Sergio Perez’s race weekend has gone from bad to awful to ‘why should I bother’ with the Red Bull star now set to start from the pitlane. Red Bull used his failure to clock a qualifying time to fit new PU components, including a new Energy Store and Control Electronics unit.Valtteri Bottas will also start from the pitlane after the Alfa Romeo sought permission to change the set-up of his suspension.The magic mullet not proving hugely lucky this weekend.Zhou Guanyu and Logan Sagreant will now be at the back of the grid.AUSTRALIAN GP LIVE Australian Grand Prix2:36PM SCOTTY JAMES SURVIVED HIS BUCKSGood news to Scotty James fans, he appears to have come through his bucks party unscathed and he’s made it to the track for the race.James, a Red Bull athlete himself, is set to become Lance Stroll’s brother in law in due course. So where is his allegiance today?“It’s a controversial conversation to be having,” he told Ted Kravitz and Jenson Button on the grid. “I’m excited to cheer on the bulls and Aston’s going to be quick.“It blows my mind, my competitions are not on this level but when there’s too many people around it’s overwhelming for me, it’s amazing they have all these people around, it’s pretty special.”2:25PM STRATEGYThere have been 25 Grands Prix at Albert Park, 14 of them have had a safety car or virtual safety car.So, without a safety car this afternoon we’re looking at a one-stop from all teams.With a safety cars the gates open and that’s where it gets interesting.One man hoping for as many SC as possible will be Lando Norris.Predictions wise, I dont think anyone wanting to see McLaren do well is going to enjoy this afternoon’s race. Norris on track for three consecutive 17th place finishes and Piastri’s debut not going to script.That said he’s outperformed his teammate so far this year so that’s something.I’m sticking with my pre-weekend tip of Alonso for the win with Max and Russell making up the podium. 2:15PM RICCIARDO’S BAD HABITS ARE MCLAREN’S FAULTRed Bull team principal Christian Horner has lifted the lid on the condition Daniel Ricciardo was in when he returned to Red Bull saying “he did not recognise him” after the difficulties the Aussie endured at McLaren.Ricciardo was acrimoniously sacked by Zak Brown mid-way through last season and replaced by compatriot Oscar Piastri.There was significant fury directed at the papaya team for the disingenuous manner in which Ricciardo was treated.He has now found himself back home with Red Bull as a reserve and developmental driver but brought with him some bad habits which Horner believes stemmed from over compensating for how bad the McLaren is to drive.“It’s great to have him back with us,” Horner told Fox. “He grew up with us we had a lot of fun together. I’m sure he’s missing not driving but it’s good to have him playing a role.“He picked up a few bad habits and you can see that from driving cars that aren’t at a level he was used to, you have to make up for what you have. “We had to go back to basics. He’s come back (from a break at Christmas) fully retuned, we just need to feed him up a bit.“We’ve always kept in touch and I’ve had a great relationship. It was a shame to see, I haven’t recognized him the last few years in the McLaren that’s not the Daniel we know. When the news came out we said come spend a season with us and rediscover your love again and we’ll see where that leads.“He’s a big energy guy and he’s sensitive, we want to try to reintroduce him to his love for F1.”AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2023 GRID 1:52PM HOW MIGHT THIS START GO?I’ve mentioned it a few times so far today but this race start could be rather spicy given three of the four front starters.Russell the gentleman will have eyes forward but Hamilton, Max and Alonso could well tango.So what’s the start like? Let’s hear from a man who knows.“It’s always tricky to get off the line here a lot of drivers have fluffed their lines here,” Jenson Button said.“If you go too defensively then you will be run off, turns one and three are crucial here.“We don’t know what to expect and you have to think on your feet here. How long they go on the hard tyre will be interesting too.“You need a good car in Australia.”Well that’s Piastri and Lando with no chance then eh.1:39PM CAN GEORGE STEL THE LEAD?His Mercedes starts 3rd on the grid and George Russell insists he will be all eyes on Max Verstappen ahead of him, not his teammate in 2nd or Fernando Alonso in 4th.In what could be a very action packed opening few turns, Russell is confident the Mercedes can hold off the Aston Martins and Ferraris but they won’t show pace to beat Max.“I’d love to say yes (we can go faster than RB) and we will do everything possible but realistically, our numbers show the RB is six 10ths ahead,” he said. “Hopefully we are second best.“Somethings weren’t right on Friday that came good on Saturday, the car probably exceeded expectations and we have a few more things to understand. “It’s promising. We’ve got some big gains to come. My eyes are forward so always on Max, make a good start and there’s an opportunity to take the lead.”CARNAGE ON TRACK: SHOCKING SCENES FROM AUS GEnzo Fittipaldi turned the airwaves blue as his car spun off track to conclude two minutes of carnage in the F2 at Albert Park.The Brazilian’s race came to a premature end under safety car conditions and he was fortunate not to have driven straight into the retired car of Roy Nissany who’d only just climbed out of the cockpit.Fittipaldi had pitted under yellow flag conditions and immediately came undone with what appeared to be damage to his rear suspension.Shockingly, Nissany had been allowed to walk along the side of the track from his car while his F1 colleagues continued to drive laps.Given the events which followed, it’s fortunate marshals had not yet taken to the track to tend to Nissany’s car.Fittipaldi dropped numerous f-bombs across the radio as his race came to an end.“I’ve never seen a race like this, they can’t get the tyre temperatures they need. It’s like an ice rink out there.”Australia’s Jack Doohan finished 8th in the race.12:30PM F1 STAR’S QUIT THREAT AMID RIDICULOUS RULE CHANGESWorld champion Max Verstappen has warned Formula One it won’t be “worth it” to continue in the sport if officials continue to mess with its racing “DNA”.In a post-qualifying rant after putting his Red Bull on pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, Verstappen voiced his displeasure for the sprint format amid more suggested format changes.The fourth round in Azerbaijan is set to host the first of six sprint events on this year’s F1 calendar and there has been discussion about tweaking the format to introduce a second qualifying session in place of FP2.As he prepared to hunt his first Australian Grand Prix victory, Verstappen shot down the proposed changes, saying the race weekends were intense enough already.The Dutch star suggested Formula One would be better off condensing the weekend and racing only on Saturdays and Sundays.“I’m not a fan of it at all,” Verstappen said.“But also, I think when we’re going to do all that kind of stuff, the weekend becomes even more intense and we’re already doing so many races.“So I think that it is not the right way to go at it. I understand, of course, they want to have basically every day exciting, but then I think maybe it’s better to just reduce the weekend, only race on Saturday and Sunday and make those two days exciting.“We’re heading into seasons where you have at one point 24/25 races, because that’s where we’re going to head into, and if we then start adding even more stuff, it’s not worth it for me anyway. I’m not enjoying that.”Lamenting the sprint format, Verstappen said it was not a part of the sport’s DNA.“For me, a sprint race is all about surviving, it’s not about racing,” Verstappen said.“For me, when you have a quick car, there’s nothing to risk. I prefer to just keep my car alive and make sure that you have a good race car for Sunday.“And even if you change the format, I don’t find it’s the DNA of Formula 1 to do these kinds of sprint races.“F1 is about getting the most out of it in qualifying and then having an amazing Sunday, good long race distances.“That’s the DNA of the sport and I don’t understand or I don’t know why we should change that because I think the action has been good.”Verstappen said the solution to providing a more exciting racing product was to have more teams fighting for race wins rather than format changes.“How do you get even more action is about getting the cars closer, getting more teams able to fight for the win,” Verstappen said.“And I think naturally the show will be great. If we have six, seven teams already fighting for a win, that will be insane. Then you really don’t need to change anything.”12:15PM WILL IT RAIN?Melbourne is not the most exciting track on the circuit by any stretch of the imagination so rain is essential to making this entertaining.Sadly, Melbourne’s weather looks set to behave all day and we’re in for dry track time and sunshine.That’s said the front four will make for an interesting chase into turn 1 so anything could happen early on.11:28PM MERCEDES STUNNED BY THEIR OWN SUCCESSGeorge Russell said his Mercedes car was the “best” he had raced and the team took “huge” confidence from qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix regardless of what happens in the race.The Briton will start from the front row in Melbourne on Sunday alongside dominant Red Bull champion Max Verstappen, with his teammate Lewis Hamilton third.Their efforts, outpacing Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and both the Ferraris, raised hopes that they could make the podium.Team boss Toto Wolff said this week Mercedes had made “promising” progress since the first two grand prix of the season, and Russell said he couldn’t be happier.“I think we’re learning more about this car, I don’t think it is where we want it to be, but it’s evolved, just for the set up, from Bahrain to Jeddah to here,” he said.“For sure, the tyres played a big part this weekend ... but just to be two-and-half tenths (of a second) off (Verstappen) when we have been a second on other occasions.” - AFP10:45AM CAN PEREZ RECOVER?A dejected Sergio Perez said he was hoping Red Bull can fix the issue that wrecked his Australian Grand Prix qualifying so he can “minimise the damage” in the race.The Mexican, who won in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago, had a horror day in Melbourne as he struggled with grip and balance.He joined the third practice session 20 minutes late as mechanics worked on his car, but left the track four times when he finally got on the circuit.The problem persisted in qualifying when he locked up and careened into the gravel at Turn 3 on his first lap, beaching the car that had to be removed by a crane.It means he will start last on Sunday, with a mountain to climb to get in the points on a track where overtaking isn’t easy.He told reporters the issue seemed to be brake balance, which he thought had been sorted out.“I hope we are able to fix the technical issue for tomorrow, otherwise it will be really hard to race like this,” he said.“We are confident that together as a team we will be able to sort it out because it’s very important that we do so.“This morning we had the issue. We thought we had fixed it,” he added. “So I was pretty confident on that part, but that wasn’t the case, as soon as I touched the brake in Turn 3 (in qualifying).”10AM MAX FACTOR: CAN ANYONE STOP VERSTAPPEN BLITZ? First pole position in Melbourne? Check. First Australian Grand Prix win? Possibly.Two of our experts are expecting a victory for Red Bull world champion Max Verstappen on Sunday, one year after he was forced out of the race won by Charles Leclerc. It promises to be a race full of storylines. Can one of the pre-race favourites Sergio Perez cause havoc from the back of the grid? Could George Russell and Lewis Hamilton work together to dethrone Verstappen? Can Oscar Piastri defy starting in 16th to finish in the points? All those questions will be answered on what promises to be an epic day of racing. Scroll down to see who our experts have tipped to triumph and follow all Sunday’s action live here. EXPERT PREDICTIONS REBECCA WILLIAMSHerald Sun1st Max Verstappen2nd Fernando Alonso3rd George RussellPiastri to finish … 15thVerstappen proved he’s the best in qualifying. He can repel all challengers. Alonso has looked better than the two Mercedes this season and can leapfrog Russell for second. Can’t see Piastri moving far up the grid, unfortunately. CALLUM DICKSunday Herald Sun1st Fernando Alonso2nd Max Verstappen3rd George RussellPiastri to finish … 14thVerstappen is the heavy favourite but his Red Bull was on edge all Saturday. Alonso looked in complete control. The Spaniard can win. Piastri will struggle to move up the grid. MARK SKAIFEFox Sports commentator1st Verstappen2nd Russell3rd AlonsoPiastri to finish … outside top 10If Piastri finishes inside the top 10 that would be a great result.\Updates to story