Australian Grand Prix: Was Formula 1 in the new era a race or more like a computer game?

Russell said Formula 1’s new style made his early battle with Leclerc “risky”.

Leclerc, who finished third behind Russell and Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, said the new requirements for continuous charging and the deployment of 350 kilowatts (470 hp) of electric power “will definitely change the way we approach racing and overtaking.”

Lewis Hamilton, fourth behind Ferrari teammate Leclerc, said he “loved it, the race was really fun to drive.”

World champion Lando Norris, who finished fifth, predicted that Formula 1 was “waiting for a fatal error” given the speed differences.

Four-time champion Max Verstappen said he loved racing but not like this. “I want it to be better than this,” he added.

Regarding the battle for the lead in the first ten laps, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur said: “I’m not sure I’ve seen anything like this in the last ten years.”

But doubts remain, and team bosses are keeping an open mind about the possibility of needing to tweak the rules after three races this year – the point at which everyone has agreed to stop and think.

The battle between Russell and Leclerc was a result of new technology.

One can use Overtake or Boost mode to pass. But this not only left them vulnerable to being overtaken again, as cars swapped over who had the most electric power, but also made it difficult for them to separate from each other, and from the rest of the field.

In fact, their battle weakened them significantly, allowing Hamilton and Antonelli to catch up and briefly saw them jockey for the lead before a virtual safety car led to split strategies and an eventual comfortable victory for Russell and two places for Mercedes. They look tremendously strong heading into the second race in China this weekend.

There was enough evidence in the race that the concerns expressed by the drivers were real as well.

The speed differences at the start were amazing. There was a near-miss between Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, and both Norris and Russell expressed concerns about them racing on track as well.

Norris was the most frank.

“It’s chaos,” he said. “You’re going to get into a big accident, and that’s unfortunate. You’re driving and we’re the ones waiting for something to happen or go terribly wrong, and that’s not a good situation to be in.”

“Depending on what people are doing, you could have a speed of 30, 40, 50 km/h (differential), and when someone hits someone at that speed, you’re going to go flying and you’re going to go over the fence and you’re going to cause a lot of damage to yourself and possibly others. That’s a pretty terrible thing to think about.”

Likewise, is a push-button race to get more electric power a real race? McLaren team principal Andrea Stella described it as “a bit artificial”.

He added: “When the pace stabilizes and everyone is on the same page from a deployment schedule point of view, I think overtaking becomes difficult. So I think even from an overtaking standpoint, this is something we need to continue to review.”