In the round-up: Mercedes admit they have much to work on following their point-less Australian Grand Prix weekend.
In brief
Mercedes reeling after grim weekend
Mercedes failed to score in Melbourne as Lewis Hamilton retired with a technical problem and George Russell crashed on the penultimate lap. their performance was also a cause for concern, admitted trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin.
“It has been a bruising weekend for us, during which we were unable to compete on a single lap or the long runs, and we will be continuing to trawl through the data in the coming days, to see what isn’t working and why we are only currently able to deliver flashes of performance from the car,” he said. “It’s clear that we have much to work on, to give both drivers a better tool to work with at the race weekends.”
Hamilton’s power unit will be sent to the team’s engine facility in Brixworth for inspection. Russell’s crash leaves them “with a significant amount of accident damage to remedy ahead of Japan,” added Shovlin.
Gasly avoids penalty point in Melbourne
The stewards opted not to give Pierre Gasly a penalty point for crossing the yellow line at the pit exit during yesterday’s race.
The Alpine driver was given a five-second time penalty but the stewards said penalty points were not deserved because drivers had advised them the line is hard to see when the sun is low, he crossed the line for a short distance of around a metre and, in their opinion, he caused no danger by doing so.
Australian GP crowd “record”
The Albert Park welcomed 452,055 people over the four-day Australian Grand Prix according to the race promoter, who said this is a record.
Colapinto disqualified
Williams junior driver Franco Colapinto was disqualified from the Formula 2 feature race for failing to engage his car’s set-up procedure correctly. He followed the correct steps, which involve pressing a pair of buttons, prior to the formation lap, but neglected to do so before the race start.
The MP driver therefore lost his seventh place finish in the race. Rafael Villagomez inherited it, Victor Martins and Oliver Bearman also moved up in the points places, and Jak Crawford was handed the final point for 10th place.
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