AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

In this article have been choosing to take a look at Lawrence Barreto`s picks of winners and losers from the Australian Grand Prix, the reason for my choice is because he is a legit source as he is a reporter/journalist in Formula One, let’s take a look.

Image credit: Andy Hone/ Motorsports Images

Winners and Losers: Australian Grand Prix

The Australian Grand Prix, what a way to kick off the new F1 season, it sure was a difficult race because of the wet and dry weather conditions on Albert Park Circuit, and the drivers really got to test their skills

RESULTS:

P1- LANDO NORRIS

P2- MAX VERSTAPPEN

P3- GEORGE RUSSELL

P4- KIMI ANTONELLI

P5- ALEXANDER ALBON

P6- LANCE STROLL

P7- NICO HULKENBERG

P8- CHARLES LECLERC

P9- OSCAR PIASTRI

P10- LEWIS HAMILTON

P11- PIERRE GASLY

P12- YUKI TSUNODA

P13- ESTEBAN OCON

P14- OLIVER BEARMAN

DNF- LIAM LAWSON

DNF- GABRIEL BORTOLETO

DNF- FERNANDO ALONSO

DNF- CARLOS SAINZ

DNF- JACK DOOHAN

DNF- ISACK HADJAR

WINNER: Lando Norris

Lando wanted to start off the year strong, and he did just that with one of the finest drives of his career in Melbourne. 

The driver for McLaren nailed the start from the pole, he perfected every Safety Car restart, he also survived a trip across the gravel and the absorbed pressure from rival and friend Max Verstappen. 

The win in Australia was the fifth victory in his career, and he is also leading the Driver Championship for the first time in his career, he is also the first McLaren driver to lead the Championship since Lewis Hamilton after the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix, which ends Verstappen`s 1,029 day, 63- race streak on the top of the pile.

LOSER: Oscar Piastri (Lawrence Barreto picks him as a loser,  Ingrid (me) on the other hand sees him as a winner)

Oscar Piastri did unfortunately feel the pressure of a home crowd with a lot of expectation this weekend in Melbourne, but his podium hopes did slip between his fingers after a small mistake that made him spin out of P2 position in this difficult conditions.

But the Aussie got on track and went on with the race again,  one lap down, before he was unlapping himself ahead of the Safety Car restart, he unfortunately could only recover to finish in ninth position and take home two points.

He ends his home event chasing his teammate and Championship leader, Norris by 23 points, even though he has shown the pace through most of the race to fight for victory.

Like I wrote at the start of my article this is Lawrence Barreto’s picks of winners and losers from the AUS GP, me myself (Ingrid) do not agree with him about Piastri being a loser, me personally think Oscar had a pretty good race and good pace all through the race, unfortunately he did slide off track, but the fact that he managed to get the car back out on the track, says alot about the driver he is, and that he claimed P9 and gained some points for himself and McLaren, that needs to be written about, talked about and not forgotten, what an amazing comeback out there in my opinion! 

WINNER: Alex Albon

Albon did not have the best of times in the second half of the 2024 season, but he started this season in the best way possible with a brilliant drive to fifth position, he did get help by teammate Carlos Sainz (who had to retire from the race because he spinned off track) Sainz helped by advising the team on when Alex should pit for new tyres.

The driver from Thailand had already impressed with sixth on the grid and stepped it up in the race, even with the difficult conditions to secure his best result for the team since he joined WIlliams in 2022.

Besides from the shortened 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, this was Williams best result since the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, back then Lance Stroll finished third for the team. It gave Williams 10 points which is just seven short of what they scored in total for the whole season last year.

LOSERS: Racing Bulls

The team looked like they were in great shape heading into the first race of the season, Yuki Tsunoda having scored their best ever start in Melbourne since 2015 with P5- as for the rookie Isack Hadjar had qualified a strong P11

Hadjar crashed on the formation lap, but Tsunoda drove a superb race to maintain his spot in the top five before the final rain shower fell down on the track.

After that it all went wrong as a decision to stay out a lap too long, and a spin, which dropped Tsunoda out of the top 10 and he crossed the line at P12

WINNER: Kimi Antonelli

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was a strong contender for Driver of the Day, the Italian rookie rising from P16 on the grid to P4 at the chequered flag.

The Italian driver was demoted one place to fifth, after receiving a five seconds penalty for an unsafe release, but Mercedes successfully appealed the decision to have the position reinstated.

The young driver became the 69th driver to score on his F1 debut and at only 18 years and 203 days old, he is the second youngest point scorer in F1 history behind now four time world champion Max Verstappen.

LOSERS: Alpine

Alpine did prove that they have a car that can contend for points on pure performance, with Pierre Gasly impressing with ninth in qualifying and the rookie Jack Doohan taking 14th, three places higher than his debut in Abu Dhabi.

But however, Doohan crashed out early on in the race, while Gasly was on course to score points for Alpine, the Frenchman dropped down in the closing stages to leave the Enstone based team empty handed.

WINNER: Lance Stroll

Alonso was on course to snatch a hard-fought point for Aston Martin, before he unfortunately crashed out. 

His teammate Lance Stroll ensured that Aston Martin started the season in point scoring form with a superb run to sixth position.

The Canadian driver did admit that the team had made a great call to bring him in for intermediate tyres towards the end of the race, and that was the key in helping him leap up into the top 10, while the boss Andy Cowell said Stroll “did not put a wheel out of place at all”

LOSERS: Ferrari

The team headed to Melbourne as McLaren`s greatest threat after a strong testing showing, however they were unable to take the fight to the reigning world champions both in qualifying and the race.

Charles Leclerc made some progress from P7 to run inside the top five, but unfortunately a spin dropped him down on the field and behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who had until then spent the most of the race looking at the back of Albon`s Williams.

Ferrari did leave both Hamilton and Leclerc out on slicks when the rain came, promoting them to first and third, but the gamble they took to stay out an extra lap in the hope that the rain would ease failed and they faded to P8 with Leclerc and P10 for Hamilton. 

WINNER: Nico Hulkenberg

Sauber had to wait for 23 races to score a point last season, but Hulkenberg managed to get them on the board straight out of the box this year with a battling drive to seventh position.

The German driver, who came from Haas on a long term deal that will see him lead what will become the Audi factory team from next year`s season, used all his experience to keep himself out of trouble and scored a valuable six points for the team.

Nico does tend to always go well around Albert Park, the 37 year old now has finished seventh in Melbourne six times in the last eight years.

LOSERS: Haas

Haas were expected to be right in the thick of the midfield after pre-season testing, but they looked like the slowest team of all around the Albert Park high speed circuit. 

The rookie Oliver Bearman hardly got any running in practice after crashing in the first practice session, which caused him to miss out on the second practice entirely because the car could not be rebuilt in time, and then beaching his car in the gravel in FP3.

Both Bearman and his teammate Esteban Ocon did lock out the back row for the race, and though they both saw the chequered flag they propped up in the final classification again.

ARTICLE WRITTEN AND EDITED BY: Ingrid Amdahl