Double Ferrari and Mercedes. Although it was a slightly different double for Mercedes than what Toto Wolff would have imagined.
The winners
Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris reached the podium.
Red Bull had the fastest pit stop, passing Pérez in 2.10 seconds.
Winners:
- Carlos Sainz to Ferrari
- McLaren
- Yuki Cunoda
- Haas
Continued 2 / 11
Carlos Sainz to Ferrari
Only two drivers – Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz – have won the last 21 races. Sixteen days after surgery and without a contract for next year, Sainz ended Verstappen’s next streak. A big story and a very important feat for Sainz.
Of course, Verstappen and thus Red Bull helped him. There is a lot of talk about whether Sainz would have won if Verstappen’s brake had not failed. Pérez thinks so, Sainz also indicated it. Ferrari had a very good pace throughout the weekend, including in the race. Sainz lost quite a lot to Verstappen in qualifying, but he had himself to blame for it – in the 9th and 10th turns by telemetry and estimates lost 4 tenths.
If Verstappen had problems after a few laps, we would know more. But that doesn’t matter so much today.
Sainz is currently without a seat, but we’d bet to see him in F1 next year. Where? Unless something extraordinary happens, there are three options – Audi, Mercedes and Red Bull. In theory, there may be time off at Aston if Alonso leaves for Mercedes or Red Bull.
Audi is certainly an interesting project, but no one knows when they will fight at the front. Red Bull has the best car today, but Verstappen is there and from 2026 he will make his own powertrains. On the other hand, it could be interesting to see a comparison between Verstappen and Sainz. Mercedes is not doing well, but Russell is probably more “playable”. Mercedes is also an experienced manufacturer of power units.
The entire Ferrari needs to be praised for its performance in Australia. The team scored the maximum number of points. The strategy and pit stops were good – all were well under 3 seconds.
Continued 3 / 11
McLaren
The McLaren drivers finished right behind their rivals from Ferrari. Was it the maximum? Hard to say. McLaren basically let Leclerc in front of him when he called Norris into the pits later than Leclerc. On the other hand, the Monaco driver drove the mechanics really early – after only 9 laps on the medium compound, so it cannot be said that McLaren underestimated anything. The loss to Leclerc at the finish was 3.5 seconds and to Sainz less than 6 seconds.
It was the best result of the year for McLaren. He confirmed the role of the third best team, but at the same time also that getting on the podium will be without problems for someone from Red Bull and Ferrari, not impossible but certainly difficult.
Foto: Getty Images / Robert Cianflone
Continued 4 / 11
Yuki Cunoda
Júki Cunoda gave one of the best performances of his career. He didn’t mess anything up in the race, he started the race with a similar strategy to Leclerc. Of course, his rivals helped him a lot – Verstappen’s retirement, Russell’s accident and Alonso’s penalty after the race. But you have to go against luck, and Cunoda was already ahead of him in qualifying, where he finished eighth – just a few hundredths behind Russell and two tenths behind Piastri.
This is absolutely essential for a driver in the second five – a good performance in qualifying, a consistent and faultless performance in the race. And then wait to see what happens ahead. Cunoda scored six points, which are worth their weight in gold for the RB team.
Foto: Getty Images / Peter Fox
Continued 5 / 11
Haas
The same applies to Haas as to Cunoda. Unlike Cunoda (without wanting to belittle his performance), they had to fight for the result more. Of course, they were also helped by the withdrawal of rivals or the problems of Bottas in the pits (he was ahead of them).
Magnussen then got ahead of Albon in the important 11th place on the 45th lap. There are no points for him, but if something happens in front… and it happened. After Russell’s accident, Magnussen moved up in the points. Hülkenberg finished ahead of him, so both drivers scored points.
Haas is the biggest surprise of the season. Before it started, even the new team boss expected that they would not be doing well. But in the end, they are fighting for the first place in the second five. They work very well with the tires where it is like night and day compared to last year. Hülkenberg even built among the last for the first time.
Haas buys a lot of parts from Ferrari, so sometimes when Ferrari does well, so does Haas.
Foto: Getty Images / Robert Cianflone
Continued 6 / 11
Losers
Did not finish the race: Max Verstappen (brakes), Lewis Hamilton (engine) and George Russell (accident).
- Max Verstappen a Red Bull
- Mercedes
- Sauber
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Williams
Sequel to 7/11
Max Verstappen a Red Bull
Verstappen was betrayed right at the start by a stuck right rear brake, and after a few tens of kilometers the race was over for him. So far, however, it doesn’t look like it will be a big complication in the way to the next title.
With each completed race, you are closer to retirement. It had to come once, and it came after two years – again in Australia.
Sergio Pérez was unable to “stand in” for Verstappen, finishing fifth. Although he had a penalty, he should be able to get from sixth place to the podium with this year’s car. However, Christian Horner revealed that his car was damaged after the fight with Alonso. We cannot assess the implications for lap times…
Continued 8 / 11
Mercedes
Not a single Mercedes car finished the race. It’s obviously a bad result in itself, but it’s even worse in the context of the season. Mercedes is not doing well. In qualifying, Hamilton did not even make it to the third part of qualifying. He retired in the race and Russell battled for sixth place. If it weren’t for Verstappen’s withdrawal, he would have only been fighting for seventh position.
Mercedes confirmed in Melbourne that it has, at best, the fourth fastest car. We will see if he can solve his problems in the next races or if it will drag on until the end of the year.
We often hear from Verstappen whether he enjoys winning all the time. But Hamilton shows that everything can end very quickly. Would anyone have thought in Jeddah in 2021 that this is quite possibly Hamilton’s last Mercedes win?
Sequel to 9/11
Sauber
Sauber has pit stop problems in every race. In Melbourne they quite possibly deprived Bottas of points because before he went to the mechanics he was ahead of the Haas drivers.
Chou qualified last and started from the pits. Considering the balanced form in the midfield and the “DRS train”, he did not manage to progress forward. Then he too stayed at the mechanics longer than is healthy… but because of the gearbox.
Foto: Getty Images / Robert Cianflone
Continued 10 / 11
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo was supposed to fight for a seat at Red Bull. Instead, he is fighting to finish this season. Its advantage is a fairly strong marketing value, otherwise the edge of Helmut’s sword would be much sharper. But who knows… The Herald (New Zealand) can already see Liam Lawson back in the cockpit. Ricciardo is said to have received two race ultimatums from Marko… We know, and Ricciardo knows for sure, that Marko has no problem changing drivers in the middle of the season.
Ricciardo started from the back of the field after failing to make it out of Q1, where his time was erased due to track limits at turn five. By the way, they deleted the time of only him and Albon during the entire qualification.
In the race, Ricciardo only beat Gasly. The Sauber drivers had problems in the pits and Ocon had to pit for the third time after the film from his helmet got stuck in the brake channel.
Foto: Getty Images / Mark Thompson
Continued 11 / 11
Williams
Logan Sargeant was born in 2000. The same year saw the premiere of the American film Hey Dude, Where’s My Car?
The race ended for Sargeant after the second practice, when he had to leave his chassis to Albon, who crashed in the first practice. Probably a logical choice from the team’s point of view. Albon had a better chance to score. In the end, however, Magnussen overtook him and Albon finished outside the points.
It will not help the atmosphere in the team and the motivation of Sargeant. Especially when a replacement chassis won’t be available in Japan either.
Williams argues for aggressive development and changes within the team. But it is a shame not to have a spare chassis in the third race.
