F1 Australian GP 2022 Race Review & Results

The third round of the 2022 Formula 1 world championship is now in the books, and it was an interesting affair, multiple drivers having to retire from the race and an incredible drive from Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who got his first grand slam in F1. Getting the pole, race win, fastest lap and led every lap of the grand prix.

With some drivers having to come from elsewhere on the grid to get to where they expected to be, gave the race some intrigue.

Come lights out, it was a clean start by all drivers. Carlos Sainz was bogged down on the start causing him to lose five places off the start. Lewis Hamilton had a good start and managed to get himself up into third getting past both Lando Norris and Sergio Perez.

Things went from bad to worse for Sainz as only a couple of laps later, when going for a move around the outside of turn 9, he went onto the grass and across the track sliding into the gravel trap. It spelt the end for Sainz as he could not get his Ferrari out of the gravel.

A safety car was brought out a couple of laps later following a virtual safety car. During which Lance Stroll swapped his hard tyres for medium tyres, then a lap later went back on the hard tyres, it therefore nullified the issue of having to use two compounds of tyres for the rest of the race.

As the laps went by after the safety car Max Verstappen revealed issues with graining tyres which caused him to drop back from Leclerc. In the pitstop phase Verstappen pitted before Leclerc in order to gain an advantage but could not as the Ferrari had the pace to cover the undercut.

When Daniel Ricciardo came out after a pitstop on lap twenty-two, he was met by Alex Albon and Stroll battling for position, which led to a close encounter int turn 1, and a chase down to turn 3 where Ricciardo eventually stayed ahead of both cars.

The following lap, from turn 8 to 9 is where Perez made his move on Hamilton to get past, and he did just before the entry to turn 9. His exit was not as good though which led to Hamilton almost coming back at him if it was not for another safety car.

Another safety car was brought out after Sebastian Vettel crashed on the exit of turn 4 and had o stop only a couple of hundred meters beyond that. Not only did the safety car help Perez stay ahead of Hamilton, it also brought Fernando Alonso into a position where he may have expected to be before his qualifying crash.

The safety car restart brought some drama to the lead of the grand prix as Leclerc, who led the field away after the safety car came back in, got a poor exit off the final corner which enabled Verstappen to go for a move to take the race lead. It did not eventuate, but even George Russell almost got a look in as they hammered down towards turn 3. But Leclerc stayed in the lead.

Lap thirty-six seen Perez take back third from Russell with a nice move into turn 11. Only three laps later it would be for Russell to go back into the podium places as Max Verstappen suffered a mechanical issue that forced him to retire from the Australian Grand Prix. With Verstappen having yet another issue, it gave Leclerc the opportunity to extend his championship lead even more.

Verstappen’s retirement called out a virtual safety car, both Alonso and Kevin Magnussen pitted onto medium tyres.

Lap forty-two seen Stroll and Valtteri Bottas collide into turn 3, with Stroll going in aggressively to get past the Finn. In the laps following this Alonso lost pace to Pierre Gasly and Stroll ahead of him due to graining medium tyres, the same issue Verstappen had suffered from earlier on. He quickly fell down the order, later pitting again to try a fastest lap attempt.

In the closing laps, Albon was in a good seventh place for Williams, however had not pitted yet in the race, he eventually pit with the final lap to go and came out just ahead of Zhou Guanyu, meaning Albon was in tenth and could grab a point for Williams.

Leclerc, who drove an excellent race came home to take the win, and his second win of the season. Also cementing Ferrari’s championship credentials. Perez took second ahead of Russell in third to round out the podium places.

In a good result for Mercedes, Hamilton came fourth, ahead of both McLaren drivers, Norris and Ricciardo in fifth and sixth respectively. Esteban Ocon seventh, followed by Bottas, Gasly and Albon to finish out the points positions.

In terms of what this does for the championship, it really extends Leclerc’s lead at the top to 34 points over Russell who is now in second in the championship, Sainz is still third and Verstappen is sixth with only 25 points so far.

As for the constructor’s championship, a good weekend for McLaren sees them rocket up to fourth, Alpine only 2 points behind them. Alfa Romeo, Haas and Alpha Tauri are sixth, seventh and eighth, with only three points separating them. With Williams getting a point, it leaves only Aston Martin without a point so far this season. A double points finish for Mercedes means they cut the gap to Ferrari only by a point but manage to increase their gap over Red Bull to 10 points.

With Imola up next and the first sprint race of the season upon us, McLaren will be looking to build on a successful weekend, as will Mercedes. While not getting more points, the performance by Williams will be something they can build off, and Red Bull will have to look at their engine problems and examine them as if they want to be in championship contention, they will need to be reliable.

How will Verstappen bounce back? Is Williams going to get back into the points again? Will McLaren continue their improvements? We will find out when F1 goes to Imola for round 4 of the Formula 1 world championship.

F1 Australian GP Results:

1 - Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

2 - Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

3 - George Russell (Mercedes)

4 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

5 - Lando Norris (McLaren)

6 - Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)

7 - Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

8 - Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)

9 - Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) 10 - Alex Albon (Williams)

11 - Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)

12 - Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

13 - Mick Schumacher (Haas)

14 - Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

15 - Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)

16 - Nicholas Latifi (Williams)

17 - Fernando Alonso (Alpine)

DNF - Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

DNF - Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)

DNF - Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

Source: https://usercontent.one/wp/www.asianewsday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Charles-Leclerc-wins-Australian-Grand-Prix-to-extend-his-F1.jpg

F1 Australian GP 2022 Qualifying Review & Results

In an interesting qualifying session back in Melbourne, there was potential for mix up on the back of a telling practice 3 session. McLaren looked like they had better pace, Fernando Alonso in the Alpine had incredible pace. All this made things a little unpredictable going into qualifying.

Q1 starting out with top dogs Ferrari and Red Bull setting the pace, while Alonso put in a great lap to go fifth. Valtteri Bottas then taking fifth with his lap. With first runs done Max Verstappen was only four hundredths of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, teasing prospects to come. Lando Norris in the McLaren takes fourth but is short lived as Alonso comes back to gain fourth once again.

Both Mercedes drivers struggled again with Lewis Hamilton going eleventh while team-mate George Russell went only two places above. Verstappen then sets the pace by going fastest.

After what was a difficult time for the Aston Martin crew after Lance Stoll’s collision with the barricade at the end of third practice, he was able to go and try set a time.

With two minutes to go, with Stroll and Nicholas Latifi both on out laps, a collision between the two Canadians caused a red flag, suspending the session and ruining any chance of Stroll setting a time.

Just under two minutes to go after the red flag period ended and drivers were jockeying for position, trying to get in a place where they could get a lap in with the limited time remaining. The two Mercedes missed the cut off point to do a lap meaning they could not do another lap.

What the red flag did allow was Sebastian Vettel to get his car back in condition to try and set a lap time, and he did, unfortunately for the German, it was not enough to save him from being eliminated. The drivers who were eliminated ended up as Alex Albon, Kevin Magnussen, Sebastian Vettel, Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll. Later, Albon was disqualified for not having a fuel sample to give for testing.

Q2 seen the beginning of the session have Verstappen going fastest, followed by Sergio Perez, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The Ferrari drivers being on used soft tyres. Alonso again putting a great lap together goes second. The two McLaren’s then split the Ferrari’s.

Hamilton after his lap goes eighth, Perez then takes top spot with a good lap. Russell splits the McLaren’s by going sixth. Sainz set another lap this time going third fastest, Leclerc then went ahead of his team-mate going second.

Bottas stayed twelfth, Zhou Guanyu went just behind Bottas in thirteenth. Yuki Tsunoda beat Zhou by qualifying thirteenth. Esteban Ocon took eighth just before Daniel Ricciardo beat Ocon out and got himself into eighth. Hamilton grabs eighth beating Ricciardo and Ocon who ended up in ninth and tenth respectively. The drivers eliminated were Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher.

Q3 started out with Verstappen going quickest, Perez then beat that time and took provisional pole for the time being. Laps being put in on first runs with Ricciardo going third, followed by Ocon going fourth, ahead of Norris and the Hamilton.

Leclerc put a lap together to go provisional pole position, while that happened Alonso was set for a brilliant time but crashed at turn 11. This caused another red flag, which caused Sainz to have to abort his lap as he did not finish his lap.

Following the red flag, Perez put his lap in, and missed Leclerc’s time by one thousandth of a second, coming extremely close to being on provisional pole. Both Mercedes completed their laps with Russell going fourth and Hamilton in sixth, they did go for another attempt.

With 8 seconds to go in the session Verstappen crossed the line and thought he had pole, but then not so long after, Leclerc going on even better and going just under three tenths faster than Verstappen.

Sainz needed to get a proper lap together but was not able to, due to a mistake on his qualifying lap. Meaning he was not able to move up and ended in ninth. Hamilton went fifth just ahead of Russell who both were beat out by Norris.

Lots of potential for a great race, with Sainz out of position we could see a rise through the order, but eyes will be on Leclerc and Verstappen as they continue their fight for the championship. With McLaren having a better showing so far this weekend there will be a lot of support for home driver Daniel Ricciardo to get a good result to kick-start McLaren’s season after a lacklustre start to the season.

Qualifying Results

1 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 2 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 3 – Sergio Perez (Red Bull) 4 – Lando Norris (McLaren) 5 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 6 – George Russell (Mercedes) 7 – Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) 8 – Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 9 – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 10 – Fernando Alonso (Alpine) 11 – Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) 12 – Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 13 – Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) 14 – Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) 15 – Mick Schumacher (Haas) 16 – Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 17 – Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) 18 – Nicholas Latifi (Williams) 19 – Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 20 – Alex Albon (Williams)

Source: https://images.hgmsites.net/hug/ferrari-at-the-2022-formula-one-australian-grand-prix_100835372_h.jpg

F1 Australian GP 2022 Preview

In what will be the first Australian grand prix since 2019, there has been some changes. The cars have changed, but most importantly the track has been changed in areas, the changes include widening of corners such as turn 1 and 3, and the removal of the chicane at what was previously turns 9 and 10. The lap times will also be faster due to these changes.

With all the changes, there may be things that do not change when it comes to the teams. Both McLaren and Aston Martin will be looking to turn their fortunes around after a bit of a sluggish start to the 2022 season. Mercedes will be looking to edge closer to Red Bull and Ferrari to get themselves back in a title fight.

Haas will be a team to keep an eye on as they will hope to continue their good form heading into this weekend. They have achieved two points finishes out of the two races this season, already improving greatly on the abysmal performance of last season with zero points. They’ll be a team to watch, and with Mick Schumacher looking to be back on race day, could be a shout for a decent finish and points.

Mercedes, after what was a less than satisfactory weekend in Saudi Arabia, with Lewis Hamilton finishing tenth, and George Russell a long way off fourth in that race. The silver arrows have some work to do if they want to catch up to rivals Ferrari and Red Bull. And the question will be, have they done enough work since the last race to close that gap?

McLaren are a team who had a lot of hype going into the season but have failed to deliver after the first two races. Even though they did get a car finishing in the points in the last race, the performance was not as good as it could be, and with Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo going into his home grand prix, he will be desperate to deliver something for the home crowd, so can McLaren improve on their lacklustre start to the season? Or will it be disappointment again?

So much has changed since the last visit to Melbourne and will be very interesting to see what kind of challenges the circuit poses after the changes, as well as the cars. Nevertheless, it should all be a very interesting affair on the streets of Melbourne.

Source: https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fom-website/manual/Misc/2021manual/GettyImages-1131285911.jpg