A triple header always means drama, and this time it’s no different! Join Olivia Teeter as she unpacks the recent races in Texas, Mexico and Brazil that put both drivers and constructors championships in dead heat to the finish line.
[“Retro Lounge” plays]
Olivia Teeter: Hey everyone, welcome to Back on Track, a podcast discussing the wonderful and fast-paced world of Formula One. I am your host, Olivia Teeter, and I am a second-year here at Northwestern. I am also an avid F1 fan, so I am here to break down and discuss all of the happenings in this sport, from driver drama to race strategy if you are unfamiliar.
It’s a new season of Formula One, baby, which means all of our favorite drivers, and of course, drama are back and better than ever – including six new rookies. It’s already been a headline-filled start to the season so without further ado, strap in, and let’s get back on track.
[F1 cars driving in the distance]
Teeter: But first, fast facts! Today we will be discussing the relationship between the two Red Bull teams on the grid – yes, Red Bull has 2 teams, 4 cars on the grid. Now the Red Bull you think of, with Max Verstappen, the one winning all the championships, getting on the podiums – that is the senior team. This is where the supposedly more experienced and better drivers go when they are ready.
But Visa Cash App Racing Bulls (or VCARB) is Red Bull’s junior team in Formula One. Essentially this is where Red Bull develops their drivers they will consider for the senior seats, giving them experience in Formula One while still racing a Red Bull car. It’s all a part of the same program.
As such, technically the drivers who drive for both the senior and the junior teams are all contracted under Red Bull so the organization can move them between teams as much as they please, especially in the middle of the season, as we have seen Red Bull do a lot in almost every season within recent years.
So this will all come into play when we discuss what happened to Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, so keep this in mind.
Alright, let’s get to the races.
[F1 announcer introduces the US Grand Prix]
Teeter: Starting off with the Australian Grand Prix, which never fails to be entertaining. This time, rain throughout the whole weekend brought chaos, as always. With the tricky wet conditions, this was sure to be a tough race for the six new rookies.
But, Mclaren and Lando Norris picked up right where they left off. Norris secured pole position with Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull not far behind. In a big surprise, the two Ferraris with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton qualified seventh and eighth behind Yuki Tusnoda in the Racing Bull and Alex in a Williams. So already this was set up to be a very interesting race.
On race day itself, the rainy conditions were even worse, and devastatingly during the formation lap, the second Racing Bull rookie Isaack Hadjar spun around and crashed the car, ending his first race in Formula One before it even began.
Now, obviously this was not the way Hadjar wanted to start his rookie season, but he also wasn’t the only one to crash. Veteran Carlos Sainz, in his first race in a Williams car, also spun out during a safety car on the first lap. Other rookie Gabriel Borteleto in the Stake car, Liam Lawson in a Red Bull, even two-time champion Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, and finally, the last rookie Jack Doohan in the Alpine, all crashed as well, making it a grand total of six cars that did not finish the race, four of them being rookies. So clearly, this was tough for any driver, let alone someone who has not had much experience in an F1 car before.
Even Oscar Piastri, one of the favorites to win this race, heartbreakingly spun out into the neighboring grass, ending his chances of a race win, let alone a podium in his home grand prix.
Despite this, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed in a close battle pretty much the whole race, separated by less than a second at the checkered flag. But, Norris brought home the win for Mclaren, with Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell completing the podium. Most surprisingly, though, was Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli finishing fourth – which is very impressive considering his age and the fact that he is a rookie – and Alex Albon in the Williams fifth, with Ferraris ending eighth and tenth in the race.
It was later revealed that Carlos Sainz, after crashing, advised the team to put Albon on what are called intermediate tires (tires made specifically for driving in wet conditions), which helped him secure that top five finish. With that finish, Albon secured more points for Williams in one race than the total amount of points scored by the team in the entirety of last season. Already Williams are off to a great start. Here is Williams Team Principal James Vowles recounting Sainz’s impact on the team during this race.
Vowles: In the race, Carlos was up in the pit wall right beside me, and his insight was fantastic. He looked at the radar and went “when that hits, they won’t stay on track.” Simple as that.
And you can see the big key decision today is: Do you stop or not? And, you saw that the field was split. Carlos’s information was key towards this, so it is a group effort in that regard, and it was fantastic to see.
Teeter: Next up, China promised to be less tricky for the drivers, with little to no rain in sight. The usual suspects started at the front, this time Oscar Piastri securing pole position from Mclaren, with Norris and Russell in second and third respectively.
This race, in all, went pretty smoothly, with Piastri bringing home the win and Norris ending second, completing a Mclaren 1-2. But, the biggest news of this race came afterwards when it was revealed that Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and both Ferraris were disqualified from the race. Yes, a triple disqualification. Leclerc and Gasly were disqualified for their cars being underweight and Hamilton for violations of the car’s plank minimum thickness. So from what I could gather was that this plank that exists underneath his car either degraded or was set up to be just millimeters – millimeters – under the requirement, so it was too thin. Now this wasn’t necessarily intentional, but it still did disqualify him from that race.
This was especially disappointing for Ferrari, who had a pretty good weekend otherwise. Hamilton won the sprint race earlier that weekend, and Leclerc managed to finish within the top five in the actual grand prix with a broken front wing for the entirety of the race. But, between these disqualifications and the underwhelming performance in Australia, this was definitely not the start to the season that Ferrari wanted, especially since they are considered to be contenders for both championships this year.
However, this triple disqualification meant that both Willam drivers scored points as well both Haas drivers taking home some much needed points for the team. Here is Esteban Ocon talking about his stellar performance, finishing fifth in China and what that means for Haas.
Ocon: Yeah, it’s amazing to be where we are today. There is more to unlock from this car, and there’s more potential. We need to keep going in this direction, but from strategy calls to where the car felt in comparison, I think it’s been huge. So well done to everyone and well done to Ollie [Bearman] as well because for him to come back from that far and that type of strategy I think it’s super great to be having both cars in the points today.
Teeter: Ok lastly, we will be talking about the big news heading into Japan: after only two races in the senior Red Bull team, Liam Lawson has been demoted to VCARB, with Yuki Tsunoda from the junior team taking his spot on the senior team. Now, like I said, since all four drivers on the grid between the two teams are contracted by Red Bull, it’s not uncommon to see these driver switches happen so easily or quickly. What is surprising, however, is the speed in which Red Bull has made this decision. They gave Lawson just two races to prove himself in the Red Bull, which is a notoriously hard car to drive.
Since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull back in 2018, the team has had trouble finding a replacement that can keep up with Verstappen. Pierre Gasly was dropped from Red Bull after a few races, so was Alex Albon – even Sergio Perez at the end of his career could barely finish races in this car. This started what people refer to as the second seat curse. For whatever reason, the second seat at Red Bull seems to be a revolving door of drivers, ones that actually have found success and have proven their worth at other teams.
So what is the issue here? In a recent interview, Albon explained why so many people may be having trouble with the car.
Albon: A lot of people say that car is built around [Verstappen]. Truthfully, the car is what it is. And so what ended up happening was, especially during my year, you start off being a little bit behind. As the season goes on, Max wants this front end in the car, he wants his car to be sharper, sharper. And as it goes sharper and sharper, he goes quicker and quicker. And for you to catch up you have to start taking a little bit more risk, then you’ve lost a little bit of confidence, takes a little bit more time, that gap’s growing a little bit. And then the next time you try to go out and do another job, another spin or another whatever.
And it just starts to snowball. And everytime the car becomes shaperper and sharper, you start to become more tense. I think it’s like any sport: if you start to not be in that flow state, and you’re having to really think about it, and everytime you go into a corner, you don’t know how it’s going to react. You don’t have that, kind of, purely the confidence in the car, the flow.
Teeter: I honestly think Albon explains it pretty well here: The car is tailored to Verstappen’s driving style and speed. And the second drivers also face immense pressure to prove themselves, especially in comparison with Verstappen. This creates a perfect storm for poor performance and costly mistakes. Listen, I am happy for Yuki Tsunoda, I am. I think he deserves this Red Bull seat, having proven his speed at Racing Bulls for so long, but giving Lawson only two races to prove himself at Red Bull seems almost unfair.
Clearly, something is wrong with the way they manage their drivers, and I sincerely hope that Yuki doesn’t face the same fate as the ones that come before him.
Ok guys, the first two races are in the bag, complete with rain, disqualifications, and seat swaps. If the rest of the season is like this start, it is sure to be one heck of a ride. That’s all I have for you today, and I will see you for the next race in Suzuka, Japan.
[“Retro Lounge” plays]
