Frustrated Hamilton tells Ferrari \u2018we\u2019re not doing that again\u2019<\/a><\/p>\nPiastri explains where it all went wrong | 01:28<\/p>\n
\u2018LIKE THE MUSHROOM IN MARIO KART\u2019<\/p>\n
Sometimes a single pithy quote can cut through a mountain of meticulously constructed analysis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is like the mushroom in Mario Kart,\u201d Charles Leclerc radioed during his battle for the lead with George Russell.<\/p>\n
Leclerc was describing the effect of hitting the new \u2018boost\u2019 button, which gives drivers instant access to all 750 kilowatts from their power unit, at least until the battery runs flat and they have to recharge.<\/p>\n
That fundamental process \u2014 deploying full power, running out of charge and needing to regenerate energy \u2014 explains almost every move in their battle, which delivered seven changes of lead in the opening nine laps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will definitely change the way we go about racing and overtaking,\u201d Leclerc explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore, it was more about who is the bravest at braking the latest. Maybe now there\u2019s a bit more of a strategic mind behind every move you make.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery boost button activation, you know you\u2019re going to pay the price big time after that, and so you always try and think multiple steps ahead to try and end up eventually first.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different way to go about racing for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leclerc was on the fence about the rules \u2014 after, it\u2019s worth nothing they appeared to come quite naturally to him \u2014 but others were more decisive, and most were not complimentary.<\/p>\n
Verstappen, the four-time champion, has been criticising the rules all year. Having long ago described these cars as being contrary to what he felt was the DNA of the sport, his comments were more defeated by Sunday night despite rising from effectively 18th on the grid to finish sixth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do care about it, I do love racing, and I want it to be better than this,\u201d he said, criticising what he described as the randomness of pace difference between cars during the race. \u201cWe can only take so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Esteban Ocon said the new racing style was \u201cfrustrating\u201d because using the boost button to execute an overtake immediately left you vulnerable to being repassed with a depleted battery. \u201cIt\u2019s painful, because you can\u2019t really do much as drivers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Liam Lawson said \u201cit\u2019s not super fun to drive in the race\u201d because \u201cyou\u2019re just constantly managing energy, running out of energy and slowing down at the end of every straight\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sergio P\u00e9rez, who was disconnected from the sport last year before joining Cadillac, said it was \u201ca very different Formula 1\u201d top what he\u2019d become used to.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot less fun, definitely,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not as fun as it used to be, the racing side, and with this amount of management that we have to do, it\u2019s not great, to be honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are all with the artificial racing, it\u2019s too artificial. Unfortunately, Formula 1 has changed a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierre Gasly said it \u201cwasn\u2019t natural\u201d and that the rules were \u201ctaking quite a bit away from pure driving\u201d.<\/p>\n
The reigning world champion, Lando Norris, described the race as chaotic for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very artificial depending on what the power unit decides to do and randomly does at times.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just get overtaken by five cars or you can just do nothing about it sometimes. It\u2019s not for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norris had said after qualifying that F1 has gone from the \u201cbest cars ever made\u201d to \u201cprobably the worst\u201d, and he underlined that point after the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven worse,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just not as fun as last year.<\/p>\n
Merc Dominate as Ferrari call backfires | 02:25<\/p>\n
SORE LOSERS?<\/p>\n
Norris\u2019s claim that the cars are worse to drive than last year certainly attracted scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Though last year\u2019s ground-effect machines were extremely impressive at high speed, they were widely disliked by drivers for needing to be too stiffly set up, for being unpredictable when they snapped out of control, and for being heavy and lazy at medium and low speed.<\/p>\n
At all but a few high-speed tracks, they were not the stuff of driver dreams.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t hear any one of the drivers speaking particularly good of the last cars, saying they were the best car,\u201d Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said incredulously. \u201cWe tend to be very nostalgic looking at past events.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell, his winning driver, suggested there was more than just politics at play in some of the criticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he [Norris] was winning, I don\u2019t think he\u2019d be saying the same,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone had a bad back [from last year\u2019s cars] and drivers were complaining about that, but McLaren drivers said there was no porpoising even though we watched their car and they were porpoising.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s always looking to themselves, and we\u2019re all selfish in this regard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is last year we had the same engine as them and McLaren did a better job than us and they beat us. Now McLaren have got the same engine as us, the same as Williams and the same as Alpine, and so far we\u2019ve done a better job than them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just how the game goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same argument of course applies in reverse for Russell \u2014 that he\u2019s only happy because he\u2019s winning \u2014 but it underlines that perspectives in F1 are certainly prone to change depending on competitive position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI personally loved it,\u201d Lewis Hamilton, looking rejuvenated this season, said. \u201cI thought the race was really fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the car was really, really fun to drive. I watched the cars ahead; there was good battling back and forth. So far, so good.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may seem different, but in my position, I thought it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘That will hurt him for a while’ | 01:03<\/p>\n
IS IT ANY MORE ARTIFICIAL THAN DRS?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth making the comparison to the way the sport worked previously, at least when it comes to overtaking.<\/p>\n
Overtaking is always difficult when aerodynamics is the dominant performance differentiator. Getting close to another car means the following car is affected by the aerodynamic wake and will lose performance. It means more stress is put on the tyres to make up for the difference with mechanical grip, the following driver simply has to fall back, putting a pass out of reach.<\/p>\n
The DRS was introduced in 2011 to counter that effect by allowing the following driver to shed drag by opening the rear wing, which boosts acceleration and top speed down the straight. DRS zones became the principal overtaking spots.<\/p>\n
But the drag reduction system often led to breeze-past overtakes that required no particular skill and often no deftness in the braking zone. The car being overtaken had no way to fight back, at least until the following lap. Often finely balanced battles came down to who could best position themselves to use the DRS \u2014 or to evade it.<\/p>\n
What we saw in Melbourne was almost like a heightened version of that, with drivers deploying and charging their batteries to attack or defend several times a lap \u2014 but, crucially, both drivers could do so simultaneously, and both drivers could consider their tactical options in doing so.<\/p>\n
It fundamentally changed the way drivers raced \u2014 even all the way down to how they tackled each corner \u2014 but control was totally in the hands of both drivers.<\/p>\n
Perhaps more intriguing is the idea that a slightly slower car can defend against a slightly faster car more easily \u2014 as Leclerc did ahead of Russell. The games with batteries made it hard for Russell to sprint away from the Ferrari until Leclerc was taken out of the mix by a poor strategy call.<\/p>\n
If we\u2019d been in the DRS era, Russell may well have cruised past Leclerc with his rear wing open, and Leclerc would have been unlikely to have fought back.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also unclear how representative Australia was of the season overall.<\/p>\n
As one of the four worst circuits for energy recovery, we saw often massive differences in battery state between drivers, who had to spend a lot of time considering their electrical energy store.<\/p>\n
At a circuit where recharging is easier and deployment is less aggressive, we\u2019re likely to see less of a difference in speed, which may neutralise accusations of artificiality.<\/p>\n
Lewis calls out Ferrari over strategy | 00:43<\/p>\n
SAFETY IN THE SPOTLIGHT<\/p>\n
The need for a bigger sample is why no changes will be rushed through before this weekend\u2019s Chinese Grand Prix. It\u2019s not only that the tracks are different; every team and driver now know a lot more about how racing will unfold. If the Australian Grand Prix were run again tomorrow, you can bet they\u2019d all do things differently based on what they learned.<\/p>\n
There is, however, one burning question that remains more important than the artificiality or otherwise of the racing spectacle.<\/p>\n
The sport was lucky to get away without a massive crash on the grid when Liam Lawson\u2019s car unexpectedly bogged down \u2014 something McLaren boss Andrea Stella had warned of during testing.<\/p>\n
Dangerous closing speeds \u2014 also something Stella forecast \u2014 became a feature of pack battles in all parts of the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to have a big accident, Norris said. \u201cThat\u2019s not a nice position to be in.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on what people do, you can have 30, 40, 50 kilometre per hour speed [differences].<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen someone hits someone at that speed, you\u2019re going to fly and you\u2019re going to go over the fence and you\u2019re going to do a lot of damage to yourself and maybe others, and that\u2019s a pretty horrible thing to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even Russell said battling in a group in low-downforce straight mode was \u201csketchy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think from a safety aspect [changing] that would make the racing safer, better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Stella said it was important F1 addressed the safety impact of the new rules immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can hope for the best or we can just do something further to make sure that we reduce this speed differential,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very technical matter. I don\u2019t think we should go too far into \u2018we should do this or we should do that\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy appeal, my call, is to say we should do more. Keep attention on the start, because at some stage that will become a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
After months of speculation, the Australian Grand Prix gave us our first look at the true state of Formula 1 in 2026, but it will take many more races before we can be confident of the verdict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid a rising tide of pre-emptive discontent about the new rules, Formula 1 implored drivers and other critics…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[13273,262479,262500,64,63,689,262489,239108,262502,262495,143987,13275,262498,262484,262492,262477,24585,262493,262496,262481,79277,262506,242713,262505,22304,817,813,816,22496,262488,3875,841,262501,262490,1737,262048,86951,647,262503,262485,677,262480,262504,18923,262476,262494,262483,262487,101414,262497,16193,49513,262499,262478,2072,262486,262482,85,36234,262491,660,242692],"class_list":{"0":"post-528079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-andrea-stella","9":"tag-arguments-lead","10":"tag-artificial-racing","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-battery-runs","15":"tag-boost-button","16":"tag-boost-button-activation","17":"tag-boosts-acceleration","18":"tag-braking-zone","19":"tag-charles-leclerc","20":"tag-combustion-power","21":"tag-dangerous-closing-speeds","22":"tag-deployment-strategies","23":"tag-dominant-performance-differentiator","24":"tag-drag-reduction-system","25":"tag-driver-dreams","26":"tag-driver-spends","27":"tag-drivers-instant","28":"tag-electrical-energy","29":"tag-electrical-energy-store","30":"tag-energy-recovery","31":"tag-energy-poor-circuits","32":"tag-esteban-ocon","33":"tag-f1","34":"tag-formula-1","35":"tag-formula1","36":"tag-four-time-champion","37":"tag-fundamental-process","38":"tag-george-russell","39":"tag-grand-prix","40":"tag-ground-effect-machines","41":"tag-highlight-worthy-moments","42":"tag-lando-norris","43":"tag-love-racing","44":"tag-mario-kart","45":"tag-melbourne","46":"tag-multiple-steps","47":"tag-neutralise-accusations","48":"tag-oceania","49":"tag-pace-difference","50":"tag-pack-battles","51":"tag-power-unit","52":"tag-pretty-horrible-thing","53":"tag-principal-overtaking-spots","54":"tag-racing-style","55":"tag-real-revolution","56":"tag-rear-wing","57":"tag-rear-wing-open","58":"tag-regulation-changes","59":"tag-reigning-world-champion","60":"tag-safety-aspect","61":"tag-safety-impact","62":"tag-sergio-perez","63":"tag-sore-losers","64":"tag-speed-differential","65":"tag-sports","66":"tag-strategy-call","67":"tag-top-speed","68":"tag-victoria","69":"tag-way-drivers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528079","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=528079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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