Australian Grand Prix 2022

Australian Grand Prix Overview

I’m excited to tell you about The Rise of McLaren finishing in the points, the fall of Max Verstappen again, what the fuck is going on? Verstappen has DNFd in two of three races this season thus far. 

Aston Martin shit the bed when they wrecked their cars three times before the race and Vettel wrecked on Sunday and DNFd.

Alex Albon was disqualyed during qualies Sat for failing to supply one liter of fuel for testing. He started at the very back of the grid, drove the race on one set of Hard tires before pitting on the last lap and finished in the points.

Carlos Sainz with Ferrari screwed the pooch; qualied 9th and DNF on the 3rd lap after avoiding a high speed collison.

Albert Park Circuit Details and Tire Compounds

Circuit Details

The Formula One Heineken Australian Grand Prix 2022, takes place in Melbourne, Australia, at the Albert Park Circuit.

It’s been 1118 days since there was a race here, so there were a lot of horny mofos this year, and it was fucking epic.

There were over 420,000 people at the grand prix over the weekend. It was the largest spectator attendance for a weekend sporting event in Australia’s history.

Here are the circuit details:

• This is virtually a new track.
• The design has been altered in the corners and the track itself has been completely resurfaced.
• The race on Sunday was 58 laps.
• Three DRS zones
• 14 turns in total
• One lap around is 3.28 miles. 

Tire Compounds for the Race

The Formula One Heineken Australian Grand Prix 2022 did not disappoint. Pirelli decided on the C5 C3 C2 tire compounds, which is the first time since 2017 Russia there wasn’t a continuous step in the compound choices.

This was predicted to be a 2-stop strategy race, but everyone had to pit three times

Practice, Qualifying and The Race

Free Practice 3

• At the start of FP3, an announcement was made that the circuit would now have 3 DRS zones instead of 4. The DRS zone in turns 6-8 is being removed for safety reasons.
• Both Aston Martin Drivers wreck their shit; will their engineers be able to fix their cars before Qualies?

Qualifying 1

One Aston Martin driver gets his car fixed, Stroll, but then wrecks his car halfway through. This gives the engineers more time to fix Vettel’s car…but he doesn’t do shit and starts P17 or something.

Qualifying 2

Magnussen out…and here I was building him up on the last few podcasts.

Qualifying 3

• Alonzo wrecks, has hydraulic issue and couldn’t downshift into corner.
• Sainz gets fucked by a yellow flag, never gets another good lap.
• Albon was disqualied from qualies after failing to product one liter of fuel for testing.

Starting Grid

Lap 1

• Six drivers started on Hard tires and the rest of the field went with Medium tires. Those drivers were:
  • Alonzo
  • Sainz
  • Magnussen
  • Vettel
  • Stroll
  • Albon
• Sainz gets a bad start in the back and loses five positions
• Hamilton darts ahead of Norris and Perez to P3
• Gasly jumps up to P9
• Tsunoda jumps to P11.

Top 10 Grid After Lap 1

Lap 3

• SAINZ runs off track, has to retire car.
  • Slow start, hard time on the Hard tires, Turn 10 runs off track going into corner too fast and narrowly escaping a collision.
• STROLL pits to put on Medium tires

Lap 5

• During SAFETY CAR:
  • Learned about a new rule where drivers behind the leader cannot drive up next to the leading car and must stay behind after the safety car releases. The announcers call it the Verstappen Rule and I agree 100%.
• Stroll pits 2 times on LAPS 3 AND 5:
  • (1) get rid of the Hard tires and put on Medium tires
  • (2) get rid of MED tires and put on HARD tires

Lap 10

• Perez passes HAM @ turn 3.
• Vettel goes off track at turn 11, will he wreck and put up a DNF here…No, he recovers and is back to the races

Lap 12

• VER radios in that the left front tire is graining.
• LEC has a ~3.5s lead on VER.

Lap 17

• MAG runs off track attempting to overtake TSU.

Lap 19

• VER pits for HARD tires and comes P7.
• Twitter poll: This year how long does it take to break in a set of HARD tires after pitting? 3 laps, 4 laps, 5 laps reach out @F1RacingPodcast on Twitter with your answer.

Lap 20

• HAM threatens to overtake PER; PER pits on LAP 21.

This is the first 20 laps, listen or read the transcribed podcast for the rest of the racing action here on our podcast page:

Race Result

Conclusion

• In conclusion, VER had massive car failure and DNFd for the 2nd time in three races.
• McLaren drivers finished in the points at P5 and P6.
• SAI had trouble with luck in the qualies, the car at the start, and his impatience as he ran off track on the third lap and DNFd
• Aston Martin drivers seem to be having problems keeping the car in between the lines.
• Alex Albon was disqualyed during qualies Sat for failing to supply one liter of fuel for testing. He started at the very back of the grid, drove the race on one set of Hard tires before pitting on the last lap and finished in the points.
• The Australian Grand Prix was fucking epic and LEC continues to dominate with speed.
• The drivers will travel this week, but we do have the next race weekend on Ferrari’s home turf on April 22nd. You won’t want to miss that one.