Melbourne hopes to reignite F1 spark amid simmering Verstappen-Perez rivalry

Time was when Albert Park was the beloved opening round of every Formula One season, touched by a crisp sunshine and promise of change and new beginnings. The heat was softened by winds off the Tasman Sea. With apartments lining the back straight, kite surfers danced on the waves while drivers had their breakfast on St Kilda beach before the day’s action. Swamped by Australia’s fanatical F1 following, Melbourne wasn’t just a race - it was an event. It always felt fresh, exciting, hopeful. When it was shifted off pole position post-covid, something was broken. Shunted down to third in the calendar after Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, it completed a trio so unique in its make up, performance and results could not be extrapolated across the coming season. When F1 arrived in Melbourne in 1996 it was very different; 11 of the first 16 winners went on to become champions. But in the last 12 years that has only happened twice. In fact, an Albert Park victory was as good as the kiss of death. Lewis Hamilton started from pole a remarkable eight times but only won twice. In fact, his teammates have won more often when he was on pole than he has. Pacesetters Red Bull return on Sunday as favourites but have to go back over a decade to when Sebastian Vettel was in his pomp to remember what it’s like to triumph at Albert Park. Max Verstappen may have won 10 of the last 13 Grands Prix (and his team 12 of 13) as well as being pre-race favourite, but he has never been successful here. New arrival Las Vegas aside, Melbourne is now one of only two circuits in the calendar where he is yet to triumph. It’s difficult to say why the track is such an outlier, and it’s certainly not for want of trying. Organisers tinker with the layout almost annually, and this year it will be faster and the first to have four DRS zones, turning the race into a battery recharging chess game as much as a contest between cars. Its street circuit layout is closer than anywhere to the last round in Saudi without being so unrelentingly lethal, which suggests Red Bull’s devastating domination from the Gulf will continue. Charles Leclerc can attest to Melbourne’s curse. He won last year from pole and achieved the 'grand slam' - taking every session, every lap, pole and victory. It was his second victory in three. Life could hardly get much better as the stats made him firm title favourite. He flew back to Europe leading the championship by 34 points but dominance in Bahrain and Australia proved irrelevant to the circuits to come. From the following round in Italy, his season fell apart. If hopes of a new beginnings remain, it comes from a strange quarter; Red Bull’s capable but unexceptional No 2 Sergio Perez. That the Mexican held the record as the driver from the current crop to take longest to get to his first pole (215 GPs and over a decade) and first win (190 races) says it all. Comparisons in the same car as Verstappen over the last two years suggest he is not among the elite. The Dutchman has taken 26 wins, two world titles and 18 poles. Perez just four triumphs and two poles. But after his latest victory in Saudi a fortnight ago, when he matched Verstappen lap for lap at the end, the Mexican insists he will not be playing also-ran. Despite helping Verstappen to the 2021 title in Abu Dhabi by slowing Hamilton, the duo have fallen out spectacularly with the Dutchman publicly refusing to help Perez to runners-up spot in Brazil last year. In Saudi, Perez was furious to discover Verstappen had ignored team instructions to grab fastest lap on the very last tour and retain a slender championship lead. And there is no point in turning to the rest of the grid; Ferrari are at sea, their speed gone, and Mercedes are entirely off the pace as their chassis redesign continues. Hamilton’s bid for a record eighth championship is history and he cuts a lonely figure in the paddock now after his unexpected split with physio and trainer-cum-constant companion Angela Cullen. So it is down to Perez. As Ayrton Senna versus Alain Prost, Vettel and Mark Webber, Hamilton versus Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button or Nico Rosberg have proved, it only takes two drivers to make a championship. Whether his team will allow Perez to regularly challenge Verstappen is another matter altogether.

Melbourne hopes to reignite F1 spark amid simmering Verstappen-Perez rivalry

Albert Park, no longer the starting point in the calendar, could witness more dominance from Red Bull this weekend