F1 Australia, the report cards of those promoted
1. Arvid Lindblad, Ollie Bearman and Gabi Bortoleto. Formula 1 chases a future that doesn’t exist, with a rInternet Explorer is born old and will probably die young. The future, the real one, is in the flesh. In addition to Kimi Antonelli, who came second but in truth did not compete this weekend, and Isack Hadjar (the first of the humans in qualifying), three guys well-traveled towards big stages assert themselves. Bearman is a security like taxes, Bortoleto brings Audi into the top-10 at the first, Lindblad has no problem passing over Russell’s wing and takes the “asshole“from Verstappen for having slowed down too much in the pit lane. Which is a bit of his love language, but it can also be a way to immediately make it clear who’s in charge. On the other hand, if the champions have an almost animalistic nose in understanding who can take away their role as leader of the pack, for Lindblad it’s a certificate of esteem. In any case, at the age of 18 he made his debut in F1, giving pay to those who have been there for three years now. Chapeau.
2. Max Verstappen. But not for the comeback from 20th to sixth position, we’re not joking. The theme is that Max – and to a lesser extent Alonso, who on the other hand has much more serious problems to face – was the first to demolish this F1, with clear and clear words, without fear. The others follow suit. And it’s not even irritation for a car that is no longer the technical point of reference, because Verstappen said the same things even after crumbling the 2023 World Championship. He just changed the target. And frankly, on Formula E on steroids, it’s hard to blame him.
3. The very latest. Unconfirmed rumors swear that the Cadillac he is still in Melbourne, but the GP will finish soon. Yes, last and worse than Aston Martin in terms of performance on the flying lap. But in short, it only got the ok to race a year ago: it started from scratch or almost, without references (because everything was new for all the teams) and without personnel, and 12 months later it is on the grid with an F1 car. It’s like asking a chef to prepare a starred dish in 10 minutes. Applause, regardless. Is it last? And who cares. But speaking of the last ones: if you haven’t seen what Franco did Colapintoget it here. It is proof that in F1 even what is treated like the least of the suckers actually has Serie A reflexes.
F1 Australia, the report cards of those who failed
3. Oscar Piastri. In reality it is not even clear whether it is his fault or the fault of the electrician who delivers too much power, or whether it is correct. It is a spin that seems to have points in common with that of Verstappen in qualifying. It’s unfortunate, first of all because he could have been in the top-5 and then because he is a rider who risks being lost between the end of 2025 and this start of the season. And it would be a huge waste.
2. Aston Martin. Speaking of waste, Professor Lawrence takes the chair Stroll. Someone who gives the idea of having a metropolitan ego and drives an Aston Martin which in terms of cost-performance ratio is the four-wheeled equivalent of Jeff Bezos’ Fire Phone. Well, after years of proclamations about 2026, after the futuristic videos on the structures and the staff (certainly of quality and cutting-edge), after bringing into the team an Adrian Newey who two years ago was sought after more than gold, Aston Martin arrives at the first race of 2026 after the music: the best performance goes to Stroll junior – dad’s handsome man – with just 15 laps behind. This is because Honda doesn’t have an engine up to par. Stroll discovered this in November 2025: for two and a half years (the supply was announced in May 2023) he believed he was working with the engineers who made Red Bull great. Not knowing, however, that 70% had left. Practically the crux of the entire project is this contract drawn up without knowing who was putting themselves in the house. We fly at stellar levels, you will understand.
1. FIA. In the post-Melbourne narrative, F1 underlined the number of overtakings, which rose from 45 to 120 from one edition of the GP to the next, thus celebrating the Melbourne race as the success of the new regulations, which should have brought more spectacular races. But the show also wants its own composure: this is just caciaraall those overtakings are due to the batteries and not to the skill of the driver. It would be as if FIFA, in order to no longer see 0-0 draws, built goals eight meters high and 20 meters wide at the World Cup, and then high-fived itself if the matches ended in 67 draws. But it’s another sport, this is not the DNA of motorsport and neither is the agonizing qualifying in which the drivers in the push lap have to lift their foot to recharge the battery. This is regarding the sporting side (and obviously F1 also has something to do with it even if coincidentally in Italy the bad guy to take on Skyaffi seems to be Tombazis). Off the track, the Federation’s ability to exist remains stunning out of time and out of placewith a regulation that continues on a closed road and has only created controversy due to the compression ratio used by Mercedes. Already after a race we see backtracking, corrections and compromises. Best wishes, we will need it.
