Team TRTPower Rankings: The Australian GP
That was large – thankfully, we’re here to break down the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix with the full Power Rankings treatment.
Don’t forget, we have separately Hot, Not and Whatted the Supercars section of the AGP experience – you can check it out here.
ABOUT THE RANKINGS: The TRT Power Rankings are compiled by your nominations from social media and edited by the TRT editorial team. They’re designed to give a balanced, as fair as possible critical overview of those things that excelled and those things that struggled, at each event. It’s (mostly) a democracy, and what you nominate generates the order, so have your say next event via our social media channels, @theracetorque on Facebook, Twitter and Insta. Look for the call out each evening and get commenting!
HOT
1. Carlos Sainz
When we got ahead of ourselves on Sunday morning with the Power Rankings, we Hotted Carlos for his bravery in jumping behind the wheel of a race car two weeks after an appendectomy – the thought of jumping into a snug racing car pulling massive Gs is simply not worth thinking about for mere mortals. Sainz is a superhero for gritting his teeth and getting it done, even if he wouldn’t admit it, it wasn’t a fun weekend for him – he could barely sit down. F1 drivers are simply built different.
Second in qualifying was huge, but that was a mere entrée – he was perfect on race day.
Has Ferrari made a dud call to drop Carlos for Lewis Hamilton next year? There is one driver who isn’t Max Verstappen to have won a GP in the last 20 races, and that’s Carlos, who now has to be high on the Mercedes and potentially the Red Bull shopping list for 2025.
2. Charles Leclerc
Solid in second on a big day for the Prancing Horse.
3. McLaren
They are back. Norris was on the podium, one position ahead of Oscar Piastri, who didn’t quite have the pace on Sunday, and had to give way on track. Promising signs from the papaya crew.
4. 452,055
That’s a lot of people—7,424 more than last year, with 132,106 fronting on race day. Formula 1 is still the biggest show in town…
5. THAT Crowd Reaction
For those trackside: Have you ever heard a roar as intense as when Carlos Sainz hit the lead, followed a few moments later when Verstappen’s Red Bull clapped out? That was enormous…
6. Melbourne
What a place for the race. It’s a world-class city that is genuinely a favourite stop on the tour. Shots like these are a pretty good ad if you want to attract people from overseas/interstate to visit/live – it’s why millions of dollars are pumped into it annually. Melbourne does big events oh so well, with exhibit A being the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.
7. Valtteri Bottas: F1’s favourite Australian
While Ricciardo and Piastri may have been born here, they don’t steer into the skid of being an actual Aussie this hard. Pure advertising genius. We didn’t know we needed to participate in Uber Carshare, but here we are. What’s not to love about ‘Terry, after all, he is very rich.
8. Haas
Double points – a big day at the races.
9. Max Verstappen
Pole with an incredible lap was ultimately the highlight of a forgettable weekend.
10. Qualifying
Always delivers at Albert Park.
FURTHER HOTS
Quick
F2 and F3
Picking a favourite from these two was near impossible. Spicy racing at times verging on going full Super2. Big tyre degradation also kept things interesting. Great entertainment.
Out Editor, the F1 Commentator
We continue to be most proud of our little mate, smashing it out of the park time and time again.
Big Screen Captions
An excellent innovation: because race tracks are inherently noisy places.
The crowd didn’t appear to invade the track at the end of the race. Nice.
Holding the final note of the National Anthem when the Roulettes were unfashionably late
WHAT
Got a chip, Yuki??
This is a NOT, but it’s going in WHAT??
F3 practice got physical. Don’t drive angry now. The aggressor in this instance was pinged three grid spots, with what must have been an incredible defence in the steward’s office…
The Yarra Canal
Lewis Hamilton noted in a fan chat that he enjoyed his time in Melbourne, including a trip up the “canal”. We assume he meant the Yarra River. No doubt The Herald Sun will meltdown over this faux pas.
NOT
1. The Albert Park Infield Layout
It needs a major re-think, especially the pedestrian choke points around the track, as well as the internal ring road. The queues at some places to cross roads were clearly beyond the capacity that it could deal with, resulting in lots of aggro from paying customers, who also at times had to queue 45min to use a toilet. The venue, especially in the infield behind the paddock, is absolutely at breaking point and closing off the F2/Supercars end hasn’t helped. With three and a half days of massive crowds, things need to be reassessed for next year.
2. Max Verstappen Sunday
Nine straight wins was all that streak had in it, ditto his run of two years of finishing races, a run that dated back to a similarly fiery exit from the 2022 AGP.
3. Mercedes
A terrible day at the races. Lewis Hamilton was nowhere all throughout the weekend, then his powerplant packed it up after 15 circuits. Somewhat worse was to follow when George Russell had a massive shunt at turn six, which finished the race under yellow.
4. Alex Albon, Williams
A massive shunt in practice one, costly for the team and ultimately for Logan Sargeant, whose machine was swapped over to the other side of the garage for Albon to use on Saturday and Sunday. Williams also cops a NOT for NOT having a spare car ready to roll three events into the season.
5. Sergio Perez
He was penalised after qualifying and was 35sec off the pace in the race, hindered by an errant helmet tear-off, on the day he had to shine for Red Bull when their number one strike weapon was wide sidelined. Anonomous.
6. Daniel Ricciardo
Once again he was not comfortable with the RB in the preliminaries, was set to progress out of Q1 until he lost his fastest lap after bowling an on-circuit wide, ultimately lining up second last. A non-factor on race day in 12th a lap behind the winner, while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda was up the road and in the points in seventh.
7. F1 Moments
8. Sky Sports
Having their hosts mail it in from home in England is a NOT, and raised the ire of those at home.
9. Support Race Biffo
10. The Drivers Parade
We understand that the trailer option is the cool new o, but thing to do, he fans got better value when each driver was given their own car, and not chatting to their friends on the back of a truck.
OTHER NOTS
The AFL
Going up against the AGP? Not smart…
Attack of the Killer Pee Wee
These friendly little critters were everywhere at Albert Park, and they terrorised some of the visitors. Apparently…
SOCIALS
Do it
Won’t lie, this is only here for the soap cutting…
It sucked to be at Auscarts on Tuesday…
Melbourne: Sporting capital of the universe
Ouch
It really truly is him!
Grid girls and boys: aim high
Society is wasting Valtteri on making him drive cars for a living…
The appreciation of Valtteri is everywhere
Good Question
What flavour are these?
This could happen to anyone…
Scoop: Roscoe has been snipped
