Here we are again, back like we never left. New season, new regulations.
Happy Women’s History Month to Laura Müller and Hannah Schmitz, who had Turn Six at Albert Park named after them at this year’s Australian Grand Prix.
This race did not disappoint. In fact, I’m so excited for the rest of the season. Here’s what I think the pecking order is (6-8 can move around — I’m not too clear on them yet).
- Mercedes
- Ferrari
- McLaren
- Red Bull
- Visa CashApp Racing Bulls
- Haas
- Alpine
- Audi
- Williams
- Cadillac
- Aston Martin
The Ferrari start was absolutely divine — che macchina! I mean, Lewis Hamilton was almost in first after starting in seventh place. The car looks fast, and it looks consistent. There are obviously kinks to be worked out, especially with battery deployment during qualifying, but Hamilton’s second stint made me smile. That’s the Hamilton who won seven (eight) championships. I choose to believe that there’s a non-zero chance that he fights for this title.
Other than the qualifying issues, the only roadblock I foresee is poor strategy (crossing mine and my roommates’ fingers and toes that they fix up). They need to wipe the winter frost off and get to work. There was a double podium in this race for Ferrari if the strategy team had pitted at least one driver at the first virtual safety car.
I saw clean wheel-to-wheel racing that didn’t look belabored. The lead changed hands. I am alive. Mercedes AMG Petronas, I was very familiar with your game, it just seemed as though you stopped playing from 2022 to 2025. But the silver (black) arrows are back, and George Russell is at the helm.
The thing about Russell is that when he has the chance to make the most of a race, he will. I believe that for the first time in his career, he finally has the machinery to make it happen. I can’t imagine, watching Mercedes dominate for almost a decade, when it was his turn to drive, the team kept cranking out tractors. But as of now (it’s still early so take this lightly), he finally has a car that was built to race. The engine is obviously a point of contention — but if the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA, doesn’t do anything about it, I suggest the other teams get ready for a long season.
In saying this, I don’t believe the gap between the Mercedes cars and the other teams is as large as it looked in qualifying. Russell was 0.8 seconds faster than anyone who wasn’t his teammate. That’s probably going to come down — Ferrari had its problems, so we don’t know how fast it could actually go — consider that Hamilton was 0.3 down on Russell in Q1, but the gap grew to almost a second by Q3. I also think once McLaren gets to grips with the engine — which they did not have full access to until the race weekend — we’ll have much more representative qualifying times. It’s sad for Oscar Piastri to crash out before getting to the grid.
Redbull is still confusing to me — Isack Hadjar qualified in third place (happy for him), but the aforementioned missing pieces and Max Verstappen’s crash in Q1 makes the team’s pace a bit of a mystery.
The issue with McLaren and Red Bull is that they just seemed slow. Verstappen was able to carve through the field — that’s true — so the car isn’t a wheelbarrow, but neither he nor world champion Lando Norris seemed up to pace with the top four. Norris and Verstappen finished almost 40 seconds behind Hamilton. If the script really has flipped — I hope it’s in Hamilton’s and Charles Leclerc’s favour.
Now to the other end of the spectrum.
Williams Racing did not participate in the first pre-season test in Bahrain because its car was not ready. I believe we should have known from then it wasn’t going to be pretty. Its car is 28 kg overweight, not 30 kg as was originally claimed — thank you, James Vowles, for clearing that up. But they aren’t even the worst car on the grid. I’ll excuse Cadillac because it is an entirely new team dealing with new infrastructure in a season of change.
You know who I can’t excuse? Aston Martin. When news of Adrian Newey’s departure from Red Bull crossed my feed in the fallout of Christian Horner’s deplorable behaviour, I prayed to the almighty God above that Newey would join Ferrari. But ultimately, God’s ways are best. Newey has somehow built Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso a torture chamber that vibrates so much there is risk of paralysis.
The team also didn’t go to the Honda factory until November 2025. As per, five months before, the engine needed to be ready to race in Australia (and the other 23 races). Five months sounds like a long time — but not when teams have been working toward these regulations for two years. And what did they find when they went there? A significantly smaller, inexperienced workforce and an engine that was not up to scratch.
But it’s not just the engine, is it? Newey was incredibly aggressive with the chassis design, and when you put it all together, the picture is very bleak.
I mean, the team only had two batteries in the car, and it was certain those batteries would not do the full race distance after practice (the drivers were limited to 25 laps). Alonso did not finish the race, and then they sent him back out and he was 15 laps down. Stroll (and Carlos Sainz Jr.) did not participate in qualifying.
Other than the obvious mess that is Aston Martin currently, reliability will prove to be king this season. Nico Hülkenberg did not start due to engine issues, and three drivers retired with issues.
There are many unknowns to be discovered over the course of the season, including if F1 TV will fix the decimal places on the timing screen. And I’ll be here for (at least some of) the ride.
Until next time — see you in Shanghai.
