April 4, 2023
If I had to summarize the 2023 Australian Grand Prix in one word, I would say “pandemonium”. The whole weekend was just utter chaos. There was rain, spinning, shocking results, crashes, and so many flying parts. Here is your 2023 Australian Grand Prix Weekend Recap:
Free-Practice: March 31-April 1, 2023
The craziness of this race weekend started with three very chaotic practice sessions. A GPS outage in FP1 created confusion and traffic, nearly caused many crashes, and brought out a Red Flag. FP2 then faced the first rain of the 2023 season, providing teams with an opportunity to collect data on how their cars perform in such conditions. Even the fairly normal FP3 session got Red Flagged when bodywork flew off of Nyck de Vries’s car.
Max Verstappen was in the top three of every practice session as he sported Red Bull’s new upgrades. His teammate Sergio Perez was not so lucky, struggling with the rainy conditions of FP2 and braking issues that seem to be plaguing the Red Bull. Perez missed the beginning of FP3 when the team took time to work on his rear suspension. Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to work because the Mexican got beached at Turn 3 on a flying lap later in the session. Logan Sargeant’s Williams faced electrical issues that caused his car to shut off toward the end of FP1 and forced him to miss FP2. Mercedes’ car, however, seemed to enjoy Australia’s conditions. Lewis Hamilton went P2 during the first session and George Russell got P4 in the second and third sessions. The Ferraris were off the pace during practice, with consistent P5 finishes proving that they are the fourth best team on the grid. My McLarens made up for Ferrari’s disappointment though, because Lando Norris went P7 and P8. McLaren seems to be improving, even if Norris had to end his FP3 early due to suspected clutch issues.
Qualifying: April 1, 2023
The “One Lap Wonder” strategy was ineffective in Australia because of how cold the track was. Drivers needed at least two laps to get enough heat into their tires before they started a flying lap. Most opted for an out-lap, a fast (but not push) lap, and then a push lap to set their time.
Q1:
With a 90% chance of rain predicted for later in the Qualifying session, drivers were quick to set their fastest laps.
Nyck de Vries finally got out of Q1!
Eliminated: Piastri, Zhou, Sargeant, Bottas, Perez
Sergio Perez locked up at Turn 3 and got beached in the gravel, just as he had in FP3.
Oscar Piastri was just four-hundredths of a second off of Q2.
Q2:
The rain still hadn’t fallen.
Eliminated: Ocon, Tsunoda, Norris, Magnussen, de Vries
Esteban Ocon missed out on Q3 by eight-hundredths of a second.
Yuki Tsunoda was furious when he lost time in Q2 because the FIA held him up at the weighing station in the pit lane.
Q3:
Fernando Alonoso took provisional pole, but a crazy final flying lap got Max Verstappen his first pole position in Australia.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton got P2 and P3 for Mercedes, pushing Alonso down to P4.
Much to my liking, Alex Albon qualified P8!
Carlos Sainz qualified P5, while Charles Leclerc went P7.
Race: April 2, 2023
Perez and Bottas started the race from the pit lane after making changes to their cars under Parc Ferme conditions. Most drivers started on medium compound tires, but the Alfa Romeos and Alpines started on softs and de Vries, Sargeant, and Perez started on hards.
Verstappen did not have the best of starts as he lost the lead to Russell into Turn 1 and was overtaken by Hamilton into Turn 3. Meanwhile, Stroll and Leclerc made contact into Turn 3 and Leclerc was forced to retire from the race when his car got beached in the gravel. This prompted a Safety Car and early tire changes. Ocon, Zhou, and Bottas switched from softs to hard compound tires while Sargeant and Perez went from hards to mediums.
Leclerc's car getting beached
The race resumed on Lap 3 and Russell managed to keep his lead ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, Alonso, and Alexander Albon. Yes, Alex Albon was somehow in the top six at this point in the race. The excitement of this was short-lived though. On Lap 6, Albon lost control of his Williams and went straight into the barriers at Turn 7, scattering gravel across the track and stopping on the racing line. At first, a Safety Car was brought out and Russell and Sainz pitted, attempting an overcut. However, the race was then Red Flagged and Russell and Sainz were now at a disadvantage as the rest of the grid could change tires without losing any time at all. Russell went from leading the race to P7 and Sainz went from P4 to P11.
Albon's crash put him directly on the racing line
The Red Flag ended with a standing restart and all drivers were on hard compound tires except for De Vries and Sargeant, who opted for mediums. It seemed like teams were hoping to go the rest of the race without any more pit stops or Safety Cars. The next series of laps saw Carlos Sainz quickly make his way back to the points and Verstappen take the lead from Hamilton. On Lap 18, George Russell – who was leading the race at one point of the day – pulled over to the side of the straight as the back of his car erupted in flames. Russell’s retirement led to a few laps behind the Virtual Safety Car.
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A power unit failure caused George Russell's Mercedes to catch on fire |
Sergio Perez had gone from the pit lane to P9, but now Lando Norris was defending that Red Bull like a lion. After a couple of failed attempts, Perez finally overtook Norris down the back straight with DRS. The McLaren may have lost out to Perez, but he made up for it by quickly overtaking Nico Hulkenberg.
On Lap 54 of 58, everything came crashing down. Kevin Magnussen hit the wall coming into Turn 2, lost his right-rear tire, and pulled over to the side of the track. The Dane was fine, but his tire was sitting in the middle of the track. Yet another Safety Car was deployed and on Lap 55, it turned into a second Red Flag. This meant that the race would end with a two lap shootout with no DRS. Or so we thought…
KMag clipped the wall and his tire flew off
The second standing restart was utter chaos. Verstappen kept his lead on Hamilton, but everyone behind them went into a frenzy. At the back of the grid, Sargeant’s brakes didn’t work and he drove into the back of de Vries, sending them both into the gravel where they got beached. In the battle for P3, Sainz made contact with Alonso and sent him into a spin, causing mayhem as drivers tried to avoid the Aston Martin. Gasly went across the grass but didn’t pay attention as he rejoined the track and accidentally drove into his teammate Ocon. What was supposed to be an amazing double points finish for Alpine, and a possible P5 for Gasly, became a no points race with both cars in the wall. Perez and Stroll also suffered from Alonso’s spin. Neither car crashed, but they each went through the gravel and lost track position. 
Bottas and Perez watching the chaos unfold in front of them
Naturally, the race was Red Flagged as the marshalls cleared the immense amount of debris and cars left on the track after this restart. According to the F1 rules, the order of the grid had to revert back to what it was on the previous lap because no one made it past the first sector of the track. This meant that even though Alonso spun and Stroll and Perez went through the gravel, they would all get their positions back. 
Since there was just one lap left of the race, a Safety Car just led the field around the track once more to take the checkered flag. Max Verstappen crossed the finish line to win his very first Australian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton made it a happy day for Mercedes by taking P2, and their first podium of the season, and Alonso maintained his consistent P3 finishes. Carlos Sainz was given a penalty for hitting Alonso on the second restart and dropped out of the points to finish in P12. Ferrari’s woes were good for McLaren as Norris and Piastri were bumped up to P6 and P8, respectively. The papaya team got a whopping twelve points, bumping them to fifth in the constructor’s championship.
The 2023 Australian Grand Prix podium
Honorable Mention:
- By finishing in P8, Oscar Piastri scored his first points in F1 at his home race!
Because Yuki Tsunoda scored one point for AlphaTauri and the McLarens took home twelve points, every team on the grid now has at least one point in the constructor’s championship. In a normal season, where the midfield isn't this close, that won't happen until about the sixth race of the season.
The entire race weekend was absolutely insane. We had volatile weather, volatile Ferrari performance, a Williams in Q3, and eight retirements during the race. It’s as if Australia saw that the season was getting boring and decided to throw us a curveball. This next month-long break will be much needed as we all process the madness that was the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.
I will be back for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of April!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1143/australia/practice-1.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1143/australia/practice-2.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1143/australia/practice-3.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1143/australia/qualifying.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1143/australia/race-result.html