Tough call, but the correct one. If Albon Bins It again, well………….
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2024 Formula 1 Season thread
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Tough call, but the correct one. If Albon Bins It again, well………….
That’s gotta sting a bit for Sargeant. He surely knows that Albon is faster than him, but to lose his ride because his teammate messed up is pretty harsh even by F1 standards.
If he is a realist, Sargeant knows the only reason he was re-signed is because Williams had no viable alternative (likely the case with a number of drivers this year). If Albon is still with the team next year (itself not a sure thing), I fully expect Sargeant to be shown the door.
P3 was interesting due to the cooler, overcast weather. Sainz on Mediums held the top spot until the last runs when first Max and then LeClerc pipped him on softs, but both by less than a tenth. The Mediums were the Softs last year and the Softs this year seem to overheat so while most drivers were setting purple first sectors, they were losing too much time in the third.
Sun is supposed to come out for qualifying so I think teams are going to want to protect their Mediums for the race start (tire allocation is largest for Softs), but you might need fresh Mediums to make the most out of Q3...
Sun is supposed to come out for qualifying so I think teams are going to want to protect their Mediums for the race start (tire allocation is largest for Softs), but you might need fresh Mediums to make the most out of Q3...
Australian Starting Grid***
*- 3 spots for Perez
** Logan Sargent will not race.
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:16.819 | 1:16.387 | 1:15.915 | 21 |
| 2 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 1:16.731 | 1:16.189 | 1:16.185 | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 1:16.805 | 1:16.631 | 1:16.274 | 22 |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:17.430 | 1:16.750 | 1:16.315 | 19 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:16.984 | 1:16.304 | 1:16.435 | 20 |
| 6 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:17.369 | 1:16.601 | 1:16.572 | 18 |
| 7 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 1:17.062 | 1:16.901 | 1:16.724 | 23 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:17.356 | 1:16.791 | 1:16.788 | 18 |
| 9 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:17.376 | 1:16.780 | 1:17.072 | 23 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 1:16.991 | 1:16.710 | 1:17.552 | 21 |
| 11 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:17.499 | 1:16.960 | 15 | |
| 12 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:17.130 | 1:17.167 | 15 | |
| 13 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:17.543 | 1:17.340 | 15 | |
| 14 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 1:17.709 | 1:17.427 | 13 | |
| 15 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:17.617 | 1:17.697 | 21 | |
| 16 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 1:17.976 | 8 | ||
| 17 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 1:17.982 | 11 | ||
| 18 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 1:18.085 | 6 | ||
| 19 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 1:18.188 | 9 |
*- 3 spots for Perez
** Logan Sargent will not race.
I predict an easy win for Max sadly.
At least the highlights are on at a decent time.
It could be. I wouldn’t write off Ferrari yet. Carlos is hungry, and I think the Ferrari race pace is very close, but does he have the stamina? Tire deg will be the story.
It took Max some time to actually get his car into a position to take pole, whereas Sainz and LeClerc were looking good pretty much all the time. And the Ferrari's looked better on Mediums, which I expect to be the preferred starting tire.
So I think Sainz could give Max a run for his money...
So I think Sainz could give Max a run for his money...
Perez will need it as he has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding HULK during Q1.
Max has suffered a mechanical failure in the third lap so we will actually have a race tonight.
Can‘t believe he made it to the pits. Was hoping for a peak at the floor….😉
I actually stayed up to watch the first 23 laps or so... went to bed after Max had his DNF... I was pretty confident Sainz would finish the job.
Results:
*Time penalty for Alonso dropped him from 6th to 8th.
Results:
| 1 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 58 | 1:20:26.843 | 25 |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 58 | +2.366s | 19 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 58 | +5.904s | 15 |
| 4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 58 | +35.770s | 12 |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 58 | +56.309s | 10 |
| 6 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 58 | +93.222s | 8 |
| 7 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 58 | +95.601s | 6 |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso* | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 58 | +100.992s | 4 |
| 9 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 58 | +104.553s | 2 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 57 | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 56 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 15 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 3 | DNF | 0 |
*Time penalty for Alonso dropped him from 6th to 8th.
I’m not so sure about the race. Nobody really challenged Carlos. It was like a Max dominated race but with a Ferrari. +2.4 to P2 and +5.9 to P3 are large gaps.
I agree on Carlos. Definitely looking like a Revenge Tour so far in 2024. He’s at the top of his craft. Very noticeable step up in driving over the past 18m. Not simply the SF-24 either.
Agreed that it was not nearly as exciting as Singapore 2023 where Carlos had to use strategy to ensure victory. He had the dominant car in Melbourne and Ferrari knew it, ordering Charles to not try and pass him.
Still, “anyone but Max” is a good event now, I guess.
Still, “anyone but Max” is a good event now, I guess.
Quite the controversy this morning over Fred's driving leading up to Georg's crash. Glad George is ok. It will be interesting to see what happened to Max's rear brake. Rare mechanical failure. I'm very curious if he picked up debris that blocked the rear cooling duct? The track was covered with leaves. I believe it was Ocon who had a Tear Off block his R-Rear cooling duct.
Only saw the one replay on SKY during the event, but to me it looked like the W15 still having a bit of instability like the earlier cars and catching George out when he got too close.
Does not bode well for Mercedes considering Perez dropped both Lewis and George like bad habits, yet could not get close to the two McLarens.
Does not bode well for Mercedes considering Perez dropped both Lewis and George like bad habits, yet could not get close to the two McLarens.
From what Max has said it sounds like the rear right brake was sticking and not just overheating.
Right. I was surprised Sergio couldn’t close the gap on the McLarens. Apparently he was oversteering. The RB20 was definitely harder on the tires here than Ferrari or McLaren. Just couldn’t get the front wing balance right. It will be interesting to see its performance on the next High Deg Track.
Without Max I still believe the RB20 is not that much quicker than Ferrari or McLaren.
We'll have to see if Australia was a fluke or not. In the first two races both Max and Sergio were comfortably ahead than the rest. Horner mentioned that they suspected aero damage on Perez's car.
Yeah there appeared to be a big difference in braking and lift through that corner and it definitely caused the incident. He has done this a few times in his career to protect his position so it’s good the stewards were on the ball here.