Chaotic. Confusing. Crazy. The Australian Grand Prix was all this and more.
444,631 Motor racing fans, to be precise, saw an action packed and dramatic Australian Grand Prix where even though 20 drivers lined up on the grid, only 12 were able to finish the contest.
Both Alpine drivers as also the Williams duo besides 1 driver from Ferrari, Haas and Mercedes retired owing to collision and wild antics that only made the race tense and gripping as each of its 58 laps unfolded.
Red flags, three of them, plenty of overtakes, commanding straight line speed and eventually, another win for Red Bull; there was so much to Australia that may have made it the most memorable race so far in 2023.
While Verstappen was able to convert his magnificent pole into victory as his teammate Perez fought his way back through to a fifth having begun essentially from the rear, the Albert Park descended into frequent accidents, terse battles and cars that functioned on blitzy pace.
But which moments stood out?
An impressive drive for Nico Hulkenberg
Nico Hulkenberg has done pretty much all things in Formula 1, such as inspire a legion of fans back in Germany to take to racing, gathered a pole position, scored points in rain and under duress but the only thing he hasn’t done up to this point is score an F1 career podium.
Not that it changed a great deal at the end of the 58 laps in Australia; but Hulkenberg’s very respectable P7 in the end proved to critics and doubters that Haas did the right thing in recruiting the experienced campaigner this season.
Moreover, despite having little pre 2023 racing experience, the Hulk’s Australia drive provided the kind of result that may even have given someone as talented as Kevin Magnussen with some thinking to do.
The contest from lap 45 onwards until the end of lap 53 where Nico Hulkenberg defended from Lando Norris’ fast catching McLaren before ultimately being passed perceptibly owing to better corner pace proved that there’s still some fight left in the Hulk.
We may see some very hard fought and valiant efforts from the part of the Haas driver in the days to come.
Consistent efforts from Fernando Alonso
There’s no end to what the legend Fernando Alonso can achieve in Formula 1. The sheer extent of his consistency and pure class behind the wheels of an F1 car can be dubbed rancid by his rivals and even difficult to endure.
But then that’s what the man from Asturias is about.
In putting his Aston Martin on the second row at the start of the Australian Grand Prix, Alonso once again demonstrated great speed and throughout the contest at Melbourne Park, seemed to be going blazingly fast.
One could argue that had the Aston Martin frontman had more straight line speed at the Albert Park circuit, he may even have passed Lewis Hamilton.
But in the end, offering lofty words of appreciation to his former McLaren teammate, dubbing him “what a champion he really is,” revealed that the man often scorned for being insular is indeed a large-hearted world champion.
Given the way the eldest man on the current grid is driving, one simply can’t rule out a Fernando Alonso victory in the days ahead. But when might that happen?
For now, Fernando Alonso must cherish what became his 101st career podium and his second for his Aston Martin team in three races.
Verstappen delivers Red Bull’s best Australia result since 2013
Prior to his ballsy 2023 qualifying drive in Australia that clocked the pole position, the last that any Red Bull machine bagged pole here was way back in time.
Apparently, so far back in time had Red Bull captured pole position with Vettel doing so in his 2013 run for the Horner-led team that there were no characters like Norris, Ocon, Gasly or Piastri back then.
Not even Tsunoda or the current defending world champion Verstappen himself.
So in converting Red Bull’s first pole since 2013 at Australia into victory, Verstappen not only outfoxed his closest rivals on pure pace, he even bagged his first ever triumph at the land of the kangaroos.
A further boost to this promising result for Red Bull is that thanks to Verstappen’s grit, each of the three race wins now belong to the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
What could be more impressive than that?
Heartbreak for Leclerc
Some would say that Leclerc’s opening lap move on the outside of the Aston Martin was a touch overly ambitious whilst some will simply contend with the fact that one’s got to do what one can in Grand Prix racing, but the eventual result is that Leclerc, who was in sensational form last year around at Australia, race retired.
Adding insult to injury, not only did Leclerc fail to score any points, Australia now becoming his second DNF for 2023, the Monegasque is missing out on podiums from what’s seen so far.
As a matter of factly, the best possible result for the Ferrari driver up to this point is the P7 he scored at Jeddah.
Tough times out there surely for the man who exhibited blistering pace the last time around here at Australia in capturing a vital pole position.
Oscar Piastri
By scoring a fighting eighth (P8), young Australian driver Oscar Piastri collected 4 vital points and in so doing, became one of the youngest point scorers ever in Formula 1 as also for his McLaren team.
Although, it could be argued that Piastri was eventually the benefactor of several cars up in front that ended up either in a DNF or in a hassled pit stop, that the 21-year-old kept up the ante of efforts in scoring some valuable points for his British racing stable.
Surely, while his best days are still very much in front of him given we’ve seen so little from the competitive Aussie, Piastri will extract a lot of confidence from his Melbourne result and will hopefully use it to spur his 2023 performances to greater heights.
Truth be told, it ought to be a special feeling when you finish inside the top ten and for the first time ever in front of your own nation’s fans.