The 2023 Australian Grand Prix was nothing short of exhilarating. The lead changed a number of times, with Safety Cars, Red Flags, and Virtual Safety Cars doing their part to jumble up the order.

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The final Red Flag was the most confusing since the subsequent restart caused absolute chaos. This saw the McLarens jump up while four cars retired. Both Alpines crashed into each other while Sainz ran into Alonso and caused him to spin out. Click here to read a more detailed account of the race.

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Mercedes’ Ups and Downs

Mercedes had a brilliant start, with both cars overtaking Verstappen to lead the Grand Prix with a 1-2. A Safety Car induced Russell to pit from the lead, only to be snubbed by the Red Flag. This saw Hamilton take the lead ahead of Verstappen.

Verstappen quickly reclaimed the lead with DRS and sped off into the distance. However, Russell’s issues compounded as his engine went bust on lap 17 of the race. This brought on a Virtual Safety Car but ended Russell’s race early. Alonso and Hamilton did have a fight during the race, but Hamilton managed to keep Alonso at bay. This saw Hamilton secure P2 while Alonso secured P3.

McLaren’s Luck

McLaren has been complaining about their bad luck for a while now. The Australian Grand Prix managed to turn the tables as McLaren decided not to pit under the Safety Car. The Red Flag came out and put McLaren deep into the points.
Norris slotted comfortably into P8, while Piastri was left just outside the points in P11. This luck compounded after the last Red Flag that saw Lando move to P5 and Piastri to P6. Race Control did reinstate the lap before, causing them to move down to P6 and P8.

Perez’s Charge

Sergio Perez started from the pit lane, only in front of Valtteri Bottas. Perez charged up the field before being reset after the Red Flag. However, he continued to charge through the field and made his way into the points before the halfway point of the race.

The Mexican continued to carve his way through the field and made his way into P7 before the second-last Red Flag. The restart caused chaos and saw Perez drop down to P10. Race Control reinstated the lap and put him back in P5 for the final run to the chequered flag.

Ferrari’s Pace

Ferrari had some bad luck with Charles Leclerc tangling with Stroll at the beginning of the race. However, the remaining Ferrari of Sainz showed some real pace throughout the race. At some points, Carlos Sainz was lapping faster than race leader Verstappen. This shows that the Ferrari does have pace when the track temperature is aligned with the car’s performance ‘window’.

Sainz eventually fell back behind Alonso to preserve his tyres. However, all signs point to the Ferrari having the pace to challenge later on in the season. Sainz was comfortable in P4 before causing Alonso to spin on the final restart. While Sainz did claim P3 for a bit, Race Control reinstated the lap before to see Sainz finish in P4 behind Alonso. However, the Ferrari driver was handed a five-second penalty for the incident with his countryman that saw him drop down to P12.

A Mixed Bag

The front five drivers of the Australian Grand Prix represented five different teams. While Red Bull did dominate the race, Mercedes were very closely timed to Aston Martin, Ferrari, and even Alpine.

This proves that the new regulations have worked well to close up the field. With the outlier being Red Bull, all teams were incredibly competitive. Ferrari pushed the Aston Martin of Alonso for over 10 laps while Alonso did the same to Hamilton.

Further down the field, Perez struggled to pass the McLaren of Lando Norris for around five laps. Additionally, the Haas posed a real challenge to McLaren as Hulkenburg led Norris for the first 52 laps of the race.The final order was even more confusing as the restart caused four cars to retire. The McLarens managed to secure massive points while Alonso closed off the podium in P3.