The F1 season revs up with an abundance of exciting events taking place. Firstly, we have the main event, the Melbourne Grand Prix. The Grand Prix left Lando Norris as the victor amidst the slippery conditions, but unfortunately, the conditions caused many crashes from Rookies and veterans alike. Secondly, we have a majority new driver grid, an unexpected event from the FIA, revealing the car’s liveries in a decorated fashion.
Unlike last year’s grid, which consisted of the same drivers from the 2023 season, this season had an abundance of rookies. Only two teams, McLaren and Aston Martin, kept the same drivers. Moreover, F1 hosted F75, a first-time arena event which revealed the car’s liveries in a decadent fashion. Some drivers, however, such as Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso, looked disappointed to attend the event. However, a highlight of the event was the governing body of F1, the FIA, being booed by the audience. This reaction comes to light after President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has made many questionable decisions during the last season and in the off-season, such as the bans prohibiting swearing and political statements from the drivers.
The Melbourne debut race had bits of anticipation and excitement, but long drags of safety cars, which cleared the track from any debris that could harm the cars, due to the many crashes. This led the race to be heavily delayed with no intense racing action. Before the start of the Melbourne race, heavy rain led to the preceding F2 race being cancelled. This led the track to be heavily greased with rain, resulting in unsavory conditions for the drivers. During the formation lap, where the drivers do one lap around the track before the official start of the race, Racing Bulls driver Isaak Hadjar unfortunately crashed into the wall due to these poor conditions. Moreover, Alpine rookie Jackie Doohan and Williams and former Ferrari and current Williams racer Carlos Sainz met the same fate on the first lap after the race was restarted. Kimi Antonelli, who replaced longtime Mercedes veteran Lewis Hamilton, almost met the same fate but luckily recovered quickly and ended up 5th at the end of the race. Midway through the race, record-breaking veteran and oldest on the grid Fernando Alonso hit the wall after his tire slightly touched the gravel, leading to a second safety car and second race restart. Gabriel Bortoleto of Alpine and Liam Lawson of Red Bull on the 47th lap also crashed into a wall, causing six eliminations and leaving only two rookies left on the grid by the end of the race.
Throughout the race, weather conditions were on and off, with rain appearing and disappearing in sporadic moments. Due to the poor weather, drivers were forced to pit and change their tires to drive fast in the varying conditions. Ferrari driver Charles LeClerc expressed frustration to his race engineer through his Ferrari team radio when his seat filled up with water from a leak, to which his race engineer replied, “Must be the water.”
The race had a range of emotions, with Lando Norris taking home the first win of the season. He reported to Sky Sports, “Tough race! Especially with Max behind me.” Norris refers to Max Verstappen, who finished second only 0.895 seconds behind him. “I was pushing, especially the last two laps. A little bit stressful, I won’t lie. But an amazing way to start the year.” Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri unfortunately lost his impressive 2nd place lead in the 45th lap when both he and Norris went off the circuit due to the wet track. While Norris was able to recover, Piastri remained stuck on the grass for a while before having to reverse to return to the track. Despite the loss of his lead, Piastri was able to recover 2 points and place 9th. Despite his teammate’s early finish, Alex Albon of the Williams team was able to take 5th place, an incredible result regardless of his team’s reputation as Midfielders. Overall, the F1 Melbourne Grand Prix had many accidents due to the wet conditions, but the pre-race excitement and hype kept fans entertained.
