Race Changing Moments – 2023 Australian Grand Prix

Everything that made the Australian Grand Prix a thrill ride to remember.

was

action-packed

Australian

Grand

Prix

with

plenty

twists,

turns

and

flags,

many

flags!

Here

look

back

the

moments

that

made

the

race

what

was

for

the

Team…

Re-live the action

Saturday

Struggles

For

Checo

It was a tough day on track for Sergio Pérez in Saturday’s Free Practice and Qualifying sessions. The Bull struggled to get a flying lap in FP3 thanks to traffic, red flags, and rain at the end of the session. Despite the challenges, Checo still managed to put in a time of 1:18.123, putting him in P6 at the end of the session.

However, the Bull’s misfortune continued into Q1. Checo had just started his first push lap, but locked up under braking into turn three, sending him skidding into the gravel and leaving his RB19 beached. That left Checo in P20 for the start of the race. Would he be able to improve his position during the 58 laps? Read on to find out…

Saturday Struggles For Checo

Two

Back,

Two

Forward

Max Verstappen started the race in pole, but was pipped to turn one by George Russell. Max was cautious in the turn, which allowed Lewis Hamilton in the other Mercedes to get in front of the Bull. Max was sitting comfortably in third place, but then on lap seven Alex Albon spun and hit the barriers heavily causing a Safety Car to be released. Mercedes opted to pit Russell, but almost as soon as he was back out on track the race was red flagged meaning that Russell had lost track position down to P7 with Max up to second and Hamilton leading.

The race restarted and on lap 12 on the run down to turn nine Max opened his DRS and powered passed Hamilton, back into P1. He wasted no time at all and within the next five turns, Max had pulled out a gap of just over two seconds.

Two Back, Two Forward

The

Re-Restart

For the first time in Formula One history there were three red flags and three restarts. The last standing restart was on lap 57, after Kevin Magnussen knocked the wall with his Haas and sent a tyre flying across the track. With only two laps to race the Team put Max on a set of used softs. Lewis Hamilton in P2, followed suit. This all meant that Max had the high-pressure moment of a restart and a hungry Lewis Hamilton behind him. If anything, it was Max’s best start of the race and he was the first into turn one and was able to keep in front and claim his first ever win in Australia.

The Re-Restart

Checo’s

Clever

Tactics

When Charles Leclerc went off the track on the opening lap and the Safety Car was deployed. The Team made a what could have been a very clever strategy decision. The Team called Checo in and put him on a set of medium tyres. They then called him in a lap later – still under the Safety Car – and put hards on again. This was so he’d be able to go to the end of the race without having to come back in again as he’d used two compounds of tyre. Unfortunately, due to several more red flags, the tactic was unnecessary, but it was still a stroke of genius.

Checo’s Clever Tactics

Carving

Down

Under

Checo was meant to start the race in P20, but due to changing some components in his RB19 he had to start the race from the pitlane. This didn’t seem to bother the Bull at all as he was up to P13 by lap 7 when the first red flag was shown.

He dropped back down to P16 at the restart, but kept his focus and started to climb the ranks. By lap 20 he was in the points. Lap 42 saw Checo move in front of Lando Norris up into P8 and then a lap later he took Nico Hulkenberg to place him in seventh. He was on the hunt again when the second red flag was shown and he had to pit. With only two laps to go, it was going to be difficult for Checo to gain any more places, but when the Alpine drivers collided into each other the red flags were out once more and Checo was promoted to P5. A fantastic race moving up 15 positions from a pitlane start.

Carving Up Down Under