AUSTRALIAN GP REVIEW: The cursed appendix

It’s 8:36am. I awake in a Coventry city centre Premier Inn. I had every intention of waking up at 4am to watch the race. However, I had been at my mates 30th birthday the evening before, so was instead in a Sky Blue Lager coma. I awoke to many surprises. The first, that know one had told me that Premier Inn had done away with the cooked breakfast buffet. You now have to order per item to a member of staff, who would give a disapproved look if you wanted to order a hammocks worth of hash browns.

The second, being that Max Verstappen didn’t win the Australian Grand Prix. On my last F1 race review, I stated that Max could potentially clean sweep the entire season if his reliability kept with form and stayed strong. Just three races in and that prediction is now gone. Just 4 laps into a sun swept Melbourne race, Verstappen retired with a brake failure after Carlos Sainz had previously swept past the Dutchman the lap previous. That is where Carlos stayed all race, controlling it beautifully from the front all race to secure a remarkable win, just two weeks after having surgery.

Carlos Appendix-less Sainz wins the Australian GP

The Spaniard had to pull out of Jedah due to appendicitis, with young Oliver Bearman amicably standing in. Now recovered Carlos returned, albeit without his appendix, which had been removed on the operating table. It made me think, had Carlos’ dodgy appendix been holding him back? And now the cursed organ has been removed will it give him a new lease of life?

Nico Rosberg mentioned the lengths he went do in beating Lewis Hamilton to the 2016 World Championship, by saving weight by giving up cycling. He claims thats what helped him pip Hamilton to pole in Japan. Now Carlos, has saved around 20g now he’s appendix-less. Did that help make the difference?

Or, and perhaps more likely. Is the fact that he’s currently without a seat next season. On performances like this I doubt that is going to be the case for long. Sainz is still the only man since George Russell in Brazil 2022 to beat the Red Bull's of Verstappen and Sergio Perez, so surely deserves more time in a top team. I do wonder whether it could end up being a straight swap at Mercedes, taking the empty seat of a soon departing seven time World Champion

Speaking of the Silver Arrows, the longer this season goes on, the more Lewis Hamilton’s decision to move to Ferrari seems validated. His Mercedes limping out of the race with engine failure within the first 20 laps continues the teams woes. Russell crashing out two laps from the end, chasing Fernando Alonso for 6th summed it all up really. Alonso gets a penalty, which probably means George’s reputation seems untouched for now. I do think that it was a pretty harsh penalty though, Fernando certainly braked earlier, but surely disrupting other drivers momentum is a part of racing? For me, there was enough of a gap to Russell behind to do so without it being dangerous. I seem to remember that he did the same thing in 2021 when fighting Hamilton at Hungary, but then it was applauded. I do think the penalty has only been applied due to George scarily ending up in the middle of the track on his side.

Overall, the race was an ok one. Interestingly, Sergio Perez came out afterwards and said that Max wouldn’t of won the race today, if he hadn’t retired. I wonder if he’s trying to make himself feel better about his lack of race pace? Either way, I really hope this is a sign of Ferrari taking the battle to Red Bull for the rest of the season. Now the cursed appendix is gone, I hope the dark clouds of Red Bull dominance are beginning to pass.

Aside from the racing, there was lots of chat on Twitter around the fact that both Sky Sports and Channel 4 decided against flying out a full team to Australia. Choosing to broadcast from studios (or McLaren HQ in Channel 4’s case) instead. I for one, actually don’t mind this move. With a race start time of 4am UK time, the cost vs reward for the broadcasters just doesn’t add up. I don’t feel we missed out too badly, with the likes of Ted Kravitz, Martin Brundle and Crofty all still in attendance down under. It remains to be seen, but I do wonder if this change towards the ‘eastern’ races will become a more familiar one. With a mammoth season underway, I’m sure the teams appreciate missing out on a few cooked breakfast buffets.

Race Rating 7/10

Breakfast Rating 5 hash browns/10