Max Verstappen has finally secured a win in the Australian Grand Prix after gaining the Pole position on Saturday and continuing his dominance all weekend despite losing his P1 position early in the race to the two Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
His teammate Sergio Perez had a bad start to the weekend with a P20 start after going into the gravel in qualifying. With all the red flags and all the chaos happening in the race, Perez climbed the grid into a P5 position granting him points and keeping his second position in the Drivers Championship.
Carlos Sainz wasn’t happy with the FIA this weekend as he was granted a 5 second time penalty after hitting Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll and wasn’t happy with the decision as he disagreed with the FIA and believed he doesn’t deserve to be punished. The penalty later put him in P12 meaning he gained no points this weekend.
Good news for McLaren this week as home race hero Oscar Piastri finished in P8 and Lando Norris finished P6 granting McLaren their first points in the 2023 season.
A lot of DNFs happened this week leading to only 12 drivers on the grid finishing the race.
We take a look at how the drivers and the team performed this weekend and what it means going into Azerbaijan.
Williams - 2/10
Both Williams drivers did not finish this race but still, only Alex Albon managed to score points this season for the team earlier this season in Bahrain.
New driver Logan Sargeant still hasn’t gained points for his team and hasn’t had the promising start the Willams Team would hope for.
Alex Albon 1/10
Logan Sargeant 1/10
Alpine - 2/10
Like Williams both drivers, did not finish this weekend but it seems to be new driver Pierre Gasly gaining the points for the team so far this season.
Not the strongest of starts to the 2023 season for Esteban Ocon as it was the second DNF out of the three races this season.
Is Gasly proving to be the main man at Alpine?
Pierre Gasly 1/10
Esteban Ocon 1/10
Haas - 4/10
Haas has been in good form recently despite the bad start of the season. However, in back-to-back races, one driver has gained the points and the next the other driver
This week we saw Nico Hulkenberg get the points and Kevin Magnussen DNF for the first time this season
Nico Hulkenberg 3/10
Kevin Magnussen 1/10
AlphaTauri - 4/10
Alpha Tauri gained their first points of the season at Melbourne. They have struggled to finish at the bottom half of the grid in the last two races until today Yuki Tsunoda claimed a 10th place
New driver Nyck de Vries struggled to find form in his first season in Formula 1 as he was one of many to DNF in the race.
A young driver with much promise, will he find form in his new team?
Yuki Tsunoda 3/10
Nyck de Vries 1/10
Ferrari - 3/10
Ferrari hasn’t had the greatest start to the 2023 season. Once again they aren’t able to find form and have problems everywhere.
Charles Leclerc DNF’d in the first lap of the race which made his second DNF this season.
Carlos Sainz finished below the points after his 5-second penalty leaving Ferrari with no points at all this weekend.
What needs to change in the Ferrari team?
Charles Leclerc 1/10
Carlos Sainz 3/10
Alfa Romeo - 4/10
Alfa Romeo has had a shaky but earning start so far this season. It was a massive improvement from both drivers this race but wasn’t enough to take the team all the way.
Valtteri Bottas missed out on points as he still looking to gain more points from Bahrain which he has failed to do so.
Zhou Guanyu finishes in point places giving the team something to take away this weekend.
Is there more for Alfa Romeo or is this the best we will see them this season?
Valterri Bottas 1/10
Zhou Guanyu 3/10
McLaren- 7/10
Mclaren has had a good turnaround this weekend from lows to a massive high.
Oscar Piastri experienced his first home Grand Prix and he did not disappoint his people with a P8 performance securing his first points in Formula One.
Lando Norris gets the points in as well with a solid P6 finish and both drivers get the points for the team after a slow start to the season.
Is this the turnaround McLaren needs?
Oscar Piastri 3/10
Lando Norris 4/10
Aston Martin - 9/10
Aston Martin once again shows how well they are performing so far in the 2023 season.
Fernando Alonso continues his podium run with three in a row after a long period of being out of the podium runs.
Lance Stroll finishes a good P4 after the Saudi GP DNF showing how well he can bounce back from a major disappointment.
Is Aston Martin getting closer to their first Formula One win?
Fernando Alonso 5/10
Lance Stroll 4/10
Mercedes - 7/10
Mercedes bounced back this weekend from a disappointing start of the season. Their qualifying results showed that they were here to stay in the competition.
Lewis Hamilton got his first podium this season finishing second and giving Mercedes the confidence they need to get things together. The podium has now made Lewis Hamilton a podium winner everywhere from 2007 when he debuted.
However, George Russell had a good qualifying performance but DNF in the race leaving Russell disappointed but cheering for his teammate
Lewis Hamilton 6/10
George Russell 1/10
Red Bull - 9/10
Red Bull once again dominate the grid after winning another race and their first time since 2011 in Australia
The race winner Max Verstappen was on the pole on Saturday and won on Sunday showing his dominance that has carried over since last season
Sergio Perez didn’t get the start he wanted at P20 but nevertheless, he climbed up the grid into a good P5 for the team which gave him the title of the driver of the day.
Max Verstappen 5/10
Sergio Perez 4/10
Formula One will travel to Azerbaijan for the Baku Grand Prix. The race will be on the 30th of April with practice on the 29th of April.
