The Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull), leader of the championship and who last year celebrated a third title in a row, and his teammate, the Mexican Sergio Pérez – runner-up last year and second in this competition. They move their domains to Australia, host this weekend of the third test of the Formula One World Cup.
‘Mad Max’ – winner of the first two races – and ‘Checo’ signed two ‘doubles’ in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, so they will once again be the drivers to beat in the Australian Grand Prix, which will be held at Melbourne’s Albert Park. A semi-urban circuit in which, if he receives permission from the doctors, the return of the Spaniard is expected Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), who missed the last test, in Jeddah, due to appendicitis; and in which his compatriot the Asturian double world champion will also aim high Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).
After the first two races, in the Arabian Peninsula, were held on Saturday -because of Ramadan-, F1 recovers the Sunday test. In a Grand Prix that invites the Central European viewer to stay up late or get up early.
The RB20 is the fastest car on straight lines and in curves; and dominates both in one lap, in qualifying, and in race pace. So Verstappen, 26, has had no problems raising his F1 win ratio to 56 – third of all time -; while the driver from Jalisco (Guadalajara), eight years older than him, expanded his list of podiums in the premier category to 37.
The prolongation of its sporting successes reduces to a certain extent the internal seismic movements that the dominant team is experiencing at this start of the season, in which Ferrari is, at the moment, the second team on the track. This is demonstrated by the two third places he achieved: in Bahrain, thanks to Sainz; and in Arabia, thanks to his partner, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc.
Sainz, who faced the day of free practice in Jeddah in a feverish state, had to undergo emergency surgery on a appendicitis the next day, so he missed the second race of the year. The Madrid driver was replaced by the Englishman Oliver Bearman, who became, at 18 years and ten months, the youngest F1 debutant in the entire history of Ferrari, the most successful team in the premier category; and which ended in a very creditable seventh place in Arabia.
When ‘Ollie’ was a baby of just four months, Alonso – in a second youth at 42 years old – celebrated his first world title, which he would revalidate the following year, in 2006. After finishing ninth in Sakhir – where he achieved three of his 32 victories in F1 -, the brilliant Asturian driver had an outstanding performance that earned him fifth place two Saturdays ago on the shores of the Sea Red; where the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) finished fourth, who had not yet been born when Fernando achieved his first points in the honor division of motorsport.
Alonso scored points for the first time exactly 23 years ago, precisely at the Australian Grand Prix, in which last year he achieved – at finish third – one of his 106 podiums in F1: one of the eight he added in his first year as an Aston Martin driver. A test that takes place at Albert Park, a 5,278 meter track with 14 curves – five of them to the left – for which a total of 58 laps are scheduled for Sunday. To complete a route of 306 kilometers.
Where to watch the 2024 F1 Australian GP
The race can be enjoyed on television through Movistar Plus and the DAZN platform, with the comments of Antonio Lobato, Toni Cuquerella and Pedro de la Rosa, who owns the television rights to F1. You can also follow the live online by clicking here.
F1 2024 Australian GP schedules
Friday March 22th:
Free practice 1 (FP1), 02.30h – 03.30h
Free practice 2 (FP2), 06.00h – 07.00h
Saturday, March 23:
Free practice 3 (FP3) 02.30h – 03.30h
Classification 06.00h
Sunday, March 24
Race: 05:00h (58 laps)
2024-03-21 08:08:46
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