The Australian Grand Prix hosted the season-opening again, and it was anything but boring. F1 showed why this is considered the King Motorsport category.
As Winter Break ends, people are getting more eager to see a new F1 Season. Formula 1 is back in action! Promising more action every day, and this time, starting from Melbourne, Australia. It hasn’t been the Season Opener since 2019, 6 years ago. F1 shocked the world once again, setting the bar very high for the upcoming races. Australia shocked the F1 community, with 6 cars out, 2 Safety cars, a Ferrari Shock start, and the home racer having an unexpected incident. This race made one of the best season openers in F1 history.
The Australian Grand Prix attempted a crash before it even started. It was Isack Hadjar who spun his VCARD on the formation lap. The French Rookie admitted later that it was caused by the cold tires; however, it was highly influenced by the water on the track and very smooth white lines that became slippery.
Rookie Doohan also crashed his Alpine while spinning; however, this time, it was on turn 6 of the first lap, deploying the first safety car of both the race and the Season. The Australian apologized later, as he recognized that the crash was caused by too much speed entering the turn and wet race inexperience.
However, not even the more experienced drivers, like Carlos Sainz, managed to avoid crashing their cars. During the safety car, he experienced an unprecedented spike in the engine’s energy delivery, making his Williams crash at the last corner. Williams recognized this as “odd” and a “Major Concern” for future races, as they do not know what caused the engine to act so erratically.
His compatriot, Fernando Alonso, didn’t have much better fortune, as he also crashed in the same corner Doohan did, despite his talent and experience. Some gravel in the track is considered to have caused the accident. This deployed the 2nd safety car of the season. However, a driver of the caliber of Fernando Alonso, a 2-time World Champion and a 4-time runner-up, should not be making such mistakes.
Gabriel Bortoleto, a Kick Sauber rookie, was the fifth to crash in this race. The team admitted this was a brake problem; however, they also suspect that a failed suspension component due to banging tires with his teammate could have contributed to his losing control and crashing.
The last driver to crash would be Liam Lawson, who will have trouble adapting to his new Red Bull and Spoon while defending against another car.
On lap 47, the unexpected happened. Oscar Piastri, rolling in 2nd place, drove through a Chicane and drifted off the last corner. This ultimately sent him into the grass. However, the rain made it extremely slippery, so he was beached there. He spent a lot of time beached on the grass, so much so that the stewards thought he had retired. But don’t celebrate too early, as after 12 seconds, the Australian managed to drive back to the track, losing more than 20 seconds in total. This not only cost him a potential victory and an assured podium but also the opportunity of winning in Australia, among his people. This is an honor that no Australian driver managed to secure, and Piastri wasn’t an exception.
Ferrari is one of the best teams in F1. They are the team with the most victories (248), podiums (826), pole positions (253), driver championships (15), and constructor championships (16). However, after finishing second in the last season with only 14 points away from the 17th title, they had a shocking start at Melbourne. After the best season they had had since 2008, Scuderia Ferrari had an abysmal start to the 2025 season.
After signing 7-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, the Tifosi went wild imagining what a Leclerc-Hamilton duo could do. However, this duo didn’t go as planned. After Hamilton’s low affinity with his new race engineer, and Leclerc’s poor performance in Australia, the Team finished the race with fewer points than Kick Sauber. This team finished 10th last season. A 10th place(HAM) and a 7th place(LEC) are not the results that a team like Ferrari would expect. Nonetheless, the Scuderia is known for performing rapid recoveries, like being 7th in 2020, and just 2 years afterward, 2nd despite having the best car on the grid for more than half of the season.
BREAKING NEWS:
Liam Lawson is dropped by Red Bull, and Yuki Tsunoda takes his place!
After a poor performance at Red Bull, Liam Lawson has been demoted back to the Junior Team: RB! The experienced driver, Yuki Tsunoda, who just started his 4th season in F1 at RB, is being promoted to Red Bull.
Every team in F1 wants results; however, Red Bull is known for its short patience and immediate demand for success. This was shown on numerous occasions: in 2019 with Pierre Gasly, in 2020 with Albon, and last season with Sergio Perez. Even Daniel Ricciardo, the old leading driver in Red Bull, was only given 1 season in total to show his ability in the car after rejoining the team. Therefore, the fact that Lawson only had 2 races to show he’s worth that position isn’t surprising.
However, what’s shocking is the time that they gave him. This stands out because Pierre Gasly had half a season to prove his ability, Daniel had a whole season, Albon had 1 and a half, and Perez was dropped after an awful 4th season at Red Bull. But why did Red Bull only give 2 Grand Prix and a Sprint Race to show its value?
There are numerous answers to this question, yet some stand out more than others. The main reason behind Lawson’s substitution is his lack of experience in F1, which showed up during the rain in Australia. Another reason could be his overly aggressive behavior, leading to controversies with Perez last year. But the final and more convincing reason is that Red Bull saw that their car was almost “undrivable” for everyone whose name isn’t Max Verstappen. Therefore, they decided to substitute an overly aggressive rookie with little experience in Red Bull with an experienced driver who has already found the balance between aggressiveness and prudence.
What’s sure, at least, is that Yuki Tsunoda had, entering this season, a head start over the stats. While driving the same car last year, Tsunoda beat Lawson in every aspect. For him, whether it was Qualifying, Race results, or genuine, didn’t matter. However, this trend doesn’t finish here, due to Lawson’s lack of performance, Tsunoda has carried his strike into this season too, having out-qualified and finished ahead of him in every race, or sprint. The car isn’t an excuse, as Tsunoda’s Red Bull finished ahead of Lawson’s RB in the Japanese GP. Despite not being the point-awarding finish that Tsunoda had hoped for, he fulfilled his job by finishing in a high position compared to his old teammate, Liam Lawson.
