In 2019, fans voted the 2002 edition of the Australian GP as the best the land down under has offered F1. Given the choice between 1996, 1997, and 2002, fans gave 49% votes to the race from the 2002 season opener. Not many can argue with the verdict as the Grand Prix turned out to be such a thrilling affair that it even caught the great Michael Schumacher by surprise.

Local boy Mark Webber made his debut with Minardi. Team boss Paul Stoddart was just happy that both his drivers qualified for the race day. However, as the race started and chaos took over, things got a lot spicier. Ralf Schumacher took off into the air after slamming into the back of Rubens Barrichello. The duo took out 6 more drivers after causing a chaotic pile-up. The incident and 6 more mechanical failure-induced DNFs gave Webber a golden chance at scoring points and he took it with both hands. Australian fans went into a frenzy as they got a new hero. Back then, finishing 5th was worth only 2 points, but boy did they celebrate those 2 points.

Stoddart remembers his conversation with Michael when he invited him and Webber to the Ferrari garage for a party. In a recent episode of Beyond The Grid Podcast, he recalled Michael as saying, “When I won the race, I went up on the podium and yes, there’s hundreds, maybe a thousand people in front of me. I look left down the pit lane and there were tens of thousands of people down the end with you Mark’.”

“And of course, not only is it the most famous 2 points in the history of Formula 1, but it is the only time there’s ever been two podiums in Formula 1,” Paul added.

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That year, Schumacher scored the biggest win margin for Ferrari at the Spanish GP. Charles Leclerc scored the second-best win that caught everyone by surprise last year.

Charles Leclerc once registered his name on a prestigious list with Michael Schumacher

Red Bull wrapped both championship titles pretty early last year. While Max Verstappen won the drivers’ trophy 5 races before the finale, Red Bull got the constructors’ in the next race. Given their dominant run, not many remembered what an abysmal start the Austrian team had. Charles Leclerc made the most of the bad start at the season opener in Australia.

Leclerc in Australia, just like Schumacher in the 2002 Spanish GP, scored a grand slam. While Michael finished the race with a gap of 35.629 seconds between him and the P2 holder, Charles finished 2nd with a gap of 20.524 seconds.

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Do you think the upcoming Australian GP can generate enough excitement to surpass the 2002 edition in the excitement quotient?