For several
Formula 1 teams, it was licking their wounds after the
Australian Grand Prix. Several crashes and mishaps caused considerable damage, such as for
Williams, Haas and Alpine in particular.
Drivers and teams - like
Max Verstappen - noted that the
FIA was partly to blame for the chaos, by waving a red flag three times. This meant a restart had to take place just as often, with all the dangers that entailed. On the second restart, it became chaos, when
Pierre Gasly and
Esteban Ocon' s Alpine cars, among others, hit each other.
Lots of damage, no points
While a fair number of points were possible, the French team ended up empty-handed. Moreover, there was a considerable amount of damage as both cars were quite damaged.
"It will be costly. Getting parts ready for the next race, I don’t know yet," Alpine boss
Otmar Szafnauer told
Reuters.
The next race will take place in Baku. This street circuit will also host a sprint race. So anyway, there are at least two starts, with thus twice the risk of a starting incident.