World record spectator attendance at the long awaited F1 race in Australia. 420 thousands spectators are watched a race full of speed and full of....Leclerc!
Let's go straight to our observation of this race!
Ferrari and Leclerc were astonishing. The car was far more performing than any cars on the track.
It is clear that Leclerc has adapted to the car better than Sainz and he is more capable of carrying momentum. Redbull has had no chance to overtake. This was pure dominance, almost boring to watch but if you are a Ferrari fan, it was amazing to see!
Carlos Sainz led his frustration from Saturday ruin his race on Sunday. He is well aware the car is the leading car so far and he wanted to wait no more than half a lap to catch up...but that overtake attempt was too impulsive and he is aware of it. We will probably see more of these episodes, as he is not going to accept to be Ferrari's second driver.
Redbull seems aware that they have reliability issues. Have they really spent all their money as rumours say?? Looking at the drivers, it seems as both drivers are aware of the issues and Perez is going gentle on the car, trying to manage a points scoring place, while MAX is driving on a Making or Breaking mode.
Mercedes is slow rolling is way to the top scoring points. First podium from Russel, who signed for Mercedes aiming pole positions and victories.
Hamilton clearly expressed his disappointment for not having team orders to his favour after a safety car situation create a position swap in favour to G63.
Best of the rest.
Welcome back McLaren!
Have they made any change from the previous races or was the fact that DR3 felt he had to push max effort in front of his home crowd? Or were they pumped by the fact that more money are coming in very soon? Beside what we think, both cars clearly were at different pace. Well done on scoring points!
Shall we now speak of the man of the race? The ultimate underdog? Mr. Albon!
He drove 57 laps, 57 laps! The car is clearly weak and it seems that the team cannot rely on Latifi, who is very expensive to manage, despite his financial contribution to the team.
Instead, Albon tried an Alonso approach and focused on clean and consistent laps, staying out while everyone had their pit stops. After gaining 10th position at lap 57, he had to change his tyres as per FIA rules but he managed his gap from 11th place and scored a precious point!
With that pace, he would have driven 20 more laps! Lando Norris could not believe he did that!!
In the shadow.
Terrible bad luck from Fernando Alonso, who was having a stellar performance in Qualy and in the race but luck was not on his side.
Strange situation for Haas who seemed not competitive this weekend.
Vettel made his comeback in Australia. He had short runs with the car, a car that is managed in a storm of money that goes all over the place. Someone named Otmar must feel relief of his new position.
So, despite the speed and the many, (even too many) DRS zones, this GP was a little too perfect for the fans, if we compare to the previous two races.
Nevertheless, we have a driver leading the championship and a team who has emerged after 15 quiet years, (not that Alonso or Vettel did not try when they were at Ferrari).
Back to Europe for race 4, starting with IMOLA, where lots of charged ferraristi cannot wait to see this revived Ferrari!
Is the Ferrari lead going to be confirmed in Imola?
CarTribu