Do you miss Michael Massi already?
Fascinating. F1 has been here for 73 years and there is still something that absolutely blows your mind and you never expected before.
The main talking point from Australian GP is FIA’s decision to throw a late red flag after Kevin Magnussen hit the wall and lost his wheel.
I agree with that decision. BTW, debris from the incident slightly hurt one of the spectators.
As in Abu Dhabi, nobody wants to finish under a yellow flag 🟡🏁
Full Safety Car was activated on lap 56 of 58, so there was no chance to clear Magnussen’s car on time under SC or VSC. We would finish under yellow.
Throwing in a red flag to gain some time was therefore OK. We saw the same in Abu Dhabi in 2021.
But… The race director then has two options:
- Restart the race under the Safety car (rolling start)
- Order “standing start” restart (what he stupidly did).
With two laps to go, Standing Start = F1 2023 open lobby chaos. What did you expect? Of course, there was a massive pile-up.
There was still a chance not to restart the race again after another red flag (Race will not be restarted message from Race Control). This would revert standings before all this chaos – Both Alpines would be still in the race and everybody would be happy that the results are somehow fair.
But the race director took the worst decision possible again. We have pointlessly waited another 30 minutes just to finish under SC… In running order before the previous (Magnussen’s) red flag anyway. But without randomly crashed Aplines. And with Sainz’s penalty for the lap that never existed.
Absolute chaos.
Yes, some can say that they are the rules and the Race director should use them as he wants. But do you know what F1 needs more? Common sense.
Key points from Australia
🏁Great race for Mercedes. Yes, they threw away 1-2 by Russell SC pit stop and he lost the engine anyway. But Mercedes seems much faster, maybe faster than Aston now.
👍 Another podium for King Alonso.
👍 Finally first points for McLaren. Lando P6, Piastri P8.
👍 Russell DNF, but it is now 3-0 in qualifications with Hamilton.
👎 Poor mistake in Q1 for Perez. He had a good recovery in the race, but he will not be a match for Max this year. No chance.
👎 ZERO points for Ferrari. Maybe next year!
👎 Nick de Vries is the worst rookie. We still didn’t see anything from him, beaten by TSU again.
👎 Alpine both cars crashed heavily 💵💵💵
👎 Bottas invisible. Same as in Saudi Arabia.
My Driver’s rating 0 to 10 points
1 Max VERSTAPPEN 10
2 Lewis HAMILTON 8
3 Fernando ALONSO 8
4 Lance STROLL 5
5 Sergio PEREZ 7
6 Lando NORRIS 8
7 Nico HULKENBERG 9
8 Oscar PIASTRI 8
9 Guanyu ZHOU 7
10 Yuki TSUNODA 7
11 Valtteri BOTTAS 3
12 Carlos SAINZ 7
13 Pierre GASLY 7
14 Esteban OCON 7
15 Nyck DE VRIES 4
16 Logan SARGEANT 5
17 Kevin MAGNUSSEN 3
18 George RUSSELL 10
19 Alexander ALBON 5
20 Charles LECLERC 6
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