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The third round
of the season ended with a one-two finish for Ferrari, Carlos Sainz claiming
his first win since Singapore last September, while Charles Leclerc, thanks
in part to the extra point for the race fastest lap, is second in the
Drivers’ classification on 47 points. Ahead of him on 51 is Max Verstappen,
despite the fact the Dutchman posted his first retirement after 44
consecutive points finishes, the last non-finish for him being here in
Melbourne back in 2022. Third in the standings with 46 points is his
team-mate Sergio Perez, fifth today, followed by today’s winner on 40.
It was the Spaniard’s third win and his twentieth podium finish, while
for his Ferrari team it was win 244 and its 86th one-two. It was also the
second for the Sainz-Leclerc pairing, the first coming at the 2022 Bahrain
Grand Prix when they took the chequered flag in the reverse order.
THE DAY ON
TRACK:
All three compounds chosen by Pirelli for this Grand Prix were in use on the
starting grid: 14 drivers went for the Medium, three (Hamilton, Ricciardo
and Zhou) opted for the Soft and two (Alonso and Hulkenberg) the Hard. As
predicted the most popular strategy was the two-stop, running
Medium-Hard-Hard. Ocon was the only driver to make three stops but that was
forced on him by the need to make a very early first pit stop to remove a
visor tear-off from a brake duct.
After making the briefest of
appearances in FP3, only for scrubbing-in purposes, the C3 was the most
popular choice today, used for almost 80% of the race distance by the 19
drivers on track with this compound. Graining continued to be an important
factor and, as expected, this phenomenon did not diminish even though it was
much hotter than in previous days and on a track that got increasingly
rubbered-in. Significant graining was also evident on the Hard which was
never used on the first two days, but nevertheless it was manageable. In
terms of stint length, George Russell’s second stint ran to 37 laps on the
C3 and Fernando Alonso did 24 on the C4.
MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“First of all, congratulations to Carlos Sainz and everyone at Ferrari for
this one-two which once again demonstrated that in such a competitive sport,
where technology is pushed to the limit, one can never take anything for
granted. I’ve got nothing against Max and Red Bull, but clearly a new name
on the list of winners, after two years of almost total dominance is good
for Formula 1 as a whole, as is the fact that the top four drivers in the
classification are covered by just eleven points.
As for the race, it
showed that our decision to bring a trio of softer compounds here compared
to last year was the right one. Today’s race was busier compared to recent
years, with tyre management making the difference. For example, one of the
keys to Sainz’s success was the ability to lengthen the first stint on the
Mediums, which then gave him the edge over his closest pursuers, as the two
sets of Hards he used in the second and third stints were fresher. Yes,
Carlos was able to drive a good part of his first stint with a clear track
ahead of him, while his team-mate for example was in traffic, sandwiched
between the two McLarens. All the same, Leclerc managed to overtake Norris
precisely because he had stopped first and was able to better exploit the
performance of new Hard tyres in the opening laps of his second stint.
In general, graining was the leitmotif of the weekend, but it was not
problematic in terms of tyre performance and in the end, those who did the
better job of managing them had the upper hand.”
Formula 2
Isaak Hadjar got his revenge in the Melbourne Feature Race. The
Frenchman was stripped of the win in yesterday’s Sprint with a post-race
penalty but the Campos Racing driver fought back in the longer race,
profiting from making the obligatory pit-stop under the VSC caused when
Hauger went off track, before the race was actually neutralised. That left
Hadjar on track as the first driver who had started on the Supersoft and so
he found himself leading when those who had started on the Medium had to pit
to change tyres. Alongside him on the podium in second place, the Estonian
Paul Aron (Hitech), and Zane Maloney (Rodin) third. The Barbadian still
leads the championship on 62 points, 14 points ahead of Aron and 21 in front
of Norway’s Dennis Hauger (Prema).
As predicted, the majority of
drivers opted to start on the Supersoft for just a handful of laps, given
its high degradation level, before switching to the Medium. While the VSC in
the early stages helped those on the Medium, the race being neutralised at
half-distance pretty much ruined their strategy, because at that point it
was too early to pit and the advantage they had built up was wiped out.
Formula 3
Dino Beganovic (Prema) took his maiden Formula 3 victory in the second
race in Melbourne. The Swedish Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy driver
started from third on the grid and came out on top at the end of an
unpredictable race, getting the better of the Italian duo of Leonardo
Fornaroli (Trident) e Gabriele Minì (Prema), who had both started from the
front row. The other contender fighting at the front was the British driver
Luke Browning (Hitech) who came home fourth, enough to maintain the lead in
the Drivers’ standings, even though he has the same number of points – 37 –
as Fornaroli.
On the tyre front, the cool conditions in Melbourne
this morning definitely didn’t help with warm-up. Managing degradation was
slightly easier than in Saturday’s race, given that graining appeared two to
three laps later and did not increase over the race distance. Again,
compared to the first race, the grip level was slightly better.
COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR
TYRES
Formula 1 is back in action in a fortnight’s time when the Japanese Grand
Prix takes place from 5 to 7 April at Suzuka. At the classic Honda-owned
track, the trio of compounds will be the same as in Bahrain, namely the C1
as Hard, the C2 as Medium and the C3 as Soft. To see the Formula 2 and
Formula 3 cars back in action one must wait until 17 – 19 May in Imola, on
the same weekend as the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. |
