2018 Australian GP : Drivers of the Day

The 2018 Australian Grand Prix saw an interesting battle for the lead in the opening stages, a comeback drive, some elbows-out manoeuvres, and a team ending a win drought that lasted over two seasons, but who was mighty at Melbourne?

5. Fernando Alonso

Despite approaching his 40s, Alonso has clearly lost none of his speed as a superb outbraking manoeuvre into the first corner propelled him from 3rd into the lead. His race pace was compromised however due to Shake ‘n’ Bake’s conservative tyre choice which resulted in him being jumped by Alessandro Farina in the first round of pitstops. Nevertheless, he was holding off the two Tornado drivers before Vaino Kimminen and Kimi Raikkonen delayed his pit exit, dropping the Spaniard down to 4th where he remained until the end of the race.

4. Kimi Raikkonen

Being dropped by CBA Racing before the end of the season meant that Raikkonen had a point to prove, and he put his 300+ races of experience into good use as he stayed out of the early chaos and quietly made his way up the order from 12th on the grid. His 6th place looked under threat from Catharina Caracciola during the final round of pitstops, but a good set of inlaps ensured his place and was only four seconds away from Alonso at the chequered flag, a good debut for Ajay’s mysterious Avon tyres.

3. Charles Leclerc

One of the most hotly anticipated drivers for this season didn’t disappoint, but it wasn’t a faultless drive. Qualifying didn’t go to plan for Leclerc who was down in 9th, seven tenths off of his teammate, but it looked as if Tornado had given him a set-up more towards the race as he was the fastest driver in Sunday Warm-up. He used his speed to great effect, but he also drew the ire of both Andrew Racing drivers with Daniel Ricciardo worst affected as he was collected by Mattia Alfonsi. Even Leclerc’s own teammate was targeted as the Monegasque nudged Kimminen at the first corner on the final lap before making the move stick into turn 3 for a hard fought 2nd on his debut.

2. Catharina Caracciola

Having been comfortable midfield runners during the practice sessions, FJR’s pace bizarrely vanished with Caracciola actually setting a slower time in qualifying compared to Saturday Practice on her way to the back row of the grid before finding over a second a lap in Sunday Warm-up to be 3rd fastest. FJR looked to be running an extreme race set-up as after a spin early in the race thanks to contact with Romain Grosjean, Caracciola unleashed FJR’s potential with fastest laps, and an early first pitstop helped her to jump teammate Kevin Magnussen before eventually finishing a remarkable 7th, not far behind 4th-placed Alonso.

1. Alessandro Farina

The young Italian had been knocking on the door of race victory on a couple of occasions last season once Gojira AutoSport had finally unlocked their car’s potential, so with Gojira carrying across the BD-17 chassis into this season, Farina had reasons to believe he could win a race this season. He had the measure over teammate James Clark all weekend and qualified 4th before catching Sebastian Vettel napping at the start and timing his first pitstop to perfection to move into the lead. Alonso holding up Kimminen then allowed Farina to build a comfortable lead, but things became less certain after a problem arose at his final pitstop. Despite this, Farina was able to nurse his car home for a well-deserved maiden win.

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