Formula 1

A thrilling Qualifying was the highlight of Saturday’s action for Formula 1 as reigning champion Max Verstappen claimed pole over Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
 
The scene for the dramatic session was set in Q1 when Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez crashed during his out-lap, forcing the red flag to come out and the session to be stopped as Motorsport Australia officials recovered the car.
 
Unfortunately, Australian Oscar Piastri was unable to make it out of the session in his first Australian Grand Prix, placing 16th overall and missing the cut-off for Q2 by just four hundredths of a second.
 
Earlier in the day, Piastri finished 14th overall in Free Practice 3 and received a reprimand for in relation to the practice start procedure.
 
The Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2023 continues tomorrow with the main race at 3:00pm AEST.


 

FIA Formula 2 Championship

Jack Doohan’s hopes of pushing up the field in the FIA Formula 2 Championship’s sprint race today were cut short after being tapped from behind by Juan Manuel Correa, which resulted in a spin and an eventual DNF.
 
In what was a cruel twist a fate, Doohan showed great pace earlier in the weekend, going fastest overall in Friday morning’s Free Practice, before qualifying 15th in a wet session that was ultimately red flagged.
 
Doohan’s retirement in the Sprint was one of many safety cars brought out during the race as Dennis Hauger claimed the victory.
 
The FIA Formula 2 Championship will hold its feature race tomorrow at 11:35am AEST.
 

FIA Formula 3 Championship

Christian Mansell was the best performer out of the three Aussie youngsters in the FIA Formula 3 Championship’s highly interrupted sprint race.
 
Unfortunately, the huge field was only able to get six racing laps of the Albert Park circuit as Franco Colapinto took out the win – a victory he was later stripped of after a technical infringement – gifting Brit Zak O’Sullivan the win.
 
As for the Australian cohort, Mansell started the highest and finished the highest as he crossed the chequered flag in ninth – four places higher than when he started.


After yesterday’s brilliant practice session, Hugh Barter would have been disappointed he was unable to qualify any higher than P22 after losing more than a second in lap times.
 
His weekend went from bad to worse when early contact with Ido Cohen resulted in a puncture and an unwanted visit to the pits.
 
Fortunately for the Victorian, he was able to stay in the race as the incident also saw the safety car out for another one of many interventions as Cohen ended up in the wall.
 
Tommy Smith was the next casualty of the race as he was trying to get the most out of the final corner but ran wide into the wall – resulting in a third safety car deployment.
 
That did allow Barter back into the race as he was able to recover to 19th ahead of tomorrow’s feature race, which will kick off the final day at 9:00am.  


 

Repco Supercars Championship

The Repco Supercars Championship wrapped up its day with the third race of the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint and in keeping with the weekend’s incident-filled narrative, there were a collection of issues to occur throughout the shortened race.
 
Taking out top honours for the race was Brodie Kostecki, while reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen and Will Brown rounded out the podium.
 
Having secured pole earlier in the day, Kostecki led from lights out to the chequered flag over Will Davison and Bryce Fullwood, who were eventually penalised over unsafe releases and demoted to 11th and 12th.
 
Outside of the drama involving the podium, there were plenty of other things going on as Mark Winterbottom, Anton De Pasquale and Macauley Jones all crashed out and James Courtney was forced to the pits after his Ford Mustang caught fire.
 
This afternoon’s win for Kostecki was his second for the weekend after he won Friday’s sole race. The Erebus Motorsport star has certainly been a protagonist of the round having finished second in Thursday’s race behind van Gisbergen and ahead of teammate Brown.
 
The final race of the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint is tomorrow morning at 10:20am and will see Chaz Mostert start on pole after the Queenslander went fastest in this morning’s qualifying session.

Carrera Cup

Jackson Walls has capped off his impressive Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia round with a win, beating race two winner Max Vidau in an exciting finale.
 
With the duo starting from the front row and Vidau on pole, it didn’t take long for Walls to gain the lead as he passed Vidau before the lap was out.
 
The New South Welshman held onto the lead for the rest of the race as he crossed the line ahead of Vidau by just eight tenths of a second, while Kiwi Callum Hedge rounded out the podium.
 
Walls’ victory in race three was his second for the weekend as he beat Hedge and Vidau in race one, which was later declared as a no race after a heavy crash on lap three saw it end prematurely.
 
A fast start from Vidau in Friday’s race saw him snatch the lead on the opening lap and lead for the rest of the way as Walls picked off Hedge for second place midway through the race.
 
The next round of the Porsche Payce Carrera Cup Australia be the Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley on 14-16 June.