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After a chaotic Australian Grand Prix, won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, how are each of the 10 teams feeling as they fly home from Melbourne?
The sold-out Albert Park crowd were treated to a thrilling race of crashes, battles and a sprinkling of controversy. While Max Verstappen fought back to win Red Bull’s first race in Australia since 2011, he was joined on the podium by Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Reliability, collisions and penalties caused pain for many, including George Russell and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Ted Kravitz delivers his verdict on all 10 teams…
Red Bull – ‘Super-duper DRS is half their advantage’
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Max Verstappen gets DRS on Lewis Hamilton and makes an easy overtake to take the lead of the Australian Grand Prix
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for Red Bull, who have often struggled in Australia as Verstappen won, while Sergio Perez limited the points lost to his title rival after a horrible Saturday that saw him crash out of qualifying after three corners.
TED’S VERDICT: Max Verstappen P1 – it was a terrible lap one with Verstappen down to P2 – the Mercedes got past him, Lewis pushed him off.
But Max eventually breezed past Hamilton with the magic DRS.
What word shall we think of to describe this DRS? ‘Super-duper DRS’.
It is an advantage – the engineers in the pitlane estimate that it’s worth two-tenths or three-tenths of a second on that lap compared to another car with DRS.
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Highlights of the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit
So, this Red Bull super-duper DRS is worth rather a lot.
When you consider that Red Bull’s entire advantage is two-tenths or three-tenths, that’s quite a handy advantage to have.
I don’t think it is their entire advantage – there’s a great car, it’s aerodynamically efficient, it’s engineered well and all the rest of it, but it could be half of their advantage that is down to their super-duper DRS – food for thought for the other teams.
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Watch as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen moves further forward before launching on the second red flag restart
Sergio Perez pitted twice under the first Safety Car, got the hard tyres out of the way, got boxed in at the start – that was his problem, and then, after that, it was a quieter weekend for Checo.
He made his way through, but it’s a missed opportunity – I think after qualifying and after the problems they had on Saturday with the brakes, it is a missed opportunity for Red Bull and Perez – he should have been P2 or higher.
Mercedes – ‘They’re happy around here’
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George Russell makes a great start and takes the lead from Max Verstappen as Charles Leclerc crashes out and brings out the safety car on the opening lap!
Despite Russell’s fiery end to the race, Mercedes will be generally pleased as they appear to have made progress, taking the fight to Aston Martin and Ferrari in the competition for the second-quickest car – only three-tenths off Verstappen in qualifying, will future developments help them fight for future wins?
TED’S VERDICT: They should be happy at Mercedes because Lewis Hamilton was second.
George Russell DNF, it’s an engine failure – went pop, apparently it wasn’t a leak.
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George Russell’s car sets on fire and he is out of the race with a power unit issue!
Poor George had already been done over by the red flag caused by gravel.
Lewis Hamilton got Max Verstappen at the start, stayed out before Max got him back.
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Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton says his P2 finish is a great result and gives the team hope as they look to catch up with Red Bull
Lewis was challenging Russell before Russell pitted, but I thought Lewis managed it all very well and secured P2, so I think they are happy around here.
Aston Martin – ‘They got a bit of luck today’
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After finishing third at the Australian GP, Fernando Alonso admits he was confused as to what exactly was happening after a red flag caused pandemonium at the end of the race
Aston Martin were rare in that both drivers had good days, finishing third and fourth – something they may not have seen coming after the second restart, which saw Alonso spin out and Lance Stroll off into the gravel.
TED’S VERDICT: Fernando Alonso’s got his third podium in three races and he got a bit of luck even if it was the correct interpretation of the rules.
Alonso stays P3 and Lance Stroll stays P4, and both benefited from the gravel red flag.
Alonso challenged Max Verstappen in race two and then he chased Lewis Hamilton, but he said it was difficult to get close.
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Fernando Alonso is tagged by Carlos Sainz which causes a long line of accidents at the second race restart and brings out yet another red flag!
It was a disastrous red flag too – Alonso spun, but they got that reinstated.
Solid race from Stroll, [as he] got stuck behind Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz’s fight.
McLaren – ‘Woo! Gravel!’
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri grew up in Melbourne where he scored his first F1 points on Sunday
McLaren leave Melbourne with their local boy scoring his first F1 points as a rookie at his home race and the team moving off the bottom of the table after two torrid races in the Middle East.
TED’S VERDICT: They have scored their first points of the year, so well done McLaren – 12 points and that puts them straight into P5 in the Constructors’ Championship – Lando Norris P6, Oscar Piastri P8.
I’ve got ‘Woo! Gravel’ here.
They were very much advantaged by the red flag for gravel, both into ninth and 10th with the free pit stop.
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McLaren chief executive Zak Brown insists there is no exit clause in Lando Norris’ contract and he has no concerns about the prospect of him leaving the team
Oscar Piastri lost out at the restart, dropped to P12 and then he got up to P11 ahead of Yuki.
Lando was really quick, did so well – well done McLaren.
Haas – ‘That was scary’
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Haas thought Kevin Magnussen suffered a wheel puncture after the Danish driver completely loses his right rear tyre after clipping the wall
At one stage, it looked as though Nico Hulkenberg was going to score his first F1 podium, but despite their protests, he moves back to seventh to at least score points after his team-mate’s wheel came off – it was that sort of crazy day.
TED’S VERDICT: DNF for Kevin Magnussen with that spin and it’s Hulkenberg with P7.
Hulkenberg nearly hit Alex Albon when he span – that was scary, he said.
Magnussen lost out at the red flag and restarted last, he then ran brilliantly, Lando Norris then challenged him and got P8, then Magnussen spun and crashed, putting wheel-rim debris all over the track.
Alfa Romeo – ‘Would have been much more than it was’
Alfa Romeo scored just two points as they lost out during a red flag
Safety Cars and red flags can cause teams to roll a dice hoping for double sixes, but Alfa Romeo came away missing out – Valtteri Bottas’ mullet in Melbourne clearly was not the lucky charm they were hoping for.
TED’S VERDICT: Let me tell you the sorry tale of Alfa Romeo’s race because after pitting early on the first Safety Car, they could have been set for many points, so they are frustrated at the red flag for gravel.
They don’t really know why the red flag happened and they were always catching up from that point on.
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Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas believes his victory at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix was the best of his career
Valtteri Bottas P11 and Zhou Guanyu P9, so well done Zhou Guanyu, he’s got two points.
Both benefitted from the gravel early on [when they pitted under the Safety Car] but then lost out when there was a red flag [the second of the three] – it would have been much more than it was.
AlphaTauri – ‘This is what we have, I’m sorry’
AlphaTauri scored their first point of the season with Yuki Tsunoda in Melbourne
It’s been a tricky start to the season for AlphaTauri with an uncompetitive car, but Yuki Tsunoda managed to score the Red Bull junior team’s first points of the season.
TED’S VERDICT: They got a point, Yuki Tsunoda had a point and I think that’s AlphaTauri’s first point of the season.
Yuki restarted P8, Nyck de Vries got clonked on the restart too by Ocon.
Yuki struggled with the set-up of the car, the balance of the car, the engineer said ‘this is what we have, I’m sorry’.
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Check out all the funniest Formula 1 moments from the weekend in Australia
De Vries was struggling with the car for the whole race, after that clonk, he said that the car was not right, he pitted, Yuki also pitted on the Magnussen safety car and lost out because of the red flag – he would have been much further up.
Ferrari – ‘Groans, a thunderous face but a little bit of pace’
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Carlos Sainz is furious at being handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso
Leclerc crashed out on lap one and Sainz was taken from fourth [to] out of the points due to a controversial penalty that he called “unacceptable” – Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur reportedly has a bad back and these race results will only add to the pain.
TED’S VERDICT: It’s Sainz P12 and Leclerc DNF.
Carlos Sainz, [his penalty was] very unfair I think he believes, and by the look on his face, which is worse than thunder, I would imagine he knows that that result is not going to be adjusted.
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Fernando Alonso is tagged by Carlos Sainz which causes a long line of accidents at the second race restart and brings out yet another red flag!
It was never going to be adjusted – let’s face it – but they had to give it a go and test the theory.
Charles Leclerc, a real fan favourite, groans in the grandstand when he has had the incident with Lance Stroll.
And when you qualify badly in P7 and you’re in the carbon-fibre zone, this kind of thing can happen.
As for Sainz, it was a good fight on lap one, pitted under the Safety Car before the gravel caused the red flag, and that sunk him to P11, then he got stuck behind Gasly for quite a while, but got through and was going to be P4 but then got the five-second penalty for clonking into Alonso, which he thought was a racing incident.
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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was left frustrated after being taken out by Lance Stroll on the opening lap of the Australian Grand Prix
But at least Ferrari had some pace, and that’s an interesting little upside for Ferrari going forward.
Alpine – ‘A costly result’
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Karun Chandhok analyses the onboard view as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly collided at the end of the Australian Grand Prix
To quote Sky Sports’ Sam Johnston, who was reporting from Australia, Alpine were looking “frisky” and were set to score points with both of their drivers, but the French team was one of the biggest losers as both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly got caught up in the manic final restart.
TED’S VERDICT: I hope dinner’s good because they’ve ended up with two wrecked cars and no points.
Not their fault – it was the first time that the drivers had come together – we always thought they would, but actually it wasn’t a thing because they were just innocent with each other.
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Carlos Sainz passes Pierre Gasly with a brilliant dummy move on the Alpine man!
Ocon pitted at the end of lap one, Gasly benefited from the red flag.
It was all going well, and then Gasly went wide, rejoined and clonked into his team-mate, so you’ve got to feel sorry for them because that is a costly result from a race where they should have had 10, 11, 12 plus points down here at Alpine.
Williams – ‘Alex absolutely gutted’
Alex Albon was flying during qualifying, and looked like scoring points in his low drag and low downforce car – it was the lack of downforce that may have caused his huge crash and that left Williams pointless.
TED’S VERDICT: It’s a DNF for Alex Albon, it’s P16 for Logan Sargeant.
Alex Albon absolutely gutted – it had been a great weekend, he was P6 when the rear let go, he spun it into the wall and out.
Logan Sargeant pitted under the first Safety Car, put on the hard tyre and then he went onto the medium, he said ‘this tyre is terrible, we have to get off it’, and then he had some more fruity words on the radio and they said ‘careful on the radio Logan, we don’t like those kind of words’.
There you go, another lesson for Logan in his Formula 1 debut season
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