41 replies to this topic

[Benchulo]

Best Driver:
Best Team:
Best Overtake:
Best Moment:
Best Restart:
Three Words to Describe the Race:

 

Edited by Benchulo, 16 March 2025 - 12:41.

[Ev0d3vil]

Best Driver: Lando/Kimi
Best Team: Mclaren?
Best Overtake: Kimi on Hulkenberg
Best Moment: Kimi getting into P4 but screwed by the 5s penalty.
Best Restart: Lando
Three Words to Describe the Race: Chaotic !

[cyclist]

Best Driver: Verstappen/Antonelli
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: Piastri on Lewis
Best Moment: Both McLarens in the gravel
Best Restart: Lando
Three Words to Describe the Race: Messy, decent race

 

 

Edited by cyclist, 16 March 2025 - 08:09.

[messy]

Best driver - despite that slight mistake, has to be Lando. He was so controlled. Max very close though, similarly one slight mistake in a race where he could easily have made dozens, but he was what 16 seconds behind pre-safety car? Antonelli did great when it got chaotic but Lando did really well all weekend. Piastri would have been in with a shout until he beached it in the grass, looked every bit as quick.
Best team - McLaren, well ahead when everything was settled
Best overtake - Piastri on Hamilton on the last lap
Best moment - the absolute madness when both McLarens went off just at the exact second I said ‘they’re cruising this’
Best restart - Norris, nicely calm.
Three words to describe the race - chaotic, fun, disjointed

[Raikkinen]

Best Driver: Norris
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: Piastri on Hamilton
Best Moment: McLaren gapping others
Best Restart: Norris
Three Words to Describe the Race:
Great season opener

[JimmyClark]

8. A very entertaining race, but a lot of it was behind safety cars and actual on track passing without mistakes was limited (though Oscar might have sealed overtake of the year already).

[Darnswim]

Best Driver: Lando / Kimi
Best Team: Mclaren
Best Overtake: Oscar on Hamilton
Best Moment: Ferrari completely messing it up and pitting.
Best Restart: Lando, especially the 3rd restart.
Three Words to Describe the Race: Nerve-racking race.

[1player]

Best Driver: Lando / Kimi
Best Team: Mclaren
Best Overtake: Oscar on Hamilton
Best Moment: Ferrari completely messing it up and pitting.
Best Restart: Lando, especially the 3rd restart.
Three Words to Describe the Race: Nerve-racking race.

What this gentleman said.

[1player]

(why is it a multiple choice poll?)

[Benchulo]

(why is it a multiple choice poll?)

 

My bad. Corrected it.

[ANF]

Best driver: Antonelli had a fine debut (one error and a spin, sure, but a great save to stay off the barrier)
Best team: McLaren
Best overtake: Piastri on Hamilton at T9/10 (shortly after a failed dress rehearsal on Gasly)
Best moment: Piastri actually managing to reverse back onto the track from the wet grass at T13 and denying Verstappen the chance of taking the lead by pitting under SC

Best moment too: Anthony Hamilton consoling Isack Hadjar as he was walking back to the garage
Best restart: The one where Leclerc overtook Hamilton
8/10

Edited by ANF, 16 March 2025 - 13:02.

[Mc_Silver]

Best Driver: Lando
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: Oscar passing Lewis at T9
Best Moment: Charles in full of water
Best Restart: Lando's restart on slicks
Three Words to Describe the Race: Chaotic, Exciting, Stressful

Edited by Mc_Silver, 16 March 2025 - 13:00.

[DeKnyff]

I'm going to go against the mainstream.

 

I'd give it a 5 at best. The race had changing positions due to pitstops, but there was very little real action on track. The only interesting moment was when Piastri was chasing Norris, but it didn't last. Overtaking was close to impossible and the many safety cars broke the flow of the race.

 

Glad I didn't get up at 5 a.m. to watch it live.

[RedRabbit]

That was actually dull as dish water. 5 at best. Far too many laps behind SC, and basically all the "action" was the first lap and then the last 3 laps.

Not a single stand out driver and nearly all of them making mistakes or driving around well off the potential pace of their car.

[ANF]

That was actually dull as dish water. 5 at best. Far too many laps behind SC, and basically all the "action" was the first lap and then the last 3 laps.

Not a single stand out driver and nearly all of them making mistakes or driving around well off the potential pace of their car.

But not far off the potential of their tyres?

[FLB]

Best driver: Norris. The 2025 version of him would win Russia 2021, IMHO
Best team: McLaren
Best overtake: Piastri on Hamilton at the end
Best moment: The fact we had an actual race    It bodes well for the rest of the season

Best restart: The last restart

 

Three words to describe the race: Good (Norris), bad (Ferrari), ugly (the accidents even before the start)

[PlatenGlass]

It's a 5 or 6. It was wet and there were safety cars so that gives certain ingredients for an exciting race but it didn't punch above its weight at all given these conditions. And safety car periods themselves are a negative.

[Nemo1965]

Always happy to see that my vote is there or there about the communis opinio. I enjoyed the race. 8.

Best driver: Oscar. But that is against the mainstream.

Max was Max, as always.

PS: Leclerc is becoming more and more my favorite individual amongst drivers. What a class act that man. ‘Words of wisdom…’ haha!

Edited by Nemo1965, 16 March 2025 - 17:05.

[Dara]

Best Driver: Kimi
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: none come to mind
Best Moment: Both McLaren in the gravel
Best Restart: the last one.
Three Words to Describe the Race: Melbourne always first.

[tourister46a]

The one thing I was looking forward to was the first pitstops and the cross over point between the inters and the dries. What instead happened was someone crashed that brought out the safety car, meaning every one pitted at the same time and came out in the same order all on dry tires. Also thought the safety car periods were too long, nearly 15 minutes long, on top of the 15 minute delay at the start. The saving grace was the chaos at the end.  Still only gave it a 5/10.

 

Best driver: Antonelli.

Best team: Dunno, maybe Mercedes

Best overtake: Piastri on Hamilton

Best moment: The McLarens running wide in the last sector

Best restart: Dont know

The race in 3 words: A McLaren Masterclass

[NewMrMe]

Best Driver: Norris - Bit of an awkward one as he made a mistake, but then so did so many others today. I am giving it for resisting the pressure from Verstappen at the end.
Best Team: Has to be McLaren
Best Overtake: Piastri on Hamilton
Best Moment: Leclerc's wet seat comments
Best Restart: Did anyone do anything at any of them?
Three Words to Describe the Race: Mad wet fun

[Huracan]

Best Driver: Norris/Max
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: Piastri on Hamilton
Best Moment: Leclerc/engineer radio exchange
Best Restart: Norris
Three Words to Describe the Race: McLaren rocket ship.

[PitViperRacing]

Best Driver: Norris/Max/Russell
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: Piastri on Hamilton
Best Moment: Constant Chaos
Best Restart: Norris
Three Words to Describe the Race: perfect season opener

[Afterburner]

That was a classic and a 10 for me. It had everything. On F1TV they showed highlights of the 2003 Australian GP prior to the start. Easily the most thrilling edition of this race since the 2010 version.

[AlexPrime]

Best Driver: Andrea
Best Team: Mercedes-AMG, got enormous points from nowhere
Best Overtake: Oscar on Lewis
Best Moment: The Macca blunder, it made the race come alive, although it was also terrible 
Best Restart: Lando's final restart
Three Words to Describe the Race: Good, exciting, fun

[scheivlak]

Best Driver: Lando and Max, kudos to AKA, Albon and Hulk too
Best Team: maybe Sauber?
Best Overtake: Oscar on Lewis! Max on Oscar on lap 1 took some balls too
Best Moment: Macca synchronised gravel ballet, a nice tribute to Ferrari's synchronised gravel ballet performance in Malaysia 2001 (lap 3)
Best Restart: Lando's were OK
Three Words to Describe the Race: long live chaos

[messy]

Forgot to rate race - gave it a 7 but I didn't think it was a classic, more quite a dull affair that was shuffled a couple of times by the weather. Still enjoyed it.

[Ruudbackus]

Best Driver: Albon, flawless all race keeping in potential faster cars behind. Honerable mentions for Hulkenberg and Russell. The only 3 i didn't see making an error at all.
Best Team: On strategy calls one has to say Sauber with Hulkenberg, on  car performance it's Mclaren
Best Overtake: Piastri on Hamilton
Best Moment: The changing weather, it does make races interesting and did save this race from becoming very dull (which it was till alonso's creash)
Best Restart: Lando nailed them all
Three Words to Describe the Race: Decent season Opener

 

I rated it a 7 as it only became alive in the second half of the race.

[JG]

Best driver: Max Verstappen, overachieving with a subpar car. 

Best team: McLaren

Best overtake: Piastri on Hamilton

Best moment: Max pushing Lando in the final laps.

Best restart: Lando 

Three words to describe the race: Chaos For Rookies

[blackmme]

Best Driver: Lando
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: Oscar on Lewis
Best Moment: Anthony Hamilton showing that humanity and empathy both have a place in F1, and should be valued

Best Restart: Lando
Three Words to Describe the Race: Exciting, unpredictable, ominous.

 

Regards Mike

Edited by blackmme, 17 March 2025 - 10:37.

[Benchulo]

Best Driver: Lando Norris & Yuki Tsunoda
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: Verstappen on Piastri on the first lap
Best Moment: Ferrari team radio between Leclerc and Bozzi
Best Restart: Lando Norris
Three Words to Describe the Race: Pit Wall Dramas

 

[Risil]

I gave it a strict 6. For two-thirds of the race it looked like everyone was in the order they would finish and nothing would happen. Then the track dried and it immediately rained very hard and mad stuff happened, winners and losers emerged, etc. Glad I watched it though, I'm happy with a 6.
 
Best Driver: Lando Norris -- had the best car but delivered the win under lots of kinds of pressure. Allayed some fears, at least from me, about whether he can perform well enough over the whole year.
Best Team: McLaren -- take away that sudden rain shower and they had a dominant 1-2.
Best Overtake: Probably that Leclerc one on Gasly before the pits.
Best Moment: Lando Norris calmly but delightedly thanking the whole receiving line of McLaren personnel and Norris entourage. Looked like he could do this a lot in 2025. Close second: the garage shots of Oscar Piastri's mum shouting at the monitors.
Best Restart: Presumably Norris, but they were all pretty uneventful and risk-free. I think.
Three Words to Describe the Race: Rain causes problems

[Ruusperi]

9. Last season opener to be this wet was in 1954. In that regards it was a very rare spectacle we witnessed.
Some people complain there wasn't much overtaking. But I'll prefer seeing a rain lottery on a high-speed punishing track than the usual dry DRS-show at bland Tilkedrome, which is what we'll probably see in China next weekend.

[William Hunt]

Best Driver:
Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Stunning debut...at 18 years of age in the most difficult conditions for a debut race including replacing a living legend (Lewis) at Mercedes

He was faultless apart from 1 spin from which he quickly recovered). Overtook a Sauber 3 times (two on Hülkenberg).

After a dissapointing qualy he steadily climbed up the order, overtaking more cars as any other driver and showing great concentration and mental strength

To compare with his team mate.. Russell was still in F3 at age 18 (and stayed 3 years at that level)

He still drove karting in 2021 and skipped F3 (nobody does that) and won 4 titles during his three years of junor single seaters prior to F1..
Legendary debut for a driver still sooooooo young



Honourable Mentions (they drove great);
Lando Norris
Max Verstappen (a mistake allowed Piastri to pass though)
George Russell
Yuki Tsunoda (deserved points)
Nico Hülkenberg
Alex Albon
Gabriel Bortoleto (for outqulifying Hülkenberg on debut, messed up potential points finish alas)
Rafa Camara (F3 pole & win on debut)
Worst Driver:
Liam Lawson (next victim of driving in a one driver team but his shockingly poor performance didn't help)
Oliver Bearman also had a dreadful weekend (but Lawson was legendary bad)
Most Unlucky Drivers:
- Carlos Sainz (his car crashing because of badly programmed mapping by the team, clearly not his fault)
- Yuki Tsunoda (his team messed up his strategy)
Dissapointing Driver:
- Lewis Hamilton (too many little mistakes, clearly a level below Leclerc. Sadly...want him to do well, at least a points score)
Best Team:
McLaren
Worst Team:
Haas
Surprise of the Weekend;
- Sauber better as anticipated
- Haas far worse as expected
Best Overtake:
One of the many Antonelli overtakes.
Antonelli on Albon maybe because it was so clean, confident and efficient and it earned him 4th.
Best Moment:
Antonelli finishing 4th on debut..aged 18
Worst Moment:
Piastri losing so much time on the wet grass in front of his home city crowd (he is born in Melbourne)
Best Restart:
the pace car
Three Words to Describe the Race:
Andrea Kimi Antonelli!

Edited by William Hunt, 17 March 2025 - 17:06.

[Ben24]

Gave it a 7. Was still exciting but the Alonso crash killed what was potentially the most exciting part of the race where everyone had to decide when to switch to dry tyres. Similar at the start where we lost heaps of laps when the track was wet enough to make things exciting

[Ultravox]

Extremely tedious. Back in the day these races were action packed, meaning constant action with cars going off and crashing while the race continued. Now every incident basically stops the race and kills the action and takes forever to restart. The sport is just becoming so tedious rather than fun. 6/10 race.

[Ultravox]

That was actually dull as dish water. 5 at best. Far too many laps behind SC, and basically all the "action" was the first lap and then the last 3 laps.

Not a single stand out driver and nearly all of them making mistakes or driving around well off the potential pace of their car.

 

I agree. Its mind blowing how anyone calls this race a classic. An insult to the classics.

[TomNokoe]

Voted 8, however I think being the season opener helped.

I found the race particularly satisfying because despite of all the disruptions it was still a very organic, meritocratic race. No cheap pit stops, no red flags shuffling the order.

Mistakes were punished and good decision making was rewarded.

In recent years these races have become lotteries where certain teams or drivers score great results, but it's hard to explain why. There was nothing of the sort here. The top 7 all thoroughly deserved their points.

[SenorSjon]

<<<Andrea Kimi Antonelli fan page>>>
 

 

I strongly disagree. He had a very bad qualy, his progress through the field was slow and made a near fatal mistake just after passing Hulkenberg. The final position was greatly helped by strategic blunders from Ferrari and Tsunoda as well as Piastri spinning off. Those were 4 free positions.

[vlado]

Why are we not getting such vantage points on TV is beyond me. They don’t have to do it on every lap but just mix some of this in the feed..

https://x.com/ferran...zg-bv2n8am2mMAg


Glorious

[Laptom]

Best Driver: Norris & Max
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: Piastri on Hamilton & Max on Piastri
Best Moment: Leclerc/engineer radio exchange
Best Restart: Norris
Three Words to Describe the Race: Fun race opener

[Laptom]

Best Driver: Norris & Max, with honour: Hulkenberg & Albon
Best Team: McLaren
Best Overtake: Piastri on Hamilton & Max on Piastri
Best Moment: Leclerc/engineer radio exchange, the changing weather conditions helped
Best Restart: Norris, without a doubt
Three Words to Describe the Race: Fun season opener, gave it an 8