first round of Q3 was brilliant, with the top four drivers separated by less than a tenth of a second. Verstappen took the lead, followed by Hamilton, Alonso, and Russell. Stroll eventually emerged from the pits but could only manage 7th place. During the second run, Two-Time World Champion Max Verstappen set the fastest lap of the weekend with a blistering time of 1:16.732, followed by Russell in second and Hamilton in third. Alonso, Sainz, Stroll, Leclerc, Albon, Gasly, and Hulkenberg completed the top ten.
SUNDAY
Beautiful weather at Melbourne, the Sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it was warmer than the previous couple of days. Lots of fans filled the stands for the race, 131,124 on Sunday alone, 444,631 for the whole event, a record for the Australian Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas joined Sergio Perez, both started from the pit lane after their respective cars were worked on during Parc Ferme.
Cars formed on the grid after the Formation Lap and the race started with a fast charging George Russell overtaking Max Verstappen by Turn-3, with Lewis Hamilton passing him for second place shortly thereafter. Then, Charles Leclerc, trying to close the door on Lance Stroll, touched the Aston Martin, sending the Ferrari off the track and getting beached on the gravel, ending his race. Safety Car was deployed while the marshals cleared the SF23.
On Lap 7, Alex Albon crashed his Williams from sixth place into the barriers. Another Safety Car. Russell and Sainz took advantage of it and changed tires, theoretically the one and only pitstop for them. Hamilton was now leading the Grand Prix, ahead of Verstappen, and Alonso. Russell was seventh and Sainz eleventh. Then, a Red Flag! Ruining many a driver’s strategy, especially Russell, who had the race in his hands.
Toto: "Sorry George that screwed us but let’s do the most out of it, we can still go to the front of the podium or better."
George: "Not your fault guys. It was a good call."
The FIA informed the Red Flag was to allow cleaning of gravel and debris on track. No one, outside of the stewards, really understood why they decided to stop the race for this.
After the Red Flag, it was another Standing Start. Hamilton had a better start, getting to Turn-1 first, but by lap 12, Verstappen roared past Him for the lead of the race, making space rather quickly. More than 2 seconds in half a lap!
On lap 18, Russell parked his Mercedes on the front straight, right by the end of the pitlane. His W14 caught fire and engulfed the car in spectacular form. A VSC was deployed while the car was recovered and a lap later racing resumed.
By Lap 25 Sainz finally passed Gasly for fourth after being stuck behind the Frenchman for several laps. He now was 1.7 seconds behind Alonso, who was a couple of seconds behind Hamilton.
On Lap 54 of the race, Kevin Magnussen's Haas collided with the wall while exiting Turn 2, which caused severe damage to the rear right tire and suspension. This incident led to the deployment of the Safety Car. However, on the next lap, a Red Flag was declared, resulting in the third Standing start of the race. The Two-Lap shootout began with Verstappen, Hamilton, and Alonso, the Top-Three drivers, on fresh soft tires. The start of the race was chaotic, with multiple crashes that caused Gasly, Ocon, de Vries, and Sargeant to retire. Alonso spun out of control after being hit by Sainz, causing him to drop from third to eleventh place. The race was Red Flagged again and all cars went into the pits, waiting for a decision from the stewards.
FIA Stewards: Restart procedure under investigation
The stewards decided to restart the race with the same order of the last restart minus the cars out. This was unprecedented and somehow unfair. The restart order was: cars 1, 44, 14, 55, 18, 11, 4, 27, 81, 24, 22, and 77. Then the stewards decided to give a 5-seconds penalty to Sainz for causing a collision with Alonso, dropping him from fourth to twelfth! This was, probably, the most confusing finish to an F1 race, ever.
And after so much drama, Max Verstappen clinched the victory for Red Bull after a dramatic race. Lewis Hamilton secured the second position and Fernando Alonso took third place. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez made an incredible comeback from 20th to 5th position and was awarded the title of Driver of the Day by F1.com fans. The Top-Ten was completed by Stroll, Norris, Hulkenberg, Piastri, Zhou, and Tsunoda. This was Red Bull's first win at Australia since 2011.
Formula One will undoubtedly be back at Albert Park in the future, continuing its rich history of racing in Australia.
QUOTES FROM THE PODIUM
““It was a bit of a mess but we survived everything. We won, which is of course the most important!” ”
““I didn’t expect to be second, so I’m super grateful for it. For us to be up here fighting with Aston is just amazing at this point of the season” ”
““We had a rollercoaster of emotions today. Lewis did an incredible job today, I couldn’t match or get close enough, but we’ll take P3!” ”
