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Saturday in the Analysis
It’s already after 10:30 PM in Melbourne, and with that, today’s Saturday also ends here. Our portal will, of course, continue a bit longer, but we’re closing our ticker for now.
To conclude, here’s another reference to the big daily analysis by Kevin Scheuren and Christian Nimmervoll. For about an hour, the two discussed the following topics:
-Red Bull Problems
-Mercedes
-Fernando Alonso
-Ferrari Breakdown
-Nico Hülkenberg
-F1 AI ChatGP
-Long-run Data Analysis
-Questions from Channel Members
Tomorrow you won’t have to get up quite so early; the race starts “only” at 07:00 AM our time. We will, of course, report back here in good time with a new ticker for “Raceday”.
Have a nice Saturday, enjoy our analysis, and see you tomorrow!
Read more Mexico Friday in the analysis: We explain the penalty against Red Bull!
Only five drivers left with a “clean slate”
Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly each secured their first victory in the internal qualifying duel against their respective teammates today. This means only five drivers now have a “clean slate”.
George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Nico Hülkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda, and Alexander Albon each lead 3:0 after today. What’s particularly astonishing is that from Lewis Hamilton’s perspective at Mercedes, it’s 0:3.
The overview of all qualifying and race duels of the 2023 season can be found here!
#AskMST
Ingo wants to know regarding McLaren’s weak start to the season: “Couldn’t McLaren just take last year’s car? They were faster then.”
No, that’s not possible because the technical regulations have changed this year. For example, the rules for the underbody were adjusted for 2023.
Apart from that, it’s also not true that McLaren was faster last year. Lando Norris did finish P4 in qualifying in Melbourne in 2022.
However, he drove a 1:18.703 back then, while today he only finished 13th, but with a 1:18.119, he was also more than half a second faster than last year.
Special Permit for Perez
For completeness: Sergio Perez has received a special permit and is therefore allowed to participate in the race. This was necessary because he did not set a lap time in Q1 and thus missed the 107 percent mark.
Officially, he was not qualified for the race. However, the starting permission was, of course, still just a formality because Perez had been fast enough the previous weekend. But we want to at least mention it.
22 years ago today …
… David Coulthard won the 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix. Also on the podium back then was a certain Nick Heidfeld, who was to claim his first of a total of 13 podium finishes in Formula 1.
This makes the German to this day the Formula 1 driver with the most podium finishes without ever having won a race. For that, “Quick Nick” had some quite prominent teammates in his career …
Read more Max Verstappen about Formula 1 future: «I could stop anytime, but …»
Photo gallery: Heidfeld’s teammates: “Natural talent” Räikkönen, Vettel underestimated
Norris self-critical: Not at the level I expect
“I don’t want to settle for 13th or 12th place, so I’m potentially overdriving the car a bit,” admits the Briton and explains: “I haven’t found the rhythm I want yet and don’t know exactly where the limit is in every corner.”
“Therefore, I’m probably not driving at the level I expect from myself,” says the McLaren driver, who also emphasizes: “The car is also difficult to drive, so it’s easy to go over the limit with it.”
And if you combine both, then mistakes like today’s in qualifying in Melbourne would result. “I ended up where I deserved to be,” says Norris.
His complete statements can be found here!
Verstappen’s pole lap …
… is available here again in the video. It was “an incredibly great lap from Max,” praises Helmut Marko on ‘ServusTV’. And the first pole for Red Bull in Australia in ten years!
Wolff: We must not give up!
It’s no April Fool’s joke that Red Bull secured their third pole position in the third race of the season today. “Under normal circumstances, they should have both cars on the front row,” clarifies Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
And in the long runs, the Bulls were “quite dominant.” Nevertheless, he emphasizes: “It is our duty and that of the teams trying to chase Red Bull to do our best to put on a good show.”
“That’s the great thing about this sport, that you just never give up,” says Wolff, adding: “You can have a bad race weekend or a bad season, but there are also moments when you are just happy.”
Let’s see what Mercedes can still achieve tomorrow.
Read more Championship frustration for Franco Colapinto: Spain «the deserved winner»