Excellent race opener. We were not short of drama that is for sure. The weather made what is normally a very uneventful race very unpredictable and thrilling. Let take a look.

Start of the Race

Formation lap just under way and first thing we see is Hadjar in the wall. Unfortunately for this rookie he was a bit too eager on the gas combined with the wet surfaces and broke his rear wing. He will strike back at the Chinese GP I’m sure. Crofty and Brundle conversation made me laugh. Crofty “Do you think he will be able to get back around?”, Brundle “He has no rear wing”.

Norris and Piastri has a great start off the line however Verstappen had electric pace off the line. Max takes 2nd place exiting turn 2 at the start as Oscar was struggling to get grip out of turn one. The car snapped several times hunting for grip.

It wasn’t long though until we got a safety car as the Alpine of Jack Doohan Crashed approaching turn six. I imagine this is very concerning for Doohan especially with the rumors of his 5 race contract and Colapinto ready to go. This meant we’re under safety car conditions until seven. Throughout that time though the track looked like it was significantly drying. I thought it was only a matter of time until we got the slick tyres however it seems like it went a bit later than expected.

Unfortunately, being a Williams fan seeing Carlos Sainz crash under safety car was very disappointing. Apparently from the post recent interviews with James vowels the car for some reason producing extra torque while Carlos was up-shifting but still unclear if this is driver error or machine.

This incident extended the safety car, however lap seven we finally had a full lap complete as Lando easily keeps 1st on the restart.

As the track is drying we saw a lot cars are going off line to cool down their tyres however rain forecast had an imminent downfall coming therefore they had to hold out. This must’ve been a nightmare to drive. Australia’s “grip paint” in the track combined with over heating inter was a recipe for DNF's and that is what came.

The rookie Antonelli had a spin which lost him a place however he kept racing and kept performing for a brilliant rookie debut. Very special being one of the only rookies to finish

Verstappen went far too deep in turn 11 on lap 17 and made an easy overtake for the local Aussie making the top three match the qualifying order again. Verstappen seemed to catch a puddle on the outside curb losing his traction. Also his tyres had lost a lot of grip and he was communicating that on the radio. Verstappen ended up losing a lot of time to the McLaren’s once Piastri overtook. After about 10 laps, the gap to Verstappen and Piastri stretch to about 14 seconds which shows the pace of the McLaren.

Piastri started setting very good track times closing up on his teammate. This in turn put the gap to 14 second between P2 and P3 by lap 34. Oscar was however instructed not to overtake Lando until they cleared back markers. What is interesting is they did clear the back markers and then Oscar made a slight mistake out of 10 six dipping into the gravel and losing the time advantage he had built up you can’t help but think if they did the change earlier McLaren would’ve made all the difference.

Alonso crash coming out of turn 6 on lap 34. This triggered the pitting frenzy with a mixture of mediums and hard tyres coming on to the cars. It is almost like Alonso got bored so made the race more interesting. After looking back at the onboard footage it seems that Gasly in front of Alonso actually kicked up some gravel to the curbs cause a loss of balance for Alonso behind.

Lap 42 we were back racing and the slicks were out but were they the best decision? I guess the answer to that is yes and no for the few laps that were dry they were obviously the greatest however another lot of rainfall came in and absolutely disrupted the race yet again.

Verstappen on the mediums is able to get much more heat in the tyre compared to the McLaren’s on the Hard which will take a few more laps. More rain starting on lap 43 caused a lot of drama with both McLaren’s going off the track and then Piastri beaching his car. This ultimately led to him going to the back of the grid on restart as he could not get the car off the grass. Lando managed to pit again for his intermediate tires and somehow managed to keep the net lead of the race.

This is a time where strategy needs to work with the drivers to perfect that crossover. I think the only team that nailed this was Redbull with Verstappen. they chose a tyre with more grip and easier heating. The McLaren’s probably stayed out a lap longer than they should have especially with hards not getting temp and this ultimately ruined Piastri’ team s race and nearly Norris’.

The cars try to stay out as long as they could however many races were ruined and Ferrari strategist strike again. Ferrari sees everyone sliding in front of them but but the sounds of Leclerc and Hamilton’s radio messages the rain coming was not properly communicated to them and also they stay of on the slick tyre until lap 49. Shambles.

Lawson and Bortoleto both managed to crash on the same lap. Lawson in turn 1 and Bortoleto at turn 13. This led to another safety car. This safety car made a cheap pitstop to come back in for the intermediates as the slick tyres will not have provided any grip in this stage of the race.

Safety Car in on lap 51 let go racing… again.

Turn 1 restart Max has a snap allowing Norris to getaway and Russell applying pressure. Albon amazingly in 4th place however the rookie Antonelli is not far behind.

The last few laps felt very long and intense as Lando was getting pressure from Max all the way to the very end. That RedBull most certainly still has pace. We cannot count Max out. However it was the McLaren which took the Checkered Flag in the first place followed by Verstappen and then Russell.

Summary

Overall, this is a great starter for the season. Track conditions were very strange in the grand scheme of the season so in terms of performance across the grid it will be hard to take away anything from it. It will be a good learning lesson however for the rookies some of which had not reached an F1 car in wet conditions before.

Taking a look at the tyre strategy those that opted for the hard tyre struggle the most during that stint. Although Norris won, he was lucky to getaway with it. He could’ve easily ended up like his teammate. Same goes for Antonelli finishing 4th, his spin could’ve been far worse.

Prior to the safety cars I think McLaren showed how dominant their car is however next week in China will likely show them making a bigger statement.

Watch Highlights Here

Standings

Lights Out!

Follow Me on Twitter or Instagram for more frequent updates