How Ferrari rivalled Mercedes at Australia Grand Prix
By People.Reporter, April 11, 2022
The Australian GP returned to our screens for the first time since 2019 after cancellation due to covid-19 in 2022.
The race promised to be entertaining after changes were made to the track, there are now three DRS zones and smoothened faster corners. Sainz suffered a horrible Q3 after his first flying lap that would have secured a front-row start was nullified by the red flag.
He made a mistake at the end of Q3 that saw him start P9. A horrible start at the race had him dropping to P14 which was nullified when he beached his car in the gravel bringing out a safety car in lap 2. However, the protagonists at the front remained the same as qualifying happened as most people expected. Leclerc was on pole, with Verstappen and Perez behind while Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell right after.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton had a cracking start showing that perhaps the Silver Arrows have improved since their performance in Jeddah. Sebastian Vettel crashed on lap 23 causing another safety issue with the car. Of the frontrunners, only George Russell hadn’t pitted and this gifted him a cheap pit stop where he retained his P3.
Alonso also had a performance to forget after he had put on a promising lap during Q2 that he had to abort following hydraulic failure. His long stint on hard tyres didn’t work out as brilliantly as Alpine hoped. He started in P10 and after having to pit twice, he ended the race in P17.
On lap 39, disaster struck for Verstappen when he was called on the radio and told to turn off the engine after complaining of fumes coming out of the cockpit.
The car flamed out but the issue hasn’t yet been identified. Perez was heard on the radio asking if Verstappen’s problem will affect him but his team comforted him that it was a problem unique to his teammate’s car. McLaren was in no man’s land running P5 and P6. The writer is a Formula One enthusiast – gloria@paddockexperience.co.ke