2023 Formula One Australia Grand Prix

Can Aston Martin challenge for the win in the Australian Grand Prix.jpg

Who will win the 2023 Formula One Australian Grand Prix?

  • Max Verstappen

    Votes: 599 62.9%
  • Sergio Perez

    Votes: 28 2.9%
  • Fernando Alonso

    Votes: 201 21.1%
  • Lance Stroll

    Votes: 4 0.4%
  • Charles Leclerc

    Votes: 24 2.5%
  • Carlos Sainz

    Votes: 2 0.2%
  • Lewis Hamilton

    Votes: 55 5.8%
  • George Russell

    Votes: 7 0.7%
  • Esteban Ocon

    Votes: 2 0.2%
  • Pierre Gasly

    Votes: 2 0.2%
  • Oscar Piastri

    Votes: 2 0.2%
  • Lando Norris

    Votes: 2 0.2%
  • Kevin Magnussen

    Votes: 1 0.1%
  • Nico Hulkenberg

    Votes: 4 0.4%
  • Zhou Guanyu

    Votes: 1 0.1%
  • Valterri Bottas

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Logan Sargeant

    Votes: 6 0.6%
  • Alex Albon

    Votes: 3 0.3%
  • Nyck Devries

    Votes: 1 0.1%
  • Yuki Tsunoda

    Votes: 8 0.8%

  • Total voters
    952
Round three of the FIA Formula One World Championship takes place at Melbourne, Australia this weekend. Who will claim the top step of the podium around Albert Park?

Image Credit: Aston Martin Racing on Newspress

One month into the season and it's already Round three of the 2023 Formula One World Championship. This time around, the paddock flies down under in a much-celebrated return to the Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne, Australia.

Europeans will be facing the early morning struggles. Practice sessions take place in the middle of the night whilst qualifying and the race both kick off at 8am CET. Despite making for an early start for a weekend, it is always a magical experience to wake up for an exciting race. Hear your alarm and immediately receive a rush of anticipation as you realise today's the day you get to watch the fastest race cars in the world take on a brilliant street course. Before feeling that magical excitement, here are some things to look out for in the Australian GP.

Understanding where everyone sits​

Two races in, we should by now have a good idea of where every team and driver sits in the field. However, with various outfits hitting trouble in the first pair of events, the paddock is still struggling to define a predictable order.

Red Bull are on a roll going into Melbourne.jpg


At the front, Red Bull are the clear favourites. But further down, it's difficult to know where cars should sit. Behind the dominating pair lie three teams, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Mercedes. With Ferrari suffering issues in both races so far and Aston Martin's drivers topping and tailing the six-car train, we don't know if Ferrari sits ahead or behind this pack. Visiting Melbourne, let's hope each team has a decent run of things in order to determine the true pace of the Italian Stallions.

Further down, the midfield is truly unpredictable given the close nature of the pack. Qualifying will be of upmost importance this weekend, so drivers can't afford to not extract the maximum out of their cars. Miss out on a tenth and you could find yourself dropping back several places. The midfield is where experts believe McLaren to be, but where exactly, no-one knows. The first two races saw issues befall both cars dropping them to the rear of the pack. Can the Papaya pairing finally have a clean race this weekend?

Piastri returns home​

Speaking of McLaren, its youngest driver will be racing on his home streets of Melbourne for the first time in his career. The young Aussie will want to make a good first impression on his home-grown fans, but a good result depends on the car underneath him.


From Daniel Ricciardo getting the boot at the end of last year to Oscar Piastri getting a poor start to the season from no fault of his own. McLaren won't be popular with Australian F1 fans, and if he struggles this weekend, Monday could see plenty of orange shirts filling bins around Albert Park.

Team management will be crucial​

With Red Bull undisputedly leading the field, its two drivers are beginning to lock horns. Last time out, Sergio Perez managed to out-do his World Champion teammate putting the two level on race wins this year. The tail end of the Saudi Arabian GP featured disobedience from both drivers, a trait sure to rear its head this weekend if the team can't get a handle of the situation.

Whilst this makes for exciting viewing to spectators, the teams always hope for an easy race without drama. It's all well and good fighting to close or maintain a five-second gap. But when these two get closer mid-race and start fighting wheel-to-wheel, that's when things could get nasty for the energy drinks outfit.

With a dominant car, Red Bull is looking to win as many races early on before their lack of wind tunnel time starts to hinder them. A double DNF this early on would throw a spanner in their plans and open the door for a championship challenge from another team. Fancy a shot at your third, Fernando?

Will you be getting up early for the 2023 Australian Grand Prix? Who are you putting your money on?
About author
Angus Martin
Motorsport gets my blood pumping more than anything else. Be it physical or virtual, I'm down to bang doors.

Comments

You call out to Mag every week.. what's so special about him? maybe you see more than me?
Partly for fun and as an ironic counterweight - because Im soo fed up by only hearing about Max, Hamilton and Alonzo.
But also because Im a dane like him and proud of having a fellow countryman who in interviews does sound more intelligent and refreshing than most ot the other overly politically correct F1 drivers.:sneaky:

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: And because humour is often lacking in forums like this - me think.:whistling:
 
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Partly for fun and as an ironic counterweight - because Im soo fed up by only hearing about Max, Hamilton and Alonzo.
But also because Im a dane like him and proud of having a fellow countryman who in interviews does sound more intelligent and refreshing than most ot the other overly politically correct F1 drivers.:sneaky:

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: And because humour is often lacking in forums like this - me think.:whistling:
you have a point there but there are more that are not from politics. I completely share your opinion about overly macho sports types :thumbsup:
 
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Just because Max doesn't get enough attention: They said this was his first pole at Australia? What other tracks has he yet to achieve Pole Position at?
 
you have a point there but there are more that are not from politics.
Fully agree with that.:thumbsup:
And I admit that I maybe is a bit hard with this assessment of all the other F1 drivers.
Because (again admitted) there are a some of them who also speak reasonably free of either political corectness or what the team or their economically base want them to say.;)

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: In my book Max and partly our friend Hulk is examples of rather human drivers where you dont allways know what they gonna say - before they open their mouth.:roflmao:
 
Premium
The Red Bull, even in Max's hands, looks a difficult car to drive this weekend. That, plus possibly the car being a bit frail must give the chasing drivers high hopes for a bit of a shock win.
 
Let's hope for an exiting race (even if it's just midfield battles) and at least decent bloody camera direction, so we can actually see the action if it's limited.

Finally an advantage for randomly waking up so early :)

Nice start!

Oh no Albon... from such a great position in a W. Some really got screwed by the red flag. Ham vs Ves again, the race has begun, jeez.

Mercs are on fire today... not just in one way
 
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Red Flag should be a freeze, so no repairs or changing of tires. If you have damage, you should have to wait til the race restarts before working on the damage. And free tire changes??? NEVER EVER should happen.
 
Premium
27 of 58 laps finished and you can still vote or change your vote for the race winner.
 
This on the other hand, is the best red flag ever thrown. The errors of Abu Dhabi 2021 and Monza 2022 corrected, Verstappen vs Hamilton one more time.
 
Spicy ending?


lol, that aged fantastically xD

wonder how the rules work out
 
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