Hey, hey, hey. Or should I say g'day? Welcome either back or to It's a racing thing. Today I'll be breaking down my highlights from the land down under. Melbourne!
Starting off strong with Mr Smooth Operator. Carlos Sainz P1? Merely 2 weeks after his operation? That was a win that made waking up at 2.30 AM all worth it! His race was seemingly perfect after a Verstappen DNF (hahahahah FINALLY - no hate to Max, but a change is simply lovely) Carlos seemingly took his place, darting way off in front, pitstops in hand. And despite the complete screw over by the Scuderia team, he still chose to end the race together. Speaking to his radio engineer "Tell Charles to come close to me and we celebrate this one together." to which they did, finishing P1 and P2!
Despite making his race look easy, it seems the real struggle for Sainz was getting out of his car. He took his time slipping out the drivers seat before limping over to greet his team (which technically wasn't allowed...but hey-ho, let them celebrate). And my god, did they celebrate. The Ferrari team, post Spanish anthem, were belting out the lyrics to the Italian one. Each of them looking like they were having the time of their lives (I guess everyone's happy to not have to hear the Dutch anthem again).
Joining Verstappen in the DNF club was Lewis Hamilton. Anyone else getting flashbacks from 2021? After his engine died on lap 17, he limped the car out of way, ending his race (I wonder if Ferrari are having any regrets yet...). But, Hamilton wasn't the only Silver Arrow to finish early. Although, technically George Russel's race did finish on the last lap...just not under the checked flag. To describe his crash: George went off, hit the wall, spun and ended on his side in the middle of the track. However, if you asked Russel what happened in that incident, he'd say it was Fernando's fault, but I don't even understand how it could possibly have been. However, thanks to Georges wining, Alonso was given a 20 second penalty, ending in P8. And, I'm going to leave it at that..
Also from that race, we learnt Stake cannot do a pit stop, all of theirs being extremely
l o n g . Resulting in a P14 and P15 finish. We also learnt that Williams aren't quite the big happy family that we thought. As favorite child, Alex Albon was given Sargeants car due to a lack of spare chassis. This caused quite an uprising..., Personally, I think on a professional level, they made the right call. Alex has out driven Logan constantly since his debut, and Alex was more likely to pick up points. But, what they also did was destroy Logan's confidence. Williams made a choice to keep him for the 2024 season, it's not right for them to then turn around and take his car. However, both drivers Albon and Sargeant have been very professional over the whole ordeal, and hopefully, come Japan, Logan can prove himself. Another upsetting team decision came from McLaren. Both drivers, Piastri and Norris, had been racing well, consistently keeping P3 and 4. However, as the race was getting on, Lando's (P4) tyres were a lot fresher than Oscar's (P3). So, naturally, McLaren decided to swap the two, giving Lando an opportunity to catch Leclerc. Which he didn't do. Meaning home hero, Piastri missed his podium opportunity, ending P4, just behind his teammate. But, a McLaren on the podium is a McLaren on the podium and I'll take that. We also learnt that Grandma Piastri is much loved by the Papaya team, from her baking. Max Fewtrell seems to be the favorite WAG, being Lando's lucky charm. Also, another race to prove Ricciardo's race pace has nothing on Tsunodas. And, the craziest thing of all, Haas double points? Don't see that often.
Also, shout out to Dino Beganovic for winning that F3 race! RAHHH. And of course, in F2, there's plenty to mention. Paul Aron, my rookie of the year, getting another podium finish!? His year is going great, putting him P2 in the drivers champ, 15 points behind Zane Maloney and 6 in front of Dennis Hauger. Antonelli, also seems to be improving slightly, whilst staying rather consistent, something I'm sure both Toto Wolff and James Vowles will be keeping an eye on (at least he's in the top end -P9 in drivers champ as of now).
Next week, we move to Suzuka, one of my favorite tracks. It takes place over 53 laps in the city of Suzuka, Japan. It is one of the hardest tracks on the calendar, due to it's high-speed and snaking curves. In 2019, Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap ever on that track, will anyone do better this year? It has three sectors, a speed trap and a DRS zone.
I probably missed some bits, but this was my highlights. Also, I was watching the film Murder Mystery again the other day, and a McLaren won the race, how long til we see that in real life? Hopefully very very soon!
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