The controversies of the chaotic Formula 1 in Australia: Verstappen’s optical illusion, Alonso’s reflexes and Sainz’s plea for mercy

“Just missing a kangaroo crossing the track”, was read on social networks. And the reality is that, joking aside, they are right. Because the third stage of the season for the Formula 1 with the Australian Grand Prix had one of the most attractive definitions of recent times, full of controversy but with the same ending as almost always: the Dutch Max Verstappen once again climbed to the top step of the podium.

On the Melbourne circuit, it all started when the FIA ​​stewards established it, due to the accident in which Kevin Magnussen he lost a tyre, the third safety car was shelved and the red flag was raised for the third restart of the competition.

“How, what, why?”they wondered Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton AND Fernando Alonsothe champions who were fighting for victory when the race direction decided to stage a final show and upset the public of this race in Australia.

This led to a stuck reboot where Charles Sainz hit Fernando Alonso for it to turn, both Alpini crashed incredibly into each other and Sergeant Logan Williams’s also made an impact nyck devries by AlphaTauri.

The race was red-flagged again and restarted under caution on lap 58 of 58, but the qualifying order for the second leg remained as before those crashes, leading to Nico Hulkenberg from fourth to seventh place in the provisional standings and resulted in a protest from the Haas team to the FIA ​​after the end of the competition.

Who threw all his experience on the track at that moment was the Spaniard Alonso, who obtained his third consecutive podium: “Check because a year ago at Silverstone the same thing happened and everything restarted, check quickly! The car is fine, I can continue, but look at it, look at it”. And so it was, the race restarted with the same positions, ensuring the podium for ‘Alo’ and fourth place for Sainz.

But that dispute didn’t end there, because that action cost Sainz five-second penalty at the end of the race, with which he remained out of the great collection of points he had after closing with the safety car and without having the possibility to gain time. “I can’t be excluded from the points, it’s unacceptable, they have to wait until the end of the race and discuss with me, please, please, it’s clearly not deserved, that penalty is very severe, I’m excluded from the points standings”he assured, as if it were a request for clemency.

Verstappen, out of place?

In this latest relaunch, a series of photos on social media has questioned Max Verstappen’s place in the drawer, which for this race has been enlarged at the request of the drivers themselves.

Verstappen lined up in his place, but in the images released by some fans it seemed that he was ahead of the established measure, which would mean an advantage for the Dutchman.

In Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Esteban Ocon AND Fernando Alonso they were penalized because their cars were not lined up correctly on the grid, which caused disruption and rule changes 20cm larger that space from this race in Melbourne.

However, the race direction did not issue any assessment, while in other photos we see that the two-time world champion was on the white line of the front, that you can touch with your tires and is still considered within the drawer conforming to the standards for a boot.

Also, Toto Wolff -CEO of Mercedes- noticed after the competition that the photos showed Verstappen it met the standard since the spoiler was the one that exceeded the front white line, but not the tires.

After the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix, the Formula 1 World Championship will have a four-week cut and will resume on the urban circuit of Baku, Azerbaijan, on April 30th.