‘Round 1’ and ‘Australian Grand Prix’ just seem to go together — or they did, anyway.
For almost its entire tenure to date Melbourne has hosted the opening race of the Formula 1 season, with the motorsport world descending on Albert Park for a sunny sporting festival to kick off the battle for racing’s biggest prize.
It took a pandemic to break the tradition. The wealthier races in the Middle East have muscled in, and with pre-season testing now tending to take place in the warmer climes of Bahrain, the sport has decided it’s just easier to open proceedings in the desert rather than Down Under.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSFeaturing Phil Horton from Autoweek. Charles Leclerc dominates the Australian Grand Prix to stretch his championship advantage after Max Verstappen retires for the second time in three races.
After the record-breaking return of the Australian Grand Prix to Melbourne, hosts Matt Clayton and Michael Lamonato wrap up Charles Leclerc’s crushing win for Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo’s promising showing for McLaren, while we hear from a host of big-name guests who joined us on In The Fast Lane Live from Albert Park including Sir Jackie Stewart, Oscar Piastri, Alex Albon, Guenther Steiner, Andreas Seidl and Ted Kravitz.
Pure’s F1 fanatics, Matt Oostveen and Mark Jobbins, are joined by Former F1 driver, Alex Yoong and F1 journalist, Michael Lamonato to dissect all the action on the track and in the pit during the Australian GP and what it all means for the championship.
We get absolutely amongst it at the first Australian Grand Prix in three years, allegedly the greatest race of Fernando Alonso’s career.
Michael Lamonato joined the show from Albert Park to preview the Australian Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc dominated the Australian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen retired with another apparent power unit problem.
The poleman was cleanly away from the grid and kept Verstappen at bay in the early laps, but it soon became clear the Dutchman was struggling. He reported severe graining on his left-front medium tire and locked up several times in the tricky final sector, dropping a lot of time to the leading Ferrari.
Things only got worse from there. Having made no inroads during the pit stops, Verstappen’s car lost power down the front straight on lap 38, forcing him to park by the side of the road and retire from the race.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc will start the Australian Grand Prix from pole position after beating Max Verstappen to top spot in an unpredictable qualifying session.
Verstappen had seized the momentum in the disrupted final segment, which had been red flagged halfway through for a Fernando Alonso smash, and held provisional pole when the checkered flag fell. But Leclerc was last on the road and purple first and last sectors blew away Verstappen’s best time to take pole by a comfortable 0.286s.
“It felt good,” he said. “This weekend we really worked hard.”
Continue reading on RACERLando Norris took a shock P1 in Friday practice for McLaren, ending Ferrari’s stranglehold on Albert Park ahead of qualifying.
Norris’ hot lap couldn’t be beaten after Lance Stroll understeered into the barrier on the outside of Turn 11 and broke his front wing and left-front corner, causing a red flag and ending the session with less than five minutes still to run.
It compounded a difficult day at an increasingly painful weekend for Aston Martin. Sebastian Vettel also crashed just 20 minutes into the hour, losing control of his car through the fast Turn 9-10 at around 160mph. He skidded sideways through the gravel on the far side of the track, making heavy contact with the barriers and ripping off his right-front wheel.
Continue reading on RACERMercedes is in need of a steadying weekend at the Australian Grand Prix after a humbling first two rounds of the 2022 season.
Charles Lecler kept Ferrari on top in second practice for the Australian Grand Prix, beating Max Verstappen to the top spot by a quarter of a second.
Ferrari had things all its own way for much of the session, the red cars looking clearly more comfortable around the revised circuit layout as Leclerc lowered the day’s benchmark to 1m18.978s.
The one problem in an otherwise clear hour of running came late, when fuel tanks were filled, with Leclerc enduring significant bouncing near the end of the front straight and in particular the long flat-out run between Turn 6 and Turn 9.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz topped first practice at the Australian Grand Prix but will be investigated after the session for blocking.
Sainz appeared to impede Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in the final sector, running him wide out of the penultimate corner in a move that the stewards are taking up before FP2 later today.
The Spaniard went on to beat teammate Charles Leclerc by half a second with a lap of 1m19.806s to lock out the top of the time sheet for the Scuderia in a confidence-inspiring track debut for the team’s new diffuser.
Continue reading on RACERFeaturing F1 journalist Matt Clayton. Formula 1 returns for its first Australian Grand Prix in three years, and a brand-new Albert Park is promising to up the action in Melbourne.
After two years in the pandemic wilderness, the Australian Grand Prix is back for its first race in three years in front of a sold-out crowd eager for a sight of the all-new generation of Formula 1.
Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen joins hosts Matt Clayton and Michael Lamonato to talk about the physical challenges of his surprise return to the F1 grid, why he came back to a team that sacked him, memories of finishing second on debut in Melbourne eight years ago and the revised expectations for Haas after such a strong start to 2022, while we look ahead to this weekend’s return of F1 to Melbourne with Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO, Andrew Westacott.
Michael is joined by Rodney Gordon from Superlicense Podcast to discuss innovative new ideas for fan interaction in grands prix and the origin of the word ‘smallgoods’.
Michael Lamonato joined Matt Grubelich on Sports Drive to preview this weekend’s US Grand Prix in Texas and discuss Sydney’s bid to take the Australian Grand Prix from Melbourne.
The cancellation of the Singapore Grand Prix for the second successive season bodes badly for Formula 1’s record-breaking season.