This man had obviously not recognized the seriousness of the situation. In any case, the marshal initially moved from the demarcation to the asphalt with a certain calmness. Max Verstappen watched the process, his patience lasted only milliseconds. He’d just waved after he climbed out of his car. So then just do it again, only more energetically. And now there were two of them, in red suits, with fire protection masks and large fire extinguishers.
Before there could be any further delays, the Formula 1 world champion pointed to the areas that should now be deleted as soon as possible. Here and here and here and here. Bubbles had formed on the side box of his Red Bull, smoke was rising and flames could also be seen – until the car was enveloped in a white cloud by the fire extinguishers. However, the steam was far from gone, Verstappen was angry long after the Red Bull had left the track at the Australian Grand Prix. However, that had less to do with marshals.
“Two failures, of course that’s incredible! I lost a lot of points. That was another bad Sunday,” said the 24-year-old Dutchman on Sky. “It shouldn’t be like that. We’ve always been reliable for the past two years, but now it’s a disaster. I didn’t stand a chance against the Ferrari today.”
“We’re miles behind,” says Verstappen
When Verstappen had to park his car involuntarily in the second corner after the start-finish straight, 39 of 58 laps on the street circuit in Albert Park had just been completed. He was second, behind eventual winner Charles Leclerc. He never had a chance of winning this Sunday, but a podium finish would have given him an important boost in the overall standings.
So the defending champion has to realize when looking at the ranking: Oops, only sixth place with 25 points! While Leclerc has already collected 71 points after three Grand Prix and Melbourne third George Russell is second in the World Championship with 37 points ahead of Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz (33). Since the introduction of the new regulations, Mercedes has not been able to build on the dominance of the past few years. In Australia, as in Bahrain, it was enough for Russell to get on the podium and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to finish fourth.
Is something else flaring up somewhere? Max Verstappen takes a close look at his Red Bull after making sure that the marshals catch all sources of fire with their fire extinguishers.
(Photo: William West/AFP)
For Verstappen, the course of this young season has been a roller coaster ride and does not fit in the least with his self-image as a newly crowned champion. First there was the start in Bahrain. Here, too, Leclerc led and won, and Verstappen was second here too. Shortly before the end, Red Bull was stopped by defects – both cars. They refused to work because they “can’t get any more petrol from the tank to the engine,” as sporting director Helmut Marko explained. In Saudi Arabia, Verstappen won ahead of Leclerc. The first failure seemed like a slip. After Melbourne, however, it turns out: Red Bull has a problem.
In his first analysis, Marko directly ruled out a connection to the damage in Bahrain, the most recent failure had nothing to do with it: “There was a massive leak of petrol. Where and how we don’t know, a line broke or something in the tank, that’s why we have it we told Max to stop immediately.” Team boss Christian Horner later said: “We believe it was an external fuel leak and we need to understand exactly what caused this error. We need to get these problems under control quickly.”
Where it initially looked like a close duel between Ferrari and Red Bull, there is now a gap
Perez finished second with his first podium of 2022, ensuring Red Bull was present at the awards ceremony despite the failure of his number one. But the lack of speed was also evident in him: The Mexican dueled several times with Hamilton, who had pushed past him from fifth place at the start. Perez finished more than 20 seconds behind Leclerc – and five and a half seconds ahead of Russell. He also had to admit to Ferrari: “I couldn’t keep up with them at any point. That was the first weekend they were a step ahead of us. Today they were on a different level.”
A look at the constructors’ standings is sobering for the can racers: Ferrari leads them with 104 points ahead of Mercedes (65) and Red Bull (55). Third! The world champion team! “We’re miles behind,” said Verstappen: “I don’t even want to think about the world championship fight at the moment. It’s really frustrating and unacceptable.”
How far away does Ferrari go? Max Verstappen sees Charles Leclerc rush past when the race ends early for him.
(Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Only three of the planned 23 races have now taken place, so a lot can still happen. But where it initially looked like a close duel between Ferrari and Red Bull, between Leclerc and Verstappen, there is now a gap. The Italians are benefiting from adapting to the new regulations earlier than the other top teams, while Red Bull and Mercedes fought bitterly for the title in 2021. Now the proud traditional racing team is being rewarded for this. “We were surprised how fast Ferrari was, a good three to five tenths faster,” said Marko in Melbourne. “Ferrari was in a class of its own and we were clearly behind. We have a hard time with the overall vote. This package that Ferrari put on the track here was unattainable for us.”
There is only one moment later when Leclerc has to defend himself seriously against Verstappen
Leclerc dominated from the start in front of more than 120,000 spectators. He managed the so-called Grand Slam of victory, pole position, fastest lap and to have led all laps. The 24-year-old Monegasse did everything right this weekend and his team optimally set up the car. “What a car!” Leclerc enthused. The fact that Sainz dropped out at the beginning only dampened the euphoria slightly. After the last few difficult years, the Scuderia has confidence that has been strengthened by the excellent start to the season, they are self-confident again. Team boss Mattia Binotto skilfully packed his own praise into his analysis: “To win, you have to be perfect.”
Second victory in the third race of the season: Charles Leclerc.
(Photo: Florent Gooden/PanoramiC/Imago)
In fact, there was only one moment during the race when Leclerc had to defend himself seriously, otherwise he could rely on his skills and those of the SF-75. On lap 24, Sebastian Vettel had crashed into the barrier, a bitter end to an extremely disappointing weekend for the four-time world champion. He had missed the first two Grand Prix with Corona, now he had an accident in training and in the race. When restarting after the safety car, Leclerc didn’t get away well, Verstappen was close – but it wasn’t enough. “We have a fast car that’s also very reliable. If it stays that way, we’ll definitely have a chance to fight for the title,” said Leclerc and warned: “I think it’s extremely important that we don’t get additional ones pressurize it and don’t overdo it. We just have to keep doing our job.”
Red Bull is now hoping for an upcoming update and a reduction in car weight. “That should bring us up to par with Ferrari,” said Marko. “But first we have to increase reliability, otherwise all the speed won’t do us any good.” The Formula 1 entourage travels to Imola next, a home race for Ferrari. And who knows what extra power that might unleash.