{"id":527560,"date":"2026-03-10T20:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T20:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/527560\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T20:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T20:36:13","slug":"what-in-the-australian-gp-was-that-plus-ricciardo-talks-post-racing-farm-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/527560\/","title":{"rendered":"What in the Australian GP was that. Plus: Ricciardo talks post-racing farm life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox twice a week during the season and weekly in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Welcome back to Prime Tire. Formula 1 is back. Light the fires!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That\u2019ll do. I\u2019m Patrick, and Madeline Coleman will be along shortly. Let\u2019s dive in, because I have some terrible news.<\/p>\n

Australian GP: F1 is RUINED<\/p>\n

Was the race any good? Who can possibly say.<\/p>\n

George Russell\u00a0won the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday<\/a>. He also won the post-race news conference.<\/p>\n

Many drivers\u00a0really\u00a0didn\u2019t like the new cars<\/a>. Lando Norris, reigning champion and\u00a0McNuggets connoisseur<\/a>, called the race start \u201cchaos\u201d and the racing \u201cartificial.\u201d Russell didn\u2019t exactly disagree. He just pointed out that Norris finished fifth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he was winning,\u201d Russell said, \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019d be saying the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

The discourse coming out of Melbourne is so hard to parse. From the couch, it looked exactly like what F1 promised when it sold us on these regulations. Seven lead changes in nine laps. Russell and Charles Leclerc swapping the lead over and over; 120 overtakes, up from 45 last year.<\/p>\n

From the cockpit, apparently, it looked different.\u00a0As we wrote Sunday<\/a>, many drivers would leave negative Yelp reviews on these cars if they could.<\/p>\n

The core problem<\/a>\u00a0is easy enough to explain:\u00a0Two cars seem equal, but one driver presses a button. Suddenly, he\u2019s 30 mph faster on the straight. That creates huge closing speeds, which are great for drama and terrifying\/annoying for the guy who doesn\u2019t have enough battery left.<\/p>\n

Norris called the potential for collision \u201cpretty horrible to think about.\u201d Sainz said Lap 1 in a pack felt \u201creally sketchy.\u201d Plus, if energy management ultimately outweighs racing, it must feel less like a sport and more like gaining a power-up in Mario Kart. (Leclerc, to his credit,\u00a0actually said this during the race<\/a>.) (Kudos to Madeline for\u00a0beating him to it<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

But I do love that both drivers now have a fighting chance on a passing attempt. And the battle doesn\u2019t automatically end after an overtake \u2014 Leclerc and Russell swapping the lead for nine laps was great F1 entertainment.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed the first half of that race a lot, and I expect a lot of fans did, too. But there are plenty of fans who agree with the drivers. F1 is going to have to figure out what to do about that dissonance soon. Spectacle without buy-in from the people creating it has a shelf life.<\/p>\n

Australian GP, cont\u2019d: One last note<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll just point out the drivers who were for and against the new regulations, and what they said about them.\u00a0From Madeline\u2019s story<\/a>:<\/p>\n

For:<\/p>\n

George Russell: first (won the race, told others to \u201cgive it a chance\u201d)
\nLewis Hamilton: fourth (called it \u201ca really fun race\u201d)<\/p>\n

Against:<\/p>\n

Lando Norris: fifth (seven wins, 18 podiums and champion last year)
\nMax Verstappen: sixth (started P20 after\u00a0a qualifying crash<\/a>)
\nEsteban Ocon: 11th (said overtaking was \u201cpainful\u201d)
\nCarlos Sainz: 15th (called Lap 1 \u201creally sketchy\u201d and raised safety concerns)
\nSergio P\u00e9rez: 16th (said it\u2019s \u201ca lot less fun\u201d)<\/p>\n

Probably just a coincidence, though. (Always stay alert for F1 politicking, my friends.)<\/p>\n

Mistakes: Mercedes vs. Ferrari<\/p>\n

The final gap was 15 seconds. Forget the final gap!<\/p>\n

Ferrari gifted Russell roughly half of it by sitting pat during the Lap 11 Virtual Safety Car while Mercedes pitted. By the time Leclerc came in 13 laps later, the race was functionally over. (Ah, Ferrari. The team that invented strategic self-sabotage.)<\/p>\n

Strip out the blunder, and\u00a0this was actually close<\/a>.\u00a0Leclerc had better tires in the second stint, clawed back 2.5 seconds and then Mercedes just \u2026 pulled away anyway. When it mattered, the Silver Arrows were faster.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0the question going into Shanghai isn\u2019t if Mercedes is quicker.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0by\u00a0how much<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and whether that margin shrinks on a track built around long straights and flowing corners rather than Melbourne\u2019s punishing stop-start rhythm. Different circuit. Different energy demands. Worth watching.<\/p>\n

Find more on the title picture\u00a0here<\/a>, and Kimi Antonelli\u2019s excellent race\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s throw it to Madeline inside the paddock.<\/p>\n

Inside the Paddock with Madeline Coleman: What\u2019s going on at Aston Martin?<\/p>\n

Aston Martin\u2019s misery continued on Sunday as both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll retired from the race and later rejoined. Both weren\u2019t classified though, given Alonso eventually did not finish and Stroll crossed 15 laps behind race winner George Russell.<\/p>\n

The F1 team\u2019s challenges were well documented throughout the Australian GP weekend. It had an\u00a0energy battery shortage<\/a>\u00a0and a\u00a0severe vibration issue in the chassis<\/a>\u00a0that was still there during the race. Stroll said it wasn\u2019t better than FP1, when we found out about the\u00a0potential for nerve damage<\/a>\u00a0facing the drivers. Alonso said the vibrations were similar to Bahrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the best feeling driving with this level of vibrations,\u201d Alonso said. \u201cI think Honda thinks that the vibrations on the battery are reduced since Bahrain with some of the modifications, but that didn\u2019t happen to the chassis yet, because they need to isolate the battery in a different way. So it will take a little bit more time, but we try to do our best and to do as many laps as possible to help the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

After qualifying 17th, Alonso had a strong start, getting up to 10th in those early laps. He did eventually start falling back, and the Spaniard said an issue arose, which is why they stopped the car. Once repairs were done, he was sent back out. Team principal Adrian Newey said in Aston Martin\u2019s post-race report that Alonso was ultimately asked to retire from the race \u201cto preserve components.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paddock is headed to China this week, kicking off the season with a doubleheader, and\u00a0Alonso doesn\u2019t expect there to be any difference next time out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the same car, the same power unit next weekend,\u201d he said. \u201cSo yeah, I expect another tough weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more on the\u00a0Aston Martin problems here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reflections: Ricciardo talks finding himself after racing<\/p>\n

Daniel Ricciardo, 36,\u00a0drove Madeline around Melbourne<\/a>\u00a0last week in a Ford pickup truck. It\u2019s one of the few times I\u2019ve read him open up about life after racing \u2014 he\u2019s done some soul-searching.<\/p>\n

In just a few years, Ricciardo went from the darling of F1\u2019s popularity boom to missing from the spotlight entirely. His\u00a0career ended the way<\/a>\u00a0many F1 careers do: with a sudden replacement\u00a0and a lot of unresolved feelings he wasn\u2019t ready to name just yet.<\/p>\n

He told Madeline he was probably in denial for months. It took another six to figure out what came next.<\/p>\n

What he landed on wasn\u2019t commentary, wasn\u2019t the paddock, wasn\u2019t staying visible for the sake of it. It was his family\u2019s farm. Alone time. Six hours on a roller with music on and nobody watching. Learning to trust his own instincts again after years of voices telling him what to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thought of going back into a chaotic sort of lifestyle terrifies me, to be honest,\u201d he told Madeline.<\/p>\n

At some point during the drive, she noticed he\u2019d relaxed and taken one hand off the wheel.<\/p>\n

For the full story, head here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Outside the points<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfa5 I loved\u00a0this other story from Madeline on Christina Sullivan<\/a>, who fell in love with F1 via \u201cDrive to Survive\u201d and is now an engineer at Williams.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf05 Cadillac driver Sergio P\u00e9rez\u00a0declared \u201cthe honeymoon is over\u201d<\/a>\u00a0for the team after its challenging debut race, saying it was time to focus on closing the performance gap. CEO Dan Towriss agreed. That\u2019s fine by me. The last honeymoon I went on, I fell off a kayak and stepped on a sea urchin.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc6 And, finally, we head to China this week.\u00a0Here\u2019s the schedule<\/a>. Best of luck, American readers.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Prime Tire? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire directly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-527560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}