Winners and Losers of the 2022 Australian Grand Prix

By Joe Murphy

The third race of the season was nothing short of drama and excitement. The Australian Grand Prix from the rejuvenated Melbourne track gave spectators plenty of moments in an action packed event. As we go through these early stages of the season, we are learning more and more about the teams and drivers alike. So, who came away from Australia smiling and which unlucky few have much to ponder over the next fortnight?

Winner – Charles Leclerc

First. Second. First. Almost an ideal start for young Charles Leclerc as he yet again set the standard for the others. In a weekend that gave him his first ever career ‘grand slam’ as he claimed pole position, fastest lap and the race win, you’d be hard pressed to find a bigger ‘winner’ from the trip down under. The Ferrari man now leads the championship by an extended margin, thanks in part to his win but also because of the misfortune of his closest rival (we will get to that). At the moment, it’s hard to look beyond Leclerc as the title favourite. If he can keep this consistency up, it is surely his to lose. As Imola awaits, the Monaco man will be hoping to keep his strong run going.

Loser – Max Verstappen

On the other hand, Max Verstappen suffered further reliability issues. His Red Bull looks a shadow of the machine from last season and more like the car of a few years ago. Aside from a couple of laps, he never really troubled the Ferrari and looked set to bank on an eighteen-point second place finish. With only a handful of laps to go, yet again his car let his down and issues surrounding smoke and leaking fluid brought his race to a premature halt. The reigning World Champion cannot afford to keep getting these pointless finishes of he is to challenge for the title this year. It is already getting to the territory where Imola becomes a must win race for the Dutch lion.

Winner – Sergio Perez

In contrast, the other half of the Red Bull garage will be celebrating tonight as Sergio Perez moved above his teammate in the standings with a well executed second place finish. Twice, the Mexican managed to cleverly manoeuvre passed the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, before completing the Silver Arrows Hat Trick when getting by George Russell late on, for the extra three points. Checo illustrated his craft in Melbourne on Sunday, showing everyone exactly why Red Bull opted for the man just over eighteen months ago. Whilst he may lack the pace over the long term to mount a serious title challenge, his input will be monumental in Red Bull’s hopes of beating Ferrari to the Constructor’s Championship.

Loser – Carlos Sainz

Much like Red Bull, Ferrari had a split garage in terms of success. Whereas Leclerc had a dream scenario, Sainz endured a nightmare weekend. As Martin Brundle referred to in commentary, Carlos was the “unluckiest man on the grid” with things going wrong in Qualifying and in the race, at no fault of his own. The tricky qualifying session left the Spaniard with too much to do and, as he pushed too hard too early on a set of cold, hard tyres, he slid into the gravel track and his race was over before it had even begun. Last season, Carlos beat his teammate over the course of the year. This term, it seems to be one way traffic so far, and not in the way the ‘Smooth Operator’ would have hoped.

Winner – Mercedes

After the disasterous result in Saudi Arabia, expectations for Mercedes heading into the event in Australia were surely at an eight year low. However, they come away from the event having scored more points than Ferrari or Red Bull and with another podium to add to the tally. Whereas Lewis Hamilton was perhaps a little unfortunate with the timing of the safety car and his pit stop just a couple of laps prior, teammate George Russell capitalised on such a scenario to put himself into the podium places. Despite not being able to hold off Perez in the closing stages, a third place finish, and first podium finish for Mercedes, will give Russell a huge boost in confidence. Fourth isn’t what Lewis Hamilton may have wanted, but is a good result considering there were, in effect, the only team without upgrades for this weekend. Totto Wolff and his team can leave Australia happy with how the weekend unfolded for them.

Loser – Fernando Alonso

What could have been for Fernando had he not crashed in Q3. He was on for a second row slot at worst, having gone purple on the second sector. Alas, the sport of Formula 1 isn’t so forgiving and the veteran had to settle for slightly further back. A poorly timed safety car then ruined his race as he was sent down the order. With the medium tyre not really working for the Spaniard, his Alpine struggled to overtake the other midfield cars. To compound his misery, his failing tyres actually sent him to the back of the grid, way off where he looked set to finish. Fernando has the experience to bounce back, no problem. A solid points haul in Imola later in the month, is now all the more important. For Alpine overall, Ocon gave his team something to cheer. The Constructor looks relatively comfortable in the midfield, seemingly a few steps ahead of the likes of Alpha Tauri, Aston Martin and Williams but ultimately, considerably, short of at least the top two teams. Their fight looks to be with Haas and perhaps McLaren for this season.

Winner – McLaren

After a torrid first two races of the 2022 season, McLaren were another team who found some pace down under. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo practically ran side-by-side for the majority of the race and crossed the line within a few tenths of a second of each other to both claim solid points for the team. Norris edged his teammate showing his class whilst hometown hero Ricciardo claimed his first points of the campaign following a difficult start. Whilst they were perhaps fortunate to be ahead of Sainz, Verstappen and Alonso by the chequered flag, they capitalised on the misfortune of others as the team operated extremely successfully over the course of the weekend. It seems as it the days of running last in a Grand Prix are over, for now.

Loser – Alpha Tauri

A team that have the excuse of a terribly timed safety car is Alpha Tauri. That being said, Gasly was only ever in the points by a small margin and Tsunoda never seemed at the races. It seems the Italian Constructor have gone slightly backwards from last season. The cars certainly feel further away from the Alpine or even Haas pair. With Alfa Romeo also finding some kind of pace, this season could become a struggle for Pierre and Yuki. The very least they should achieve is finishing ahead of Aston Martin and Williams for another year. However, the hope was surely to be closer to the teams ahead and that simply hasn’t happened yet. Tost and his team have time to kick start their season, and some upcoming European Circuits could suit the Alpha Tauri pair. Regarding the Japanese driver specifically, he needs to find some results from somewhere and find them quickly, otherwise he’ll be looking over his shoulder as he desperately holds on to his seat in F1.