Despite management’s noble efforts to restart the race twice, Verstappen secured first place in the third race of the year, which took place on Sunday 2 April 2023 at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia, with Pérez named rider of the day for his successful attempt to start from last place, having retired from Saturday’s qualifying due to brake failure, to finish fifth and set the fastest lap of the race. In short, Red Bull has collected as much profit as possible under the circumstances. Of course, this event is not new and, most likely, will be repeated many more times in this year’s season. A replay that will crown the championship with the title of the most boring since its inception in the 1950s.

There is an interesting point here, which is typical not only for Formula 1, but for all modern sports. Competing on the playing field is about spectacle, and therefore financial success, which ensures their continuity – yes, there is a matter of survival, however strange and absurd it may seem.

In the United States of America, some baseball rules have recently been changed, and the need for changes in hockey and basketball has been widely discussed. This is not the first time the sport has been looking for change to increase competitiveness and enrich the spectacle, and hence the excitement. For the symbolic nature of sport is meant for an internal mobilization brought about by twists and turns, paradoxes, oddities, tensions of anticipation and purification through the success or failure of the end result, and, more broadly, the endless repetition of events. conflict in the context of a bloodless battle for the final victory. A struggle in which life and conquest become purely symbolic, freeing societies from real battlefields.

On the one hand, the battles of the pilots on the Formula 1 tracks replace the personal battles of the audience in everyday areas of life, being identified with a symbolic reference, and on the other hand, they act as mirrors of real battles that help everyone. to a more balanced life with our fellow human beings and our machines. The behavior of the protagonists and its possible reflection on us teaches us something, or rather, through the emotions it offers, brings us closer to a wider perception of ourselves.

A similar role is played by competitions of the purest team sports, which reflect the collective unconscious of peoples, their weaknesses and strengths. When rule changes are aimed at improving the effectiveness of targeting the game, they have a positive effect. For example, in football, the elimination of effortless return of the ball to the goalkeeper made the game more spectacular because it reduced time delays. But when changes are imposed by fairer rules in the service of betting, then they turn the sport into a mechanized form with technology that eliminates human error.

For example, the introduction of VAR (video assistant referee), with which the match referee receives a video recording of the phase, and the machine verdict corrects blindness or cunning to make match results more fair and, accordingly, betting efficiency. then, unwittingly, we remove from life the possibility of error and, consequently, the possibility of effort.

On June 22, 1986, Argentina beat England 2–1 in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Mexico, scoring a goal from Maradona’s hand. When the star player was asked after the match if he really stuck his hand in, he responded with the infamous “It was the hand of God”, making a pun on his nickname as the god of the ball and the divine will for Argentina to win. English goalkeeper Peter Shilton, on the contrary, considered such a move worthy of an unrespectable person, unworthy of speech. The phrase about “forgiven” now, Maradona, accompanies us as a symbolism that can take on a wide range of contents, from the desire to speak of divine providence to the display of the most pathetic behavior. Having VAR in said match would have made us clearly poorer even if we had won the bet.

In our favorite sport, as Red Bull team architect Adrian Newey would say, aerodynamic design and tug-of-war safety bring the race to life. The designer tries to pick up speed, and the FIA ​​holds him back, trying to keep the drivers safe. But in recent years, a new factor has come into play. After a NETFLIX documentary commissioned by the new owner of Formula 1, the American corporation Liberty Media announced in 2017 through the mouth of its owner John Malone: ​​“We are modernizing the distribution of content (meaning television), especially digital, which is currently a very small rate. We will develop a calendar of competitions. We will build a wider range of commercial partnerships, including sponsorships. We will use Liberty’s experience in hosting live events and monetizing digital platforms to make our events bigger than ever.” The result was
Massi’s decision in the last race of 2021 to give the “hungry” spectators a head-to-head showdown between Hamilton and Verstappen, with the latter clearly winning. At the altar of a spectacle, without any other continuation. Leaving an unhealed wound in sports. As a continuation of the above, the decisions of Race Director Niels Wittich, in Melbourne, in
cooperation with the Remote Control Center in Geneva and watching the race on TV and online, away from the noise of the engines and the sweat of the pilots. Two red flags, three static starts and two dynamic starts in an attempt to challenge Verstappen to a duel with Hamilton under the guise of debris on the track that could be collected by the safety car followed by the cars on the track. Safety pretense at the price of restarts that contribute to car collisions. Okon still has a headache from hitting the fence. Red Bull has a one-second lead over the rest on asphalt. The only way to stop them is with firearms. At least not with red flags.

Match Description

Russell from the Verstappen side of the front row took the lead and rushed inside the Red Bull at turn one to take the lead. Verstappen did not fight back, and by making room for Russell, he was left vulnerable to the flock of Hamilton-Alonso-St behind him. This brought this group together as they ran between the walls towards the danger zone.
braking before the third turn. Hamilton edged around the compromised Verstappen as ruthlessly as Russell had a few seconds earlier – and suddenly both Mercedes cars were ahead of the Dutchman as chaos erupted from behind.

Lance Stroll found himself in the same situation as on the first lap in Bahrain, with Alonso right in front of him, but another car – Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari – outside, trying to overtake him. It got to the point that Leclerc had to turn around, but due to Stroll braking late to defend himself, they landed and the Ferrari turned on the gravel and crashed out of the race. The Canadian touched Alonso’s back again, but none of the Aston Martins were hurt, although the Spaniard made way for compatriot Carlos Sainz, fellow Ferrarista. Verstappen said after the race: “I could have been a little more aggressive. I knew I had a fast car and I knew that losing a place at the start is not the end of the world.” Not just a fast car, but a fast car in all the right places. Its advantage over Hamilton’s Mercedes with DRS turned on was about 9 km / h.

After Albon’s crash at Turn 6, Mercedes drops Russell from first place and Ferrari does the same to Sainz from fourth. With 10 seconds left before the normal stop, the Safety Car stop was too tempting to ignore. This gave Mercedes the upper hand on both tactics, but Russell, as the lead driver, had probably the best strategy: “I saw that Max and Lewis weren’t pitting and I was very surprised,” he said. “I got on the new tires in seventh place and he was right in front of me, I was like, ‘Now the race is ours’, I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t win the race.” He was right; Doubtful. Verstappen’s speed advantage was such that he would probably have had enough speed to make up for those extra 10 seconds of time lost.

Then a red flag and a free tire change—medium on the outside, hard on the inside—for anyone who didn’t stop. This change in race status severely hurt Russell’s race—even before he later retired due to suspected piston damage.

From the second static start, Verstappen’s departure was again poor or indifferent, with Hamilton entering the first corner without issue. He only led for three laps, which was an easy task for Verstappen, who took the long DRS route to turn 9, completing the outer entry line into a fast left-right.

From there, the Dutchman was ahead of Hamilton by 2 seconds in just the remaining lap! Like everyone else, Verstappen was determined to make it to the end, but there were still 46 laps to go. His goal was to get a safe distance away from the Briton, which he achieved in just a few laps.

Sainz, who dropped to 11th by getting into the pit lane right in front of a red flag, ran aggressively, eventually trailing Alonso by just a few seconds, but pulling Gasly’s Alpine and Aston Stroll with him. Then Magnussen had that crash, just hitting a wall, but enough to take the tire off the rim.

The two-lap sprint to the checkered flag, with everyone on soft tyres, was a truly exciting prospect. Verstappen finally got off to a decent start, and Hamilton followed suit. Sainz underestimated his braking by hitting Alonso and causing him to turn around. Gasly, who had a great match, wedged into his teammate
between him and the wall, destroying both Alpines. Another red flag. Not enough laps to race. Enough for the safety car to follow him to confirm what was considered a time trial turn at SC2.

Alonso kept his podium. For the incident with Alonso, Saindu was given a 5-second penalty, and his fourth place was 12th. The next race will take place at the end of April in Baku, Azerbaijan. Expectations are meteoric in nature.