{"id":524838,"date":"2026-03-07T14:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T14:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/524838\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T14:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T14:47:08","slug":"stupid-drivers-could-be-passed-by-half-the-grid-at-start-of-f1-australian-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/524838\/","title":{"rendered":"“Stupid” drivers could be passed by “half the grid” at start of F1 Australian GP"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Formula 1 driver may be \u201cpassed by half the grid\u201d at the start of the Australian Grand Prix if they race \u2018stupidly\u2019, reckons Ferrari<\/a> star Charles Leclerc<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The championship is debuting its latest regulation overhaul this year with changes to both the chassis and power unit, which has vastly altered the way drivers go racing.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s largely because of the engine tweaks with it now being more reliant on electrical energy – almost 50:50 – meaning battery management will play a greater role, while race starts are more complex.<\/p>\n

The removal of the MGU-H means drivers must rev their engines much higher for at least 10 seconds to spool up the turbo<\/a> and timing the procedure wrong could pitch the car into anti-stall at the lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McLaren<\/a>\u2019s Oscar Piastri<\/a> previously said that this could cost a driver up to seven positions<\/a>, something that Leclerc thinks may be witnessed during the 2026 opener in Melbourne on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lots of unknowns,\u201d said Leclerc, who qualified fourth<\/a>. \u201cI don’t really know how it’s going to go. You can easily pass cars on the first lap, you can very easily then get passed by half the grid on the next lap if you go so stupid.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I don’t know if it will end up [with] everybody not doing anything or seeing some crazy things, but I guess we’ll wait and see tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Practice starts were interesting to watch during pre-season testing in Bahrain as drivers tried to get used to the new procedure, with some faring better than others.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ferrari arguably had the most success as one occasion saw Lewis Hamilton<\/a> jump from fifth to first, but Leclerc doesn\u2019t believe this advantage will remain come Sunday.<\/p>\n

As long as Mercedes<\/a> doesn\u2019t mess up the start, it should keep its dominant 1-2 from qualifying with Red Bull\u2019s Isack Hadjar<\/a>, who qualified third, maybe Leclerc\u2019s best chance of an overtake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bit chaotic in Bahrain, the starts we’ve seen,\u201d Leclerc told Sky Sports. \u201cI don’t think it will look like that tomorrow, but I might be wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing is that when everybody is in its optimal window for the start, there’s not that much between the cars. It’s kind of easy for us to reach that optimum window for the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s, I believe – I’ve never tried the Mercedes engine – much more difficult for them to reach that optimum window and that means it might be a bit more tricky for them at the start. But if they do everything perfect, I don’t expect them to struggle at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Formula 1 driver may be \u201cpassed by half the grid\u201d at the start of the Australian Grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,27784,13275,817,259149,826,813,816,85,261220],"class_list":["post-524838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-gp","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-f1","tag-f1-australian-grand-prix","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports","tag-stupid-drivers-could-be-passed-by-half-the-grid-at-start-of-f1-australian-gp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}