The Australian GP has finished, Charles Leclerc took his second win of the season and extended his lead at the top of the Driver’s Championship.
The EverythingF1 team have graded each team/driver’s performance over the course the weekend using the school report style, A+ to F scale.
Did your team do well? Do you agree with the teams assessment?
Ferrari , Grade: A
Ferrari have given their drivers a car with the ability of winning a championship, of that there cannot be any doubt. The drivers themselves however are in a stark contrast to each other. This weekend Leclerc dominated from start to finish earning himself his first ever grand slam and solidifying his position at the top of the table. Sainz sadly had all the luck going in the wrong direction, only qualifying 9th because of a red flag from Alonso and then spinning out of the race for a DNF on race day.
You sadly feel the inevitable team orders will be introduced to give Charles the defacto number 1 status in the team very soon. Its difficult not to give the team and Charles Leclerc an A+ but Carlos Sainz’s sheer bad luck does pull the final grade down to A.
James Tiller
Redbull, Grade: B
Max Verstappen suffered his second DNF of the season, with his Red Bull grinding to a halt in the latter stages of the race.
He was holding down second position to championship leader Charles Leclerc, and whilst he was unable to mount a real challenge to the current championship leader, he was on course to bring home a good haul of points for himself and the team.
Conversely, his teammate Sergio Perez capitalised on a good qualifying and decent race start to clinch his first podium of the season.
After a second Red Bull race win slipped out of sight last time out in Jeddah, he showed all his experience to overtake and hold off Hamilton and clinch second place.
Melbourne has highlighted yet another issue within Red Bull powertrains. Verstappen came into the race with PU issues already apparently known. If they want to mount a title challenge, they need to get on top of these issues, and quickly.
Tom Downey
Mercedes, Grade: B-
Another unlikely podium appearance for the Silver Arrows.
An electric start from Lewis Hamilton catapulted him up to third and he did well to hold off a charging Sergio Perez for so long.
There was nothing he could do about the unfortunate timing of the Safety Car and it was then a case of holding position in fourth – something he didn’t seem happy about over team radio.
Congratulation to George Russell for his first podium of the year. A quiet race in which he never seemed to have the pace until he jumped Hamilton during the SC period.
He did however manage his tyres well and takes second place in the Drivers Championship as a result of his consistency – albeit 34 points behind Leclerc.
Their bulletproof image synonymous with the last few years is keeping them in the hunt for now.
Oscar Edwards
McLaren, Grade: B
After a bumpy start to the 2022 season we finally saw both McLaren boys getting some decent points. Whilst the car issues they are having are still around, it seemed the track in Melbourne favoured the car and meant a solid performance for both Lando and Ricciardo.
It seemed like it was a smooth race for both drivers, but messages from the pitwall to Ricciardo in the last lap told otherwise.
“Daniel, we’re managing something on Lando’s car. It’s OK to close the gap – but don’t put him under pressure….. He may lose power”
So time will tell whether these issues will mean dropping back down, but fingers crossed this is a step forward for McLaren. Lando however isn’t convinced and claims the results were “track dependant” and not to expect these results at other tracks.
Danny Graham
Alpine, Grade: C
After a blistering lap for Alonso in qualifying was interrupted by a red flag , his bad luck continued in the race , struggling to get the hard tyres going and then having the safety cars compromise his strategy.
Esteban Ocon was slightly luckier finishing 7th and managing his strategy very well , but left feeling he could have done more with a better start position.
Elise Lewis
Alfa Romeo, Grade: B+
Another strong showing by the Italian outfit as they enjoy the battle of the midfield following two years in the wilderness.
They may have profited from a few DNFs but they have proved to be a reliable outfit so far this season, able to take advantage of the predicted early struggled in this new era.
Bottas is driving like a man who has the full backing of the team and is leading their charge well. He came home in eight and finished comfortably ahead of Gasly.
Zhou Guanyu has adapted well to F1 and doesn’t seem phased by the pressure.
He came home just outside of the points in Melbourne, but if he keeps this up, he’s bound to add to his points tally in races to come.
Oscar Edwards
Alpha Tauri, Grade: E
Not a particularly stand out performance from either of the Alpha Tauri drivers this time out . Pierre Gasly managed to get himself into the points despite a poorly timed pitstop just before the first safety car .
Tsunoda simply wasn’t happy in the car this weekend , feeling that it “lacked performance overall”. The team is already looking ahead hoping for a better result in Imola.
Elise Lewis
Williams, Grade: C
Established driver and resident Canadian Nicholas Latifi had a weekend to forget. Yet again, he failed to score points, had a dismal qualifying including a bizarre and rather amateurish collision with his Canadian counterpart Lance Stroll.
Conversely, Alex Albon has made a welcome return to the points.
Starting at the back thanks to a DSQ from qualifying, he and Williams took a gamble for strategy and opted to not pit until penultimate lap of the race. Williams had a race of contrasting fortunes, Albon gets the Williams into the points, however is teammate, Latifi managed a lowly 16th from 17 finishers.
Tom Downey
HAAS, Grade: C-
Haas entered the Australian GP Weekend with high hopes after Kevin Magnussen scored the team points in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. However, the race did not start in their favour with Magnussen starting in P16 and Mick Schumacher in P15, both having to climb places to get points.
After a rough start and a bad tyre strategy, both Haas cars struggled on the new tarmac but eventually gained a few places in the latter half of the race.
In the end Mick came in 13th and K-Mag in 14th so no points scored this weekend. Haas has now dropped from 5th to 7th in the constructor standings, but K-Mag remains in the top 10 driver standings so there’s still some positives to take from the weekend.
Emma Norgrove
Aston Martin, Grade F
A weekend that should have sparked the team into life with the return of Sebastian Vettel ended up being nightmare fuel for the classic brand.
The nightmare started in FP1, when the Mercedes Power Unit packed in on Vettel’s car. This led to him missing FP2. Vettel would only manage 23 laps over the course of 3 practice sessions.
Qualifying was not much better for both drivers, Lance Stroll was unable to complete a flying lap after collecting Latifi In the Williams. Stroll was given a 3 place grid drop for causing a collision.
The race only added to the nightmare fuel, Vettel crashed out after a bizarre accident at the exit of turn 4, Stroll managed 12th, however the Aston was way off the pace from the rest of the midfield.
The Australian GP is one to forget for Aston Martin, however it highlights how far off the pace the team is, they are now the only team not to have scored points in the first 3 races. More worryingly they don’t seem to be close to getting some any time soon.
Jamie Cooper