Though the race ran in prime time last night, I didn't want to spoil for anyone who wanted to watch the Australian Grand Prix in the morning. Those who have seen it saw dominance from Mercedes, who took the top two spots, with George Russell getting his sixth career Grand Prix victory and Kimi Antonelli getting his highest F1 podium finish in P2.
Ferrari was right behind with Charles Leclerc making the podium and Lewis Hamilton running his best race for the constructor since joining last season, finishing P4. Strategy might have cost Ferrari a chance at the win. They were running 1-2 when Mercedes pitted under virtual safety car. Instead of pitting with them or splitting the drivers by having one pit and the other stay out for track position, they decided to have both cars stay out. Soon they were no match for Mercedes on fresh tires. Hamilton couldn't build enough gap staying out to cover his pit stop and the Ferraris had no chance with Mercedes in clean air.
What was clear, overall, was there is much work to do on the power units. Mercedes units ran well all week, in Alpine, McLaren and Williams cars. Ferrari units are in Haas and Cadillac — three of four finished. McLaren lost a car when Oscar Piastri crashed on the out lap ahead of the grid start — not engine related.
The Honda power unit in the Aston Martin is so bad the team told race officials it would not run a complete race with either car due to driver safety (extreme vibrations). Fernando Alonso managed to get 35 of 58 laps in on three pit stops before the car was shut down. Teammate Lance Stroll managed 43 laps and technically finished the race, having been on track and finishing the lap after Russell crossed.
Ford's unit worked well for Max Verstappen, who moved up 14 grid spots from the start to finish P6, though it may be troubling he wasn't able to chase down defending driver's champion Lando Norris's McLaren for P5. Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar had his unit blow out on lap 11, when he was running P5, after qualifying P3. Their development team Racing Bulls had both drivers finish and rookie Arvid Lindblad, an 18-year-old rookie, finished in points at P8, in his first career F1 Grand Prix.
Ollie Bearman finished strong for Haas last season and was P7; Gabriel Bortoleto took P9 for Audi (formerly Sauber), using their own power unit, and Pierre Gasly took P10 for Alpine. The last four finishers were a lap behind Russell, so despite points they were slow.
About a quarter of the grid didn't finish, with Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas retiring with a fuel system issue and Nico Hulkenberg's Audi suffering a mechanical issue.
My take: F1 wanted closer racing and more overtaking with the new smaller cars and tech, and that happened for the first eight or nine laps, but Mercedes is far ahead of everyone except Ferrari, who is not going to beat them, at present, on fast circuits. We'll see how things shake out next weekend in Beijing.
THE ASYLUM
Mercedes rules Down Under
Though the race ran in prime time last night, I didn't want to spoil for anyone who wanted to watch the Australian Grand Prix in the morning. Those who have seen it saw dominance from Mercedes, who took the top two spots, with George Russell getting his sixth career Grand Prix victory and Kimi Antonelli getting his highest F1 podium finish in P2.
Ferrari was right behind with Charles Leclerc making the podium and Lewis Hamilton running his best race for the constructor since joining last season, finishing P4. Strategy might have cost Ferrari a chance at the win. They were running 1-2 when Mercedes pitted under virtual safety car. Instead of pitting with them or splitting the drivers by having one pit and the other stay out for track position, they decided to have both cars stay out. Soon they were no match for Mercedes on fresh tires. Hamilton couldn't build enough gap staying out to cover his pit stop and the Ferraris had no chance with Mercedes in clean air.
What was clear, overall, was there is much work to do on the power units. Mercedes units ran well all week, in Alpine, McLaren and Williams cars. Ferrari units are in Haas and Cadillac — three of four finished. McLaren lost a car when Oscar Piastri crashed on the out lap ahead of the grid start — not engine related.
The Honda power unit in the Aston Martin is so bad the team told race officials it would not run a complete race with either car due to driver safety (extreme vibrations). Fernando Alonso managed to get 35 of 58 laps in on three pit stops before the car was shut down. Teammate Lance Stroll managed 43 laps and technically finished the race, having been on track and finishing the lap after Russell crossed.
Ford's unit worked well for Max Verstappen, who moved up 14 grid spots from the start to finish P6, though it may be troubling he wasn't able to chase down defending driver's champion Lando Norris's McLaren for P5. Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar had his unit blow out on lap 11, when he was running P5, after qualifying P3. Their development team Racing Bulls had both drivers finish and rookie Arvid Lindblad, an 18-year-old rookie, finished in points at P8, in his first career F1 Grand Prix.
Ollie Bearman finished strong for Haas last season and was P7; Gabriel Bortoleto took P9 for Audi (formerly Sauber), using their own power unit, and Pierre Gasly took P10 for Alpine. The last four finishers were a lap behind Russell, so despite points they were slow.
About a quarter of the grid didn't finish, with Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas retiring with a fuel system issue and Nico Hulkenberg's Audi suffering a mechanical issue.
My take: F1 wanted closer racing and more overtaking with the new smaller cars and tech, and that happened for the first eight or nine laps, but Mercedes is far ahead of everyone except Ferrari, who is not going to beat them, at present, on fast circuits. We'll see how things shake out next weekend in Beijing.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits!
We’d love to have you!