2023 Australian Grand Prix Race Review | P1 Podcast 

A month of nothing in a 23 race season and we just had 3 races!

The start gave us hope that Merc could compete with Red Bull but then Max overtook Hamilton and pulled like 3 seconds in one lap

The easy way you can fix the rule for tyre changes during a red flag is that it does not count towards your mandatory tyre change so you can put fresh tyres on but you will still have to do a pit stop anyway

34:15 Sainz did slow down a LOT before the last couple of corners, and then absolutely yeeted it. He was trying to get at least a point or two, but just barely missed out on it. The commentators on F1 TV spoke about it a fair bit too. Not sure how Tommy and Matt missed it.

F1: cost cap Also F1: standing restart at lap 56/58 with very cold tires.

Have a content idea for you guys. Why not rewatch older f1 season(myb 2010) and then do race review podcast for each race. It would be fun for og fans and maybe would be exciting for newer fans that never watched it.

Matt nailing the "P ......1 podcast" like old times 🙌

I love those gravel taps. We need more of those!

Well done guys for carrying on

This race being from 12am-3am was absolute murder for me. I just wanted to get excited and scream so many times during the race. As a Haas fan, it was so hard to not make any noise during that last red flag and the potential of a Hülkenberg podium.

I think Matt with the full RB gear in stream jinxed Sainz since Lecleur was already out.

I think I have a couple of interesting solutions to the red flag tire situation. 1- What if you are free to change tires but doing so means you have to restart from the pits? That's still better then limping around with a damaged tire to then pit, while not worth it for someone with old tires to do so. 2- you're free to change tires but only for the same compound. Meaning if you haven't pitted yet, the new tires will help but you still have to pit again for the 2nd compound later in the race.

I just love seeing Alpine doing Alpine things. I'm getting their shirt.

I think the main issue is the rules state that a driver must use 2 different tyre compounds in a race. So changing the tyre compound under red flag counts. If it was written in the rules "driver must make one pit-stop", then under red flag it would not count, specially because drivers stay at the fast lane, so it is NOT a "pit" stop, it's just a very long drive through.

my highlight of the new P1 channel. Toms mouth pull and Matts guilty face when Checo fell under the P1 curse....both meme worthy

Stroll did not punt Leclerc off track... that was Leclerc turning into Stroll and Stroll had no where to go.

To clarify on the Sainz-Alonso penalty, the LAP does still exist, it counted towards the race distance, it's only the changes of place that don't count because the race was red flagged before anyone crossed the first timing point. That being said I agree that effectively that was a 1st lap incident and I don't think Sainz should have been given a penalty.

I was lucky enough to be there in person and the reaction from the crowd after the call of the 3rd red flag was insane

Time for my fav podcast! Also…this race will be referenced in every episode of Drive to Survive…also…I have a meme of Horner ”deploy alpha tauri” standing by now, thanks Tommy

I actually listened to the podcast on Spotify because you guys are so entertaining. Keep up the amazing work and always have fun doing it. 5⭐ review

The gravel in Melbourne was so dense, that when I walked through the gravel at turn 3 after the race to exit the course even I nearly got beached in it...

I don't know if you guys will read this comment, but I used to watch WTF1 on a semi-regular basis. Since you guys switched to P1, I feel this renewed energy and refueled passion. I have become an avid watcher. Thank you guys and keep up the good work.

You guys are simply the best in this space. Thank you so much for your honesty and for always keeping us updated on the latest F1 happenings.

If Hulkenberg got his podium today then he would've been the first Ferrari on the podium this season, in a Haas to boot

It's ironic that Michael Masi was at this race :)

I think the best way to deal with tire changing under a red flag is to remove the tire allocation and say that you can change tires but that you have to stay on the same type. If that were the case Russell would have actually had a greater advantage given to him by putting before the red flag.

Great content as usual! Keep up the good work guys!

I heard someone suggest that if a yellow flag turns into a red they should go back to the order under yellow in that case it doesn't change the order due to them not calling red quick enough

It should be any cars that pitted under the safety car get their position back if it turns to red flag. Seems super simple to do. Still standing start driver doesn’t get a huge disadvantage for pitting

Just a thought: Would it make any sense to add a rule that sets the restart order of a yellow flag incident that turns red as the original order when the yellow flag occurs, as a concession for the free pit stop? Would seem more fair.

Sainz penalty was completely justified as he almost became a '21 Hungary Bottas and his mistake was main contributor to the restart chaos. It's a hard penalty, but it's fair. After all, if the order remained the same, he would've dropped out of the points anyways. He had a great race, but he messed it up at the very end.

Red flags should be a standing start and allow tire changes, sure, but not with less than 5 laps to go. That's way too unfair for everyone involved to not be a rolling start. As for the tires, it's unrealistic but I think if a red flag is called after a safety car then the car order should be formed on rollback to the last timed sector before the safety car. This way people who pitted during the safety car that lost out on a free tire change under red flag don't get completely shafted for no reason.

Personal opinion: 1. Gravel traps are needed everywhere instead of run off areas - very little chance of track limits and punishes the drivers who make mistakes 2. Albon incident should not have been a red flag. The whole point of a SC is to bring it out in such a situation. We’ve had similar situations in the past with even more gravel on the track than this and SC was enough then 3. There was no fascinating battle that was going to happen regardless of Merc strategy and no red flag being shown. Even if George’s car hadn’t blown up, Max would have still won the race as he’d have been easily managed to clear the 10 sec deficit and even manage to pull ahead quite a bit 4. AM was slightly (0.1-0.2 sec per lap) faster than the Merc but Merc was quicker on the straights and more importantly, following was more difficult on this circuit. If the roles were reversed, Alonso would have been able to hold Lewis off quite easily, I think. 5. I feel it’s not the tyre change during a red flag that is an issue. It’s more the ease at which red flags or SCs are being shown nowadays have just increased quite a bit to cater to the DTS graduates. If we can eliminate the need to manufacture theatre, things should work itself out. 6. Rolling start vs Standing start - although the latter is more exciting, it’s equally more dangerous with the drivers having very little opportunity to bring heat into the tyres and thus, more prone to what we saw at Albert Park. 7. How Gasly continues to escape a race ban is beyond my understanding. What’s the point of a penalty system if it just stops at the last hurdle because some people don’t want a driver to be banned for a race? Either follow through or get rid of it. 8. Sainz was indeed at fault and if it was under normal race conditions, he’d have deserved a 5 sec penalty but it was too harsh under restart conditions. It’s more funny when you think that he got a penalty for a lap that didn’t even count!😂 9. Driver of the day would be a toss up between Sainz and Gasly. 10. Biggest disappointment would indeed be Albon.

Not sure if it's too much work but it would be great if you guys could add sections/chapter markers to the podcasts.

It's amazing how much I miss Katy, she just adds another dynamic to this team.

Do you think it is logical that Max holds back a little at the start? He got the best car, Checo was far away, the start holds the most potential to damage you car. Doesn`t matter if you lose some positions at the beginning, you can just easy overtake Hamilton later and cruise to the win. So from a pure logical standpoint it makes sense to make sure you don't get into any trouble at the race start. Honestly I don't want to be the person to tell Max this strategy but there might be something viable to it.

Loved that there were some great non-DRS overtakes

15:00 then say any team who touches the car under the red flag must restart from the pit lane. If you’ve got a puncture you can change it but there won’t be any frivolous stops and fans still get to see the excitement of pit stops and strategy playing out.

Based on analysis after the race, Red Bull had so much pace they actually turned down the PU settings. Norris was also quoted as saying Red Bull is likely holding back to avoid getting the FIA's attention and being pulled back by rule changes in the future.

When are you two getting married? Can we all get an invite. I love wedding cake. Two little guys in Ferrari and Redbull gear on the top tier, all crafted out of yummy icing. It would be the RU-vid wedding of the year. Oh please. Love the channel. Moved over from WTF1.

FIA logic is right up there with @Really3D physics!

I maintain that tire changes under a red flag should be allowed... but they shouldn't count as the required compound/tire change for the race. Maintains the importance of pit strategy, but leaves the rest alone.

I think there is an argument for Carlos' incident being a racing incident tbh, I think it should be considered like a Lap 1 incident

If you need filler content I’d love to see one on special liveries. Great past ones, ones you want to see, and in what upcoming races will they be running them

I agree you can't prevent them from changing tyres during a red flag, but it shouldn't count as the mandatory tyre compound swap. If you can't change like for like compound, just enforce them to stop again

35:16 now that Matt has mentioned it, I'd imagine even if Sainz got a penalty and Hulkenburg was allowed to keep P4 on lap 58, with his luck, he probably just conked out half way around the lap under safety car and missed out on the podium anyway XD.

I wonder how many takes it took to get it right. Matt must have slipped the W...T...F...1 in some of the takes. But, maybe this was just the race to demonstrate to Michael, the different scenarios under which the red flag can be called. Also.....go Lando

Thanks for the comprehensive answer to my question lads!

On the tyres under red flags thing and damage and safety, you are allowed to work on the car during a red flag for safety to a certain point, and surely tyres could fall into the same category.

tommy saying: "i just love an underdog story" when they mentioned Nico is so funny considering he is a Max fan hhahahah

If I am not mistaken, Albon red flag was mainly due to the barrier being hit heavily by Alex and needed fixing.

What if.. you can change tires during red flag, but you have to go to same compound that you were already using. So that if you didn't have your mandatory pit stop, you still have to pit even after red flag

Brilliant podcast, bought to you by the word YEET!

There was a wheel in the middle of the track if it was the redflag incident I am thinking of that you are talking about 2 laps from the end of the race. So I think there had to be a red flag, you would all be saying why haven't they stopped it if marshals were going on track even with SC or VSC. Plus you basically had race finishing behind SC anyway as no-one is allowed to past before the line on the end of SC lap. So they didn't avoid the race finish behind SC anyway because of the big crash on the restart.

I think Tsunonda's performance was doubly good bearing in mind he finished where he did with the older spec aero package after having written off the new spec aero package in testing.

On red flag I'd say try changing rules to free tire change of same compound (for potential safety reasons also from dry to wets if it rains during red flag but not a free change of wet to dry if rain stops during red flag) if compound changed or switch to dry take 10 second time penalty, if front wing changed take 5 seconds penalty, if other repairs are done to car such as floor take a drive through penalty

What with this race AND eventful Indycar race on the same weekend 😱😱🤯🤯 Poor Le Clerc 😬 and poor Grojean, crashing on the 3rd to last lap in Indy when he was so close to the front 😫

Thanks, Tommy and Matt for your objective review of the race (especially because people like to accuse you of British bias which I don’t really understand when both of you cheer for non-British drivers). Admittedly, I am a Sainz fan, but even if I concede that he should have had a penalty, then Gasly and Sargent should also have received a penalty. It’s utterly galling that the reasoning of NOT giving Gasly a penalty for a 1st lap incident, then that should have been applied to Carlos’ contact with Alonso. It also brings up another point that no one seems to be discussing: what is the rationale behind phasing out the tire blankets? If this chaos ensued due to cold tires, what is going to happen when there are no tire blankets and everyone will be starting on the grid with relatively cold tires?

On the Red Flag tyre change issue you could just mandate that it must be the same compound of tyre so the it doesn't give free pitstops but even with that ruling it could still cause unfair situations if someone has gone very long on their first stint planning to do a 1 stop around the time it happens for instance... as it stands the rule is fine and makes trying to get a cheap pitstop a riskier strategy in general. No matter what someone is likely to be disadvantaged no matter what the race directors decide to do in that position.

I have idea for the tyre change in red flag conditions: Take interval times in sector just before red flag was announced Take average pit-stop time during current race. Give teams limited amount of time if they want to change tyres if not. Teams will communicate their decision secretly to the FIA Add average pit-stop time to the interval from the sector before the red flag for the teams who decided to change the tyres Arrange the new order after calculating the times

25:44 was that Jack!?!?!?

The lap can never exist but a crash can't , Alonso could have lost all points like gasly and ocon and maybe don't take too much risk at the end when you might finish behind a safety car

All this content makes me so happy 😁

Nice analysis, good luck on your live show this week gents!

My lawn blower could have blown all the gravel off in a few minutes.

I’m nervous Leclerc is going to just lose it if things like this keep happening. Kinda like how Daniel Ricciardo did with all the mechanical failures he was having at Red Bull. I just hope that this doesn’t break him down.

P6 for Norris was a gift

If a red flag follows a safety car, then the restart positioning should be based on the grid as of the first moment the safety car was introduced, in order to avoid situations such as George losing the lead because the FIA weren't quick enough to decide the red flag was required.

14:05 they were also much more likely just to call a red flag rather than waste time with a safety car first. If we are going to keep having safety car laps followed by a red flag, either we need a better rule about changing tyres under the safety cst (go back 10 years or so when a safety car closed the pits) or we meed a way to cancel out lost position if a safety car pitstop does become negated by a red flag.

13:44 I’m fine with teams being able to change tires/fix the car during a red flag. What should change though, is that if a Safety Car or a VSC gets upgraded to a red flag, the order of the restart should be based on the order from before the Safety Car or VSC, that way, there’s no negative impact to having elected to change tires.

its so great to see these two working together and building another f1 media project. I was sure they'd be hopping freight trains and traveling around the midlands doing day labor for expired food.

To Ferrari's credit, they were coaching him at the end of the race to try to build a gap.

Looking forward to the driver ratings vid and hopefully you do totals for the season and discuss it. Keep up the great content ❤

The other option for Sainz over the line at the end there was to go across as slow as possible as no one can overtake the car in front until after the line, so technically as soon as his transponder reports him over the line he could crawl over and waste 5 seconds. I know that would be considered dangerous, but it could be an option.

While it may be difficult to manage, any crew wanting to change a part on the car on a Red Flag will cause a grid penalty on the restart. 2 or 3 places would be enough. Those who pit with a safety car would lose less if a flag then comes out. The penalty causes teams to strategize and isn’t F1 all about strategy.

Sainz deserved the penalty, and Gasly should've had one too. Ban or not, because now he just gets to drive ocon into the wall, without consequences. Again. (see already existing penalty points?)

Whenever people complain about tire changes during red flag, I think of Baku 2021, where Red Bull asked for a red flag, because they were concerned about more punctures

I think as far as red flags go, they need to look to other racing series. No work on the car under red flag. Once the track has been cleared, cars are brought back on track, and then either a lap of yellow flag so it’s not full blown racing to avoid issues due to cold or worn tires or follow the pace car for a couple laps before going back to the grid so that those who took a gamble under a yellow before a red was shown are not so taken out of the race

What about on red flags, you can change tires, but you take an X second penalty from your last completed sector prior to the red of however they would measure gaps at the time the red is thrown, allowing the result to be as if you took a pit under green or at least SC conditions. The penalty time can be provided before the race to correspond with an estimated pit change time loss. It would maintain the competition better.

Solution to red flag tire changes…. If an incident causes a yellow flag then later turned to red, everyone can change tires but the order of the grid reverts to when the yellow was first called. So cars that go in under yellow for new tires get their position back if the flag goes to red. And not lose out because they didn’t wait you til red for new tires

What if they don't allow tyre change under a red flag and start the race again behind the safety car, rolling start. That way you mimick a safety car while there is the option to "stop" the race for repairs, cleaning the track, and so on

I love chaotic races. I was a bit worried after the first red flag, since I thought that everyone was going to be looking after their tyres for the whole rqce. It was more a question of going the distance rather than trying to move forward. Even Checo didn't have the pace to keep moving forward after all the moves he kept making.

Hey Matt, you can´t complain too much. I have been watching F1 races since 1977 and as a Tifosi I had to wait from 1979 when SCH(eckt)er was WDT until 2001 when SCH(umach)er became the next Ferrari WDC... 22 years of suffering! (Quite a strange coincidence that those two Ferrari champion´s last names started with SCH and ended in ER...) Keep up the great work. Your podcast is fantastic!

If there is a red flag and standing start and if someone gets a penalty they should get a grid drop meybe Sainz gets a 3place grid drop instead of 5sec

16:23 They should be allowed to change tires if they want to start from the pit lane on restart. That way a car that WOULD HAVE DNFed gets to at least trundle back into the race

You just can't give sainz a penalty and nothing to Gasly. This is so unfair for Sainz. So much for not taking the consequences into account

Firstly, I think the problem with the first red flag was not only that teams are allowed to change tire under red flags but that the FIA seemed to change its mind from only needing a sc to a red flag. I think the division needs to made faster and without changing it after a while. Also one solution that would prevent tire changes in red flags would be that changing tires under red flag conditions would give a grid place penalty. I think this would continue the pit stop strategy outside of the race while keeping it more fair

Just make it so the red flag restart order is based on time the safety car is called easy.

5*. That Tommy dude is cool.

Going forward you should say everyone other than Max gives you two points for pole. So you can choose Max each weekend but a punt on someone else makes it worth it!

About red flags,if it's cold outside rolling start,and if its hot outside standing start. Its not that difficult.

Why not put everyone that changes tyres under a red flag to the back of the grid? 1st, 5th, and 14th change tyres; 1st starts 18th, 5th 19th and 14th 20th.

Thoughts on you can change tires under red flag but it does not count you are still mandated to change tires out side of the red flag?

They have to be able to change tires because if Hulkenberg had damaged his tires in the gravel then they have to be able to change his tires for safety. One option is like the work area for speedway in Australia where if you do work on the car you go rear of field like parce ferme conditions.

I think red flags could be made better by having 2 formation laps and people can pit at the end of the first formation lap if they need to.

Question with the red flag and tyre change, for safety but not to gain an advantage why can't the tyre change be for only a new set of the original tyre each car was on? Rather then gaining essential a free pit stop. It would make those teams have to pit again at some stage due to having to use the mandatory two different sets of tyres. Especially if there's an early red flag

pulling the red flag out with 2 laps to go would normally mean the end of a race. No restarts and especially no grid restarts.

I think if you predict someone other than Max for pole and they get it, it should be worth 2 points

Thank you for saying Melbourne properly. Guy from Melbourne.

27:00 it doesn't really make sense to penalize Gasly. You have to think about it from a team perspective, not a driver perspective. If you punish alpine for hitting alpine, you're double punishing the team. Both cars dnf'ing is enough for a team punishment