Formula 1 ®
MAX TO THE MAX WITH THIRD POLE IN A ROW FOR THE AUSTRALIAN GP SAINZ P2 PEREZ GETS A PENALTY DROPS TO P6 NORRIS PROMOTED TO P3
Sergio Perez has been handed a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver had put his car third on the grid, behind team-mate Max Verstappen in pole and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in second.
However, the Mexican was adjudged by the stewards to have impeded Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg during a flying lap in Q1 of qualifying on Saturday, thus hitting him with a three-place grid drop.
It means Perez will start in sixth, with Lando Norris promoted to third, Charles Leclerc to fourth and Oscar Piastri to fifth.
In explaining the decision, the stewards said: “Hulkenberg was on a fast lap when he approached turn 13. Perez, who was on an out lap was at the apex of the turn and Hulkenberg had to leave the racing line to drive around him.
“Hulkenberg was forced to lift the throttle early and brake early for that corner.
MAX
I’m very happy with the laps we did in Q3 and surprised myself.
“Even though it was a more difficult weekend, achieving pole position today was great. I didn’t really expect to make it on pole, but we kept on making steady improvements throughout qualifying and I felt able to push a little bit better. Over the weekend, we have been struggling with the graining and have had a lot of things to figure out, but we just needed to keep on fine tuning the car with the Team. The balance of the car got better throughout; as we went through the session it felt easier to manage and I’m very happy with the laps we did in Q3 and surprised myself. We obviously had all the information from Q1 and Q2 and I think we achieved two very good laps. It is a bit of an unknown tomorrow as it is always easy to make a mistake here and it is harder to manage the tyres. Although the weekend has been a bit tough for us and I don’t think tomorrow will be an easy race, to still be on pole with the difficulties that we had is something we can be very proud of.”
CHECO
The degradation is a lot higher than last year here, it will be a challenge with Ferrari and it will come down to strategy and management of the tyres.
“It was quite tricky out there; I think that soft tyre was making things very difficult for us and getting up to speed on that set is quite hard but in the end it really worked well and we were able to extract the maximum from the tyre. I didn’t get the maximum from my final lap and lost a tenth at turn one, I think P2 was achievable, but I am still pleased with P3, I am on the clean side of the grid and can fight from there. This is a good starting point, I am confident, I want to get a strong start and get Carlos off the line. The degradation is a lot higher than last year here, it will be a challenge with Ferrari and it will come down to strategy and management of the tyres. Hopefully we get the result we want, that would be very nice for the Team.”
Aston Martin
FERNANDO: P10
“Getting both cars into Q3 was more or less what we expected today. My first lap in Q3 wasn’t great: I went off into the gravel at Turn Six. My mistake. So, on my final push-lap, I didn’t really have full confidence in the car. It was tricky. I feel we are a little bit less competitive than we were in Jeddah. The car was sliding; a little sensitive in the wind; lacking consistency. But it’s the same for everybody. Still, we need to find more pace. There will be lots going on tomorrow. It’s not going to be an easy race for the tyres – graining will be a concern for everybody – so let’s see if we can manage them better than the others. We want to get both cars home in the points tomorrow.”
LANCE: P9
“We had strong Q1 and Q2 sessions today: the car was performing well and I found a decent rhythm. I then had a bit of a moment at Turn Nine in Q3 and lost three or four tenths. It had been a good lap up until then, so I think we could have been looking at a couple of positions higher up if it hadn’t been for that wobble. Tomorrow is going to be a high-degradation race, so I think it’s all about managing tyres. We have a good race car and it’s a fun track to drive so strong points will be the target tomorrow.”
Formula 2
Isack Hadjar loses Sprint Race win, Bearman and Crawford also penalized!
Following the conclusion of the Formula 2 Sprint Race in Melbourne, multiple drivers have received post-race penalties.
Isack Hadjar has been handed a 10-second time penalty after the Campos Racing driver was found to have caused a collision with his teammate Josep María Martí and Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto at the start of the Race.
The Stewards spoke to all three drivers involved and examined video evidence before determining that the Frenchman moved significantly to the right to get a run on the car on Roman Stanek in front of him without realizing that Martí had a significant portion of his car alongside him.
This move caused Martí to move to the right to take avoiding action and as a result he made contact with Bortoleto leading to a second collision. The Stewards determined that Hadjar was predominantly to blame and handed him a 10-second time penalty.
This means that Hadjar loses his victory and drops down to sixth, promoting Trident’s Stanek to P1. MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger takes P2, and Invicta Racing driver Kush Maini moves up to third. The Indian driver also moves up to third in the Drivers’ Championship as a result, now on 33 points.
Moreover, Oliver Bearman has also been handed a 10-second time penalty for forcing PHM AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen off the track.
After the Stewards heard from both drivers and examined all available video evidence, it showed that Bearman was alongside Duerksen at the apex and exit of Turn 4 and. While the PREMA Racing driver raced in a controlled manner, he did not leave a fair and acceptable width for Duerksen at the exit of the corner.
This means Bearman drops from P8 to 15th in the classification, promoting ART Grand Prix driver Zak O’Sullivan up to eighth and giving him the final point in the Sprint Race.
Finally, Jak Crawford has been handed a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s Feature Race after the Stewards found that he did not have the correct number of tyres to comply with the Sporting Regulations in relation to the Feature Race.
The Stewards considered the matter extensively and having discussed the situation with a Technical Delegate, concluded that during Qualifying, Crawford rendered the left rear tyres of both “option” compound sets unusable for safety reasons.
It was determined that it was not for reasons of force majeure and therefore Car 7 cannot comply with the regulations as a result. He will drop five places in the Feature Race as this is when the tyre is required to be used.