Analysing the 2023 Australian GP with Python
The 2023 edition of the Australian GP was filled with drama. With 3 red flags being shown, it gained the unwanted title of being the race with the highest number of red flags in Formula1 history.
Let’s revisit the GP with Python!
Qualifying
After some wet practice sessions that saw Perez having a bad day at the office, qualifying was always going to be tricky.
Unsurprisingly, the RB19 of Max Verstappen was on pole. Adrian Newey has designed a rocket ship that is propelling RedBull towards dominating this new era of ground-effect Formula1 cars.
Comparing the Q3 laps from Verstappen and Russell we can clearly see how Max is able to carry much more speed into corners.
Comparing Maxs’ Q3 lap time against Alonso shows an even larger difference! The RB19 is significantly ahead of the competition.
Through the speed traps, once again, the RedBull is head and shoulders above the rest with a fastest recorded speed of 329km/h, compared to 325km/h of the Mercedes-Benz W14 and 322km/h of the AstonMartin AMR23.
Race
It was a chaotic race with multiple red flags and 8 DNFs. Bottas and Perez changed components during parc-ferme and as a result, had to start from the pit lane. It’s interesting to see the launch RPMs — Mercedes powered cars use a lower launch RPM whereas Ferrari uses higher RPM. Interestingly, RedBull Power Trains powered AlphaTauri had the highest launch RPM whereas Verstappen was mid-pack.
RB19 again reigned supreme in the speed traps with Sergio Perez reporting a maximum speed of 341km/h through the speed trap. A large helping of DRS allowed him to fight back up to 5th place after starting from the pit lane.
Comparing lap times across the field, we see that
- Verstappen is super consistent with his lap times.
- Sainz was lapping very close to the RedBull cars — the Ferrari was super kind to its’ tyres this race.
- Even while rising through the pack in traffic, Perez was able to stay close to Verstappens’ lap times.
- Alonso and Hamilton were lapping almost identically — every time Alonso made a push, Hamilton cranked up his pace to keep the gap consistent.
Conclusion
The season is shaping up nicely to be a battle for 2nd place between Mercedes-Benz, AstonMartin and Ferrari. Looking at the RB19s’ performance, it is unlikely anyone will be able to catch-up particularly with the cost cap in place. It was a sad day to be a tifosi but Ferrari seem to have great pace + being kind to its’ tyres is some silver lining.
On the lower end of the field, it’s brilliant to see Williams among the mix and competing to be a solid team in the midfield.
The big surprise of the season has been McLaren who seem to have a draggy car + reliability issues.
