No points but the three rookies finished in Melbourne!

Lando Norris: 12th (8th on the grid)

He was the best hope of the trio. Qualifying eighth to everyone’s surprise, the McLaren driver gradually fell back. Right from the start, Lando Norris dropped to tenth place, overtaken by Räikkönen and Hülkenberg. A takeoff far from perfect, by his own admission.

The young Briton (19 years old) then made his pit stop as early as lap 14. The soft tires were out, making way for hard, white-banded tires, and a return to the track in 13th position. The hitch? Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo, which had not yet stopped. The Italian pushed hard to stay in front of him for 7 laps. This significantly compromised his conservative strategy, especially since Norris flat-spotted, which damaged one of his tires.

Finally freed from the Italian traffic jam with an overtaking move on the 26th lap, the damage was already done; his twelfth place was sealed, the gap too large to the first follower, six seconds on Räikkönen. The F2 vice-champion held onto this 12th place until the finish.

Despite everything, the McLaren hopeful delivered his self-critique: I’ve made some mistakes that cost me points. I’m a bit disappointed because there was potential. The team gave me a good car, with enough pace to finish in the top 10. Still managing to end on a more joyful note. It’s still cool to finish your first Formula 1 race!

Alexander Albon: 14th (13th on the grid)

Mixed feelings for the Thai driver, who had climbed up to 11th at the beginning of the race. However, his stop as early as the 11th lap was too early: the new Toro Rosso driver also found himself in the traffic with the Norris-Grosjean-Pérez pack, chasing a struggling Giovinazzi with his tires. A slight collision on the 26th lap also cost him his position ahead of the Racing Point driver, a position he couldn’t regain by the end of the race.

Let’s still highlight the feat of the boy, who had never driven a Formula 1 before the private tests in Barcelona, unlike Norris and Russell, who benefited from tests in free practice sessions for McLaren and Force India (the former name of Racing Point) respectively. “It was my first experience in a race weekend, so I didn’t know what to expect,” confirms the main interested party. A disappointment nevertheless, as his teammate, the returning Daniil Kvyat, snatched the 10th place point.

« I am still happy with how my weekend went. I had a relatively clean weekend, but I think we could have scored points. »

A solid debut race by @alex_albon today, he brings the car home in P14 👊 #AusGP 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/rwJVBmChff

— Toro Rosso (@ToroRosso) March 17, 2019

George Russell: 16th (19th on the grid)

As expected, the 2018 F2 champion didn’t play around with the competition. His only benchmark was his teammate, Robert Kubica, whom he largely outperformed, though the latter did break his front wing at the start. In agreement with his engineers, the Briton intentionally added an extra stop to test all three types of tires. This was a way to make up for the lack of kilometers driven during winter testing in Barcelona, as the car arrived three and a half days late.

Starting on mediums, George Russell switched to softs on lap 26 and hards on lap 42. He finished this race alone, just over a minute behind Giovinazzi in 15th, but a lap ahead of Kubica in 17th.

« I am happy to bring the car home in one piece. It was a good race from my perspective, I achieved my objectives. But I am disappointed to be so far from the others! We have work to do… »

Bit of a lonely one that – but there are worse ways to spend a Sunday!

Big push now to improve for Bahrain 👊 pic.twitter.com/GTmI54wsKj

— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) 17 mars 2019