THE MOTORSPORT LAP

F1 TEAMS LOOK TO PUT BRAKES ON DOMINANT RED BULL IN AUSTRALIA

Round three of this year’s Formula One championhip takes place in Melbourne, Australia this weekend, with teams reeling from the dominance that Red Bull have stamped on the sport.

Already there is talk that, barring mechanical failure or crashes, Red Bull could win every race this season.

In Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago, after Max Verstappen whizzed past him unchallenged, Lewis Hamilton said he had never seen such a fast F1 car before. The Mercedes driver was overtaken by the double world champion as Verstappen powered from 15th on the grid to second in a race won by Red Bull’s Mexican Sergio Perez.

It was Red Bull’s second

one-two in two races this season and the only point they have missed so far was the bonus for fastest lap in Bahrain.

Only one driver — Mercedes’ George Russell in Brazil in November — has beaten them since July 2022 and Red Bull have won 12 of the last 13 races with Verstappen winning 15 of the 22 races last year to Perez’s two victories.

Russell, who placed fourth in Saudi Arabia, said already in Bahrain’s season opener that he could see Red Bull winning every race.

“The gap they have to the rest of the field, I think is bigger than we’ve seen probably since Mercedes in 2014. It’s a serious, serious gap and I guess everybody needs to keep working harder to understand how to close that gap,” said the Briton.

“But we know we didn’t

make the right decisions over the winter and I think we can regain some of that performance quicker than you would do ordinarily. So everything’s not all lost.”

After realising they got their car concept wrong, Mercedes have gone back to the drawing board and team boss Toto Wolff says the signs seen back at the factory are “promising”.

“We are not where we want to be — but that won’t stop us from racing hard and giving it everything we’ve got,” he said.

Ferrari’s drivers Carlos Sainz Jr and Charles Leclerc are respectively fourth and eighth in the standings after a slow start to the season for the red team. The drivers struggled to find anything positive to say about their car after a tough two opening races.

With Mercedes and Ferrari playing catch-up, F1 fans looking for an exciting season will hope this year’s greatlyimproved Aston Martin can close the gap to Red Bull, and that Perez can keep the pressure on Verstappen.

Red Bull will be looking to overcome an Australian Grand Prix “hex”, as they have not won at Albert Park since former driver Sebastian Vettel took victory there in 2011.

“It’s always nice to ... experience Melbourne a little, though from a racing point of view, it is not one that has been too kind to us over the years,” said Verstappen, who was forced to retire during last year’s race due to a fuel problem.

MARQUEZ WILL HAVE TO SERVE MOTOGP PENALTY WHEN HE RETURNS FOR ROUND THREE

The season-opening Portuguese MotoGP was a thrilling affair which saw polesitter Marc Marquez (Honda) crashing into local hero Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) in the early stages of the race, injuring both riders and forcing them to sit out this weekend’s Argentinian MotoGP.

For his role in the accident, multiple champion Marquez will have to serve a double long lap penalty when he returns to action for round three at the Grand Prix of the Americas on April 16.

The race was won by world champion Francesco Bagnaia on a Ducati, ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi.

The weekend didn’t start well for SA’s Brad Binder, who was battling a neck and shoulder injury. He qualified 15th and finished 12th in Saturday’s inaugural MotoGP sprint race, earning no points, while his new KTM factory teammate Jack Miller was fourth.

However, Binder turned it around in Sunday’s full-distance 25-lapper to finish sixth after an impressive charge through the field, just ahead of Miller.

Battling pain, the South African was involved in an exciting battle for fourth place in a group of five, with less than one second covering the quintet at the flag.

“Today was pretty good. It has been a hard weekend because it was very tough for me to get comfortable on the bike,” said Binder after the race.

“I was suffering a lot but today my team made a big step forward with my RC16 and I was much more confident in the end. The last five laps were really demanding physically but the step forwards we made was satisfying and I’m hoping for more in Argentina. I just need to figure out how to be 100% fit there.”