Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Australian Grand Prix

Photo by Scott Barbour of the Associated Press

Well.

That was a fun one!

After a couple of, let’s just say not very exciting races, the Australian Grand Prix did not disappoint.

Here are this week’s winners & losers.

Losers

5. Nico Hulkenberg & Yuki Tsunoda

Oh man. This one hurts.

Nico had a great weekend, and his results still show a very good weekend, with him finishing 8th.

But after the second red flag and third standing start, Hulkenberg avoided incidents around him and put the car 4th.

But because the cars did not reach the sector line after the final standing start, the race rules state that they need to go back to the original order, which moved Hulkenberg from 4th to 7th.

The worst part? Carlos Sainz had a penalty while in 3rd, meaning Nico Hulkenberg, who has the F1 record for most races without a podium, would have had his first podium in Formula 1.

Heartbreaking.

4. George Russell

This was setting up to be an incredible weekend for George Russell.

His qualifying performance was outstanding. He got a great start to the race and took the lead of the grand prix.

And then, after pitting for new tires under a safety car, the race was red flagged. Meaning that everybody can change for new tires without needing a pit stop.

Russell went from 1st all the way down to 7th, and then to make matters worse, his engine failed and he failed to finish the race.

It shows how quickly things can go awry in this sport.

3. Alexander Albon

Speaking of having a great weekend.

Albon made it into Q3 for the first time this season, found himself all the way into 6th in the race as well.

And then into turn three, he lost the car and slammed the wall, ending his race.

A terrible end to a great weekend.

2. Sergio Perez

Checo finished 5th, and that’s pretty good!

The problem is, he’s in a Red Bull and his teammate is Max Verstappen.

A terrible qualifying session meant that Checo had to start from the pit lane, and it is very noble that he brought it all the way to 5th.

But if you truly want to make this a title fight, you can’t have terrible qualifying sessions when it’s extremely likely your teammate will win the race.

Which, spoilers, he did.

1. Alpine

If you know Formula 1, you know that Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon don’t really get along.

This race isn’t going to help things at all.

While Gasly was having an outstanding race, Ocon was fighting for points. It was a good chance for Gasly to stake a claim to be the Alpine number 1 driver.

Instead, Gasly forgot to check his mirrors and drove into his teammate, ending both of their races with two laps remaining.

I’m sure Gasly is aware that it was his mistake and will apologize for it, but it sure won’t help the teammates dynamic at all.

Winners

5. Yuki Tsunoda

Tsunoda was actually in a similar circumstance with Hulkenberg, where he was 5th before the order change moved him back to 10th.

Still, Tsunoda was dealing with an issue all race and it was not looking like he would get a good result, so ending up with even one single point is a good result.

4. Fernando Alonso

Alonso had a great race, and was unfortunately taken out by Carlos Sainz with two laps left.

But, because of the restart rule I mentioned above, Alonso was moved back into 3rd and got his deserved podium.

That doesn’t mean I’m happy about it…

Poor, poor Hulkenberg.

3. Lewis Hamilton

Not a bad weekend for a car that needs to be completely scrapped, eh?

The bad news for Mercedes is that they are still absolutely nowhere near the pace of the Red Bull, but having a better race than Ferrari and Aston Martin is a good step forward, and I’m sure Lewis will never complain about a 2nd place finish.

2. McLaren

This was a crucial weekend for McLaren.

The opening two races weren’t only bad, they were atrocious by McLaren’s standards. And Saturday’s qualifying session wasn’t great either.

But there are no points for qualifying, and the race was finally what McLaren was looking for.

Lando Norris finished 6th and Oscar Piastri got his first points in Formula 1 with an 8th place finish.

This was a great weekend to build off of for McLaren.

1. Max Verstappen

Yes, he won. Of course he did. But that’s not why he is top tier.

It’s something I mentioned a year ago, and it’s worth mentioning again. This is not the same Max Verstappen.

When the race began, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton both had excellent starts and came alongside Verstappen.

The young and hungry Verstappen would have gotten his elbows out, maybe leading to contact and potentially ruining his race.

But this isn’t the same Max Verstappen.

He backed out of the corner and let the Mercedes cars go by.

He didn’t need to fight. He knew he was clearly faster than both of them and could get them later in the race.

Get them he did, and he had a comfortable win, even if it was a little nervy near the end with the late red flag.

It’s just smart racing to stay alive for another lap.