a historic low<\/a>. That followed Piastri\u2019s painful crash on the reconnaissance lap in Melbourne, which was also triggered by unexpected engine behaviour.<\/p>\nThe tally for Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls, both using the same Red Bull Powertrains engine, is mixed, with a combination of crash damage and technical failures.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Peter Fox \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY THEY GO (SOMETIMES)<\/p>\n
For those cars who do make the grid, the start of races this season has been chaotic, with far more variation between the quality of getaway between the drivers and especially the teams.<\/p>\n
Note that the below stats account for cars that didn\u2019t make the start \u2014 that is, a driver is not considered to have gained a place if the driver ahead of them had already been wheeled off the grid and left an empty space.<\/p>\n
There has been one clear standout so far this season.<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s lightning starts \u2014 thanks to its smaller turbo design, built precisely with the launch in mind \u2014 have made it the only team yet to lose any places at lights-out in either a grand prix or a sprint. The team\u2019s worst start was Hamilton\u2019s Miami getaway, where he held his position.<\/p>\n
Best starters (grands prix and sprints)<\/p>\n
1. Ferrari: 21 places gained<\/p>\n
1. Williams: 18 places gained<\/p>\n
3. Aston Martin: 15 places gained<\/p>\n
Williams, though, deserves a note here. Only once \u2014 Sainz in the Miami sprint \u2014 has one of its cars lost places off the line. Sainz, despite that one blip, is doing most of the heavy lifting, with a cumulative 11 places gained on the first lap.<\/p>\n
Part of the reason for that, though \u2014 and what makes Ferrari\u2019s stat even more impressive \u2014 is that Williams is starting further back, from where more passes are possible. Ferrari\u2019s drivers are starting on average between fourth and fifth.<\/p>\n
That also puts into context Aston Martin\u2019s considerable gains from the very back of the grid \u2014 though Alonso\u2019s first-lap onboards continue to be a sight to behold.<\/p>\n
Worst starters (grands prix and sprints)<\/p>\n
1. Audi: 34 places lost<\/p>\n
2. Red Bull Racing: 32 places lost<\/p>\n
3. Mercedes: 24 places lost<\/p>\n
Conversely, there\u2019s a clear first-lap loser this year.<\/p>\n
Audi\u2019s starts have been dreadful, with the drivers losing an average of 3.4 places per getaway. It\u2019s tied directly to the team\u2019s engine concept, with reports suggesting Audi has the largest turbocharger on the grid, which takes too long to spin up to speed.<\/p>\n
Red Bull Racing\u2019s starts are a little more mixed, with some big losses combined with more usual getaways. Verstappen has lost seven places three times this year, while Hadjar suffered an 11-place loss at the Chinese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Mercedes\u2019s poor starts have been well chronicled. Andrea Kimi Antonelli has lost places at every start. George Russell has fared a little better, holding his position twice and gaining once.<\/p>\n
However, with Antonelli having started every grand prix and sprint from the front row and Russell having done likewise before Miami, both drivers have had more to lose, meaning the team is unlikely to move into positive territory so long as it continues qualifying so well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As highly unusual as it is for Formula 1 to have completed just four rounds by late May,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[2095,12295,14212,1724,64,63,689,309932,4971,13275,512,329965,329980,329971,329968,329975,329992,329985,329974,9239,329991,817,845,329966,329990,2755,813,816,329982,3875,2093,841,102392,18901,14211,329967,2101,941,1737,825,647,5140,2041,2067,677,5242,329969,329988,329979,329977,329987,265275,329986,329983,163497,2072,329989,85,329981,329976,329973,329970,329978,167545,329972,2614,329984,660,9020],"class_list":["post-684511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-america","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-arvid-lindblad","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-auto-giant","tag-carlos-sainz","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-china","tag-clear-first-lap-loser","tag-clear-storylines","tag-clear-trends","tag-close-quarters","tag-closest-qualifying-battle","tag-closest-teammates","tag-development-decisions","tag-dire-reliability","tag-eastern-asia","tag-engine-concept","tag-f1","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-finish-races","tag-first-lap-onboards","tag-florida","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-frenetic-european-leg","tag-george-russell","tag-german-marque","tag-grand-prix","tag-grand-prix-distance","tag-grand-prix-qualifying","tag-grands-prix","tag-historic-whitewash","tag-italian-team","tag-japan","tag-lando-norris","tag-max-verstappen","tag-melbourne","tag-miami","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-oliver-bearman","tag-out-and-away","tag-positive-territory","tag-power-dynamic","tag-prix-qualifying-session","tag-race-dominance","tag-reconnaissance-lap","tag-reliability-record","tag-respective-teammates","tag-rookie-teammate","tag-sergio-perez","tag-single-race","tag-sports","tag-sprint-sessions","tag-start-race-sessions","tag-stats-account","tag-sweeping-technical-changes","tag-turbo-design","tag-two-drivers","tag-unexpected-engine-behaviour","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-vibration-problem","tag-victoria","tag-young-gun"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684511","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=684511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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