How the Australian GP gave F1 a much needed tonic

The 2022 Australian Grand Prix is unlikely to be added to the Formula 1 pantheon of all-time great races. It wasn’t a thriller by any stretch, let alone arriving hot on the heels of the Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen DRS battles that played out in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. But the 58 laps at Albert Park remained on the right side of being a humdrum snooze fest.

Leclerc’s victory was a little conventional in so far as the fastest car and driver prevailed. The win was not decided by strategy hijinks, an ill-timed shunt nor relied heavily on an artificial overtaking aid. The contest was run of the mill. Anything better than what transpired last weekend can be classified as a good race. Anything considerably worse, a bad race. By occupying the middle ground, the three-day event at Albert Park was a palette cleanser.

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Give or take, it had been six months since the last time the Monday after a race wasn’t dogged by controversy. That’s been draining. For all the headlines that have been written and the attention garnered by the drama, it’s not always an aspect to be celebrated.

Wind back to 2021 and Brazil. There, rear wing controversy, a qualifying exclusion and penalty hobbled Lewis Hamilton, while Verstappen was pushing the limits by defending position against his title rival having run off track and then weaving. An inaugural Qatar GP was in the firing line for sports washing and then matters accelerated considerably with Hamilton and Verstappen colliding in Saudi Arabia before the safety car farce of Abu Dhabi.

Following the latter, the off-season was plagued by the lingering controversy. The social media discourse playing out between the more militant fans of either driver made for grim scrolling. The FIA didn’t necessarily help dissipate matters by releasing the report on the findings of the title decider on the eve of the new campaign in Bahrain. Then the missile attack in Jeddah and the race coming perilously close to being boycotted meant the political plot lines never relented.

Daniel Ricciardo provided the feelgood factor on his first home F1 race for three years

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

That was until last weekend when Melbourne was there to provide the respite. Admittedly, Lance Stroll wasn’t best pleased by his penalty for weaving against Valtteri Bottas and the zero-tolerance policy on drivers wearing jewellery and piercings in the car was reaffirmed. But, by comparison to what has gone before, these incidents have barely registered on the radar. It was all a welcome tonic.

Context naturally played a major role in the warm reception F1 received at Albert Park. Site of the 11th-hour cancellation of the GP in 2020 amid what was then the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, a return to Australia had something of a broader significance given the sacrifice and suffering endured by many over the past two years.

And for fans attending the event, who have had to contend with some of the most stringent restrictions imposed by any country, there was clearly an appetite for F1 to return. A weekend crowd of 420,000 was not only a record attendance since the race first held at the venue in 1996, but also the largest ever sporting event Melbourne has hosted.

While the track modifications didn’t produce a blockbuster, the race was entertaining enough by the modest standard of past bouts at Albert Park and there were still plenty of talking points

Lush weather and a capacity crowd played a major role, but the overall atmosphere received rave reviews from colleagues on the ground. Some of that buzz was captured by the TV broadcast, too. Carlos Sainz Jr reported: “The whole city welcomes us a lot, always in Melbourne. Since we landed on Monday, it's been incredible the amount of support and amount of people that are just excited to have us here.”

There was heightened anticipation amid the heavy facelift the circuit was given. While the modifications didn’t produce a blockbuster, the race was entertaining enough by the modest standard of past bouts at Albert Park and there were still plenty of talking points. Only they revolved less around title rivals trading paint and name calling and were overall not as divisive as more recent incidents.

The 2022 Australian GP broke the record for the largest ever sporting event in Melbourne

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

The chequered flag and paddock pack down in Australia also brings with it a breather after a gruelling start to the season for personnel on the ground. Testing in the Middle East, two races in the same region and then flying down under has been exhausting. The fortnight before the season continues at Imola provides welcome relief.

There was some minor chagrin from drivers in the Friday press conferences that Albert Park hadn’t retained its place as the first round of the season. But certainly for 2022, the shuffled schedule turned out to be no bad thing. Considering all the hype around the new technical regulations that largely concerned whether they would produce more overtaking, had the Australian GP been round one, criticism would have been flying that the shift to ground-effect had already failed. The races in Bahrain and Saudi had their flaws but at least alleviated those concerns quite rapidly.

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To some extent, the pressure was off for Albert Park. And, while events last weekend didn’t exceed the muted expectations, they played out as a typical F1 race. Nothing more, nothing less. But every now and again, occupying the middle ground is nothing to be sniffed at.

Leclerc led the celebrations in a festival-like atmosphere at Albert Park

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images