Formula 1 Championship

Oscar Piastri has endured a difficult start to life in Formula 1 after his official debut lasted just 13 laps of the Bahrain Grand Prix overnight.
 
The Victorian showed plenty of promise in his initial laps before having to retire early.
 
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen picked up where he left off at the end of last season with an emphatic victory in Bahrain – the Dutchman leading Sergio Perez to a dominant Red Bull one-two.
 
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez secured a one-two finish, while it was a dream opening race of the for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. Alonsoenjoyed a dream start with his new team, finishing third ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
 
Unfortunately, Piastri ended up on the opposite end of the timing screens and had a debut to forget.
 
Earlier in the weekend, the Victorian had a mixed set of results during practice with his best run coming in Saturday’s final practice session where he posted the ninth fastest time.
 
His confidence gained from practice three didn’t last long as a minor mishap on his flying lap during the first session in Qualifying prevented him from making it to the next stage.
 
Starting the race from P18, Piastri made up a number of positions early in the race and made it as high as eighth before steering wheel and gear box issues brought him into the pits on lap 14.
 
Mechanics then replaced the steering wheel but when Piastri attempted to restart the car, it was to no avail as electrical gremlins proved a bigger issue, forcing McLaren to retire the 21-year-old.
 
The FIA Formula 1 World Championship continues in two weeks with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on 20 March.
 
 

Formula 2 Championship

Jack Doohan’s hopes of securing a FIA Formula 2 Championship title has suffered a major blow after he was unable to score points in the first round of the 2023 season.
 
Having challenged for the title last year, Doohan entered the season as one of the contenders, however he missed out on points despite producing a gallant effort.
 
Surprisingly qualifying in a lowly 17th, the Queenslander charged up the field in the opening Sprint race to make up six places and finished 11th.
 
The result would have given Doohan hope of picking up points in the feature race, however he could only make up one spot in the end as he crossed the line in P16.
 
The F2 Championship will join Formula 1 in Jeddah on 20 March.

Formula 3 Championship

Three Aussies were in action for the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship season opener in Bahrain and unfortunately, neither walked away with points after what was a tough weekend.
 
With Hugh Barter and Tommy Smith making their category debuts and Christian Mansell getting just his third ever start, all three drivers were hoping for a strong start to the year.
 
In what was an extremely tight Qualifying session, Barter started off the best with an impressive P5, while Mansell qualified in 13th and Smith in 28th as just one and half seconds separated the latter with polesitter Gabriele Minì.


There would be mixed results in the reverse-grid Sprint Race for each driver as Barter started from eighth before dropping down to 11th, Mansell finished where he started and Smith made up five positions in a solid effort.
 
As for the Feature Race, there would be no fortune for either driver as Mansell finished the highest of the trio in the exact same position he started in.
 
A puncture to Barter early in the race saw any hope of points relinquished after he finished P26 overall while a crash for Smith saw him retire but classified in P28.
 
The Aussies will next be in action for the FIA Formula 3 Championship on home soil with the next round to take place as part of the Australian Grand Prix at the end of the month.

 

Formula Winter Series

Gianmarco Pradel has nabbed another two podiums in the Spanish F4 Championship’s Winter Series round at Circuito de Navarra in Los Arcos, as he moved to equal second on the standings.

Having placed second in qualifying, Pradel unfortunately lost the position to teammate Frederik Lund during the opening race, although he was able to stay on the podium.

Starting from P3 in the second race of the weekend, Pradel defended well and did what he had to do to secure a third consecutive podium in the series, while Lund’s retirement helped the Aussie move to equal points in second. 

With two rookie wins adding to his haul, it was a successful round for Pradel ahead of the series final this weekend at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

NTT IndyCar Series

Will Power has begun his title defence with a solid top 10 finish in what was a chaotic start to the 2023 season.  
Taking place on the streets of St Petersburg, more than a third of the field failed to finish the race as Power ended up coming seventh overall to bank some solid points.
 
A mixed run in qualifying saw the reigning champion secure a 10th place start for the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg, while former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean claimed pole.
 
The 100-lap race began in chaos as six cars were involved in a crash off the start, forcing the session to be red flagged.
 
Once the action got restarted, Power battled hard throughout and was gifted two positions in the final stages of the race when three-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin and Grosjean made contact – putting the Frenchman out of the race and McLaughlin to the back of the grid.
 
Taking out the win was Marcus Ericsson, while Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon rounded out the podium.
 
The NTT Indycar Series continues next week with the PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway on 2 April. 
 

USF2000

After claiming last year’s US Formula 4 Championship title, Lochie Hughes has continued his winning form to end the first round USF2000 Championship on top of the standings.

Racing for Jay Howard Driver Development, the Queenslander was his team’s best performer over the weekend at St Petersburg as he came away with a race win and podium place.  

With a competitive field of 21 cars, Hughes started off on a high and secured pole position for the opening race.

He then converted that pole position into a win as he claimed an extra bonus point for leading the most laps. 

Unfortunately, he was unable to replicate his top honours in race two and had to settle for third place behind Nikita Johnson and fastest-lap getter Simon Sikes.

With Johnson also leading the race for the most laps, Hughes ended the weekend just one point ahead of the race two winner, while polesitter Sikes crossed the line second and sits six points off.

The season continues later this month at Sebring International Raceway on 25-26 March.