Formula 1: Australian Grand Prix 2023 becomes another race defined by officials’ decisions

Max Verstappen called it “a bit of a mess”. Fernando Alonso used the word “stupid”. George Russell said one of the decisions was “totally unnecessary”. The Formula 1 drivers did not mince their words about the Australian Grand Prix.

But that was about the only unsurprising aspect of an event that will be added to the increasingly long list of those which have been defined by controversial decisions by the sport’s officials.

A capacity crowd of more than 130,000 people in Melbourne’s Albert Park witnessed a remarkable race packed with entertainment but also one that raised questions about the direction in which F1’s stakeholders have taken the sport in recent years.

Was it sport, or entertainment? Had decisions taken for perfectly reasonable reasons created a perfect demonstration of the law of unintended consequences?

‘I don’t really know what’s going on’

The drivers themselves certainly had questions, and admitted they would be raising some of the events of the day when they meet with governing body the FIA at the next race in Azerbaijan at the end of the month.

Sunday’s grand prix was stopped three times – only the fifth time this has happened in 36 years – and on none of the occasions was there unanimity as to whether that was the correct decision.

The first red flag was caused by a heavy crash for Alex Albon’s Williams on lap six of the race, which left the barriers damaged and gravel spread across the track.

This prompted Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, to say: “I don’t really know what’s going on with some of the decisions. We are all trying to work together with the FIA to improve things but it is a bit of a challenge.”

Some will point out that Russell’s opinion might have been skewed by the fact that he had skin in the game, for he had just pitted for fresh tyres, trying to take advantage of the safety car initially thrown for Albon’s crash. And when the red flag came, it turned what could have been an inspired call – but equally might not have been – into a disadvantage.

But Alonso, who was one of the drivers who benefited from that red flag, admitted he was “surprised” by it.

Far more controversial, though, were the decisions at the end of the race, prompted by Kevin Magnussen clouting the wall with his Haas on lap 54 – with four to go – and breaking a rear wheel.

Again there was a safety car soon followed by a red flag. But the timing of the crash left time only for two racing laps. And on the restart there was another crash, and another red flag.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz tipped Alonso into a spin at the first corner, apparently turning the two-time champion’s well-earned third place into zero points. And in the ensuing melee the Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon – both in the points – crashed into each other.

Now there was another problem. There was not time for any more racing, as the lap the safety car would use up to bring the field back to the grid for another standing start was the final lap of the race.

And what should be the positions for that final trundle to the chequered flag? The rules said that not enough distance had been covered to generate a new order, so the field returned to what it had been before the previous restart.

In one way, then, the first-corner incident had not happened, as Alonso still ended up third. But in another, it very much had – two cars that had crashed out were still out and another driver, Sainz, was dropped from fourth out of the points by a penalty for causing a collision with Alonso.

A race which began with Russell overtaking Verstappen off the line turned to despair with a power unit failure

Echoes of Abu Dhabi

That was not the only contradiction. The other surrounded why all this happened in the first place.

That goes back to a desire agreed by F1’s stakeholders that it is preferable for races not to finish under the safety car.

It was that same ambition that led to the controversial end to the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when the then race director failed to implement the rules correctly, and mishandled a late safety car.

His decisions led directly to the world championship changing hands – Lewis Hamilton, who had dominated the race until then and was poised to win his eighth world title, was passed on the one remaining racing lap by Verstappen, who won instead.

Since then, there has been a desire to learn from the mistakes of Abu Dhabi, where all the controversy would have been avoided if a red flag had been thrown instead of leaving the safety car out.

It is especially ironic, then, that in Australia on Sunday, the desire to have a race finish under green flag conditions led directly to it doing so behind a safety car, there not being enough laps left at the final restart for the cars to be released.

‘I didn’t understand why we needed a red flag’

Afterwards, Verstappen questioned the need for the race to be stopped following Magnussen’s incident.

“I just didn’t understand why we needed a red flag,” he said. “If you had had a safety car and then a normal rolling start, we wouldn’t have had all these shunts and then you have a normal finish. So they created the problems themselves at the end of the day.”

Hamilton, sitting beside him in the news conference after finishing second, was clearly reluctant to be drawn on the topic. But he did follow Verstappen’s response by saying: “The same.”

And Alonso said he had questions about the entirety of events on the day.

“I was surprised with all the red flags, to be honest,” he said. “The first one was a Williams in Turn Six but we went through there one lap with the safety car. There was a little bit of gravel but nothing really too bad on track.

“But we never know in the car what is going on on the track. Apparently, one barrier was not properly fitted.

“The FIA has more information than us. So if there is a red flag, it has to be for a reason.

“We will ask probably in Baku what was the reason for the second. I know there was a piece of tyre and debris in the first straight but the car itself was in the inside of Turn Four so it felt quite safe there.

“And the safety car is for those kind of reasons. For us, maybe it was a different opinion, but the FIA are the only ones with all the cards in the table so in those kind of situations we trust them.”

Their bosses were more circumspect, a reflection of the fact that they know they are at least partly responsible for the protocols that led to what happened.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “You can understand the wish to be finishing under racing conditions rather than cruising around behind the safety car for three laps. They might have been able to clear the circuit and get it going. I don’t know.

“It’s something that’s been discussed and there’s always been a preference to finish under race conditions so if stopping a race enabled them to tidy up the circuit rather than just cruising behind the safety car, it’s the right thing to do.

“Safety reasons is what the red flag is for and there was a lot of debris on track. It was the right thing to red flag it. The problem was there were only two laps to go. So there’ll always be winners and losers after that.”

His opposite number at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, added: “Both red flags we didn’t see coming. Restarts are a great entertainment factor. We just need to understand going forward when are red flags being put out and what is a safety car or virtual safety car. In those incidents you could have applied either.

“F1 is so successful because it’s sport and we follow the rule book and that gives great entertainment. As long as it’s clear how this is being interpreted, I am fine.”

In the background, another plan

Behind the scenes in F1, there is presently another discussion taking place that has direct parallels with this one.

The sport is working on a plan to change the format of the new ‘sprint’ weekends.

F1 and the FIA have proposed splitting out the sprint from the main event by creating a second qualifying session exclusively for the Saturday race.

This new qualifying would run on Saturday, be shorter than a standard session but in the same knockout format, and set the grid for the sprint race. The starting positions for the main event would now be set by the qualifying session on Friday, rather than the results of the sprint.

Just as with the desire not to end races under a safety car, this proposal is founded on the desire to create a better show.

On Sunday in Melbourne, the team bosses gave initial support to this plan, and it will now go forward for formal discussion through the normal FIA rule-making process of F1 commission and world motorsport council.

There is a desire to get it introduced in time for the next race in Azerbaijan. At the same time, there is already concern about holding a sprint at a track notorious for producing incident-packed races. And now another novelty is being added. Inevitably, there are uncertainties to be ironed out.

One of these is that the shorter three-part knockout qualifying being proposed could lead to a final session of only six or so minutes.

With a session that short, if a driver running early crashed on his first flying lap, the others may run out of time to set a time. How, in those circumstances would the grid would be set?

This is just one of the matters that needs resolving before the plan goes ahead.

Are Red Bull deliberately holding back?

The carnage in Melbourne distracted from a race that had been another demonstration of Red Bull’s overwhelming superiority.

Verstappen dropped from pole position to third at the first start. But once Russell had made his opportunistic pit stop and the race restarted, the world champion took the lead from Hamilton with breathtaking ease.

The Red Bull is already the fastest car on the straights, as well as in the corners. On top of that, it appears that it gets a bigger advantage from the DRS overtaking aid than any other.

The result was that Verstappen scorched past Hamilton on the curving ‘straight’ before the fast chicane at Turns Nine and 10 as if the Briton was driving a car from a different category, just as he did in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago.

But it was after that the real gob-smacking demonstration happened. There were four corners to go to the end of that lap, and through them Verstappen pulled out a two-second advantage.

The difference between the two cars was never as pronounced as that again. Even so, it was abundantly clear Verstappen was going only as fast as he needed to – but still he pulled out a 10-second lead.

Russell said he believed Red Bull were deliberately hiding their true advantage.

“For sure they’re holding back,” he said. “They almost embarrass the show (with) their full potential because the faster they seem globally, the more the sport is going to try to hold them back somehow. Realistically, they probably have 0.7secs over the rest of the field.”

Is this true, Horner was asked after the race? His response was very much not a denial.

“I don’t think…” he started, before pausing and then adding: “There’s always an element of management that goes on in any race. Because it was a one-stop race and a very early one-stop race, of course there was an element of tyre management going on.

“Checo (Perez, Verstappen’s team-mate) wasn’t hanging about and he wasn’t holding back seven-tenths a lap because he didn’t want to show it. The grid was a bit closer here at this venue.”

Up and down the paddock, there is widespread admiration for the remarkable job Red Bull have done with this year’s car. But also confusion.

Gaps between teams typically close up from qualifying to race, when the cars are no longer being extended to their maximum. But with this year’s Red Bull it is the opposite – its advantage has seemed much more pronounced on Sundays.

Could Horner explain, he was asked, why Red Bull’s average advantage in qualifying after three races this year was just over 0.3secs, but Verstappen could pull away from Hamilton at such a remarkable rate after overtaking him?

“Lewis made a mistake on that lap,” Horner said. “But we’ve weighted the car towards the race rather than qualifying. So you can see there are cars which perhaps warm up their tyres a little more aggressively perhaps suffered more in the race.”

Russell and others would argue that Red Bull’s advantage goes way beyond tyre degradation. This is one of the greatest cars ever produced in F1, and right now there looks to be no prospect of anyone stopping it. – bbc.com