P1racenews AI automatic summary:
McLaren Formula 1 boss Andrea Stella suspects the fragility of the tyres in the Australian Grand Prix meant the team’s
The Woking squad secured their first podium at Albert Park since 2014 thanks to Max Verstappen’s brake failure, with Lando Norris finishing third ahead of Oscar Piastri. On the other hand, Mercedes faced a disastrous weekend in Australia with both drivers retiring, falling 29 points behind McLaren in the Constructors’ standings. Despite George Russell’s last-lap crash while trailing Norris by 40 seconds, Mercedes and McLaren’s pace differences were disputed by Stella, hinting at a potential different outcome if Verstappen hadn’t encountered issues. The anomaly in tyre behavior in Australia was highlighted, affecting the performance of McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, and other teams differently. Red Bull faced graining issues in Melbourne due to using the Softest compounds, in contrast to the lack of graining in Bahrain where they benefitted from superior degradation and a two-stop strategy. Stella emphasized the complexities of optimizing car performance based on varying tyre behaviors in different races, exemplified by Red Bull’s struggles with graining in Australia despite their dominant downforce levels on the grid.
