The Australian Grand Prix was colored by chaos and protests – the expert criticized the restart: “It was the right decision”

The Formula 1 race in Melbourne featured overtaking, collisions and crashes. According to Fredrik af Petersens, the international motorsport federation FIA made the right decision with the red flags and the restarts.

Today’s F1 race has been criticized by some spectators, experts and drivers. In particular, it was the last restart, when there were only three laps left of the race, along with its outcome has been called into question. The restarts and changes in the results made it difficult for the supporters and the stable to keep up with the turns.

Yle Sport’s Formula 1 expert Fredrik af Petersens highlights the race as dramatic and controversial, but does not believe that it could have had any other course of events.

– I think it was the right decision. You must not finish a race under a red flag or behind the safety car unless it is necessary. Now it was done in and of itself anyway, says af Petersens.

The restart resulted in a crash between Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, leading to the jury making the decision to revert to the positions the drivers had before the restart.

– The judges simply followed the rules.

The final results should be decided on the track instead of in the judge’s booth, says Haas, among others, who submitted a written protest to the international motor sports federation FIA.

What happened to Bottas?

The chaotic race ended with eight cars forced to retire, something that one would have thought would have favored Finland’s Valtteri Bottas. But instead, he was last of all across the finish line.

The Australian GP was the second race of the season where the Finn underperformed. af Petersens admits that the Finn’s poor pace in the previous race in Saudi Arabia was mainly due to bad luck, but that he had hoped that Bottas could have challenged and reclaimed the points in Melbourne.

– It feels a little bad. I had thought it would go better. But it’s maximum bad luck he’s had so far this year, says af Petersens.

Bottas’ team-mate Guanyu Zhou has been on the front foot at the start of the season and seems to be the most successful of the Alfa Romeo drivers, despite not scoring any points. af Petersen hopes that Botta’s negative trend has only been due to bad luck.

– I really hope that the development changes so that Valtteri can be involved and drive at least eighth, ninth or tenth place in the races going forward, he says.

af Petersens has previously described Bottas as entering the second wind of his career as a racing driver. He is relaxed and gives the impression that almost everything is a bit new to him.

Has Bottas possibly relaxed too much and therefore lost focus?

– Everything with the strange hairstyle makes one question it. But at the end of the day, I don’t actually think it affects his driving. But who knows? The new stable manager Andreas Seidl may have a small private conversation with him.

Ferrari’s start to the season is disappointing

Before the season, it looked like Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari would be the three stables competing for the constructors’ championship.

Now, after three races have been run, that thought is not so obvious.

Ferrari collected zero points in today’s race and last year’s runner-up Charles Leclerc has only six points after the first three races. Some of the poor start to the season can be blamed on bad luck, but there are many indications that Ferrari’s car is not as competitive as thought. Leclerc’s seventh place in Saturday’s qualifying showed that all is not as it should be in the Italian stable.

– I have no idea what is happening with Ferrari. I had expected that Leclerc in particular would be much better, says af Petersens.

As a racing driver, you are not much better than the car you are given. Ferrari has enormous resources but doesn’t seem to have used them properly, something Aston Martin has surprisingly succeeded in doing.

– It is Aston Martin that has actually taken over Ferrari’s role as a challenger to overtake places on the podium. Alonso in particular drives in an absolutely fantastic way, says af Petersens.

Despite the fact that the fight for the podium is between four teams, Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin are still not convinced that they can actually challenge Red Bull. In today’s race, the Mercedes drivers were able to overtake Max Verstappen at the start, but really it was just a question of how many laps it would take before the Dutchman would overtake Hamilton, and then start attacking Russell.

– The speed of the Red Bull cars is far superior, says af Petersens.