F1: 2023 Australian GP Preview - Red Bull's Race To Lose

If we were to tell you that anyone apart from Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez would win the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, you would find that unbelievable. Such is the dominance of Red Bull’s RB19. The duo secured one pole position and one race win each in the opening two rounds of the 2023 season, while the opposition were nowhere near their pace. And if the opposition were to suddenly find the pace to take the fight to Red Bull, who’s to say the Milton Keynes outfit doesn’t have some pace in reserve?

Having said that, we can always be cautiously optimistic going onto the streets of Melbourne. As seen in the past, the Albert Park Circuit - more often than not - springs a surprise in terms of the results, where the usually dominant teams don’t dominate as much while some other teams take the best advantage of it; like Ferrari winning ahead of Mercedes in 2017 & 2018 with Sebastian Vettel, and Kevin Magnussen securing a P2 finish in 2014 on his Grand Prix debut.

This poses a big question ahead of the race weekend. Can Fernando Alonso in his AMR 22 bring the challenge up to Verstappen & Perez? Alonso has been driving ferociously in the last two races and feels absolutely at home with the Aston Martin, and Albert Park would be a great venue for the Spaniard to claim his first win of the season. However, Ferrari & Mercedes will be hot at his heels trying to steal a podium finish as well.

The two giants have been fighting at the top for the recent years, and while they have had a poor start to the 2023 season, there’s no doubt that the two teams will be doing their level best to extract as much pace as they can from their cars. The teams will need some more time to bring reasonable upgrades to their cars, but it will be key for their championship challenges to secure as many points as they can until the upgrades arrive. 

As for the midfield, Alpine had a strong showing at Saudi Arabia with both the cars finishing in the points. The Haas drivers on the other hand may have struggled in the first race at Bahrain, but the team showed much better pace on the streets of Saudi Arabia. Haas has been strong at the Albert Park Circuit in the past, and the team will surely want to finish best of the rest with its two experienced drivers - Hulkenberg & Magnussen - behind the wheel. As for McLaren, it will be a big surprise if they manage to snatch a few points this weekend, given the pace - or the lack thereof - of the ‘draggy’ MCL60.

2023 Formula 1 Australian GP Schedule (Indian Standard Time):

2023 Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship Standings After Round 2 (Saudi Arabian GP):

2023 Formula 1 World Constructor’s Championship Standings After Round 2 (Saudi Arabian GP):