Mercedes’ British driver George Russell drives throughout the 2023 Formula One Australian Grand Prix on the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on April 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Red Bull ace Max Verstappen may need dominated a wild Australian Grand Prix, however Mercedes have been additionally a giant winner with the “Silver Arrows” lastly beginning to look aggressive.
After the season-opening grand prix in Bahrain, staff boss Toto Wolff declared that they had “one of their worst days” in racing, with Lewis Hamilton complaining of turning into “the fourth-fastest team”.
It adopted a lacklustre 2022 when the eight-time constructors champions have been dethroned by Red Bull, with the outlook bleak heading into the brand new 12 months.
But they made strides in Saudi Arabia and at the moment are singing a distinct tune after seven-time world champion Hamilton got here second to pole-sitter Verstappen, at one stage briefly main the action-packed race.
His teammate George Russell was additionally lightning-quick and in the hunt earlier than an influence unit failure ended his day on lap 17.
It adopted a stirring qualifying session that noticed each Mercedes outpace Fernando Alonso in his rejuvenated Aston Martin and the struggling Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
“Considering we’re down on performance, to be fighting with the Aston Martins is amazing for us at this point in the season,” mentioned an upbeat Hamilton after holding off a surging Alonso, and overcoming battles with security automobiles and three crimson flags.
“We’ve just got to keep fighting. A big thank you to all the people back at the factory. We can close that gap, it’s going to be tough but not impossible.”
With a three-week break until the subsequent race in Azerbaijan, Wolff mentioned they’d take their learnings from Australia and maintain transferring ahead.
“We had strong pace and it was really close with the Aston Martins and the Ferraris. That is good news for us, and I think we have made a step forward this weekend, both on one-lap and race pace,” he mentioned.
“We maximised what we have, and we need to now comb through the data and continue to learn about the car. This will help bring the upgrade packages and that will be the key in challenging the leaders more often.”
Nevertheless, Red Bull stay on a distinct stage, with Sergio Perez capable of slice by the sector to complete fifth, banking the quickest lap in the method, despite beginning final after brake points wrecked his qualifying.
Team boss Christan Horner mentioned he was not involved about Mercedes’s new-found tempo.
“We (Verstappen) pulled out a 10-second gap on Lewis and were managing it,” he mentioned. “They were fast starting, very aggressive on the first lap. But Max showed great patience I thought not to get embroiled.”
While Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston Martin all picked up invaluable factors, Ferrari left Australia empty-handed after Leclerc crashed on lap 1 and Carlos Sainz got here twelfth after a five-second penalty.
After three races, they’re a gaping 97 factors behind Red Bull in the constructors standings, with Leclerc bemoaning “the worst start to the season ever”.
But staff principal Frederic Vasseur insisted the outcomes weren’t an correct image.
“The result, not scoring points, does not reflect the progress we have made as a team,” he mentioned.
“We have taken a step forward in terms of pure performance and even more importantly, we had a decent and consistent race pace on the various tyre compounds.
“We return to Maranello figuring out that we’re transferring in the correct route and we now have three weeks to maintain engaged on optimising and updating the SF-23 for the approaching races,” he added.
McLaren was a winner in Melbourne, with each automobiles among the many 12 finishers to earn their first factors of the season after Lando Norris was sixth and rookie Oscar Piastri eighth.
AlphaTauri additionally earned their first level of the 12 months by Yuki Tsunoda’s tenth place, that means all of the constructors at the moment are off the mark.
