Australian Grand Prix: The Captain Shines in Soaked Season Opener, Kruimel Caught in Chaos

The long-awaited debut of the E-Sports sensations-turned-F1-rookies delivered an eventful and dramatic opening round of the 2025 Formula 1 season. While Racing Bulls’ The Captain stormed to a heroic ninth place — and a Driver of the Day accolade — Alpine’s Kruimel was left licking his wounds after a race filled with misfortune and hard lessons.

A Wet Start: Qualifying Shakes Up the Grid

The weekend kicked off under unpredictable skies as rain swept through qualifying. The slippery Albert Park Circuit threw drivers off balance and led to a mixed-up grid. George Russell edged out Charles Leclerc by just 0.014 seconds to snatch pole, while Yuki Tsunoda stunned the paddock by securing P3.

For the rookies, it was a challenging session. Kruimel adapted better to the wet than teammate Pierre Gasly, but still had to settle for P15. The Captain, despite showing more pace during dry free practice, struggled for grip and could only manage P18, narrowly out-qualifying teammate Isack Hadjar.

The Race: A Dry Start with Storm Clouds Looming

The race began under clear skies, though all eyes were on the approaching weather front predicted to hit in the closing stages. Both The Captain and Kruimel opted for hard tyres, aiming to stretch their first stints until the rain arrived.

The Captain launched aggressively off the line, overtaking Lance Stroll and immediately attacking the Williams of Carlos Sainz and even his friend and rival Kruimel through Turns 3 and 4. Kruimel held firm, shutting the door at Turn 5, forcing The Captain to lift and slot back into line.

But the Alpine rookie was perhaps a little too eager moments later — attempting a lunge on Oscar Piastri into Turn 13. The move didn’t stick, and as he lost momentum on the exit, The Captain seized the opportunity to retake the position. A clean overtake on Piastri followed at the start of Lap 2, with Kruimel also slipping through after the McLaren ran wide.

Then came the drama.

Heading into Turn 10, The Captain attempted a bold move on Gasly. The door was shut, but Gasly slowed so drastically through the chicane that The Captain had no choice but to dive past. Kruimel, with significant overspeed, tried to follow suit — but misjudged The Captain’s line and clipped his rear. Kruimel’s front wing was damaged, and the Alpine driver was forced to pit early on Lap 3, switching to mediums in what would turn out to be a strategic nightmare.

The Captain’s Charge

While Kruimel tumbled down the order, The Captain continued his charge. By Lap 4, he had moved up to P11 and was applying pressure on Bearman for the final points-paying position. A bold move down the inside at Turn 10 cost him part of his front wing endplate — but it also broke Bearman’s rhythm. Within a lap, The Captain was past and out of DRS range.

A twist came on Lap 8 when Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari retired with engine failure, putting a damper on the Scuderia’s season start.

With most medium and soft runners pitting around Lap 12, The Captain found himself running in P2 by Lap 15 — still on the hard compound. But the rain hadn’t yet arrived. As grip fell away, he finally boxed after Lap 17 for soft tyres, rejoining in P9 — behind Piastri, whom he’d passed earlier in the race.

The soft rubber gave him immediate gains. He overtook Piastri again and began hunting down Bortoleto — slashing a four-second gap in just one lap. But as he closed in, Bortoleto dived into the pits for intermediates. The Captain, perhaps gambling for one more lap of dry running, stayed out.

It was the wrong call.

The rain came fast and heavy. Struggling for grip, The Captain hemorrhaged time on slicks. When he finally pitted for intermediates a lap later, he rejoined behind Bortoleto — a missed opportunity that would define his final phase.

Holding the Line

In the wet, The Captain no longer had the same pace. He was quickly passed by Aidan Jackson and dropped to P9. But with eight laps to go and both Piastri and Albon breathing down his neck, he dug deep to defend his position.

Lap after lap, the Racing Bulls driver resisted every move. Despite lacking grip and traction, he showed racecraft and composure well beyond his rookie status, crossing the line in P9 — and earning his first F1 points in style.

His climb of nine positions netted him Driver of the Day, and signaled that The Captain’s transition from digital to real racing was not just a publicity stunt — it was real.

“I’m happy and proud, but also a bit critical of my own performance today. I had a great start and felt confident in the dry phase of the race. The plan was to stretch the hard tyres until the rain arrived, and for a while that strategy looked promising.

In hindsight, I probably should’ve stayed out one more lap on the hards, but that’s the kind of call that’s always easier to judge after the fact. The biggest mistake was doing one extra lap on softs just before the rain came – I lost way too much time there.

Still, to score points in my very first Formula 1 race is something I could only dream of. The car felt strong in the dry, and even though I struggled in the wet, I held my ground and defended well. This is a result I’ll never forget.”

A Race to Forget for Kruimel

For Kruimel, it was a day of damage control — literally and figuratively. After the early contact and pit stop, a second front wing change later in the race compounded his misery. Alpine’s strategy left him on a suboptimal tyre plan, and by the time he switched to intermediates, there was little left to salvage.

Still, he managed to overtake both Hadjar and his teammate Gasly, finishing 18th in what he’ll hope is the worst race of his rookie season.

Kruimel:

“I’m angry. Frustrated. Not so much about the final position, but about how everything unfolded. I took it easy at the start, avoided unnecessary risks – and then got clipped on the straight when I clearly had momentum. That contact damaged my front wing and ruined my race.

From there it just spiraled. Two slow pit stops, and later I picked up floor damage as well. Honestly, it felt like everything that could go wrong did go wrong today.

This wasn’t the debut I had in mind. But it’s a long season. I know where I went wrong and what I need to do better. I’ll bounce back from this.”