Six drivers began their first full Formula 1 seasons in today’s Australian Grand Prix but four of them failed to see the chequered flag in the tricky conditions.
Two of them were out before the first lap was over. Unquestionably the most dejected was Isack Hadjar, who spun into a barrier at turn two on the formation lap, causing a delay to the start of the race.
The Racing Bulls driver said he was focused on tyre preparation when his car got away from him. “Usually I take it step-by-step,” he told the official F1 channel. “We were keen on having the best out-lap possible for the race start.
“Early in the lap you try to warm those tyres and I over-did it. The tiniest mistake you can do, and the car is unsave-able. You’re just a passenger, and it feels terrible.”
The original race start was aborted so Hadjar’s car could be recovered and the grand prix eventually began a quarter of an hour behind schedule. Soon after it started, Jack Doohan’s Alpine snapped out of control at turn six.
The Alpine driver, making his second start in a grand prix, said his crash was “the result of a combination of factors which we will go over together as a team to learn from and ensure it does not happen again.”
“It is a tough way to learn but I have digested what happened and put it behind me to focus on what is ahead.”
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Gabriel Bortoleto’s grand prix debut ended after the rain returned on lap 46. He had just switched to a set of intermediates at the time. “Unfortunately I touched the kerb and ended up in the wall,” he admitted.
On the next lap Liam Lawson spun into a barrier. The most experience of the rookies had tried to brave out the shower on his 14-lap-old set of medium slicks.
“We took a chance, to be honest, hoping at least half the track would stay dry,” he said. “We knew that sector three was bad, but we thought that sector one would stay a little bit drier, so we carried on.
“Unfortunately it was bucketing down with rain. At that point, to be honest, I’d backed out of pushing at that point because it was so wet. I was just trying to stay on track, but obviously not ideal.”
One the six-strong rookie contingent, two made it to the chequered flag in a gruelling race. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was the only one to score points, claiming a fine fourth for Mercedes having started 16th. Oliver Bearman redeemed himself somewhat after making two serious errors in practice by getting his Haas to the chequered flag.
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2025 Australian Grand Prix
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