[Official] Driver of the Grand Prix: Australian Grand Prix 2023

[Born Racer]

Who gets your vote?

[marcel82]

Perez' charge is impressive, but it's in a Red Bull, which in the hands of the other driver gained 2s in half a lap after he passed Hamilton.

which is why I voted for Gasly, who's in a car which has no right being comfortably at pace with the cars around him.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Norris. Drove a good race considering how off the pace the McLaren is.

[dsg]

The Hulk

[Kingair]

Safety car driver.

[GT6]

Well difficult choice for that one could have been just about anyone, finally decided i would give it to Lewis as he managed to get a not great car into second place

[Aysedasi]

Difficult.

Not Max - we all knew he was going to win anyway and with DRS, even after his poor start he was always going to win in that car.

Not Checo - good run and some good overtakes but in a massively superior car.

I give it to the Hulk. A supersub who seemed to be dead and buried as far as F1 was concerned years ago but can still more than hold his place. Did a very good job.

Kudos to Gasly for a fine run with no reward, to Piastri for getting some points in his first home GP and to Hamilton for a good GP and a well deserved 2nd place.

[chillibowl]

Alonso. Need to make him the race director one day!

[seanyb505]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Alonso. Need to make him the race director one day!

I'd love to see this rather than a senior advisor to some team.

[nobster]

Niels Wittich, for screwing up bigtime!


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[TrapezeArtist]

This took a bit of thinking about. The top three all achieved a substantial result (obviously) but Max and Fred just did what was expected. Lewis did well to get there too, but he is an eight-times world champion and was being shaded by his team-mate.

Gasly, Norris and Hulkenberg all did better than expected with the cars at their disposal.

In the end I gave it to George. He qualified brilliantly, started likewise and was going exceptionally well in the race. It wasn’t his fault that his day was ruined by the safety car/red flag and then by the engine failure.

[Alan52]

Gasly.
Norris and Hulkenberg close.
Russell deserves sympathy vote for the way he was done over by the team to prioritise Hamilton.

[Kingair]

Alonso, seems to have a spring in his step for 2023.

Piastri, nice to get some points in front of your home town.

George Russell, shame about the engine issue.

[steve_r]

I voted Perez, for some nice overtakes all be it against much slower cars. But perhaps I should have voted Norris for a tidy race and eventually making past Hulkenburg after a great fight.

[BertMk2]

Lando gets the nod from me, got more than expected out of the car and came out on top in the fight with the other driver most in contention for my vote (Hulkenberg). Decent runs from Russell (until it blew up), Sainz (until he got the harsh penalty), Gasly (until the Ocon incident), Albon (until the crash).

Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Perez pretty much as expected.

Le Clerc, Bottas, De Vries, Sargeant bottom of the class this week.

[Born Racer]

The three world champions were relentless, although it's true that we didn't get to see what Russell could do. Before the unlucky timing of the red flag, he was (as he often is) giving the most highly-decorated driver in F1 history more than a run for his money.

Alonso and Hamilton are both effusive in their praise of one another these days. Verstappen was, of course, very good, although not perfect. Caught out by Hamilton, and disagreed with the move in the interviews (really, Max? Would you not make those moves anymore? Maybe he really wouldn't). Then of course, there was the spin. He seems to have Schumacher's knack or looking like he is going to blow it sometimes and still coming off okay. Probably some skill in there; it's not solely luck. Still, that rules him out for driver of the Grand Prix. Potentially the most impressive of the three was Alonso, certainly compared to his teammate, although with no malice meant to the decent Lance Stroll, he is probably the weakest of the three teammates.

Gasly was fantastic until his accident.

Sainz was wonderful again - one of the best overtakes in the business. The move on Lap 15 was brilliant. He is so precise in battle. Unfortunately, he was a bit too precise in taking out Alonso.

Piastri went okay. Learned from Pérez how to make a move in the fast chicane. Was steady and did nothing silly. Nothing wrong in that approach.

Tsunoda finally got that point and is showing well against the highly-regarded deVries.

For me, the Driver of the Grand Prix is Hülkenberg. Including his excellent qualifying performance. Great to see him back and on form.

[TCT]

I voted Sainz.


How can he be punished for an accident that did not even happen?

If Alonso gets to restart 3rd, then those 30 seconds after the red flag are treated as if they didn't happen?


**** FIA. Clueless again!

[S griffin]

Sainz didn't have a great race, but that penalty was ridiculous. The FIA would have been better off putting the results back to lap 56. Running it to 58 laps behind the SC made no sense. Really they need to make sure this doesn't happen again.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by TCT

I voted Sainz.


How can he be punished for an accident that did not even happen?

If Alonso gets to restart 3rd, then those 30 seconds after the red flag are treated as if they didn't happen?


**** FIA. Clueless again!

I thought the penalty was harsh certainly.

What would your view have been if the collision had resulted in damage to Alonso's car that prevented him taking the restart? Do you think Sainz should have the penalty in that instance or should it still be anulled?

[E.B]

I thought it particularly harsh given it was after a restart, and there were no consequences or detriment to Alonso's result.
Compounded by the fact that at the initial race start I think it was Stroll took out Leclerc in a similar type of turn 1 race start incident. Leclerc was out on the spot. Race done. Yet it was deemed a racing incident.
The stewarding and the judgement seems a little inconsistent. Take someone out of the race at the start and you get nothing.
Have the same type of accident at a later restart and Sainz gets a penalty that dropped him from 4th to out of the points.
Shocking decision that added to a dreadful day for the race director and stewards.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by E.B

Compounded by the fact that at the initial race start I think it was Stroll took out Leclerc in a similar type of turn 1 race start incident. Leclerc was out on the spot. Race done. Yet it was deemed a racing incident.

Not sure I would blame Stroll wholly for that one.....

[bjohnsonsmith]

Iirc, Stroll didn't have any where to go and unfortunately for Sainz, tagged him.

[Aysedasi]

That was my take as well.

[Akrapovic]

People love to blame Stroll for things. Charles turned into a corner and pointed his car at the apex when he had not 1, but 2 cars inside of him. I'm not sure what Charles expected to happen there, and Stroll had no where to go. As Charles was overtaking Stroll, it's his responsibility to make sure he cleared him.