Farewell to the F1 blobfish – Up and down in Oz

In spite of all the excitement, some things never change. The FIA somehow manages to hash up an event it has been overseeing many times a season for 70 years, and Max Verstappen cruises to another win.

Everyone pretended there was some kind of competition going on when the Dutchman let the Mercedes pair have a go for a bit, but it was never going to last that long.

Despite a third race in a row looking like a dress rehearsal for Verstappen’s title coronation in Zandvoort, back in Standard Class there were plenty of overtakes even without the FIA-induced drama.

Here’s what was going up and Down Under:

Goin’ Down

Officials’ mess

Yet again, the FIA makes a dingo’s dinner of proceedings, throwing the red flag apparently in an attempt to finish the race under exciting race conditions.

Unfortunately things got a bit too exciting, ultimately leaving both Alpines looking like new exhibits at the Pompidou Centre.

Is it too difficult for F1 to stick a few standardised laps of overtime on [e.g. five] à la NASCAR, and do it under a rolling start to boot?

Deep sea fish under the bridge

That absolute horror show of a finish from Alpine an appropriate farewell for its ‘Sad BWT Blobfish’ livery. Alas, no longer.

Heavy hit

Alexander Albon, in keeping with the scintillating form running through his entire Williams tenure, had his car up to a brilliant sixth early on, before dropping the car at Turn 6 for a huge, race-stopping shunt.

That one will hurt in more ways than one.

Ferrari’s disaster Down Under

Leclerc in the gravel, Sainz out of the points – the Scuderia’s season summed up so far. Whatever you might think of Sainz being penalised at the end, he shouldn’t have been punting Fernando Alonso off anyway. More Jean Alesi-esque than Schumacher or Lauda stock.

Up

Pocket Rocket

The erstwhile ‘King of 11th-place finishes’ Yuki Tsunoda was set to just miss out on the points for the fourth time in a row.

However, on the carbon-crunching final restart he jumped skilfully from 13th to fifth. Sadly for the AlphaTauri man, he was then demoted to 10th on the reset, but the team needs everyone point it can currently get in its poor 2023 car.

Tsunoda’s performances have been made all the more impressive by just how much team-mate Nyck de Vries is struggling.

Macca on the rise

Sixth and eighth – courtesy of great driving from Lando Norris and a brilliantly opportunistic late pitstop for Oscar Piastri – meant the team leapt spectacularly up from last to fifth in the constructors’ championship.

Cue the tsunami of ‘McLaren on the up’ journo analysis pieces!

Drive through the park

The recent changes to Albert Park didn’t do much for the racing on the championship’s return after three years last season, but 2023’s instalment saw action right through the field. Bonza stuff.

Sassy Ted

No holding back from Sky’s Ted Kravitz in Australia, making for increasingly entertaining viewing. From telling Daniel Ricciardo he cut too much of a sad figure to sit on the Red Bull pitwall, to questioning former F1 race director Michael Masi’s presence in the Melbourne paddock, we got the full Kravitz in Oz – like a pleasant koala bear turned evil, or at least very sincere.

Particularly refreshing compared to Nico Rosberg’s zapping viewers with his ‘Beige Laser’ opinions.