MADRID, 21 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Dutch driver Max Verstappen and Red Bull are once again the big favorites to dominate the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, the third round of the World Championship on the Albert Park track, after two doubles in the first two rounds of the championship, while Ferrari He remains determined to reduce the gap, with more options than Mercedes and McLaren, and with Aston Martin fighting to get closer to the lead if they improve their race performance.
First two-week break on the Formula 1 calendar this season. The first two Grand Prix followed the planned script, with the ‘energetics’ exercising an almost irreverent dominance with the three-time Dutch champion – in the first place in the first two races – and the Mexican Sergio Pérez signing two ‘doubles’ in Bahrain and Arabia Saudi. Only Ferrari, with two third places from Leclerc, seems to be a rival, although the distances remain unbridgeable.
After two GPs with hardly any room to introduce improvements and solutions to the problems, the teams have now had 13 days to, at least, reduce or hide the deficits that could hinder their cars. Red Bull’s superiority is insulting but the battle behind, with Ferrari as the top student, is on fire, and a more positive evolution than the rest in these two weeks could be key in Albert Park.
‘Mad Max’ debuted at the Australian track last year, in a weekend with victory and pole – an accident with up to three safety cars and two red flags – after only having celebrated one podium in 2019. The The Dutchman took the baton from Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), champion in Albert Park in 2022, also as the fastest in previous qualifying.
The fast curves of the Melbourne track will test those from Milton Keynes, who do not have good memories here – only two wins in almost 20 years of life -, although their RB20 does not seem to have difficulties adapting to any circuit. The conditions at Albert Park generate even more hope for the ‘Prancing Horse’, while they should not be very beneficial for Mercedes that suffer on this type of circuit.
Hamilton’s last year with the ‘silver arrows’ has not started as both parties expected, still far behind, and fighting with McLaren to be the third team on the grid. The seven-time world champion was only seventh and ninth in Bahrain and Arabia, although he knows what it’s like to win in Melbourne (2008 and 2015), and last year he climbed to the second step of the podium.
A ‘cajon’ for which Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) hopes to fight, who could not run the race in Jeddah due to appendicitis. The Spaniard, present in Melbourne, is now awaiting approval from the FIA doctors to be able to get into his SF-24, after the British Oliver Bearman took his seat in Arabia, with a very good performance.
The Spaniard does not want to lose any more ground, in a year in which he seeks to vindicate himself, with his teeth much sharper, as he already demonstrated in Bahrain. However, in 2023 he did not have the best day in the race in Australia, as he could not avoid the chaos and ended up abandoning, after hitting Fernando Alonso from behind. The accident brought out the umpteenth red flag and the Spaniard managed to finish the remaining two laps safe and sound and in third place.
Alonso won in Australia in 2006 with Renault, on the same track where 23 years ago he scored his first points in Formula 1. Thus, he hopes to be able to eliminate the word ‘unknown’ from his start in the World Championship, since despite performing well in qualifying, the ‘men in green’ can’t get it right in the races. Also because his theoretical rivals have started more plugged in than in 2023.
This is just one more example of how complicated it is to score in 2024. Everything is tighter on the grid – not counting the Austrians – but the ‘top 10’ comes at a high price. Haas, Williams, VisaCashApp RB and Stake are candidates to scratch something in each GP, while the Alpines, who experienced the culmination of their internal earthquake in Australia last year – the two cars crashed into the wall in a restart – continue to the queue and desperation increases.
The grid will face a semi-urban circuit with fourteen corners spread over more than five kilometers, and few with heavy braking. Albert Park has hosted the Grand Prix since 1996, a total of 26 consecutive editions, except for the years 2020-2021 due to the COVID pandemic. The German Michael Schumacher holds the record for the number of wins (2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004); and the fastest lap is owned by ‘Checo’ Pérez, achieved in 2023.
–SCHEDULES OF THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2024:
Friday March 22th.
Free Training 102.30
Free Training 206.00.
Saturday 23.
Free Training 302.30.
Rating 06.00.
Domingo 24.
Carrera 05.00.