March 25, 2024
thetelegraph.co.uk
The Australian Grand Prix threw us for a bit of a loop. We got quite a few retirements, a Carlando podium, and the comeback story of the year. Here is your 2024 Australian Grand Prix weekend recap:
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| As you can see, Albon's chassis was destroyed. sg.new.yahoo.com |
Williams Switcharoo
In FP1, Alex Albon crashed out of Turn 7 and damaged his car beyond repair. Instead of having Albon sit out for the weekend, Williams decided to put him in his teammate’s car because they believed Albon had the better chance at scoring points. This meant that Logan Sargeant would sit out of the race while Albon drove his car. For once, Sargeant didn’t do anything wrong and yet he was the one penalized for his teammate’s mistake. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sargeant gets the boot next season because Williams essentially just told the world that they don’t trust their driver’s abilities.
Qualifying: March 23, 2024
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Q1:
Sergio Perez was noted for impeding Nico Hulkenberg out of Turn 13. The incident would be investigated after the session.
Eliminated: Hulkenberg (P16), Gasly (P17), Ricciardo (P18), Zhou (P19)
Daniel Ricciardo had gotten to P10 but had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits and was dropped down to P18.
Zhou Guanyu picked up front wing damage on his final lap and couldn’t improve his time.
Q2:
Eliminated: Hamilton (P11), Albon (P12), Bottas (P13), Magnussen (P14), Ocon (P15)
Lewis Hamilton was pushed out of the top 10 by Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll’s final flying laps.
Esteban Ocon’s Q2 appearance shows proof of Alpine’s improvement over these last few races.
Q3:
Unsurprisingly, Max Verstappen clinched pole with two-tenths of a second on Carlos Sainz in P2. Perez qualified third but would be dropped down to P6 after receiving a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Hulkenberg.
Race: March 24, 2024
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Zhou, who was supposed to start P19, was set to start in the pit lane following changes the team made to his car under Parc Ferme conditions.
Verstappen had a good start as he kept his lead from Sainz. But on the next lap, the Dutchman would have an uncharacteristic slip up around Turn 10 and let DRS assisted Sainz through. While we were still reeling from the shock of Sainz’s overtake, cameras showed smoke coming from Verstappen’s Red Bull as he reported that his rear brake was on fire. By Lap 5, Verstappen had retired the car for the first time in two years.
Red Bull mechanics putting out the fire on Verstappen's car
With Verstappen out, Sainz led the race from Norris, Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, and Perez.
Before the race even hit ten laps, soft-shod Hamilton, Ricciardo, and Zhou pitted for hards. It was becoming quite evident that tire degradation was much higher than anticipated.
Over the next ten laps, drivers would be in and out of the pits. Russell and Bottas were the first among those on Mediums to pit, with the latter suffering a slow stop. Leclerc and Piastri came next, before Perez and Norris stopped for hards.
Then, Hamilton’s weekend went from bad to worse as he retired from the race with an engine failure. The Briton pulled over to the side of the track, prompting a Virtual Safety Car was that gave yet-to-pit Alonso, Hulkenberg, and Gasly the cheap stops they were holding out for.
The drivers began to settle into this next phase of the race as Haas started playing the team game again, with Magnussen defending Hulkenberg from the cars behind. McLaren also looked maximize their result by swapping their drivers, dispelling any hopes for an Oscar Piastri home podium.
Around Lap 35, Leclerc prompted a new round of pit stops when he pitted for another set of hards. Piastri and Norris stopped soon after to come out in fourth and fifth while Russell opted to stay out. This flurry of stops also saw Kick Sauber struggle with yet another slow stop and cost Zhou a decent finish for the second weekend in a row. The team really needs to figure out what is happening with their pitstops.
The top ten was now Sainz leading Leclerc, Norris, Piastri, Russell, Perez, Alonso, Stroll, Tsunoda, and Hulkenberg.
With ten laps remaining, Russell made his final pitstop and came out in P7. As he rushed to catch up with Alonso on the final lap, the Mercedes lost control out of Turn 7 and had a horrible crash. Russell was stuck in his car, sideways, in the middle of the track. Since it was the last lap, Race Control brought out another Virtual Safety Car that saw the drivers to the end of the race. In my opinion, the race should have been Red Flagged because Russell was literally in the middle fo the track. Who knows what could have happened if someone lost control behind the VSC and crashed into him. Thankfully, Russell was ok and helped out of his car after the race.
Russell was quite literally lying in the middle of the track
Carlos Sainz came home to take the win just two weeks after his appendectomy. I guess beast mode Carlos doesn’t care if he still has stitches from surgery, he’s going to drive like the “Smooth Operator” he is. His teammate Charles Leclerc finished in second to make it Ferrari’s first 1-2 finish since Bahrain 2022.
Lando Norris completed the top three to give us another Carlando podium while the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri finished P4 in his home race. It was a good day for us McLaren fans.
Australian GP 2024 Podium
The final points positions were filled by Perez, Alonso, Stroll, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, and Magnussen. After the race, however, Alonso was found to have driven in a manner that caused Russell’s crash and was hit with a 20-second penalty that dropped him down to P8.
Even though we had some crashes and retirements, this race was actually quite boring. I think the actual racing aspect of this season has been lacking because of how difficult it is for drivers to get close to one another. Nevertheless, we got a Carlos Sainz win and comeback story that will surely help him secure a drive for next season.
I will be back next week for the Japanese Grand Prix!
- Divya
Where I got these
from: