The Australian Grand Prix began in a chaotic flurry of drama that noticed Charles Leclerc’s race end and a purple flag change the complexion of your entire race.
Leclerc spun uncontrolled when he was hit from behind by Lance Stroll and went into the gravel within the opening moments of the race, ending his day on the primary lap.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Alex Albon spins uncontrolled at Albert Park.
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Moments earlier than Leclerc’s incident, for which Stroll obtained no penalty, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton overtook pole-sitting Max Verstappen in an exhilarating begin to the race.
Russell acquired the soar on Verstappen and Hamilton adopted swimsuit on flip three, with Verstappen complaining that Hamilton had pushed him vast.
Simply 10 minutes later, the race was purple flagged when Alex Albon misplaced management of his Williams and spun into the barrier, fanning gravel all around the observe.
Mercedes made the split-second resolution to pit Russell, assuming a typical security automobile could be referred to as, however their race was flipped on its head when the purple flag was referred to as, given they’d missed the chance to have a free pit cease.
Russell fell to seventh place earlier than plummeting all the way down to 18th later within the race.
“Sorry George, that screwed us. Let’s get essentially the most out of it, we are able to nonetheless go to the entrance and podium or higher,” Mercedes group principal Toto Wolff could possibly be heard telling Russell over their group radio.
“Yeah, it isn’t your fault, guys. It was an excellent name,” Russell responded.
“Nicely it was – earlier than the purple flag,” commentator David Croft added after listening to a disenchanted Russell.
“Look how a lot gravel did come out onto the observe, and you are going by way of there at 140 miles per hour.”
Croft’s co-commentator Jenson Button didn’t agree the purple flag ought to have been referred to as.
“Yeah, however you are not beneath a security automobile, so I do not perceive why there is a purple flag, I’ve to say,” Button responded.
“Since you simply decelerate to the incident, the security automobile can decelerate, they usually can sweep the gravel when the automobiles aren’t going previous the incident.
“It is broken so many individuals’s races — it was a method name that lots of people made that they thought was proper, different individuals thought it wasn’t proper. However, I perceive safety-wise as properly.”
Officers say too many laps would have been misplaced making an attempt to scrub up the observe if automobiles have been nonetheless going round, albeit beneath security automobile situations.
