Tag: Australian GP

Piastri encouraged by scoring points before McLaren upgrades

McLaren’s double point-scoring result in the Australian Grand Prix was particularly important as it stops the team being too far adrift before its first round of upgrades, according to Oscar Piastri. Two scoreless races had left McLaren at the …

McLaren’s double point-scoring result in the Australian Grand Prix was particularly important as it stops the team being too far adrift before its first round of upgrades, according to Oscar Piastri.

Two scoreless races had left McLaren at the bottom of the constructors’ championship heading to Melbourne, but sixth place for Lando Norris and eighth for Piastri moved it up to fifth overall in the space of one weekend. McLaren has acknowledged it isn’t happy with its launch-spec 2023 car and is set for a major raft of updates in Baku next time out, and Piastri says that makes the result even more valuable.

“To have both of us in the points is good,” Piastri said. “Obviously it hasn’t been a great first few races for the team but largely things out of our control. More things out of our control went right I guess to get us into the points, but to get this amount of points this early in the year is a great result.

“We’ve also got some upgrades coming in Baku and later through the year, so to be able to get some points on the board with the car we have at the moment I think is really important.”

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While Norris ran in the top 10 throughout on Sunday, Piastri wasn’t in the frame for points until late red flags accounted for the two Alpine drivers, and he admits it felt like payback for misfortune in the opening two rounds.

“Maybe a little bit, yeah. The first two races really couldn’t have gone much worse I would say for the team. In Bahrain we both had our issues and Saudi the contact wiping out both of us, so it was nice to be on the good end of things going wrong for other people.”

One area McLaren appeared to be clearly lacking in Melbourne was in straight line speed as Piastri struggled to pass Yuki Tsunoda, but the rookie believes the deficit is not as big as it appears but wasn’t helped by his own lack of experience.

“It’s tricky. We obviously know we’re quite slow on the straights at the moment, which is something that we’re looking to address and I think the AlphaTauri probably wasn’t that much quicker in a straight line, but I think even with the fourth DRS it’s still difficult to overtake here. I think for me, still some learning to do on how to use the battery most effectively to overtake but I had a lot of practice with it, so still good learning.”

TV ratings: Australia, Pomona, Richmond, Texas

It was another busy weekend for racing on the tube, with F1, IndyCar, NASCAR and NHRA all among the series vying for viewers. The Richmond NASCAR Cup Series race marked the first cable-network telecast of the year for the series, and Sunday’s …

It was another busy weekend for racing on the tube, with F1, IndyCar, NASCAR and NHRA all among the series vying for viewers.

The Richmond NASCAR Cup Series race marked the first cable-network telecast of the year for the series, and Sunday’s coverage on FS1 averaged a 1.30 Nielsen rating and 2.303 million viewers, per numbers from ShowBuzzDaily.com. That was down from the previous week’s race at COTA on FOX (1.81/3.129m) and from this race last year, which aired on FOX (2.30/3.958m). The first 2022 race on FS1 to be run in a comparable Sunday timeslot without a rain postponement was Darlington in early May, which averaged a 1.45 rating and 2.614m viewers.

Saturday’s Xfinity Series race from Richmond on FS1 averaged 0.50/847,000 viewers, closer to last year’s 0.53/833K on the cable network.

The NTT IndyCar Series stayed on broadcast network NBC for its race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, which averaged an 0.53 rating and 830,000 viewers. That was down from last year’s 0.62/954K, also on NBC.

NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series was supporting IndyCar at Texas this year and averaged 0.37/644,000 Saturday afternoon on FS1. That was down slightly from the previous week at COTA (0.43/697K).

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series delayed coverage of the finals from Pomona faired much better on FS1 this week, likely due to it following directly from NASCAR’s Cup race. It averaged 0.36/597,000, up from the  0.20/324,000 for the previous week’s Phoenix finals on FS1 in the same timeslot.

Formula 1 faced its first significant airtime challenge of the year with the Australian Grand Prix. ESPN’s live coverage of the race that started at 1am ET averaged 0.30 and 556,000 viewers — curiously, less than ESPN’s coverage of the race’s qualifying session at the same time the previous day (0.36/605K) albeit only down slightly from 2022’s Australian GP (0.34/568,000) which also aired on ESPN. This year’s race was also replayed on ESPN2 at 9:30am, and garnered another 217,000 viewers.

Despite its late night/early morning obstacle, F1 continued to do well among the coveted 18-49 demographic, pulling in more than half its live viewership (324,000) from that age group. NASCAR had 457,000 18-49 viewers from its 2.3m total, followed by Xfinity at 187K, IndyCar at 178K, Trucks at 143K and NHRA at 130K.

Hulkenberg shaken by ‘nightmare scenario’ in Australian GP

Nico Hulkenberg says he had to escape a “seriously scary” moment in the Australian Grand Prix to pick up the first points of his return with a strong seventh place. Alex Albon crashed on the exit of Turn 6 early in the race, bouncing back onto the …

Nico Hulkenberg says he had to escape a “seriously scary” moment in the Australian Grand Prix to pick up the first points of his return with a strong seventh place.

Alex Albon crashed on the exit of Turn 6 early in the race, bouncing back onto the racing line on the apex of Turn 7 with gravel and dust surrounding his car. Hulkenberg was the second car on the scene after rounding the unsighted corner and admits he was scared by how close to a serious accident he came at the time.

“Holy moly,” Hulkenberg said. “That was seriously scary. I mean, thank God nothing happened but this is a nightmare scenario. You know, you’ve come around the blind corner in a street circuit. All I saw was a cloud of smoke and gravel flying around, and then only last moment I saw his car rolling back onto the track and I missed him not by that much. That could have been a really bad scenario.

“That was seriously scary and sketchy. That’s a bad example of a driver losing the car, crashing and coming back onto the track, and because there’s a gravel trap, there was dust, so you could not really see much.

“I think Pierre (Gasly) was in front of me — he was the first car, I was the second car, and no marshal in the world can react that fast. We didn’t have yellow flags; I just saw the cloud of dust and I saw gravel flying around, so I sort of didn’t take the ideal or normal racing line — I went a bit wider. But I think I still didn’t miss him by much though, I immediately shouted on the radio that we need a safety car.”

After avoiding Albon, Hulkenberg went on to finish seventh with a strong drive that had him in the top 10 throughout the afternoon, and although a protest attempting to revise the classification failed, he says his first points after three years away from full-time Formula 1 competition are a sign of how well he’s working with Haas.

“Woulda, coulda, shoulda… I mean, it was wild and a bit messy at times. I think we have to look through how everything happened and what the actions were. It was a lot of things happening; it was very dynamic. I had a super start — I think it was the third time around on softs and came through to P4 actually. A shame that there were a few incidents and they red-flagged it, otherwise it could have been a really strong result.

“But even before that, you know, I think we would have come home in P9 which is obviously not as good as well P7 or P4 or something, but still a lot of positive learnings again, and I take a lot of positives out of this race and forward.

“I feel a lot of good things happening still. I’m refreshed — I’ve got a good mindset, a very positive mindset. I’m feeling hungry — I really enjoy working with the team, exploiting the car, experimenting with the car, and we’ve got a very nice rhythm and momentum. That’s what we want to preserve now and take that into the next couple of races.”

Red flag was right, despite threat to Red Bull victory says Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says it was right to red flag the Australian Grand Prix late on due to safety reasons, even if it threatened Max Verstappen’s victory. Verstappen was comfortably leading the race in Melbourne when Kevin …

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says it was right to red flag the Australian Grand Prix late on due to safety reasons, even if it threatened Max Verstappen’s victory.

Verstappen was comfortably leading the race in Melbourne when Kevin Magnussen hit the wall at Turn 2 and left debris on the circuit. While the safety car was initially deployed, a red flag was used to ensure the clear-up could take place thoroughly before restarting the race, and although Horner admits it was annoying from Red Bull’s point of view he believes it was the right decision.

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“It was always going to be hugely frustrating when you get a red flag and a restart with three laps to go,” Horner said. “When you’re the leader, you can only lose from that point.

“It was just a question of just go out there and do the best start we could. We’d had two pretty average starts in the previous two attempts. But the third one, he nailed, and all chaos ensued behind him, which thankfully we weren’t part of. And then obviously the red flag came out, and the race was never going to get restarted after that. A few cars sustaining quite a bit of damage at the end there.

“Safety reasons are why the red flags should always be thrown. There was a lot of debris on the track. When you look at it, it was the right thing to red flag it. The problem was there were only two laps to the end of the race. You’re always going to get winners and losers in that.”

And Horner says the way incidents late in races are handled has been under constant discussion following both Abu Dhabi in 2021 and Monza last year, with the target of a green flag finish taking priority.

“You can understand the rationale behind wanting to get finished under racing conditions rather than cruising behind the safety car for three laps. They might have been able to clear the circuit and get it going, I don’t know. Like all these things, there’s always something to learn.

“I mean it’s something that has been discussed. There has always been a preference to finish under racing conditions, so if by stopping a race enabled them to tidy up the circuit, rather than just cruise out the remaining laps behind the safety car, then it’s the right thing to do.

“The problem is that when you’re the lead car, and you’ve been controlling a 10-second lead all afternoon, suddenly it’s a massive variable that becomes a bit of a lottery.”

Sainz penalty should have been discussed afterwards – Vasseur

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur believes the penalty for Carlos Sainz that dropped him out of the points in the Australian Grand Prix should have been discussed after the race. Sainz hit Fernando Alonso on the final race restart, spinning …

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur believes the penalty for Carlos Sainz that dropped him out of the points in the Australian Grand Prix should have been discussed after the race.

Sainz hit Fernando Alonso on the final race restart, spinning the Aston Martin from third place to the back of the field. Despite the final finishing order then being taken from the grid order – prior to the collision – Sainz was given a five-second time penalty during a red flag period that meant when all the cars crossed the line under safety car conditions he was demoted from fourth to 12th.

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“My job is to take the positives not just the negatives but just like this, jumping off the pit wall, I think it is more a negative because we did overall a good job,” Vasseur told Channel 4. “Carlos had a very good recovery after the unlucky pit stop just before the red flag and to get penalized like this just before the end is very harsh.

“For sure you are emotional in this kind of situation because you are not far away from the podium, you are P4 coming from nowhere when all the others get the pit stop for free. He did a mega job and now I think that you can discuss for hours the penalty, whether it was harsh or not.

“For sure, that depending on your team the analysis will be different but I think what is a shame for me, considering it was not impacting the podium, at least the stewards could have listened to them and have a look on the data.

“I think this is a shame, last week we changed the regulations two times in ten minutes in the pit stop for Alonso, we could have the same, at least to discuss.”

Sainz himself was distraught in the cockpit after being informed of the penalty, as the punishment was going to prove so severe, and with Alonso also feeling the decision was too harsh, Vasseur says a protest didn’t cross his mind but that it should have been reviewed in a different way.

“No, I am not a big fan of this (protesting), it’s an incident on track. But an incident on track you have always two cars in the incident and you have two ways of seeing the incident, I’m coming as the team principal of Ferrari and of Carlos, my position is not the same as the other guys in the paddock. But I think in these decisions we could take five minutes to discuss and look at the data.”

Gasly escapes race ban while Ocon slams “suicidal” drivers on restart

Pierre Gasly escaped a race ban after the stewards did not penalize him for his collision with Esteban Ocon in the Australian Grand Prix, while his teammate called multiple drivers “suicidal” in their approach to restarts. A strong race from Gasly …

Pierre Gasly escaped a race ban after the stewards did not penalize him for his collision with Esteban Ocon in the Australian Grand Prix, while his teammate called multiple drivers “suicidal” in their approach to restarts.

A strong race from Gasly had him fighting for the podium but he ran wide at Turn 1 on the final restart when side-by-side with Carlos Sainz, who in turn tagged Fernando Alonso into a spin. When Gasly rejoined he drifted across the track into Ocon and both drivers were taken out of the race, prompting an investigation by the stewards.

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Gasly is just two penalty points away from the 12 required to trigger a race ban but no further action was taken after the stewards deemed it a first lap racing incident following discussions with both drivers.

Ocon himself was frustrated to be caught up in the incident but said he doesn’t hold blame against Gasly as he believes many drivers approached the restart with two laps remaining too aggressively.

“Before starting about the last lap crash, just thinking about the positives and just reflecting on everything that didn’t go our way,” Ocon said. “But that was out of our control, really. We had a mega start (initially), I gained three places. We decided to box on purpose to put the hard tire very early on. And obviously if there was no red flag just after that, we would have been like fourth or fifth. It would have been a very good first stint. So, that didn’t go our way.

“We lost everything that that we took from the red flag, then it was a very lonely race. I overtook the cars that had DRS so they were not without defense, it was very hard to to pass them and we did so. Then the pace was similar to the Ferraris and the Astons in front. So that was very promising.

“Obviously a very chaotic restart then honestly, it could have been any cars that I collided with. There was cars coming back on the track, obviously Pierre was one of them. But no hard feelings. He came and apologized and as I said, it could have been anyone.

“My tires were hot. I didn’t feel like it was very slippery. But what was tricky was the light being a little bit lower, we couldn’t really see so well. But some drivers were just suicidal a bit in Turn 1, like Nyck (de Vries) on the side. It was very close and obviously there’s a lot to gain at the time, but a little bit too much for some drivers.”

Alonso praises “incredible” Hamilton performance in podium fight

Fernando Alonso says Lewis Hamilton delivered an “incredible race” in their podium fight at the Australian Grand Prix as he tried to force his rival into mistakes. Hamilton led for a spell but, after being overtaken by Max Verstappen, spent the …

Fernando Alonso says Lewis Hamilton delivered an “incredible race” in their podium fight at the Australian Grand Prix as he tried to force his rival into mistakes.

Hamilton led for a spell but, after being overtaken by Max Verstappen, spent the majority of the race with Alonso close behind him in the battle for second place. The focus was on ensuring the hard compound tire would make it to the end without another pit stop, leading Alonso to have spells closing in and others dropping back, and after settling for third place ahead of teammate Lance Stroll the Spaniard was full of praise for Hamilton.

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“Incredible, also for the team – third and fourth, 27 points out of this Sunday – it really made me feel happy for all the boys and girls in the team,” Alonso said. “The race was not easy for sure. I think at the beginning we got lucky with the first red flag because George (Russell) and Carlos (Sainz) pitted so we benefitted from that, and then in terms of pace we were very close to Lewis all through the race. But any time that I tried to get close he seemed to pick up the pace.

“I tried to put on the pressure but he had an incredible race, no mistakes at all as you probably expect from him – a champion – only one lock-up I think in Turn 13 in 58 laps! So I was trying to put on the pressure but nothing happened, so we take P3.”

Hamilton called the battle “awesome” and claimed that Alonso had a slightly quicker car as Aston Martin again delivered a strong performance in Melbourne, believing the Mercedes advantage came from top speed.

“He was in my tow, so I think we were probably slightly quicker on the straight and he was quicker through all the corners,” Hamilton said. “So I think we definitely have some performance to find. It definitely wasn’t easy keeping him at bay, and keeping them out of the DRS zone. But it was really quite interesting, just to see where we were, where we were lacking, and where we were good.

“So there’s lots of positives to take from but we do naturally need to add on some performance. I mean, they’ve been ahead the past two races but for us to somehow still finish ahead is pretty awesome. So I’ll definitely take it.”

Alonso agreed with Hamilton’s assessment given how close he could stay to the Mercedes ahead, as the double world champion rarely dropped more than two seconds adrift.

“Probably. I think when you do 50 laps within two seconds of the car in front you normally have a little bit more, If you have a bit of clean air you can normally you can get two or three tenths out of that lap time, but on the other hand I could not get any closer than that, so I think we were very similar.”

Melbourne track invasion “could have had disastrous consequences”

The promoter of the Australian Grand Prix admits an early track invasion before the end of Sunday’s race “could have had disastrous consequences” after sanctions from the FIA. A number of fans climbed debris fences and through gaps in the track …

The promoter of the Australian Grand Prix admits an early track invasion before the end of Sunday’s race “could have had disastrous consequences” after sanctions from the FIA.

A number of fans climbed debris fences and through gaps in the track walls to gain access in order to run to the podium before the race had ended, with the cars still circulating behind the Safety Car and preparing to cross the line for the final time. Video footage showed fans on the pit straight filming the cars as they completed the race.

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Nico Hulkenberg then stopped on track after the checkered flag and fans were able to approach his car, that wasn’t safe to be touched, leading to the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) being summoned to the stewards.

“A large group of spectators managed to break the security lines and accessed the track while the race was still ongoing,” the stewards stated. “The security measures and the protocols which were expected to be in place for the event were not enforced resulting in an unsafe environment for the spectators, drivers and race officials.

Fans also approached Nico Hulkenberg’s stricken, and potentially dangerous, Haas. Lionel Ng/Motorsport Images

“Furthermore, spectators were also able to reach Car No. 27, which was parked at exit of Turn 2 and which still had its light flashing red (i.e. the car was in an unsafe condition with possible electrical discharge). All of this presented significant danger to the spectators, race officials and the drivers.”

In the hearing, the race promoter “candidly admitted the failures in terms of the security protocols and safety measures … and agreed that this was an unacceptable situation that could have had disastrous consequences”.

The stewards demanded the AGPC “urgently present a remediation plan”, with the promoter vowing to carry out a comprehensive review of the failings – including consultations with F1, the FIA and local police – and asked to be given until 30 June 2023 to do so. Given the severity of the safety breach, the stewards have requested the FIA assess whether the plan is an adequate response or if any further steps are required.

The incident has also been referred to the World Motor Sport Council “for a further investigation to determine whether any additional steps need to be taken or penalties applied beyond the remediation plan presented by the promoter”.

A spectator also suffered a cut arm after being hit by debris from Kevin Magnussen’s crash late in the race, with the race’s CEO Andrew Westacott describing it as “a freak one-off” that carbon fibre flew 20 meters into the air, cleared a debris fence and fell on a fan’s arm.

UPDATE: Haas Australian GP protest rejected

Haas has failed with its protest into the race result at the Australian Grand Prix after controversy surrounding a late race restart. Kevin Magnussen’s crash triggered a red flag that left two laps possible after a standing start. The first corner …

Haas has failed with its protest into the race result at the Australian Grand Prix after controversy surrounding a late race restart.

Kevin Magnussen’s crash triggered a red flag that left two laps possible after a standing start. The first corner saw multiple incidents – including crashes for the Alpine drivers and Fernando Alonso being spun to the back before Lance Stroll went off – that led to the race being red-flagged again just three corners later.

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As the cars filtered through the first sector, Nico Hulkenberg was promoted to fourth place behind Carlos Sainz, who would later get a time penalty for hitting Alonso, but the restart order for the cars to roll over the line on the final lap was taken from the previous restart positions, minus those cars that had retired.

That promoted the Aston Martins to third and fourth, with Hulkenberg classified in seventh, but Haas protested the provisional classification in an attempt to get the order taken from the first sector when the German was higher up. Had it been successful, such a change would have impacted multiple drivers and have given Haas the first podium in its history.

The stewards deemed the protest admissible based on the International Sporting Code, as Haas was claiming a breach of the regulation that states “In all cases the order will be taken at the last point at which it was possible to determine the position of all cars…” and arguing that “It was possible for the position of all the cars to be determined at the SC2 line not the previous starting grid”.

However, the stewards spoke to race director Neils Wittich and agreed that a decision needed to be made in a timely manner and that GPS data to establish the order of cars in such a situation was unreliable. As a result, the stewards felt the most appropriate point had been selected to determine the order at the time, and dismissed the Haas protest.

That confirmed the race result with Max Verstappen winning from Lewis Hamilton and Alonso, with Lance Stroll classified in fourth ahead of Sergio Perez, Lando Norris and Hulkenberg.

Catching Red Bull ‘not impossible’ for Mercedes – Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes can close the gap to Red Bull after finishing second in the Australian Grand Prix with a car he’s still not comfortable with. Max Verstappen started on pole position but was overtaken by both Mercedes drivers on the …

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes can close the gap to Red Bull after finishing second in the Australian Grand Prix with a car he’s still not comfortable with.

Max Verstappen started on pole position but was overtaken by both Mercedes drivers on the opening lap, with Hamilton going on to lead after a red flag period when teammate George Russell had made a pit stop. Although Verstappen easily overtook him with DRS, Hamilton held off Fernando Alonso for second place and says it’s a big result for Mercedes given how he doesn’t like the feedback his car gives him.

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“I still feel uncomfortable in the car though, I don’t feel connected to it,” Hamilton said. “So I’m driving as best I can with that disconnect and I’m working as hard as I can to try and create that connection, but I think it’s a long project. But still, considering we’ve been down on performance, we’re clearly down on end-of-straight pace compared to the Red Bull, for us to be fighting with Aston, it’s just amazing at this point of the season.

“We’ve just got to keep on fighting. A big thank you to all the people back at the factory, let’s keep pushing. We can close that gap – it’s going to be tough but not impossible.

“It’s really unlucky for George today. We’ve got to look into it on our side because our reliability has generally been really good so that’s really unfortunate, but otherwise to get those points is really amazing today — I definitely didn’t expect to be second so I’m super grateful for it.”

Hamilton had told Mercedes over team radio he didn’t believe he could finish the race on an old set of tires at the same pace as Alonso behind, but having done so the seven-time world champion is relishing having so many successful drivers at the sharp end this season.

“I definitely wasn’t bluffing. Honestly I was having to push a lot right at the beginning to keep Max behind and then Fernando was pushing. They’re very, very quick. I think ultimately he was a little bit quicker today behind me but I just managed to hold him off so for that I’m really grateful.

“And also just what a legend… We’ve got a world champion up ahead, we’ve got three world champions in the top three. That’s pretty mega.”